A-Z Guide to the Year in Medicine

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MARIJUANA Research into the analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects of cannabis continued to bolster the case for the medicinal use of marijuana, making the "patient pot laws" that have passed in 11 states seem less like a social movement than a legitimate medical trend. One trial--the first controlled study of its kind--showed that a medicine containing cannabis extracts called Sativex not only lessened the pain of rheumatoid arthritis but actually suppressed the disease. An earlier study published in the Journal of Neuroscience showed that synthetic cannabinoids, the chemicals in marijuana, can reduce inflammation in the brain and may protect it from the cognitive decline associated with Alzheimer's disease.

JIM GATHANY / CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL

MALARIA It was a big year for progress against the anopheles mosquito and the malaria parasite it carries. Eradicated in North America 50 years ago, the disease continues to plague the developing world, killing an estimated 1 million people a year, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa. But there were several promising developments in 2005, including a huge influx of research money from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and a pilot project to contain the disease in one African country (see "Zambia"). The best news may be the results of a study of the experimental vaccine developed by GlaxoSmithKline called RTS,S. In a test conducted in Mozambique and funded in part by GSK and the Gateses' Malaria Vaccine Initiative, RTS,S offered the first significant vaccine protection against malaria. The number of clinical cases in a group of children ages 1 to 4 who received the three-dose regimen fell 35%, compared with a control group, while the number of severe cases fell nearly 50%.