Proposed Medicaid cuts could have a 'far-reaching, disproportionate' impact on older workers

The ion channel PIEZO2 doesn't just convey touch stimuli. It also plays a key role in the development of coronary vessels, a team led by Annette Hammes from the Max Delbrück Center reports in Nature Cardiovascular Research. The findings could improve our understanding of congenital heart defects.

Scientists are increasingly finding that the gastrointestinal (GI) tract plays a vital role in our overall health. While its main functions center around digestion, the GI tract is also involved in the production of hormones, immune cells, and even neurotransmitters that can affect mood and brain function. As such, the GI tract is host to many different biomarkers that can be useful for identifying, monitoring, and treating disease—everything from short-chain fatty acids that are indicators of metabolic syndrome to cytokines that are biomarkers of inflammation.

While emerging evidence suggests pesticides can be toxic to the mix of microorganisms in the digestive system, a new study is the first to map changes to specific gut bacteria based on interactions between human microbes and insect-killing chemicals observed in the lab and an animal model.

In the cerebral cortex, numerous neurons exchange information through junctions known as synapses. The strength of each synaptic connection changes depending on the activity levels of the neurons involved, and these changes are thought to form the basis of learning and memory.

All hypotheses on how the COVID-19 pandemic began remain open, the World Health Organization said Friday, following an inconclusive four-year investigation that was hamstrung by crucial information being withheld.

Why do some patients with precursors to bone marrow cancer never develop the disease? Researchers from the Department of Forensic Medicine at Aarhus University have discovered that some cells enter a dormant state and create a defense against cancer—a breakthrough that could lead to early treatment.

The World Health Organization insisted Friday that there was no evidence of any harm from an important vaccine ingredient, which a US medical panel voted to oppose this week.

Mount Sinai researchers have published the first study to use wearable devices to assess how inflammation and symptoms in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) affect sleep characteristics and sleep patterns over time.

Imagine getting an MRI of your knees and being told you have "mild intrasubstance degeneration of the posterior horn of the medial meniscus."

Placing physically and sexually aggressive older psychiatric patients in general hospital wards is both unsafe and unethical, a University of Otago—Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka-led paper argues.

A systematic review from King's College London sets out to explore the geographic barriers to dental care and makes dental access recommendations for health policy.

Scientists have refined a new way of using genetics to identify whether someone has type 1 or type 2 diabetes in Chinese populations—and it is now being used in a large clinical trial to improve treatment in the region.

What if a blood test could reveal the pace of our aging—and the diseases that may lie ahead? The labs of Profs. Liran Shlush and Amos Tanay at the Weizmann Institute of Science have been conducting in-depth studies into the biology of blood to better understand the aging process and why some people become more susceptible to disease over the years.

A team of researchers from the Keck School of Medicine of USC's Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute (Stevens INI) has identified a new brain imaging benchmark that may improve how researchers classify biologically meaningful changes associated with Alzheimer's disease, especially in Hispanic and non-Hispanic white populations.

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is known to be associated with the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but how and why they are connected remains unknown. Researchers from Mass General Brigham discovered that HBV does not cause liver inflammation or cancer on its own, but worsens liver inflammation and may make patients more susceptible to early cancer development caused by environmental carcinogens. Limiting carcinogen exposure or reducing inflammation could mitigate this risk. The results are published in Nature Communications.

As sport-related concussions continue to spark global concern, researchers at the University of South Australia (UniSA) are turning their attention to a largely overlooked group—non-professional athletes—calling for more rigorous return-to-play assessments to protect everyday players.

Fatty liver disease, caused by the accumulation of fat in the liver, is estimated to affect one in four people worldwide. If left untreated, it can lead to serious complications, such as cirrhosis and liver cancer, making it crucial to detect early and initiate treatment.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has added new warnings to the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines about a rare heart condition that mostly affects young men.