Presurgical radiation may curb pancreatic cancer recurrence

Prenatal exposure to ambient fine particulate matter and climatic factors, such as temperature and rainfall, are associated with adverse birth outcomes in India, according to a study published in PLOS Global Public Health by Mary Abed Al Ahad from the University of St Andrews, U.K.

Scopolamine, more chillingly known as "devil's breath," is a drug with a dual identity. In medicine, it's used to prevent motion sickness and nausea. But in the criminal underworld, particularly in parts of South America, it has gained a dark reputation as a substance that can erase memory, strip away free will and facilitate serious crimes. Now, its presence may be sparking fresh concerns in the UK.

UCLA researchers have successfully grown miniature lungs from stem cells—complete with their own functioning blood vessel networks.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued an urgent warning about tianeptine—a substance marketed as a dietary supplement but known on the street as "gas station heroin."

A creative play program has significantly improved new parents' and caregivers' mental health, according to research by the universities of Leeds and Huddersfield.

Some 25 years ago, a young Parkinson's disease investigator, Robert Hauser, MD, stepped to the podium at an American Academy of Neurology Conference to present findings from his patient survey that didn't quite jibe with classic beliefs. And he was about to discover that it can be hard to stand your ground as a newcomer challenging the status quo.

The lack of reliable information about health facilities across sub-Saharan Africa became very clear during the COVID-19 pandemic. Amid a surge in emergency care needs, information was lacking about the location of facilities, bed capacity and oxygen availability, and even where to find medical specialists. This data could have enabled precise assessments of hospital surge capacity and geographic access to critical care. Peter Macharia and Emelda Okiro, whose research focuses on public health and equity of health service access in low resource settings, share the findings of their recent study, co-authored with colleagues.

Women who see themselves as having lower social status are more likely than other people to show early signs of heart stress linked to future disease risk, according to a new study led by researchers at McGill and Concordia universities.

Continuing to vaccinate for mpox through a routine targeted program for gay and bisexual men delivered by sexual health services will greatly reduce the number of cases and save the NHS millions, new research has found.

College students who want help overcoming high-risk drinking could benefit from a two-pronged approach that combines an individual-focused psychological theory with social network analysis.

Triclosan is an antimicrobial chemical that was for decades added to everyday items like soap, toothpaste, cosmetics and even kitchen utensils and athletic wear, until concerns about potential health risks led manufacturers to phase it out of some products.

A new hydrogel-based platform to preserve live patient-derived tumor tissues in the lab could pave the way for faster, more accurate testing of cancer treatments for patients with peritoneal metastases, a hard-to-treat and often deadly form of abdominal and pelvic cancers.

A new study from Aarhus University challenges the widespread belief that women are naturally "hardwired" to wake up more easily to a crying baby than men. The work is published in the journal Emotion.

Rett syndrome is a devastating rare genetic childhood disorder primarily affecting girls. Merely 1 out of 10,000 girls are born with it and much fewer boys. It is caused by mutations in the MeCP2 gene on the X chromosome, leading to a spectrum of cognitive and physical impairments, including repetitive hand motions, speech difficulties, and seizures.

A new study reveals that air pollution, traditional herbal medicines and other environmental exposures are linked to genetic mutations that may contribute to the development of lung cancer in people with no or hardly any history of smoking.

A new study by investigators from Europe, including the Netherlands and the United Kingdom (UK), has shed light on significant ethical, administrative, regulatory, and logistical (EARL) hurdles in delivering multinational randomized clinical trials. The research was the first to comprehensively quantify these barriers for an international platform trial and emphasizes the need for urgent improvements, particularly in preparing for future public health crises.

Chronic inflammation occurs when the immune system is stuck in attack-mode, sending cell after cell to defend and repair the body for months or even years. Diseases associated with chronic inflammation, like arthritis or cancer or autoimmune disorders, weigh heavily on human health—and experts anticipate their incidence is on the rise.

A study published in Cell Stem Cell reveals that some mutations in blood stem cells might help protect against late-onset Alzheimer's disease.