Health

Researchers at the University of Minnesota Medical School have developed a new method called PARTAGE that provides a clearer picture of how the genome is regulated and disrupted in diseases like cancer. The findings were published in Genome Research.

Why can images of things we have seen seem so real when we later recall them from memory? A new study led by Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University investigators sheds light on the answer. The research shows that the same brain neurons are activated when we imagine something and when we perceive something. The research, led by Cedars-Sinai, is the first to provide a detailed understanding of the shared mechanism that underlies visual perception and creation of mental images in the human brain. It was published in the journal Science.

Amid a renaissance in the science of psychedelics, public interest in psilocybin—or magic mushrooms, as they've long been known—is surging.

Meditation is widely recognized for its extensive range of mental and physical health benefits, from reducing stress and anxiety to boosting cognitive and emotional health. What was considered a fringe activity is now a mainstream practice embraced by millions of people around the world. But how long does it take to reap the benefits?

A multifaceted, team-based care strategy significantly reduced blood pressure (BP) in low-income patients with uncontrolled hypertension, according to a study led by researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center. Their findings, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, could eventually lead to the widespread use of this strategy at primary care clinics across the country.

Sauna bathing releases white blood cells into the bloodstream, a new study from Finland shows. Circulating white blood cells play a key role in the body's defense against various pathogens and diseases. The results were published in the journal Temperature.

For the first time, scientists have used a modern cell therapy called CAR-T to treat a patient with three different life-threatening autoimmune diseases that had resisted years of treatment. The patient, who once required daily blood infusions, has been in remission without needing additional treatment for a year since the CAR-T therapy. The case report, published in Med, suggests that CAR-T therapies can help treat complex and severe autoimmune diseases.

New research reveals that for many young children, the trauma of war can fundamentally alter how their nervous systems process and respond to the physical world. The study found that nearly half of the young survivors of the October 7 attacks developed atypical sensory patterns, causing common stimuli such as sounds, movements, and touches to be perceived as overwhelming threats. These findings emphasize the critical importance of addressing sensory needs to ensure that daily environments no longer feel like a source of distress for children during their most vulnerable stages of development.

It is well known that students who prepare in advance perform better in exams. Now, it appears that the skin can do the same. Rather than scrambling to repair itself only after injury occurs, a Korean research team has demonstrated that preconditioning a subset of skin cells into a "ready state" enables the tissue to initiate rapid and effective healing immediately upon injury.

For more than a decade, a class of drugs called BET inhibitors has been tested in cancer trials with high expectations. The biology looked promising. Many cancers depend on oncogenes that "Bromo- and Extra-Terminal domain" (BET) proteins help activate, so blocking BET proteins should slow tumor growth.

A research group at Uppsala University has demonstrated that a new method for PET imaging of Alzheimer's disease is effective. The study was conducted in collaboration between the Department of Public Health and Caring Sciences, the Department of Medicinal Chemistry and the PET Center at Uppsala University Hospital. The findings are published in the journal Translational Neurodegeneration.

Researchers at the Institute of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Toronto have demonstrated a new way to monitor transplanted stem-cell-derived heart cells using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The method allows researchers to visualize where transplanted cells survive over time, which could help scientists evaluate and improve emerging stem cell therapies for heart damage such as those caused by heart attacks. Professor Hai-Ling Margaret Cheng and her team have shown that an imaging platform known as "bright ferritin MRI" can be used to track transplanted human pluripotent stem-cell-derived cardiomyocytes in the hearts of rats for up to eight weeks. The findings are published in Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.

Carnegie Mellon researchers have proven that widely available earbuds can double as heart-monitoring devices, capturing subtle cardiac activity with near-clinical accuracy and potentially expanding access to long-term, at-home care. By repurposing built-in components, the team transformed these commonplace devices into heart-vibration sensors that measure heart valve activity with nearly the same accuracy as chest-mounted medical devices.

Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) researchers have developed a flexible optical fiber that can be threaded through a medical endoscope and steered into the larynx to destroy hard-to-reach tumors on the vocal folds, an advance that could expand outpatient laser treatment options for patients whose only other choice might be surgery under general anesthesia. The team's work is published in the Journal of Medical Devices.

23andMe Research Institute, a nonprofit medical research organization, announced the publication of a study that identifies genetic predictors for GLP-1 weight loss efficacy and side effects. GLP-1 receptor agonists, including semaglutide and tirzepatide, have transformed the clinical management of weight and obesity. However, patients experience substantial variability in both weight loss efficacy and the incidence of side effects. Some individuals lose less than 5% of their body weight, whereas others lose more than 20%. Some individuals experience side effects such as nausea and vomiting, whereas others do not.