For sick or prematurely born babies spending their first days of life in a hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), the soothing voice and gentle touch of a loving parent can have a tremendous impact toward a positive outcome — that is, unless mom or dad’s visit leaves the infant with something extra: a dangerous…
A new study led by researchers at Baylor College of Medicine and published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reveals that human noroviruses, the leading viral cause of foodborne illness and acute diarrhea around the world, infect cells of the small intestine by piggybacking on a normal cellular process called endocytosis that…
Parasites in the genus Plasmodium, which cause malaria, are transmitted to humans through bites from infected mosquitoes. The parasites manage to acclimatize to these two completely different hosts because the plasticity of their genome enables them to adapt as necessary. Scientists at the Institut Pasteur and the CNRS decided to investigate the epigenetic mechanisms behind…
Writing in the December 30, 2019 online issue of Neurology, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine and Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System report that accumulating amyloid — an abnormal protein linked to neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD) — occurred faster among persons deemed to have “objectively-defined subtle cognitive…
WASHINGTON — Newly unearthed documents show that the Food and Drug Administration failed to use its policing powers to make sure a program to curb improper prescribing of opioids was effective, researchers say. The lax oversight, they point out, occurred as the epidemic was growing and tens of thousands of people were dying from overdoses…
The last two decades have brought both a sharp decline in automaking jobs in the United States and the rise of a deadly epidemic of opioid abuse. According to a new study, the two trends may well be related. The study, published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine, found that opioid deaths were about 85 percent…
Prolonged exposure to a widely used household insecticide may increase the risk for cardiovascular disease and early death, new research suggests. Pyrethrin and its synthetic derivatives are used in garden insecticides, pet sprays, mosquito repellents and lice shampoos. They are extremely effective and cause no acute reactions in humans, but they are absorbed by the…
Ecstasy — or methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) — is a recreational drug that is illegal in the United States. However, some researchers believe that it could aid in mental health therapy. A new study in mice puts this idea to the test. Share on PinterestNew research in mice investigates what gives MDMA its positive effects on sociability.…
Here’s the last New Year’s health resolution you might ever need: resolve to stop eating added sugar. While you might think you’re not eating much sugar, chances are you’re eating a lot more than you realize. Added sugar lurks in nearly 70 percent of packaged foods and is found in breads, health foods, snacks, yogurts,…
Every now and then I write a column as much to push myself to act as to inform and motivate my readers. What follows is a prime example. Last year in a column entitled “Hearing Loss Threatens Mind, Life and Limb,” I summarized the current state of knowledge about the myriad health-damaging effects linked to…