OH, WHAT A RELIEF: It's like heartburn magnified. Some 14 million Americans spend $7 billion annually on drugs to treat gastroesophageal reflux disease. Now, researchers at Stanford and the veterans' hospital are using radio-frequency energy to strengthen the valve that prevents stomach acid from flowing backward from the stomach into the esophagus. Eighty-five percent of those treated no longer take any medication for heartburn.
SOUND DISCOVERY: A single dose of radiation usually eliminates vestibular schwannoma, a potentially dangerous tumor that can grow between the inner ear and the brain stem. But the therapy has an unwanted side effect: it causes nerve damage and deafness in half of all patients. A Stanford research team has found that dividing the treatment into three shorter sessions is just as effective and preserves at least some hearing in 80 percent of patients.
LIGHTNING STRIKE: Just one second after a single lightning flash brightens the sky in Texas, its electrons can travel out of the Earth's radiation belts into the upper atmosphere above an area from Oklahoma to South Dakota, Stanford researchers have found. The findings are the first evidence that lightning can have such a far-reaching effect -- temporarily changing the composition of the radiation belts and the adjacent ionosphere for several hundred thousand square miles.
CRYSTAL CLEAR: Patients who undergo a new type of corneal transplant may have a better shot at good vision, thanks to a Stanford doctor. Assistant professor of ophthalmology Edward Manche has developed a more precise way to remove the diseased cornea, applying gel to make it easier to dislodge before a new cornea is fitted. If overlooked, remnants of the old tissue can turn cloudy after surgery.
