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Top stories featured on ScienceDaily's Health & Medicine, Mind & Brain, and Living Well sections.

The technology described uses a nanomechanical platform and tiny cantilevers to detect multiple HIV antigens at high sensitivity in a matter of minutes. These silicon cantilevers are cheap and easy to mass produce and can be readily equipped with a digital readout. Built into a solar-powered device, this technology could be taken to hard-to-reach parts of the world where early detection remains a challenge to deliver fast interventions to vulnerable populations without waiting for a lab.
Posted: April 2, 2025, 8:06 pm
Cervical artery dissection is a tear in an artery in the neck that provides blood flow to the brain. Such a tear can result in blood clots that cause stroke. A new study has found almost a five-fold increase in the number of U.S. hospitalizations for cervical artery dissection over a 15-year period.
Posted: April 2, 2025, 8:06 pm
For the first time researchers demonstrate in an animal how heavy alcohol use leads to long-term behavioral issues by damaging brain circuits critical for decision-making.
Posted: April 2, 2025, 6:24 pm
When we move, it's harder for existing wearable devices to accurately track our heart activity. But researchers found that a starfish's five-arm shape helps solve this problem. Inspired by how a starfish flips itself over -- shrinking one of its arms and using the others in a coordinated motion to right itself -- scientists have created a starfish-shaped wearable device that tracks heart health in real time.
Posted: April 2, 2025, 6:23 pm
The United States Cystic Fibrosis Foundation released the first guideline on newborn screening for cystic fibrosis (CF), in order to improve timely detection of CF in infants from all racial and ethnic backgrounds. The new guideline reflects rigorous scientific investigation and perspectives from parents, CF specialists, public health representatives, primary care providers and genetic counselors.
Posted: April 2, 2025, 5:57 pm
Researchers have successfully developed a novel drug to restore vision. The treatment method restores vision through retinal nerve regeneration.
Posted: April 2, 2025, 4:30 pm
An AI model trained on large amounts of genetic data can predict whether bacteria will become antibiotic-resistant. The new study shows that antibiotic resistance is more easily transmitted between genetically similar bacteria and mainly occurs in wastewater treatment plants and inside the human body.
Posted: April 2, 2025, 4:28 pm
Precious metals are not merely ornaments; they are also important components of pharmaceuticals, like the antitumor drug cisplatin. Recently, the search for alternatives with improved activity has begun to focus on gold. A research team has now published a study about the speciation and distribution of an organogold(III) complex in cancer cells and reveals how specially designed 'organogold' complexes might open exciting avenues for fighting cancer.
Posted: April 2, 2025, 4:28 pm
An AI tool that analyzes nurses' data and notes detected when patients in the hospital were deteriorating nearly two days earlier than traditional methods and reduced the risk of death by over 35%.
Posted: April 2, 2025, 4:28 pm
A 'weekend warrior' approach to physical activity -- getting 150 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity over one to two days instead of throughout the week -- improved health and lowered the risk of death, finds a new stud.
Posted: April 2, 2025, 4:27 pm
Researchers have demonstrated how specific biomarkers in the blood can predict the development of dementia up to ten years before diagnosis, among older adults living independently in the community.
Posted: April 2, 2025, 4:26 pm
Elite athletes have shared their worries about their sports career after pregnancy.
Posted: April 2, 2025, 4:26 pm
Researchers discover a new class of antibiotic that selectively targets Neisseria gonorrhoeae, the bacterium that causes gonorrhoea. These substances trigger a self-destruction program, which also operates in multi-resistant variants of the pathogen.
Posted: April 2, 2025, 4:26 pm
New research suggests that smartwatches could provide a more accurate picture of people's daily drinking habits than current methods. The technology could be a key element for future alcohol interventions.
Posted: April 2, 2025, 4:24 pm
Researchers have gained a new understanding of how the brain processes reward and risk information. Neuroscientists show how nerve cells in the so-called amygdala not only encode the probability and magnitude of rewards, but also dynamically process this information to predict value and risk. The findings provide new insights into the neural basis of decision-making and could also be important for understanding mental illnesses such as anxiety disorders and depression.
