Richard Knox  

 

Topics by Richard Knox

Fitness & Nutrition

Local Researcher Discovers Key To Smarter Marathon


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By Richard Knox
A marathoning Harvard-MIT student has figured out how to calculate that awful moment when marathoners run out of gas.


Health

Medical Panel: Don't Go Overboard On Vitamin D


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By Richard Knox
The Institute of Medicine's Food and Nutrition Board says children and most adults need 600 international units of vitamin D a day. People over 70 need 800. That's more than the previous targets, but a lot less than advocates of high-dose vitamin D claim is necessary.
Health

Study: Aspirin Cuts Deaths From Wide Variety Of Cancers



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By Richard Knox
A British study offers compelling -- though not clinching -- evidence that the humble aspirin tablet can prevent death from many kinds of cancers, if you take the medicine long enough in middle age.
BOSTON

Stitch In Time: Fixing A Heart Defect Before Birth



SURVIVORS OF NEWBORN HEART SURGERY THRIVE
By Richard Knox
Doctors in Boston are performing an experimental surgery on the tiny heart of a fetus to prevent a rare but devastating heart defect before the baby is born.
Medical Treatments

Antibiotics Defeat Ear Infections In Little Kids, Studies Find



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By Richard Knox
Two studies bring new evidence to the long-running debate on whether antibiotics work for children's ear infections. But experts say doctors should be sure the child really is suffering from an ear infection before writing a prescription.
Health

How Olive Oil And Ibuprofen Can Make You Want To Cough



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By Richard Knox
Humans have transformed a defense against noxious fumes -- a receptor at the back of the throat -- into an indicator of gourmet quality in olive oil.
Health

Rare Fractures Linked To Drugs For Weak Bones



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By Richard Knox
Dr. Jennifer Schneider was one of the first women to suffer from an unusual fracture she believes was caused by osteoporosis drugs she'd taken for years. A new study confirms that women who've been on bisphosphonates more than five years have nearly three times higher risk of the unusual fractures.
Health

Scientists Grow Parts For Kids With Urinary Damage



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By Richard Knox
Scientists have been trying for years to grow spare parts for defective or damaged organs. Now, a report published in a medical journal tells a success story about fixing the urinary tracts of five young Mexican boys. The procedure could ultimately help thousands of children.
Health

At Their Own Risk: What Will Happen To The Fukushima Workers?



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By Richard Knox
There are just 50 workers left at Japan's crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, fighting against lengthening odds to prevent large amounts of radiation from leaking out. Experts say they can only guess what radiation doses these workers are absorbing.
World News

Helicopters, Water Cannons Miss Mark At Japanese Nuclear Plant



QUAKE SURVIVORS STRETCHED THIN
By Richard Knox
Efforts to get cooling water onto volatile nuclear material by air and ground at Japan's Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant were unsuccessful Thursday. A second priority is trying to restore power at the plant, where reactor cooling systems were disrupted by Friday's earthquake and tsunami.
Health

Japanese Document Radioactivity In Food



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By Richard Knox
Over the weekend, radioactive iodine and cesium emitted by the crippled facility turned up in milk, spinach and other greens, canola seeds, fava beans and drinking water.That poses a new problem: How to inform the public about the multiplying and scary-sounding test results without unduly scaring them.
Health

Locally Developed Hep C Drug Called 'Game Changer'



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By Richard Knox
One new drug to treat hepatitis C won an FDA advisory panel's approval Wednesday, and a second drug, developed by Boston company Vertex, is expected to get the green light Thursday. 
Health

Coffee Lowers Risk Of Deadliest Prostate Cancer



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By Richard Knox
A researcher says the coffee effect persisted even after factoring in the effects of exercise, obesity, smoking and other factors that either raise or lower the risk of prostate cancer. Regular and decaffeinated coffee were associated with the same low risk of lethal prostate cancer.
Health

Doctors Behaving Badly? They Say It Happens All The Time



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By Richard Knox
A survey finds more than two-thirds of U.S. doctors see other physicians disrupting patient care or collegial relationships at least once a month.
Health

Why Making A Safer Birth Control Pill Is So Hard



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By Richard Knox
A synthetic hormone that was thought to be safer than older ones in the pill is looking riskier. The Food and Drug Administration is looking into data that show an increased risk of blood clots from birth control pills that contain drospirenone.
Health

Mixed Results On Foodborne Illness Cast Shadow On Daily Menu



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By Richard Knox
Reported cases of a half-dozen common foodborne illnesses have dropped by a about a quarter since 1996. Overall progress has stalled over the past five years, though, and salmonella is on the rise.
Health

Colorectal Cancer Deaths Declining, But Millions Still Aren't Getting Screened



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By Richard Knox
Two out of every three Americans between 50 and 75 are up-to-date with colon cancer screening guidelines. But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says doctors still need to recommend everyone else that they be screened.
Health

Who Should Get Pills To Prevent HIV?



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By Richard Knox
Results from studies conducted in Africa confirm that drugs against HIV can reduce the risk of transmission of the virus between heterosexual partners. But where and with whom should the approach be used?
Health

Modesty Upgrade Coming To Some Airport Scanners



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By Richard Knox
Over the next few months the Transportation Security Administration says it will retrofit 241 of its 488 airport scanners with software that's so unrevealing anybody, including passengers, can look at the pictures.
Health

Soy Pills Fail To Counter Menopause Effects Like Bone Loss



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By Richard Knox
The discovery will be a big disappointment to millions of women who started taking soy after the Women's Health Initiative showed in 2002 that estrogen supplements increase the menopausal women's risk of blood clots, stroke and cognitive problems.
Your Health

Shortages Lead Doctors To Ration Critical Drugs



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By Richard Knox
Drug shortages may be the new normal in U.S. medical care, experts say. Most drug occur because something goes wrong in the manufacturing process that halts production.
Health

Surprise In Your Sewage: Lots Of Exotic Viruses



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By Richard Knox
Scientists who looked at sewage in three cities around the world found 40,000 viruses, most of them previously unknown. But, happily, most of the viruses lurking in sewage don't pose a threat to human health.
Health

Monkey Experiments Boost Hope For Human AIDS Vaccine



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By Richard Knox
The vaccine protected 80 percent of monkeys from infection with SIV, the simian version of HIV. By comparison, an experimental HIV vaccine was 31 percent effective in protecting people against infection in a large-scale study unveiled in 2009.

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