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• May 12, 2024 | An Innovative New Cancer Treatment – Scientists Unveil Nanoparticle Capable of Crossing Blood-Brain Barrier
• May 12, 2024 | Researchers Warn: AI Systems Have Already Learned How To Deceive Humans
• May 12, 2024 | Unveiling the Hidden Molecular World of Exercise
• May 12, 2024 | How a New Methodology Rewrites the Age Book for Asteroids
• May 11, 2024 | When Giants Fight Microscopic Wars: Jumbo Viruses Tackle Superbugs

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SciTechDaily is your source for the latest health news and medical research articles from leading universities, institutes, and government organizations. We provide you with up-to-date information on a wide range of topics, from groundbreaking research and novel therapies to public health policies and preventive measures.

Our comprehensive coverage encompasses various medical fields, including genetics, neuroscience, mental health, nutrition, and more. By staying informed on the latest medical advancements, we empower you to take control of your health and well-being.

Learn more about the latest research into Antibiotics , Medicine , Cancer , Diet , Stem Cells , Nutrition , Immunobiology , Alzheimer’s , Psychiatry , Metabolism , Pregnancy , and Cardiology . Join us as we explore the future of healthcare and unravel the complexities of the human body.

Health May 12, 2024

An Innovative New Cancer Treatment – Scientists Unveil Nanoparticle Capable of Crossing Blood-Brain Barrier

The scientists are optimistic that their method, which has shown initial promise in preclinical models, could eventually be used to treat both brain metastases and…

New Research Reveals That Couples Who Drink Together Live Longer

Scientists Discover New Health Benefits of Mangoes

Serotonin’s Hidden Power: How Psychedelics Are Opening New Doors in Mental Health

Alarming Discovery: 9936 Chemicals Found in Food Packaging Plastic

Innovative Study Reveals How Addiction Hijacks Brain Functions

Revolutionary mRNA Cancer Vaccine Shows Immense Promise in First-Ever Human Clinical Trial

The Hidden Dangers of Breakfast Foods and Sugary Drinks: 30-Year Study Reveals Long-Term Health Risks

Alarming Findings: New Study Reveals Childhood Abuse Drives 40% of Mental Health Conditions

Health May 9, 2024

Immune Cells: A Hidden Trigger for Anxiety, Depression, and Alzheimer’s Disease

Research indicates that regulatory T cells (Tregs) might stabilize mood and prevent depression, with their depletion linked to increased anxiety and cognitive issues in Alzheimer’s…

Startling Discovery: Young Diabetics Show Early Signs of Alzheimer’s Disease

A study from CU Anschutz indicates that diabetes beginning in youth may increase the risk of dementia and related neurodegenerative diseases. A new study from…

Health May 8, 2024

Microneedle Magic: New Alopecia Treatment Can Reverse Hair Loss

A new microneedle patch effectively treats alopecia areata by rebalancing the immune response locally, promoting hair regrowth and reducing inflammation without systemic side effects. Researchers…

Popular ADHD Medications Like Adderall May Increase Young Adults’ Risk of Heart Damage

As time progresses, the probability of developing cardiomyopathy increases, yet the overall risk is still minimal. A study presented at the American College of Cardiology’s…

Cambridge’s Flexible Implants Promise New Hope for Paralysis Patients

A tiny, flexible electronic device that wraps around the spinal cord could represent a new approach to the treatment of spinal injuries, which can cause…

Pioneering Study Suggests Vaccines Could End Eczema’s Itch for Good

New research from a multi-disciplinary team at Trinity College Dublin suggests a “tailored vaccine” might hold the key to treating bacteria-driven flares of eczema in…

New Research Links Popular Hormone Drugs to Brain Tumors

This is the first study to assess the risk associated with widely used progestogens. Extended use of certain progestogen hormone medications has been linked to…

Concerning Findings – This Severe Heart Disease Is Becoming Much More Common

Atrial fibrillation, often referred to as an irregular heartbeat, is a common cardiovascular condition. In Denmark, it affects over 130,000 individuals, with more than 20,000…

Health May 7, 2024

Transformative Discovery Could Solve Billion-Dollar Problem of Poorly Managed Wound Healing

Scientists have discovered a crucial protein that enhances wound healing and muscle regeneration, a process often impaired by conditions such as diabetes and aging. Researchers…

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Last update: May 10, 2024

EU researchers are taking fresh approaches to understanding immune-system disorders for more effective treatments

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Medical research news

In mid-2015 and early 2016 in Finland, a group of scientists became interested in inspecting doormats. The pursuit, while seemingly unusual, had a serious aim: to determine whether a higher mix of microbes typically found ...

