When pain signals are passed along the nervous system, proteins called calcium channels play a key role. Researchers at Linköping University, Sweden, have now pinpointed the exact location of a specific calcium channel fine-tuning the strength of pain signals. This knowledge can be used to develop drugs for chronic pain that are more effective and have fewer side effects. Pain sensations and other information are mainly conducted through our nervous system as electrical signals. Yet at decisive moments, this information is converted to biochemical signals, in the form of specific molecules. To develop future drugs ...

Ticks travel light, but they carry pathogens with them. When they parasitize migrating birds, these journeys can take them thousands of miles away from their usual geographic range. Historically, they haven’t been able to establish themselves, due to unsuitable climate conditions at the other end of their long journeys. But now, thanks to the climate crisis, it’s getting easier for ticks to survive and spread, potentially bringing novel tick-borne pathogens with them. “If conditions become more hospitable for tropical tick species to establish themselves in areas where they would previously have been unsuccessful, then there is a chance they could bring new diseases ...

Type 2 diabetes can lead to diabetic kidney disease, but a class of drugs that cause the kidneys to remove glucose through urine has been gaining attention. An Osaka Metropolitan University-led research group has investigated how such drugs maintain kidney health. Known as SGLT2 (sodium-glucose cotransporter-2) inhibitors, the drugs are used to treat type 2 diabetes along with an exercise and diet regimen. The group led by Graduate School of Medicine Associate Professor Katsuhito Mori focused on the SGLT2 inhibitor canagliflozin and its effects on the kidney. Using BOLD ...

SAN DIEGO, California (Nov. 18, 2024) — Since the adoption of a new model for assessing the severity of liver disease, women are more likely to be added to the waitlist for a liver transplant, more likely to receive a transplant, and less likely to drop off the waitlist — closing the gap between men and women candidates, according to a study scheduled for presentation today at The Liver Meeting held by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases. In July 2023, the federal Organ Procurement and Transplant Network (OPTN) updated its Model for End-Stage Liver Disease to a new version, known as MELD 3.0, to better account for differences between ...

People who take an anticoagulant medicine double their risk of an internal bleed if they take a type of painkiller called a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) such as ibuprofen, diclofenac or naproxen, according to research published in the European Heart Journal [1] today (Monday).   Anticoagulants are usually prescribed to people who develop a blood clot in the legs or lungs, known as a venous thromboembolism, which affects about one in 12 people. NSAIDs are a popular type of painkiller used to manage issues like headaches, period pain, back pain and arthritis.   The new study is the largest of its kind and shows that ...

Researchers have developed a mindfulness therapy tailored specifically to appeal to teenagers to help them cope with increasing levels of depression and mental health problems. The approach teaches participants to tune into and manage negative thought patterns that can trigger or maintain depression, and allow them instead to focus on the present moment. Developed by teams at the University of Cambridge and King’s College London, the ATTEND programme – Adolescents and carers using mindfulness Therapy To END depression – also includes sessions for parents and guardians, ensuring a family-centred approach ...

Using an innovative risk score assessment score, heart researchers at Intermountain Health in Salt Lake City say they can accurately predict whether patients being assessed for kidney transplant will likely have a future major cardiac event, like a heart attack or stroke, according to a new study. Intermountain Health clinicians regularly review patient data through their electronic health system to determine who may have heart disease without knowing it. Now, in a major new study, Intermountain heart researchers found that using their Intermountain ...

About The Study: In this retrospective cohort study, decline in kidney function was frequent in patients with transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy (ATTR-CM) and was consistently associated with an increased risk of mortality, even after adjusting for established markers of worsening ATTR-CM. eGFR decline represents an independent marker of ATTR-CM disease progression that could guide treatment optimization in clinical practice.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Marianna Fontana, MD, PhD, email m.fontana@ucl.ac.uk. To access the embargoed study: ...

About The Study: This randomized clinical trial found that partial cardiac denervation was an effective procedure to reduce the occurrence of postoperative atrial fibrillation (POAF) after isolated coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) without additional postoperative complications. These results suggest that partial cardiac denervation may be a good option for cardiac surgeons to consider for preventing POAF after CABG. Corresponding Authors: To contact the corresponding authors, email Wei Feng, MD, PhD (fengwei@fuwai.com) and Wei Zhao, MD, PhD (zhaowei_fw@163.com). To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at ...

About The Study: In the Finerenone Trial to Investigate Efficacy and Safety Superior to Placebo in Patients with Heart Failure (FINEARTS-HF), finerenone reduced the risk of the primary end point similarly in women and men with heart failure with mildly reduced or preserved ejection fraction. Finerenone, a nonsteroidal mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist, had similar tolerability in women and men. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, John J. V. McMurray, MD, email john.mcmurray@glasgow.ac.uk. To ...

About The Study: In patients with heart failure with mildly reduced or preserved ejection fraction, finerenone, a nonsteroidal mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist, resulted in more frequent hyperkalemia and less frequent hypokalemia. However, with protocol-directed surveillance and dose adjustment, clinical benefit associated with finerenone relative to placebo was maintained even in those whose potassium level increased to greater than 5.5 mmol/L. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Scott D. Solomon, MD, email ssolomon@rics.bwh.harvard.edu.  To access the embargoed study: Visit our ...

Skeletal size may be altered by gender-affirming hormone therapy only if puberty has also been suppressed during adolescence, according to research presented at the 62nd Annual European Society for Paediatric Endocrinology Meeting in Liverpool. The findings from this research, carried out by Amsterdam UMC, not only help researchers further understand the roles sex hormones play on the skeleton but may also improve counselling on gender-affirming treatment in transgender individuals. Skeletons of men and women vary in size and proportion. For instance, men typically have broader shoulders while women have a wider pelvis. Gender-affirming hormones ...

