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Medicine Facts

What Is a Spinal Cord Injury?

Although the hard bones of the spinal column protect the soft tissues of the spinal cord, vertebrae can still be broken or dislocated in a variety of ways and cause traumatic injury to the spinal ... Continue reading

The Placebo Effect

To test new drugs, researchers usually divide their subjects into two groups. One group receives the experimental drug. The other receives a placebo or 'sugar pill' that should have no effect on the ... Continue reading

Which of these pills is the real thing?

Malaria and Sickle Cell Anemia

Sickle cell anemia is a genetic disorder in which the red blood cells collapse into a 'sickle' shape and cannot carry oxygen very well. They also tend to get stuck in narrow blood vessels, causing ... Continue reading

Smallpox, Chickenpox . . . Monkeypox?

This past summer a few people in the midwest came down with monkeypox, a viral disease related to smallpox but less infectious and a lot less deadly to humans. Oddly they all seem to have caught the ... Continue reading