May 10, 2024

Melanoma in darker skin tones: Race and sex play a role, study finds

Melanoma, an aggressive form of skin cancer that accounts for 75% of all skin-cancer-related deaths, is often detected later in people with darker skin complexions—and the consequences can be devastating, a Mayo Clinic ...

New stem cell research may have implications for liver transplantation

Liver disease, due to viral infections, alcohol abuse, obesity, or cancer, accounts for one in every 25 deaths worldwide. A liver transplant can be life saving for people with end-stage liver disease. However, the procedure ...

May 9, 2024

The beginning of becoming a human—insights from researchers

A new review paper was published in advance by Aging, titled "The beginning of becoming a human."

A 30-year US study links ultra-processed food to higher risk of early death

Higher consumption of most ultra-processed foods is linked to a slightly higher risk of death, with ready-to-eat meat, poultry, and seafood based products, sugary drinks, dairy based desserts, and highly processed breakfast ...

May 8, 2024

Researchers outline how cells activate to cause fibrosis and organ scarring

New research led by Unity Health Toronto that examines how fibroblast cells in the body are activated to cause fibrosis and organ scarring has been published in Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology. Fibrosis and organ scarring ...

Researchers discover new target for potential leukemia therapy

A team of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute investigators discovered that a subset of myeloid and lymphoid leukemias depend on a molecular complex called PI3Kgamma for survival. The study provides both mechanistic and preclinical ...

Discovery of key target for precision pharmacology makes ideal candidate to treat heart failure

Researchers at the University of Houston College of Pharmacy have discovered that when a higher amount of a protein called AKAP12 is present inside the heart, it speeds up the work of an enzyme called PDE8A and can accelerate ...

Chinese herb Aspidopterys obcordata shows potential in treating kidney stones

In the Dai minority region of China, the Aspidopterys obcordata (Hei Gai Guan) has been used as a fork medicine for the treatment of urinary tract infections, cystitis, and urinary tract stones. Previous studies showed that ...

Study identifies disparities in end-of-life care for lung cancer patients

Patients with lung cancer who were Asian/Pacific Islander, Black or Hispanic experienced a higher intensity of end-of-life care compared to white patients, according to a Northwestern Medicine population-based analysis published ...

New analysis links resident physicians' exam scores to patient survival

How do we know whether newly minted doctors have what it takes to prevent patient deaths? After completing residency training, graduating physicians typically take board certification exams at the time they enter practice—but ...

May 7, 2024

Seeking medical insights in the physics of mucus

As much as we might not want to think about it, mucus is everywhere in our bodies. It coats our airways and our digestive systems and serves as a first line of defense against pathogens, a habitat for our microbiomes, and ...

Study: Progression of herpesvirus infection remodels mitochondrial organization and metabolism

Researchers at the University of Jyväskylä have found that herpesvirus infection modifies the structure and normal function of the mitochondria in the host cell. The new information could help to understand the interaction ...

Future research on bladder cancer should focus on mechanical changes in tissue, suggest study

In collaboration with University Hospital Basel, researchers from ETH are investigating the early stages of bladder cancer. Their findings show that future research should also focus on mechanical changes in tumor tissue.

Study finds that the transport of mRNAs into axons along with lysosomal vesicles prevents axon degeneration

RNA granules, sites for the storage, transport, and regulation of RNA molecules within cells, are transported along axons and then translated locally, far from the cell body. Recent studies suggest that these granules can ...

May 6, 2024 feature

Researchers discover compounds produced by gut bacteria that can treat inflammation

Researchers at the University of Toronto have found naturally occurring compounds in the gut that can be harnessed to reduce inflammation and other symptoms of digestive issues. This can be achieved by binding the compounds ...

May 3, 2024

Birds overcome brain damage to sing again

Every year, more than 795,000 people experience a stroke, often resulting in brain damage that impairs their ability to speak, walk, or perform tasks. Fortunately, in many cases, these abilities can be regained through physical ...

Research shows interferon-beta regulates excessive alternative splicing in multiple sclerosis

A new study found extensive alternative splicing of messenger RNA in the blood cells of untreated multiple sclerosis patients compared to healthy controls. The study, which showed that highly dysregulated alternative splicing ...

Small molecule shows early-stage promise for repairing myelin sheath damage

When treated with a novel protein function inhibitor called ESI1, mice that mimic the symptoms of multiple sclerosis (MS) and lab-prepared human brain cells both demonstrated the ability to regenerate vital myelin coatings ...

May 2, 2024

A link between breast changes and … UTIs? Mouse study finds these infections provoke a bodily response

Women's health is often talked about in terms of major, life-altering events like pregnancy and menopause. A new study from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) underscores the importance of considering everyday occurrences' ...

