Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis — ALS — can arise from aberrant genes. A group of five Brown University professors proposes that a cure may also come from aberrant genes — genetic mutations that suppress ALS. A new research grant supports their comprehensive investigation of ALS in flies, worms, mice and human cells.

The idea of legalizing physician assistance in the planned death of terminally ill patients is rapidly gaining political traction across the United States, write Eli Adashi and Ryan Clodfelter in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Doctors have no approved medicine to help treat marijuana dependence and abuse, but in small new clinical trial topiramate reduced the amount of cannabis heavy smokers used when they lit up. The results also show, however, that many volunteers couldn’t tolerate the drug’s side effects.

Among HIV-positive patients with Hodgkin lymphoma, a new study finds that blacks are significantly less likely than whites to receive treatment for the cancer, even though chemotherapy saves lives.