A pill designed to zero in on abnormal genes that drive specific cancers has produced encouraging early results in children with an uncommon but aggressive type of lymphoma, as well as in children with a rare form of neuroblastoma.

In 1848, Phineas Gage survived an accident that drove an iron rod through his head. UCLA researchers, for the first time, used images of Gage’s skull combined with modern-day brain images to suggest there was extensive damage to the white matter “pathways” that connected various regions of his brain.

Biologists at the University of California, San Diego have succeeded in engineering algae to produce potential candidates for a vaccine that would prevent transmission of the parasite that causes malaria, an achievement that could pave the way for the development of an inexpensive way to protect billions of people from one of the world’s most prevalent and debilitating diseases. Initial proof-of-principle experiments suggest that such a vaccine could prevent malaria transmission.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), long the master reference work in psychiatry, is seriously flawed and needs radical change from its current “field guide” form, according to an essay by two Johns Hopkins psychiatrists published in the May 17 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Treatment for a type of breast cancer more common in young and black women has limited therapy options. Called triple negative breast cancer, this type of cancer is the focus of a 20-month, $8.6-million research project that aims to find new diagnostic tools and options for drugs.

A plastic surgeon and neurosurgeon have successfully utilized peripheral nerve transfer to bypass a cervical spinal cord injury and restore partial function in both hands to a quadriplegic patient.

A new study suggests that head impacts experienced during contact sports such as football and hockey may worsen some college athletes’ ability to acquire new information. The research is published in the May 16, 2012, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

Penn Ross Jackson survived a brain tumor, living on the streets and Hurricane Katrina all before he turned 16. On Saturday, he becomes the first in his family to graduate from a four-year college.

iPhones and other smartphones can be a huge help to the visually impaired, but only 15 percent of vision doctors are recommending them to patients, according to a study presented at the 2012 ARVO Annual Meeting.

Researchers have found evidence that early drug and alcohol use is associated with lower levels of educational achievement. They found that people who began drinking or using drugs as young teens or who became substance dependent were less likely to finish college