Posted: April 2, 2025, 4:24 pm
Obesity is at epidemic proportions in the United States where more than 40% of adults are obese and more than 70% are overweight. One common policy intervention to tackle this urgent issue is to try to improve diet quality by increasing local grocery stores that offer healthy options. However, this is not a silver bullet, but researchers are not sure why. A team of researchers developed a novel tool to help understand consumer behavior at the county level, and to study the relationship between where people shop for their food and the risk of obesity-related cancers.
Posted: April 2, 2025, 4:24 pm
Scientists are working to create a new light-activated 'smart' bomb to treat aggressive breast cancer. The new light-sensitive chemicals called cyanine-carborane salts are used in photodynamic therapy, or PDT, to destroy metastatic breast cancer tumors in mice with minimal side effects.
Posted: April 2, 2025, 4:23 pm
Miso is a traditional Japanese condiment made by fermenting cooked soybeans and salt. Researchers successfully made miso on the International Space Station (ISS). They found that the miso smelled and tasted similar to miso fermented on Earth -- just with a slightly nuttier, more roasted flavor. The team hopes this research will help broaden the culinary options available to astronauts, improving the quality of life for long-term space travelers.
Posted: April 2, 2025, 4:21 pm
Smaller than a grain of rice, new pacemaker is particularly suited to the small, fragile hearts of newborn babies with congenital heart defects. Tiny pacemaker is paired with a small, soft, flexible wearable patch that sits on the patient's chest. The wearable patch detects irregular heartbeats and automatically emits pulses of light. The light then flashes on and off at a rate that corresponds to the correct pacing. After the tiny pacemaker is no longer needed, it dissolves inside the body.
Posted: April 2, 2025, 4:21 pm
A new analysis of a vaccination program in Wales found that the shingles vaccine appeared to lower new dementia diagnoses by 20% -- more than any other known intervention.
Posted: April 2, 2025, 4:21 pm
Lung cancer screening has the potential to catch lung cancer early and save lives -- but only if people get screened. Although lung cancer screening is recommended in the U.S. for certain individuals with a history of smoking, only 18% of eligible individuals in the U.S. get screened. One suggested explanation has been that those eligible are resistant to receiving preventive healthcare, but a new study indicates otherwise.
Posted: April 2, 2025, 4:20 pm
Despite a recent Food and Drug Administration warning against inhaling nitrous oxide, commonly known as laughing gas, deaths due to misusing the substance are rising in the United States.
Posted: April 2, 2025, 4:20 pm
Scientists have found a way to 'intercept' pancreatic cancer. By inhibiting the cancer gene FGFR2, they were able to slow tumor formation. By targeting the FGFR2 and EGFR proteins, they were able to prevent pancreatic cancer from forming in the first place.
Posted: April 2, 2025, 4:20 pm
For dogs housed at Texas kennels, age and fecal score are important factors for screening for subclinical Giardia infections.
Posted: April 1, 2025, 9:49 pm
In mice, autism symptoms arise when a certain pair of competing nerve proteins falls out of equilibrium, according to a new study.
Posted: April 1, 2025, 7:16 pm
Genomic changes in the infectious yeast Candida tropicalis may play a role in its resistance to antifungals, according to a new study. These genomic changes can be brought on by a common antifungal, TBZ. The study demonstrates that the use of TBZ in agriculture may contribute to the increasing problem of antifungal resistance.
Posted: April 1, 2025, 7:16 pm
A new form of tumor infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) therapy, a form of personalized cancer immunotherapy, dramatically improved the treatment's effectiveness in patients with metastatic gastrointestinal cancers, according to results of a clinical trial. The findings offer hope that this therapy could be used to treat a variety of solid tumors, which has so far eluded researchers developing cell-based therapies.
Posted: April 1, 2025, 5:15 pm
By integrating powerful 3D imaging technology with advanced computation, researchers can capture gaze direction information from tens of thousands of surface points on the eye instead of about a dozen used by conventional eye-tracking methods. The technique could boost eye-tracking accuracy in a variety of fields ranging from the entertainment industry to medical research and industrial engineering.
Posted: April 1, 2025, 5:15 pm
Mpox has the potential to become a significant global health threat if taken too lightly, according to scientists.
Posted: April 1, 2025, 5:15 pm
A new study has found that children exposed to higher levels of air pollution in early and mid childhood have weaker connections between key brain regions. The findings highlight the potential impact of early exposure to air pollution on brain development.
