New research suggests that the relationship between physical and brain fitness varies in older adults by virtue of their sex. The study is publishing ahead of print in the Journal of Applied Physiology. The researchers investigated sex differences in the association between a measure of physical health, cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), and brain function using resting…
Geneticists discovered a molecular trigger for a severe autism-related disorder that has enabled them to start testing a potential therapy targeting a specific protein in the brain. A UT Southwestern study involving humans and mice details one of the few instances in which researchers have found a precise pathway that causes; a neurodevelopmental disorder in…
A multi center phase II clinical trial investigating pembrolizumab as a first-line and programmed cell death therapy in patients with advanced Merkel cell carcinoma reports lasting tumor control, generally manageable side effects and improved overall survival. The results are published online in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. LSU Health New Orleans’ Adam Riker, MD, FACS,…
A single hour of general anesthesia in early infancy longer than is necessary to perform the most common types of minor surgeries in childhood does not result in measurable underdevelopment or behavioral problems up to the age of 5 years, according to the first randomized trial of its kind involving 722 infants in seven countries,…
Tobacco smoking is the practice of smoking tobacco and inhaling tobacco smoke (consisting of particle and gaseous phases). The practice; believed to have begun as early as 5000–3000 BC in Mesoamerica and South America. Tobacco; introduced to Eurasia in the late 17th century by European colonists, where it followed common trade routes. The practice encountered…
People with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) need more support when understanding and acting on new chest symptoms; a study in the journal Psycho-Oncology reports. During this unique study, led by the University of Glasgow and the University of Surrey; researchers investigated how the experience of COPD; influences how individuals understand new or changing chest…
Low back pain (LBP) is a common disorder involving the muscles, nerves, and bones of the back. Pain can vary from a dull constant ache to a sudden sharp feeling. Low back pain may be classified by duration as acute (pain lasting less than 6 weeks), sub-chronic (6 to 12 weeks); or chronic (more than 12 weeks). The condition may…
According to a new statement from a panel of national and international experts in gastroenterology, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and other areas, interventional IBD endoscopy has an expanding role in the treatment of disease and of adverse events from surgery. The report from the panel, Role of interventional inflammatory bowel disease in the era of…
Researchers at the University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre (CRCHUM) have shown that immunotherapy treatments against cancer could reduce the amount of virus that persists in people on triple therapy. In a study published in the journal Nature Communications, they show, in the cells of people living with HIV, how these therapies reveal the virus —…
Potentially lethal heart conditions may become easier to spot; and may lead to improvements in prevention and treatment thanks to innovative new software that measures electrical activity in the organ. The heart’s pumping ability is controlled by electrical activity; that triggers the heart muscle cells to contract and relax. In certain heart diseases such as…
A new compound based on Iridium, a rare metal which landed in the Gulf of Mexico 66 M years ago, hooked onto albumin, a protein in blood, can attack the nucleus of cancerous cells when switched on by light, University of Warwick researchers have found. An organoiridium–albumin bioconjugate (Ir1‐HSA) was synthesized by reaction of a…
Two chemicals commonly used as e-cigarette flavors might harm users’ airway passages, a small experiment suggests. Researchers exposed human bronchial epithelial cells to two flavoring compounds: diacetyl a chemical with a butter-like smell – and its “chemical cousin” 2,3-pentanedione. Both chemicals induced hundreds of genetic changes in the cells. The chemicals also impaired the ability…