Category: 5. Health

Approximately 71 to 95 million people in the Lower 48 states — more than 20% of the country’s population — may rely on groundwater that contains detectable concentrations of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as PFAS, for their drinking water supplies. These findings are according… Continue Reading

Researchers at The University of Texas at El Paso have created a portable device that can detect colorectal and prostate cancer more cheaply and quickly than prevailing methods. The team believes the device may be especially helpful in developing countries, which experience higher cancer… Continue Reading

A new study shows that a biomedical tool can successfully deliver genetic material to edit faulty genes in developing fetal brain cells. The technology, tested in mice, might have the potential to stop the progression of genetic-based neurodevelopmental conditions, such as Angelman syndrome and… Continue Reading

For the first time, scientists have found individuals in Nigeria are experiencing neurological manifestations of long COVID — called neuro-long COVID — such as brain fog, mild cognitive impairment, fatigue, sleep problems, headache, sensations of pins and needles, and muscle pain. The study… Continue Reading

A new mouse model mimicking the liver symptoms of myotonic dystrophy type 1 — the most prevalent form of adult-onset muscular dystrophy — provides insight into why patients develop fatty liver disease and display hypersensitivity to medications, making treatment difficult. The new model opens… Continue Reading

Individualistic reward-seeking strategies predict responses to nicotine among mice living in a micro-society, according to a study publishing October 24 in the open-access journal PLOS Biology by Philippe Faure from PSL Research University, France, and colleagues. Individual animals differ in… Continue Reading

To address childhood malnutrition — which affects 200 million children globally — researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis developed a therapeutic food that nourishes the collections of beneficial microbes that reside in the gut, and improves children’s growth and… Continue Reading

A new study conducted in roundworms finds that a common plastic ingredient causes breaks in DNA strands, resulting in egg cells with the wrong number of chromosomes. Monica Colaiácovo of Harvard Medical School led the study, which was published October 24 in the journal PLOS Genetics. Benzyl… Continue Reading

The ideal material for interfacing electronics with living tissue is soft, stretchable, and just as water-loving as the tissue itself — in short, a hydrogel. Semiconductors, the key materials for bioelectronics such as pacemakers, biosensors, and drug delivery devices, on the other hand, are… Continue Reading

Researchers from Johns Hopkins Children’s Center say they have identified a gene pathway involving the mineral zinc in mice that may someday point the way to using zinc-based supplements to directly help people with a rare disorder called short bowel syndrome (SBS). The findings, published Oct…. Continue Reading