Posted: April 1, 2025, 5:13 pm
A new article outlines a new tool that measures blood inflammation as a marker for poor CAR T therapy outcomes.
Posted: April 1, 2025, 5:13 pm
A team has developed a new way to quickly find personalized treatments for young cancer patients, by growing their tumors in chicken eggs and analyzing their proteins. The team has combined these two techniques to identify and test a drug for a young patient's tumor in time to be used for their treatment. Their success in finding a new drug for the patient shows how the study of proteins, known as proteomics, can be a valuable complement to the established study of genes (genomics) in real-time cancer therapies.
Posted: April 1, 2025, 5:13 pm
Linoleic acid, an omega-6 fatty acid found in seed oils such as soybean and safflower oil, and animal products including pork and eggs, specifically enhances the growth of the hard-to-treat 'triple negative' breast cancer subtype, according to a preclinical study. The discovery could lead to new dietary and pharmaceutical strategies against breast and other cancers.
Posted: April 1, 2025, 5:12 pm
Public awareness of the link between drinking alcohol and an elevated risk of cancer has grown since last fall, with 55% of U.S. adults saying that regularly consuming alcohol increases your chances of later developing cancer, according to a new survey.
Posted: April 1, 2025, 5:10 pm
Medical imaging experts are adept at solving common optical illusions, according to new research. The research is the first to show that people can be trained to do better at solving visual illusions, which was previously thought to be near-impossible. The study shows that medical imaging experts are particularly accurate at judging the size of objects in common optical illusions. In other words, they also literally see better in everyday life!
Posted: April 1, 2025, 5:10 pm
Nearly 40% of patients diagnosed with type 2 diabetes imperil their health by stopping their medication within the first year, diabetes experts warn.
Posted: April 1, 2025, 5:10 pm
Human thermoregulation limits are lower than previously thought, indicating that some regions may soon experience heat and humidity levels exceeding safe limits for survival. The study underscores the urgent need to address climate change impacts on human health, providing vital data to inform public health strategies and climate models.
Posted: March 31, 2025, 11:21 pm
Post-traumatic osteoarthritis (PTOA) is a condition that affects joints after an injury. Current treatments focus on relieving symptoms but do not prevent or stop the progression of the condition. Although emerging therapies have shown promise in preclinical studies, a major obstacle is delivering these therapies effectively into the joint, a highly dynamic environment subjected to constant mechanical stress. Researchers have created a new hydrogel to improve drug delivery for treating PTOA.
Posted: March 31, 2025, 11:21 pm
A trial of 648 patients found that the new automated method and intervention strategy resulted in nearly four times as many diagnoses and treatment plans for high blood pressure compared with traditional office-based health care visits.
Posted: March 31, 2025, 11:21 pm
Timely follow-up colonoscopies can reduce the mortality rate from colorectal cancer, and patient navigators can play an important role in facilitating screening.
Posted: March 31, 2025, 11:21 pm
AI mental health apps may offer a cheap and accessible way to fill the gaps in the overstretched U.S. mental health care system, but ethics experts warn that we need to be thoughtful about how we use them, especially with children.
Posted: March 31, 2025, 7:12 pm
Fear of emotions among couples with PTSD is associated with unproductive communication, according to a new study.
Posted: March 31, 2025, 7:12 pm
People breathing contaminated air over the course of years are at greater risk of developing numerous diseases. This is thought to be due to highly reactive components in particulate matter, which affect biological processes in the body. However, researchers have now shown that precisely these components disappear within hours and that previous measurements therefore completely underestimate the quantities in which they are present.
Posted: March 31, 2025, 7:12 pm
A newly developed blood test for Alzheimer's disease not only aids in the diagnosis of the neurodegenerative condition but also indicates how far it has progressed, according to a new study.
Posted: March 31, 2025, 4:22 pm
Researchers have developed new AI models that can vastly improve accuracy and discovery within protein science. Potentially, the models will assist the medical sciences in overcoming present challenges within, e.g. personalised medicine, drug discovery, and diagnostics.
