Graphical Abstract. Credit: Function (2024). DOI: 10.1093/function/zqae042 A new study in rats shows that lactate, a substance found in the muscles, initiates a cascade of actions in the muscles that helps blood vessels relax. The surprising results are published ahead of print in the journal Function. Lactate, also known as lactic acid, is a byproduct that comes from the process of...
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An interactive game for people suffering from nerve pain is heading to clinical trials
A screenshot from the interactive game. Credit: University of New South Wales Scientists from UNSW Sydney have developed interactive software which could be used to help people who are experiencing neuropathic pain—also known as nerve pain—as a result of spinal cord injury (SCI). The intervention, called PainWaive, involves a headset and a game that measures...
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An integral T cell pathway has implications for understanding sex-based immune response
T cells from a healthy human female donor were stimulated with antibodies anti-CD3 and anti-CD28 for 48 hours. On the left are cells treated with a control and on the right are cells treated with a chemical inhibitor of NF-κB. The pink stain shows Xist RNA, a long noncoding RNA molecule that initiates and maintains...
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PREVENTING FURTHER IV DISRUPTIONS
Federal officials have spent the past few days scrambling to move one factory’s inventory of IV fluid out of Florida as a powerful hurricane bears down on the state today. The rush to preserve German drug and device maker B. Braun’s supply of IV solution in Daytona Beach comes as hospitals warn that they’re facing...
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Metabolic syndrome factors linked to increased bowel cancer risk
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Metabolic disorders such as obesity, high blood pressure and non-alcoholic fatty liver diseases have been directly linked to an increased risk of developing bowel cancer, warn Flinders University researchers. Bowel, or colorectal, cancer is the second deadliest and fourth most common type of newly diagnosed cancer in Australia with more than 15,000 Australians...
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The Biology of ‘Precancer’: Stopping Cancer Before It Starts
Some breast cancer types are more likely than others to recur. Researchers have known this for more than a decade. But they have long wondered why. “How did those tumor types arise?” said Christina Curtis, PhD, a professor of medicine, genetics and biomedical data science at Stanford University, Stanford, California. “They’re all breast cancers. They’re all...
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Research supports run–walk interval training as a way to reduce chronic low back pain
A study conducted at Monash University, Australia, has demonstrated that a progressive run–walk interval training program, delivered digitally and supported remotely, is not only effective in reducing pain and disability in adults with chronic low back pain (LBP) but is also safe and acceptable for participants. The 12-week program showed promising results in improving pain intensity and...
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Heavy smokers can benefit from lung cancer screening using low-dose CT
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain Lung cancer screening using low-dose computed tomography (CT) offers more benefits than harms for heavy active and former smokers: The procedure can prevent some people from dying from lung cancer and may also prolong overall survival. This conclusion was already drawn in the benefit assessment published by the German Institute for Quality and...
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Smoking cessation may reduce opioid prescriptions: Study
Correlation between state smoking rates and prescription opioid dispensing rates, pre and post pandemic, 2019 versus 2022. Notes: US states and DC. The fit lines are estimated by linear regressions. Sources: Authors’ calculations using BRFSS data and CDC-reported data. Credit: American Journal of Preventive Medicine (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.amepre.2024.07.010 Smoking is recognized as a leading cause of preventable...
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Scientists Mapped The Human Brain’s Sewage System For The First Time
MRI scans of brains with red arrowsCSF pathways in the brain. (Yamamato et al., PNAS, 2024)The inner workings of our brain’s ‘sewage system’ are finally coming to light after years of speculation. Deep within the crevices of five human brains, scientists have, for the very first time, imaged the dynamic intricacies of a underlying plumbing...