Category: 4. Health

Immune cells are generated to keep our bodies healthy. To combat disease, our bodies initiate two separate waves of immunity. The first wave, known as innate immunity, is a generalizable response that tries to inhibit pathogens and stop disease progression. The second wave, known as adaptive immunity, is more specific and includes T and B cells. Both cell types generate a response that directly targets the invading pathogen. T cells are a specialized…

Immunotherapy has revolutionized the way physicians treat patients with cancer. This form of cancer treatment aims to direct the immune system toward the rapidly growing tumor. As cancer progresses, tumor cells secrete different proteins and molecules to suppress the body’s immune system. Various mechanisms are responsible for doing this, including surface proteins on cancer that inactivate specific immune cells, known as T cells. Many cells are…

President Donald Trump acted with restraint in his New Liberation Day tariffs, when he deferred imposing tariffs on pharmaceutical products from China, India and Europe. But, so long as these tariffs are being considered, their potential threat to the pharmaceutical industry and the people it serves remains.

These are difficult times for drug discovery and manufacturing. John Crowley the CEO of the Biotechnology…

People who receive the live-attenuated shingles vaccine may have a lower likelihood of being diagnosed with dementia compared with those who do not get the shot, researchers report April 2 in Nature.

The findings stem from a Welsh vaccination program. The researchers explored how vaccination against shingles — an illness that develops when the virus causing chicken pox reactivates later in life — might influence dementia risk, finding a more prominent effect in women than…

The job of director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention carries immense responsibility for shaping health policies, responding to crises and maintaining trust in public health institutions.

Since the Trump administration took office in January 2025, the position has been held on an interim basis by Susan Monarez, whom Trump has now nominated to take the job permanently after his first nominee, former Florida Congressman David Weldon, was withdrawn, in part over his…

Since the mid-2000s, the Medicare system has dramatically transformed. Enrollment in Medicare Advantage – the private alternative to the traditional Medicare program administered by the government – has more than quadrupled. It now accounts for the majority of Medicare enrollment.

Employers, including state government agencies, are helping drive this growth in Medicare Advantage sign-ups. The increase in people on Medicare Advantage plans burdens taxpayers and means more patients

A community-led partnership in Colorado designed to negotiate health care prices lowered health care premiums in 2020 and 2021, we find in our new paper in the Journal of Risk and Insurance. The nonprofit organization is called the Peak Health Alliance.

As health care premiums continue to rise nationwide, many employers have formed so-called purchasing alliances in hopes of collectively reducing health care costs for their employees. Despite their popularity, to date there has been…

You’ve likely heard about vitamin D’s important role in maintaining strong bones and teeth. But it also plays several other important roles to keep your body healthy – including the function of your gut.

As part of our research on how a dietary fiber supplement affects bone mass in children and adolescents, the MetA-Bone Trial, we are also studying gut health.

For this study, we recruited 213 children and adolescents from South Florida, primarily Hispanics, though some were…

With the mass layoffs and general upheaval going on currently at agencies within the Department of Health and Human Services, perhaps lost in the shuffle is a…

Posterior cortical atrophy (PCA) is a rare form of Alzheimer’s disease that, rather than causing problems with memory, leads to difficulties with reading, navigating, and recognising objects. Studies suggest that one in 10 patients with Alzheimer’s disease have a form which…