Category: 4. Health

Nitrate-rich beetroot juice lowers blood pressure in older adults, found a new study published in Free Radical Biology and Medicine. 

“This study shows that nitrate-rich foods alter the oral microbiome in a way that could result in less  inflammation, as well as a lowering of blood pressure in older people.” said co-author of the study, Andy Jones, Professor of Applied Physiology at the University of Exeter, UK, in a press release. 

“This paves…

With support from the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Alzheimer’s and Related Diseases Research Award Fund (ARDRAF), Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC scientists Sharon Swanger and Shannon Farris are working to understand why this area is especially vulnerable.

Swanger studies how brain…

With Walgreens no longer pursuing a primary care strategy under its new owner, VillageMD is looking for new buyers for potentially hundreds of doctor practices and outpatient clinics across the country.

VillageMD, which was sold to private equity firm Sycamore…

The pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly announced last week that its investigational drug, orforglipron, proved effective in a third late-stage clinical trial. The once-daily pill helps patients with obesity and type 2 diabetes lose weight and lower their blood sugar levels. Still, challenges remain, which include relatively high discontinuation rates that appear to be the result of…

Chagas disease has been called “the most neglected of the neglected diseases” and it’s been estimated to have affected anywhere from about 300,000 to as many as 1.7 billion people around the world. Globally, about 7 million people are infected every year, and the disease causes about 10,000 deaths annually.

Chagas is also known as American trypanosomiasis. The disease is usually caused by Trypanosomiasis cruzi, a parasitic protozoan species…

Director of the National Institutes of Health, Jay Bhattacharya, recently stated that the mRNA technology “should not be used as a platform for mass vaccination.” This raises the question, why? Bhattacharya says it’s because the public doesn’t trust it. However, it seems the public’s qualms stem in large part from misinformation with respect to the…

OpenAI has announced a series of measures to protect vulnerable users, including ChatGPT parental controls that notify parents when their child is distressed.

Last week, a lawsuit was filed against OpenAI by the parents of 16-year-old Adam Raine, who committed suicide in April. The lawsuit alleged that ChatGPT cultivated a psychological dependency in Adam and pushed him away from real-life support. The lawsuit further alleges that…

Imagine pricing a product that spreads on its own and benefits people who never even touch it. That might sound like science fiction, but it’s remarkably similar to the story of health data and, strangely enough, to a bacteria called Wolbachia.

Wolbachia is an insect-borne bacterium that, when introduced into mosquito populations, prevents the transmission of diseases like dengue, Zika, and chikungunya. What’s remarkable is…

While breast cancer survival continues to…

About one out of every three people has some trouble getting a good night’s rest, and 10 percent of adults meet the criteria for an insomnia disorder. But current treatments can be difficult to obtain, and the…