Stories by Dina Fine Maron

The placenta is full of microbes, a new study finds, raising questions about how that ecosystem and mothers' oral health influence the risk of preterm birth

Children of smokers who popped vitamin C during pregnancy had better lung function than kids of other women who also smoked during pregnancy. Dina Fine Maron reports

 

Outpatient surgeries at freestanding medical centers are growing in popularity, but for all their promise, gaps in tracking superbugs and other infections fuel concern

Lawmakers spar over FDA Regulations

New data suggests blows to the head are on the rise among U.S. adults and kids, but definitive diagnosis remains elusive

Just a few nail drying sessions under the highest output UV bulbs used in some salons could age the skin and bump up the risk of skin cancer. Dina Fine Maron reports

 

Even without tobacco, the poorly regulated devices may pose unique dangers

A first-ever World Health Organization assessment of the growing problem calls for rapid changes to avoid the misery and deaths of a potential "post-antibiotic era" 

When Ohio executed convicted rapist and murderer Dennis McGuire in early 2014, it set off a maelstrom of controversy. Ohio used a drug cocktail that appeared to leave McGuire gasping for air for some 11 minutes until he was pronounced dead--26 minutes after the initial injection of his drugs.

Researchers estimate that more than 340 U.S. inmates that could have been exonerated were sentenced to death since 1973

Genetic experts are eyeing computer Webcams and videoconferencing to assess patients in Alaska and other remote places

A medication designed to inhibit measleslike virus in infected ferrets shows promise

The head of Health and Human Services oversaw a pandemic flu response, the expansion of Medicaid—and, yes, the flubbed Obamacare Web site rollout

Health information technologies such as smartphone-based ultrasound and electronic health records should be regulated according to the risk they present to patients, per a proposed strategy rolled out Thursday by three federal agencies.

The number of Americans aged 60 or more who issued advance directives governing their end-of-life care went from 47 percent in 2000 to 72 percent in 2010. Dina Fine Maron reports

 

Drug overdoses have become the leading cause of injury in the United States. More people between the ages of 25 and 64 now die from overdose than in car crashes--and prescription drugs are largely to blame.

When young and middle-aged adults started showing up at the hospital with liver failure last spring, doctors in Hawaii struggled to find the thread that connected the patients.

New genome sequencing recommendation will enable patients to opt out of testing 

A new approach may help curb unnecessary prescriptions

Bones are filled with a viscous fluid that’s key to their function as support structures, and which could inform osteoporosis research. Dina Fine Maron reports

 

Researchers aim to detect Alzheimer symptoms long before they appear by tweaking an existing medical tool to sleuth out misfolded proteins linked with the illness

“Exciting” findings in mice suggest that common drugs effectively treated core autistic behaviors 

Long overlooked as a mere cellular housekeeper, RNA has emerged as a path to a new world of medical treatment

Immature cells' regenerative prowess injects new excitement into the field