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Environmental Changes Are Fueling Human, Animal and Plant Diseases, Study Finds

Biodiversity loss, global warming, pollution and the spread of invasive species are making infectious diseases more dangerous to organisms around the world.

By Emily Anthes

Several large-scale, human-driven changes to the planet — including climate change, the loss of biodiversity and the spread of invasive species — are making infectious diseases more dangerous to people, animals and plants, according to a new study.

Scientists have documented these effects before in more targeted studies that have focused on specific diseases and ecosystems. For instance, they have found that a warming climate may be helping malaria expand in Africa and that a decline in wildlife diversity may be boosting Lyme disease cases in North America.

But the new research, a meta-analysis of nearly 1,000 previous studies, suggests that these patterns are relatively consistent around the globe and across the tree of life.

“It’s a big step forward in the science,” said Colin Carlson, a biologist at Georgetown University, who was not an author of the new analysis. “This paper is one of the strongest pieces of evidence that I think has been published that shows how important it is health systems start getting ready to exist in a world with climate change, with biodiversity loss.”

In what is likely to come as a more surprising finding, the researchers also found that urbanization decreased the risk of infectious disease.

The new analysis, which was published in Nature on Wednesday, focused on five “global change drivers” that are altering ecosystems across the planet: biodiversity change, climate change, chemical pollution, the introduction of nonnative species and habitat loss or change.

The researchers compiled data from scientific papers that examined how at least one of these factors affected various infectious-disease outcomes, such as severity or prevalence. The final data set included nearly 3,000 observations on disease risks for humans, animals and plants on every continent except for Antarctica.

The researchers found that, across the board, four of the five trends they studied — biodiversity change, the introduction of new species, climate change and chemical pollution — tended to increase disease risk.

“It means that we’re likely picking up general biological patterns,” said Jason Rohr, an infectious disease ecologist at the University of Notre Dame and senior author of the study. “It suggests that there are similar sorts of mechanisms and processes that are likely occurring in plants, animals and humans.”

The loss of biodiversity played an especially large role in driving up disease risk, the researchers found. Many scientists have posited that biodiversity can protect against disease through a phenomenon known as the dilution effect.

The theory holds that parasites and pathogens, which rely on having abundant hosts in order to survive, will evolve to favor species that are common, rather than those that are rare, Dr. Rohr said. And as biodiversity declines, rare species tend to disappear first. “That means that the species that remain are the competent ones, the ones that are really good at transmitting disease,” he said.

Lyme disease is one oft-cited example. White-footed mice, which are the primary reservoir for the disease, have become more dominant on the landscape, as other rarer mammals have disappeared, Dr. Rohr said. That shift may partly explain why Lyme disease rates have risen in the United States. (The extent to which the dilution effect contributes to Lyme disease risk has been the subject of debate, and other factors, including climate change, are likely to be at play as well.)

Other environmental changes could amplify disease risks in a wide variety of ways. For instance, introduced species can bring new pathogens with them, and chemical pollution can stress organisms’ immune systems. Climate change can alter animal movements and habitats, bringing new species into contact and allowing them to swap pathogens .

Notably, the fifth global environmental change that the researchers studied — habitat loss or change — appeared to reduce disease risk. At first glance, the findings might appear to be at odds with previous studies, which have shown that deforestation can increase the risk of diseases ranging from malaria to Ebola. But the overall trend toward reduced risk was driven by one specific type of habitat change: increasing urbanization.

The reason may be that urban areas often have better sanitation and public health infrastructure than rural ones — or simply because there are fewer plants and animals to serve as disease hosts in urban areas. The lack of plant and animal life is “not a good thing,” Dr. Carlson said. “And it also doesn’t mean that the animals that are in the cities are healthier.”

And the new study does not negate the idea that forest loss can fuel disease; instead, deforestation increases risk in some circumstances and reduces it in others, Dr. Rohr said.

Indeed, although this kind of meta-analysis is valuable for revealing broad patterns, it can obscure some of the nuances and exceptions that are important for managing specific diseases and ecosystems, Dr. Carlson noted.

Moreover, most of the studies included in the analysis examined just a single global change drive. But, in the real world, organisms are contending with many of these stressors simultaneously. “The next step is to better understand the connections among them,” Dr. Rohr said.

Emily Anthes is a science reporter, writing primarily about animal health and science. She also covered the coronavirus pandemic. More about Emily Anthes

Explore the Animal Kingdom

A selection of quirky, intriguing and surprising discoveries about animal life..

Indigenous rangers in Australia’s Western Desert got a rare close-up with the northern marsupial mole , which is tiny, light-colored and blind, and almost never comes to the surface.

For the first time, scientists observed an orangutan, a primate, in the wild treating a wound  with a plant that has medicinal properties.

