Free Republic

Federal health officials yesterday sharply reduced the desired levels of harmful cholesterol for Americans who are at moderate to high risk for heart disease. The new recommendations call for treatment with cholesterol-lowering drugs for millions of Americans who had thought their cholesterol levels were fine. Already more than 10 million people take the drugs. But now, more should start, the recommendations say. For people at the highest risk, they suggest that the target level of L.D.L., the type of cholesterol that increases the likelihood of heart disease, should be less than 100. That is 30 points lower than previously recommended....

Alzheimer's disease can seem unrelentingly grim. There is no cure, no known way to prevent the illness, and the benefits of current treatments are modest at best. But in laboratories around the country, scientists are uncovering clues that may eventually — perhaps even in the next two decades — allow them to prevent, slow or even reverse the ruthless progression of the illness. "Things are more hopeful than perhaps people think," Dr. Karen Duff of the Nathan Kline Institute of New York University said. "We are on the cusp of having something really useful." That hope comes on the heels...

Widely used cholesterol-lowering drugs could relieve multiple sclerosis, say researchers. The drugs might also work on other diseases where the immune system attacks the body. The drugs, called statins, are commonly prescribed to fight heart disease. The new study shows that they may also work on the immune system, reducing brain inflammation. Multiple sclerosis is thought to arise when the immune system assaults the nervous system. It strikes with unpredictable symptoms including fatigue, tremor and paralysis. Existing treatments can slow, but not stop, the advance of the disease. Scott Zamvil of the University of California, San Francisco, and his team...