About The Study: Coronary heart disease polygenic risk scores that performed similarly at the population level demonstrated highly variable individual-level estimates of risk. Recognizing that coronary heart disease polygenic risk scores may generate incongruent individual-level risk estimates, effective clinical implementation will require refined statistical methods to quantify uncertainty and new strategies to communicate this uncertainty to patients and clinicians.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Scott M. Damrauer, MD, email Scott.Damrauer@pennmedicine.upenn.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link ...

About The Study: In this case series study, pulmonary artery systolic, diastolic, and mean pressures of 2 participants with obesity and heart failure with preserved ejection fraction were measured at zero gravity during parabolic flight to assess the effect of external constraint on left ventricular filling pressures.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Benjamin D. Levine, MD, email benjaminlevine@texashealth.org. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/   (doi:10.1001/jamacardio.2024.4596) Editor’s Note: Please see the article for additional information, including ...

NEW ORLEANS (November 16, 2024) — Climate change is having a massive global impact on dengue transmission, accounting for 19% of the current dengue burden, with a potential to spark an additional 40%-60% spike by 2050 — and by as much as 150%-200% in some areas — according to a new study presented today at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH). The findings from researchers at Stanford and Harvard Universities offer the most definitive evidence to date that climate change is ...

A new study by heart researchers at Intermountain Health in Salt Lake City finds that patients with heart disease, specifically those with heart failure, are especially vulnerable to the impacts of air pollution and poor air quality and can take steps to protect themselves.  Results from the Intermountain Health study, presented on Saturday at the American Heart Association’s 2024 Scientific Sessions international conference in Chicago, found that two inflammatory markers — CCL27 (C-C motif chemokine ligand 27) ...

SAN DIEGO, California (Nov. 16, 2024) — Liver disease, which is treatable when discovered early, often goes undetected until late stages, but a new study revealed that an algorithm fueled by artificial intelligence can accurately detect early-stage metabolic-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) by using electronic health records. The study was scheduled for presentation today at The Liver Meeting, hosted by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases. “A significant proportion of patients who meet criteria for MASLD go undiagnosed,” said Ariana Stuart MD, a resident at University of Washington Internal Medicine ...

The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Announce New Research Fellowship in Malaria Genomics in Honor of Professor Dominic Kwiatkowski New Orleans, Louisiana, November 15, 2024  — The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) is proud to announce the establishment of the annual Kwiatkowski Fellowship, a new research initiative in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF). This fellowship honors the life and scientific contributions of the late Professor Dominic Kwiatkowski, a pioneer in the field of malaria genomics. The ...

Exposure to blue light, like that from smartphones or tablets, may accelerate bone growth and bone age, leading to early puberty in rats. This research, presented at the 62nd Annual European Society for Paediatric Endocrinology Meeting in Liverpool, sheds light on how the use of blue light-emitting devices could impact growth and development and raises important questions about the long-term health effects in children, who are increasingly exposed to screens from a young age. As children grow and develop, long bones such ...

Swedish young men who went through late puberty during adolescence are more likely to use healthcare services later in life, according to research presented at the 62nd Annual European Society for Paediatric Endocrinology Meeting in Liverpool. The findings of this long-term study suggest that delayed puberty in boys may have harmful effects on their health in adulthood and could potentially lead to new follow-up healthcare routines in the future. Puberty in boys typically starts between the ages of 9 and 14. However, about 2% of boys have delayed puberty, in which puberty does not begin by age 14. In most cases, delayed puberty is constitutional – a pattern of growth and development ...

A new paper in the journal Child Development shows how some aspects of family interaction among Indigenous people in Guatemala have fundamentally shifted with rapid globalization, yet families have still maintained a unique level of harmony in their interactions. UC Santa Cruz psychologist Barbara Rogoff has been working with Mayan communities in San Pedro la Laguna, Guatemala for five decades and noticed a sophisticated type of fluid, inclusive collaboration among children from these communities. During a research study 30 years ago, mothers and their two small children interacted in a very distinct way, ...

Researchers at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering have designed a new microfluidic platform that allows forunprecedented control and manipulation of tumor shapes — a largely unexplored area with great potential to advance cancer research.    The work, led by Professor Edmond Young, offers new insights into how the shape of tumours can predict cancer cell behaviour and aggressiveness, which opens new pathways for more personalized and targeted cancer care.   “While there are several platforms for in vitro modelling of spheroids — ...

The Speech Accessibility Project has two new partners — The Matthew Foundation and the Massachusetts Down Syndrome Congress — as it continues to recruit adults with Down syndrome who live in the United States and Canada. The project also allows residents of Puerto Rico to participate. The project is also recruiting those with ALS, cerebral palsy and Parkinson’s disease, as well as individuals who have had a stroke. “The research team has learned that connecting with trusted partners is key to showing the credibility of our work and how much it could improve the lives of people with disabilities,” said Mark ...

Fitting in a workout after a long day of sitting at a desk might not be enough to compensate for the impacts of sedentary behavior on the heart. Investigators from Mass General Brigham, found that excessive sedentary behavior (waking activity with low energy expenditure while sitting, reclining, or lying down and not including hours spent sleeping at night) was linked to increased risk of heart disease, especially heart failure and cardiovascular death, and that these risks could be significantly reduced by substituting sedentary time for other activities. They also found that meeting guideline levels of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity may be insufficient on its own to reduce cardiovascular ...

A new UC Davis Health study has uncovered how Salmonella bacteria, a major cause of food poisoning, can invade the gut even when protective bacteria are present. The research, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, explains how the pathogen tricks the gut environment to escape the body's natural defenses. The digestive system is home to trillions of bacteria, many of which produce short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) that help fight harmful pathogens. But Salmonella manages to grow and spread in the gut, even though ...