Vaccine :: CDC urges parents to protect preteens with three recommended vaccines

As children approach their teen years, parents often worry about how to protect them from new risks and potential dangers. Experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) launched a campaign to educate parents about one of the things they can do to protect their children at 11 and 12 years of age and for years to come: make sure they are vaccinated against serious, sometimes life-threatening diseases such as meningitis, tetanus, diphtheria, whooping cough, and cervical cancer.

Drinking Water :: Marine-Base Housing Contained Drinking Water Contaminated with Tetrachloroethylene

Water in the drinking water system for the Tarawa Terrace family housing area at U.S. Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, affecting possibly 75,000 residents, was contaminated with tetrachloroethylene (PCE), a dry cleaning solvent, during the period November 1957 through February 1987, an analysis by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) concludes.

Gene :: Genetic mutation alters response to heart failure drugs

Drugs known as beta blockers help reduce the heart’s workload during heart failure via their action on beta-adrenergic receptors in cardiac cells. However, doctors remain puzzled by the variable responses to beta blockers among patients. Researchers now show that the key to this variation lies in a single amino acid change in the beta1-adrenergic receptor, that may differ from person to person, which alters the receptor’s conformation and the receptor’s response to certain beta blockers.