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Enlarge ImageSliced. A zebrafish larvae tail 3 minutes, 17 minutes, and 61 minutes (top to bottom) after being cut. Hydrogen peroxide (red) emanates from the wound, fading to yellow and green as it dissipates through tissue.Credit: Philipp Niethammer Anyone who has felt the sting as hydrogen peroxide foams and fizzes on a scraped knee knows about the compound's antiseptic properties. But new research suggests that hydrogen peroxide does more than just kill microbes. It may also call for reinforcements, summoning an army of bacteria-fighting cells to cuts and wounds. Punctured skin sets off a chain reaction of chemical signals...

EVANSTON, Ill. -- A recent Northwestern University study found that a new treatment using stem cells might extend the lives of patients with lupus. Stem cell treatments could help patients with severe cases who have not responded to other options, according to a study published in the Feb. 1 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association. Lupus is a disease that causes patients' immune systems to become unable to distinguish between foreign substances and normal parts of the body. This causes the immune system to attack the patient's own cells and tissues instead of protecting them. Researchers, including...

On the day a priest came to her hospital bed and prayed over her withered body, Diana Abad would not have believed good fortune awaited. Or seemed to be, until one day her back started to ache and another day her legs swelled. She had her blood tested and learned her white-cell count was absurdly high. Leukemia, her doctor said. Without a bone-marrow transplant, she would be dead in nine months. David Mason would not have believed in 1990 that by checking a box on a Navy form he would set in motion the chain of events that led him...