Can diet improve a person’s vaginal health?

Certain foods and drinks contain compounds that may improve vaginal health and symptoms of vaginal conditions. These include probiotics, prebiotics, and fermented food and beverages. The vagina uses natural secretions, immune defenses, and “good” bacteria to keep itself healthy. Eating a healthful, balanced diet might also further prevent infections and improve vaginal conditions. This article…

Edible ‘security tag’ to protect drugs from counterfeit

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Manufacturing prescription drugs with distinct markings, colors, shapes or packaging isn’t enough to protect them from counterfeiting, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration reports have shown. Purdue University researchers are aiming to stump counterfeiters with an edible “security tag” embedded into medicine. To imitate the drug, a counterfeiter would have to uncrack a…

Are bigger brains better?

EAST LANSING, Mich. – When it comes to certain parts of the brain, bigger doesn’t necessarily equate to better memory. According to a new study led by Michigan State University, a larger hippocampus, a curved, seahorse-shaped structure embedded deep in the brain, does not always reliably predict learning and memory abilities in older adults. It’s…

Banking on a new community isotope database

Stable isotopes act like fingerprints or fibers in forensics, capturing details of where someone or something lived, what it ate or breathed, and how its environment changed over time. Isotopes are variants of elements whose nuclei contain the same number of protons but a different number of neutrons. Some isotopes are unstable and short-lived, but…