Cholesterol-lowering statin drugs, already one of the most popular medications worldwide, may become even more widely used as evidence grows of their safety and value to the elderly and their potential benefits beyond the heart and blood vessels. Among the latest are reports of the ability of several leading statins to reduce deaths from common…
A new study finds middle-aged Americans are now reporting more pain than the elderly — and it has to do with their level of education and that pain is rising more quickly in younger people. Using survey responses from more than 2.5 million adults in the United States and the European Union, researchers found pain…
A team of scientists from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) and Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) in Washington, D.C., has developed a new tool that mimics how SARS-CoV-2 — the virus that causes COVID-19 — infects a cell, information that could potentially speed the search for treatments against the disease. The tool is…
Intolerances to chemicals, foods and drugs impact 8%-33% of individuals, studies suggest, yet few people are screened for it at their doctors’ offices. To address this and increase awareness of chemical intolerance, researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UT Health San Antonio) developed and validated a three-question, yes-or-no survey…
What do cellular systems in the human body and social behaviors of people have in common with zombies? If you dare to attend the Zombie Apocalypse Medicine Meeting (ZAMM) October 15-18, 2020, you would learn that cells, large groups of people and the undead all act cooperatively and engage in conflict. Moving from conflict to…
Boston, Mass. – As electronic medical records (EMR) become ubiquitous in health care settings, scientists are increasingly turning to electronic-based recruitment methods to encourage participation in clinical trials. However, little is known about how this use of technology compares to more traditional clinical trial recruitment strategies, and some researchers worry that an overreliance on technology…
BOSTON – New research suggests when the COVID-19 pandemic is slowing, low-cost, recurring screening of asymptomatic people – at an expense of approximately $3 or less per test every two weeks – could decrease COVID-19 infections and deaths and be cost-effective. When the pandemic is surging, screening can be cost-effective when done more often, even…
It is well understood that mortality rates increase with age. Whether you live in Tokyo, rural Tennessee or the forests of Papua, New Guinea, the older you are, the more likely you are to succumb to any number of different ailments. But how, exactly, do our bodies weather with age, and to what extent do…
The suspension of fertility treatments due to the COVID-19 pandemic has had a variety of psychological impacts on women whose treatments were cancelled, but there are several protective factors that can be fostered to help in the future, according to a new study by Jennifer Gordon and Ashley Balsom of University of Regina, Canada, published…
A UCLA-led report published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association Internal Medicine exposes what the authors call a weakness in the high-profile “Best Hospitals Honor Roll” published annually by U.S. News and World Report. The data used to compile the rankings are collected from multiple sources, including outcomes reported to the Joint…