Posted: March 31, 2025, 4:22 pm
As warehouses go, nuclei are more like libraries than bank vaults. Too many cellular components need access to the genome to lock it down like Fort Knox. Instead, large groupings of more than 1,000 individual protein molecules called nuclear pore complexes (NPCs) pepper the dividing membrane, serving as gateways for materials and messages entering and exiting the nucleus. While the basic need for this shuttle service is constant, scientists have shown that cells dynamically adjust their amounts of NPCs like a retail store opening more or fewer checkout lines throughout the day. Scientists now reveal the results of screening the entire human genome to find factors influencing how many NPCs are assembled.
Posted: March 31, 2025, 4:21 pm
A recent study finds most critically injured patients can recover with less supplemental oxygen than has previously been suggested.
Posted: March 31, 2025, 4:21 pm
New research reveals that lower proportions of specific sleep stages are associated with reduced brain volume in regions vulnerable to the development of Alzheimer's disease over time.
Posted: March 31, 2025, 4:21 pm
A new artificial intelligence tool could aid in limiting or even prevent pandemics by identifying animal species that may harbor and spread viruses capable of infecting humans. The machine learning model analyzes host characteristics and virus genetics to identify potential animal reservoirs and geographic areas where new outbreaks are more likely to occur.
Posted: March 31, 2025, 4:21 pm
A new study on the genetic causes of the PTEN Hamartoma Tumour Syndrome (PHTS) has found that inhibitors of the PI3ka pathway, commonly used as anticancer drugs, are also effective against this disease, reducing the extent of vascular malformations and lesion-associated pain in animal models. The research suggests the repurposing of these drugs may offer a new hope for PHTS patients, especially at younger ages.
Posted: March 31, 2025, 4:21 pm
Inhaling dust particles from the Red Planet over long periods of time could put humans at risk of developing respiratory issues, thyroid disease and other health problems.
Posted: March 31, 2025, 4:21 pm
New findings indicate that while the rate of marathon runners who suffer cardiac arrests remained unchanged, their chance for survival is twice what it was in the past. Now, far fewer marathon runners who suffer cardiac arrest are dying of it.
Posted: March 31, 2025, 2:34 am
Investigators have uncovered how resistance to chemotherapies may occur in some cancers. Researchers focused on a pathway that harnesses reactive oxygen species (ROS) to kill cancer cells. The study found that mutations to VPS35, a key player in this pathway, can prevent chemotherapy-induced cell death. These results could help pinpoint treatment-resistant tumors.
Posted: March 29, 2025, 12:10 am
A new study found that over half of US adults experienced some form of discrimination, and individuals with high exposure to discrimination have more than five times the chances of screening positive for depression, and five times the chances of screening positive for anxiety. Compared to adults who do not experience discrimination, adults who do experience this mistreatment have nearly nine times the odds of screening positive for both depression and anxiety.
Posted: March 28, 2025, 9:35 pm
The new study reveals a remarkable way that cells keep us safe from transposable elements (TEs) gone wild. The researchers found that cells have taken advantage of an entire protein network to repress TE activity and keep themselves healthy.
Posted: March 28, 2025, 9:35 pm
A new 3D printed customizable hydrogel performed well in preclinical trials with several different types of meniscal tears.
Posted: March 28, 2025, 9:35 pm
Cold water immersion for seven days significantly improves cellular resilience and autophagic function, helping cells manage stress better. This adaptation could enhance health and longevity, potentially preventing diseases and slowing aging at a cellular level.
Posted: March 28, 2025, 9:35 pm
Roughly one out of three women ages 14-49 in the United States develop a vaginal bacterial imbalance known as bacterial vaginosis (BV) during their lifetime. BV is characterized by unpleasant odors, and potentially painful side effects, as well as the risk of associated health issues later in life. More than half of the patients who seek medical care do not respond to the first-line treatment, the antibiotic metronidazole, leading to recurrence. Now researchers have developed a simple DNA PCR-based lab test -- built on a more detailed genetic analysis of the main group of bacterial organisms that cause the infection -- to help clinicians prescribe the right medicine for each patient.
Posted: March 28, 2025, 9:29 pm
The finding of a new study could advance the development of new drugs that block or open such signaling channels to treat conditions as varied as epilepsy and some intellectual disorders.
Posted: March 28, 2025, 5:49 pm
Researchers show that a cocktail of growth factors reversed would-be lethal cell damage in mice with anthrax, suggesting that this approach could be adapted for use in patients.
Posted: March 28, 2025, 3:28 pm