Practical tool supports harmonization and quality improvement in vitamin D testing

You're introduced to someone and your attention catches on their eyes. They might be a rich, earthy brown, a pale blue, or the rare green that shifts with every flicker of light. Eyes have a way of holding us, of sparking recognition or curiosity before a single word is spoken. They are often the first thing we notice about someone, and sometimes the feature we remember most.

Rapid scientific advances are accelerating the development of medical innovations, from personalized treatments to curative gene therapies and advanced diagnostic tools. But significant policy and regulatory reforms at the Food and Drug Administration are needed to fully harness the game-changing potential of these technologies, according to a new white paper from the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics.

A study from The University of Texas at San Antonio Health Science Center indicates that changes in the body that lead to type 2 diabetes occur long before current diagnostic thresholds for prediabetes are met.

For women who've overcome cervical cancer, new research from MUSC Hollings Cancer Center points to another health risk that may not be on their radar: anal cancer.

"Magic mushroom" edibles sold at smoke shops and convenience stores are likely to contain no psilocybin but instead a range of undisclosed active ingredients, a study led by an Oregon State University College of Pharmacy scientist shows.

If you've been supermarket shopping lately, you might have noticed more foods with big, bold protein claims on black packaging—from powders and bars to yogurt, bread and even coffee.

The government plans to redirect some children off the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and onto a new program called Thriving Kids. When announcing the change last month, health and disability minister Mark Butler explained:

It might seem like a harmless habit to linger on the loo with your phone while "taking care of business," but research shows that prolonged toilet time can increase the risk of several health problems. Here are the main ones.

New research from the University of Sydney's Charles Perkins Center has found that genes play an active role in shaping the bacteria found in our gut, questioning the idea that gut health is influenced only by diet.

Up to one-quarter of vapes confiscated in secondary schools in England contain the dangerous synthetic drug "spice," according to a new study in Addiction led by Professor Chris Pudney from the Department of Life Sciences at the University of Bath.

Scientists have identified a natural extract that could help boost the effectiveness of cancer drugs. The insights gained from their study may help formulate new combination drug therapies, using precision medicine to target and cure cancer and improve patient outcomes.

This Women's Health Week, we spoke with Dr. Vidanka Vasilevski from the Center for Quality and Patient Safety Research within Deakin's Institute for Health Transformation about her research published in Women and Birth on improving the induction of labor. As a researcher in maternity service delivery and maternal and child health, Dr. Vasilevski is passionate about improving women's health outcomes.

A multi-institutional collaboration led by the Center for Translational Cardiology and Pragmatic Randomized Trials at Copenhagen University Hospital-Herlev and Gentofte, University of Copenhagen, reports that RSVpreF vaccination reduced all-cause cardiorespiratory hospitalizations in adults aged 60 years or older.

Chronic pain is one of the most common and expensive health problems in the nation, affecting an estimated one in five U.S. adults and costing around $600 billion each year in medical expenses, lost productivity and disability, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Fewer than 1 in 10 hospitals in New South Wales and Victoria have policies to guide surrogacy births, new research has found, prompting urgent calls from experts for national standards.

Tuberculosis, one of the world's most deadly infectious diseases, has been reported in a handful of cases in Maine, North Carolina and California in recent weeks.

Most Americans disapprove of cuts to federal Medicare and Medicaid programs, a Northeastern University survey finds, including a majority of both Democratic and Republican voters.

CReATe Fertility Center in Toronto reports that tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) reaches the ovarian follicle, aligns with higher oocyte maturation, and associates with lower embryo euploid rates in IVF, with in vitro exposure linked to chromosome segregation errors and abnormal meiotic spindles.