Category: 4. Health

  • Perceiving one’s own body: Babies sense their heartbeat and breathing

    Perceiving one’s own body: Babies sense their heartbeat and breathing

    Body signals such as heartbeat and breathing accompany us constantly, often unnoticed as background noise of our perception. Even in the earliest years of life, these signals are important as they contribute to the development of self-awareness and identity. However, until know little has been known about whether and how babies can perceive their own body signals.

    A recent study from Wiener Kinderstudien Lab at the University of Vienna demonstrates for the first time that babies as young as…

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    News Source: www.sciencedaily.com

  • Brain’s own repair mechanism: New neurons may reverse damage in Huntington’s disease

    Brain’s own repair mechanism: New neurons may reverse damage in Huntington’s disease

    New research shows that the adult brain can generate new neurons that integrate into key motor circuits. The findings demonstrate that stimulating natural brain processes may help repair damaged neural networks in Huntington’s and other diseases.

    “Our research shows that we can encourage the brain’s own cells to grow new neurons that join in naturally with the circuits controlling movement,” said Abdellatif Benraiss, PhD, a senior author of the study, which appears in the journal Cell…

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    News Source: www.sciencedaily.com

  • Molecules that fight infection also act on the brain, inducing anxiety or sociability

    Molecules that fight infection also act on the brain, inducing anxiety or sociability

    Immune molecules called cytokines play important roles in the body’s defense against infection, helping to control inflammation and coordinating the responses of other immune cells. A growing body of evidence suggests that some of these molecules also influence the brain, leading to behavioral changes during illness.

    Two new studies from MIT and Harvard Medical School, focused on a cytokine called IL-17, now add to that evidence. The researchers found that IL-17 acts on two distinct brain…

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    News Source: www.sciencedaily.com

  • Home care cooperatives may be key to addressing the critical shortage of caregivers for the elderly

    Home care cooperatives may be key to addressing the critical shortage of caregivers for the elderly

    Home care cooperatives may be the key to alleviating the shortage of paid caregivers for older Americans, a new study suggests.

    The research, to be published in the peer-reviewed journal JAMA Network Open, found that participants in cooperatives experienced more respect, control, job support, and compensation than their counterparts in traditional care services. These factors may explain how cooperatives have achieved half the turnover rates of traditional agencies, which are plagued with…

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    News Source: www.sciencedaily.com

  • Stroke, Dementia, Late-Life Depression Share Many Changeable Risk Factors

    Stroke, Dementia, Late-Life Depression Share Many Changeable Risk Factors

    There are many conditions that are associated with aging, including stroke and dementia. But genetics, environmental conditions, and habits like the type of diet a person eats can affect the likelihood that an aging-related disease will develop. Scientists have now identified seventeen risk factors that are shared by dementia, stroke, and depression in late life. The modification of any of these risk factors can influence a person’s risk of these…

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    News Source: www.labroots.com

  • Housing instability complicates end-of-life care for aging unhoused populations

    Housing instability complicates end-of-life care for aging unhoused populations

    Research estimates that one-third or more of the unhoused population in the U.S. is age 50 or older.

    Unhoused people of all ages face high rates of chronic and serious illness. They also die at younger ages compared with people who are not unhoused.

    Yet, there are few options for palliative and end-of-life care for unhoused people.

    Palliative care is a type of medical care that addresses pain, symptom management and the social and emotional needs for people with a serious illness,…

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    News Source: theconversation.com

  • Animal tranquilizers found in illegal opioids may suppress the lifesaving medication naloxone − and cause more overdose deaths

    Animal tranquilizers found in illegal opioids may suppress the lifesaving medication naloxone − and cause more overdose deaths

    The animal tranquilizers xylazine and medetomidine are in approximately one-third of the illegal opioids available in the U.S., including fentanyl, heroin and oxycodone. Animal tranquilizers enhance the user’s euphoric high from opioids, particularly in those who have developed a tolerance to the opioid. But adding the tranquilizers to these already illicit drugs could keep naloxone, a medication known to prevent deaths from opioid overdose, from working.

    These are the key findings…

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    News Source: theconversation.com

  • Alcohol causes cancer, and less than 1 drink can increase your risk − a cancer biologist explains how

    Alcohol causes cancer, and less than 1 drink can increase your risk − a cancer biologist explains how

    Alcohol, whether consumed regularly or only on special occasions, takes a toll on your body. From your brain and heart, to your lungs and muscles, to your gastrointestinal and immune systems, alcohol has broad harmful effects on your health – including causing cancer.

    Alcohol is the third-leading preventable cause of cancer in the U.S., responsible for about 100,000 cases of cancer and 20,000 cancer deaths annually. In comparison, alcohol-related vehicle crashes cause around 13,500…

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    News Source: theconversation.com

  • How the Right QC Provider Can Help You Meet Accreditation Requirements

    How the Right QC Provider Can Help You Meet Accreditation Requirements

    Strengthen Your Lab’s Quality Control System

    Introduction

    Choosing the right quality control (QC) system for your laboratory is essential. Not only is it required by worldwide regulations and standards such as the International Organization of Standardization (ISO), the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI), and College of American Pathologists (CAP), but QC helps ensure patient results are reliable and medically useful. Just as important…

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    News Source: www.labroots.com

  • Meet Innovaccer, The Healthcare AI Platform That’s Redefining Data Insights

    Meet Innovaccer, The Healthcare AI Platform That’s Redefining Data Insights

    For decades, one key aspect of healthcare has continued to elude the brightest minds: data. And there’s plenty of it; according to a report from RBC Capital Markets, nearly 30% of the world’s data volume today is generated by the healthcare industry, with a compound annual growth rate of 36%. However, despite the significant amount of data, little has been…

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    News Source: www.forbes.com