2021

More than half of all Danes are overweight, and being overweight increases the risk of developing a wide range of diseases, including type 2 diabetes, strokes, various types of cancer, and, currently, an enhanced risk of serious complications resulting from COVID-19 infection. Globally, more than four million people die from […]

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health and their collaborators found that inhaling unfragmented hyaluronan improves lung function in patients suffering from a severe exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Hyaluronan, a sugar secreted by living tissue that acts as a scaffold for cells, is also used in cosmetics […]

Five new research networks totaling $3.13 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health will allow investigators to refine and test key concepts that advance the study of emotional well-being. Emotional well-being has been defined as an overall positive state of one’s emotions, life satisfaction, sense of meaning and […]

For a few years now, I've suggested areas of opportunity in rejuvenation biotechnology in which either (a) it seems quite viable to start a company, given what I've seen going on in industry and academia, or (b) it would be very helpful should someone step up with an approach that […]

Current advice from the America Dental Association tells you that if your gums bleed, make sure you are brushing and flossing twice a day because it could be a sign of gingivitis, an early stage of periodontal disease. And that might be true. So if you are concerned, see your dentist. However, […]

Researchers have revealed how a rare DNA change rebalanced the immune system of patients with a life-threatening genetic immunodeficiency. Researchers at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research have discovered that three patients with a severe genetic immunodeficiency spontaneously repaired the harmful variants in their DNA and restored normal immune function […]

In the midst of a discussion regarding the limitations of life span studies, in that the use of death as an endpoint fails to capture all of the variances in health due to aging, the authors of this paper offer up the thought that aging is contagious within the body. […]

To catch cancer earlier, we need to predict who is going to get it in the future. The complex nature of forecasting risk has been bolstered by artificial intelligence (AI) tools, but the adoption of AI in medicine has been limited by poor performance on new patient populations and neglect to racial minorities. […]

Building on the promise of emerging therapies to deploy the body’s “natural killer” immune cells to fight cancer, researchers at the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center and U-M College of Engineering have gone one step further. They’ve developed what is believed to be the first systematic way to catch natural killer cells and get […]

The ability to understand others’ hidden thoughts and beliefs is an essential component of human social behaviour. Now, neuroscientists have for the first time identified specific neurons critical for social reasoning, a cognitive process that requires individuals to acknowledge and predict others’ hidden beliefs and thoughts. The findings, published in Nature, […]

The answer to the age-old mystery of the evolutionary origins of vertebrate eyes may lie in hagfish, according to a new study by biologists at the University of Alberta. “Hagfish eyes can help us understand the origins of human vision by expanding our understanding of the early steps in vertebrate […]

In many ways, our brain and our digestive tract are deeply connected. Feeling nervous may lead to physical pain in the stomach, while hunger signals from the gut make us feel irritable. Recent studies have even suggested that the bacteria living in our gut can influence some neurological diseases. Modelling […]