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Editor: Bijal Trivedi

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Taking a Snapshot of the Human Immune System

Source: National Cancer Institute Visuals Online, NIH

There are numerous tests to gauge the health of your heart. But no such widely accepted test exists for the many parts of the immune system. How can we tell if the immune system is strong or weak? Or quantify how badly it’s malfunctioning when we suffer

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Clinical Studies in Your Own Backyard

Map of clinical trials in the U.S. as of Feb. 7, 2013Source: ClinicalTrials.gov

NIH conducts clinical research studies for many diseases and conditions, including cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, allergy and infectious diseases, and neurological disorders. What’s more, this work is being carried out in every state of the nation, as you can see from this

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Who Knew? Gut Bacteria Contribute to Malnutrition

Photo of an African girl with thin limbs and a distended abdomen.

A child suffering from kwashiorkor.Source: CDC/Phil

Here’s a surprising result from a new NIH-funded study: a poor diet isn’t the only cause of severe malnutrition. It seems that a ‘bad’ assortment of microbes in the intestine can conspire with a nutrient poor diet to promote and perpetuate malnutrition [1].

Most of us don’t spend time thinking

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Got Your Red On?

The hard truth is that heart disease is the #1 killer of American women. And it’s largely preventable. The Heart Truth® was started here at NIH’s National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute to raise awareness of these truths. You’re probably most familiar with the campaign through its February 1st fashion statement, which has arguably become

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Smoking: It’s Killing Us

Source: Smokefree.gov

Smoking harms just about every body part—from heart and lungs to bladder and blood vessels. What’s new is that smoking is more of a health hazard than we thought. Two new, NIH-funded reports make the persuasive, and alarming, case—on average, smoking takes an entire decade off of your life!

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