Gina Kolata
Medical reporter for the New York Times and author of six books. The latest, Mercies in Disguise, will be published in March of 2017.
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A Landmark Diet Study Was Flawed. The Researchers Stand By the Findings Anyway.
A highly publicized trial in Spain found that the Mediterranean diet protects against heart disease. Now the original work has been retracted and re-analyzed, with the same result.
Gina Kolata
Mediterranean diet study is retracted and re-analyzed. But not everyone is convinced.
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The Ideal Subjects for a Salt Study? Maybe Prisoners.
Leading scientists propose to track salt’s effects on health by controlling how much is given to inmate volunteers.
Gina Kolata
A proposal to end the salt wars -- is our dietary salt level too low or just right? Maybe there can be a rigorous study to find out.
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Fecal Transplants vs. Antibiotics. The Test.
Instead of waiting until antibiotics have failed before trying fecal transplants, researchers tried giving the fecal bacteria first.
Gina Kolata
Why wait for antibiotics to fail? A new study tests fecal transplants as the initial treatment for a type of severe diarrhea.
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Is It a Migraine? Many Patients Don’t Realize What Causes Their Suffering
Here’s a guide to help you recognize the symptoms of migraines, understand why the signs are so often missed, and think about treatment options.
Un cambio de vida para quienes sufren migrañas
Las autoridades estadounidenses aprobaron un medicamento para prevenir las migrañas que, aunque no previene todos los ataques, puede disminuir su fuerza y su frecuencia hasta en un 50 por ciento o más.
New Cancer Treatments Lie Hidden Under Mountains of Paperwork
Guideposts to powerful treatments may be buried in the nation’s medical records. But there is no easy way to gather those records or to get them into a usable format.
New Drug Offers Hope to Millions With Severe Migraines
The F.D.A. has approved the first drug designed to prevent migraines, a persistent cause of misery worldwide.
Risk Calculator for Cholesterol Appears Flawed
An online calculator meant to help doctors assess treatment options appears to overestimate risk, so much so that it could mistakenly suggest that millions more people are candidates for statin drugs.
Stanley Falkow, Who Saw How Bacteria Cause Disease, Dies at 84
He found resistance to antibiotics spreading among bacteria and was hailed for his discoveries, though a Nobel Prize eluded him. (Not that he wanted one.)
The Golden State Killer Is Tracked Through a Thicket of DNA, and Experts Shudder
The arrest of a suspect has set off alarms among some scientists and ethicists worried that consumer DNA may be widely accessed by law enforcement.
Gina Kolata
Do the ends justify the means? Questions about the DNA search for the Golden State Killer
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Trump’s Doctor Accused of Handing Out Ambien. D.E.A. Calls the Practice Illegal.
If Dr. Ronny Jackson gave sleeping pills to reporters and staff on long flights abroad, he broke the law, a D.E.A. spokesman said. “You could be prosecuted.”
Gina Kolata
Can Dr. Ronny Jackson give out Ambien on flights? Not without breaking the law, the DEA says.
52d
‘Desperation Oncology’: When Patients Are Dying, Some Cancer Doctors Turn to Immunotherapy
The drugs don’t work against every cancer — but on rare occasions, they work miracles. Now some doctors are offering immunotherapy to dying patients.
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Gina Kolata
Do you want to try an immunotherapy drug before you die? The reality of desperation oncology
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With George H.W. Bush Hospitalized, the World Wonders: Is It a Broken Heart?
Failing health after sudden grief — especially the loss of a spouse — has been reported by medical researchers. But it seems to be statistically quite rare, experts said.
We’re So Confused: The Problems With Food and Exercise Studies
Among the drawbacks: poorly designed research, a variety of ways to measure and report outcomes, and a bias toward reporting “interesting” results.
For Many Strokes, There’s an Effective Treatment. Why Aren’t Some Doctors Offering It?
As many as 30 percent of stroke patients do not receive a clot-busting drug because a vocal minority of physicians believe it to be dangerous.
The Struggle to Build a Massive ‘Biobank’ of Patient Data
At a cost of $1.4 billion, the N.I.H.’s All of Us program may help scientists discover new links between diseases, genes and lifestyle. But the project faces formidable obstacles.
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Gina Kolata
The NIH wants to build a database of a million Americans. Feasible? And in what time frame?
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John E. Sulston, 75, Dies; Found Clues to Genes in a Worm
After putting a roundworm under a microscope, Dr. Sulston shared a Nobel Prize in 2002 for discoveries on how organisms develop.
Some Athletes’ Genes Help Outwit Doping Test
A study showed that large numbers of men show false negatives in screens testing for doping with testosterone.
When a Reporter Borrows the Eyes of Trauma Surgeons
Gina Kolata, a Times science reporter, admits she can’t bear to look at what bullets do to bodies. Then she was asked to write story about it.
Wounds From Military-Style Rifles? ‘A Ghastly Thing to See.’
Trauma surgeons tell what it is really like to try to repair such devastating injuries. “Bones are exploded, soft tissue is absolutely destroyed,” one said.
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