A new study resets the timing for the emergence of bioluminescence back to millions  of years earlier than previously thought.

Scientists are making computer models to better understand how cicadas  emerge collectively after more than a decade underground .

New research questions the long-held theory that reintroduction of Yellowstone’s wolves caused a trophic cascade , spawning renewal of vegetation and spurring biodiversity.

To protect Australia’s iconic animals, scientists are experimenting with vaccine implants , probiotics, tree-planting drones and solar-powered tracking tags.

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Epic science inside a cubic millimeter of brain.

Six layers of excitatory neurons color-coded by depth.

Credit: Google Research and Lichtman Lab

Anne J. Manning

Harvard Staff Writer

Researchers publish largest-ever dataset of neural connections

A cubic millimeter of brain tissue may not sound like much. But considering that that tiny square contains 57,000 cells, 230 millimeters of blood vessels, and 150 million synapses, all amounting to 1,400 terabytes of data, Harvard and Google researchers have just accomplished something stupendous.   

Led by Jeff Lichtman, the Jeremy R. Knowles Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology and newly appointed dean of science , the Harvard team helped create the largest 3D brain reconstruction to date, showing in vivid detail each cell and its web of connections in a piece of temporal cortex about half the size of a rice grain.

Published in Science, the study is the latest development in a nearly 10-year collaboration with scientists at Google Research, combining Lichtman’s electron microscopy imaging with AI algorithms to color-code and reconstruct the extremely complex wiring of mammal brains. The paper’s three first co-authors are former Harvard postdoc Alexander Shapson-Coe, Michał Januszewski of Google Research, and Harvard postdoc Daniel Berger.

The ultimate goal, supported by the National Institutes of Health BRAIN Initiative , is to create a comprehensive, high-resolution map of a mouse’s neural wiring, which would entail about 1,000 times the amount of data the group just produced from the 1-cubic-millimeter fragment of human cortex.  

“The word ‘fragment’ is ironic,” Lichtman said. “A terabyte is, for most people, gigantic, yet a fragment of a human brain — just a minuscule, teeny-weeny little bit of human brain — is still thousands of terabytes.”  

Jeff Lichtman.

Kris Snibbe/Harvard Staff Photographer

The latest map contains never-before-seen details of brain structure, including a rare but powerful set of axons connected by up to 50 synapses. The team also noted oddities in the tissue, such as a small number of axons that formed extensive whorls. Because the sample was taken from a patient with epilepsy, the researchers don’t know whether such formations are pathological or simply rare.

Lichtman’s field is connectomics, which seeks to create comprehensive catalogs of brain structure, down to individual cells. Such completed maps would unlock insights into brain function and disease, about which scientists still know very little.

Google’s state-of-the-art AI algorithms allow for reconstruction and mapping of brain tissue in three dimensions. The team has also developed a suite of publicly available tools researchers can use to examine and annotate the connectome.

“Given the enormous investment put into this project, it was important to present the results in a way that anybody else can now go and benefit from them,” said Google collaborator Viren Jain.

Next the team will tackle the mouse hippocampal formation, which is important to neuroscience for its role in memory and neurological disease.

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Science shows how a surge of anger could raise heart attack risk

Can a burst of anger take a toll on the heart? 

Previous research has suggested there’s a link between an acute episode of anger and an increased risk of heart attack . Researchers from Columbia University Irving Medical Center, Yale School of Medicine, St. John’s University in New York and other institutions wanted to tease out why. 

To answer that question, they’d need to make some people angry .

The investigators recruited 280 healthy young adults and randomized them into four groups: a control group that counted out loud for eight minutes and maintained a neutral emotional state, and groups who recalled events that made them angry, sad or anxious. Before they began, and at intervals for 100 minutes afterward, the researchers took blood samples and measurements of blood flow and pressure.

The findings, published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Heart Association , show that anger may indeed affect the heart because of how it impairs blood vessel function.  

The researchers found blood vessels’ ability to dilate was significantly reduced among people in the angry group compared with those in the control group. Blood vessel dilation wasn’t affected in the sadness and anxiety groups.

Dilation can be regulated by endothelial cells, which line the insides of blood vessels. By dilating and contracting, blood vessels slow down or increase the flow of blood to the parts of the body that need it. 

Further tests revealed that there was no damage to the endothelial cells or to the body’s ability to repair any endothelial cell damage. 

The only issue was the dilation, the study found. Impairment of how blood vessels dilate is an early marker for atherosclerosis, which is the buildup of fats and cholesterol , called plaque, on artery walls that make the arteries stiff. Atherosclerosis can lead to coronary heart disease, heart attack, stroke and kidney disorders. 

“That is why endothelium-dependent vasodilation is an important mechanism to study,” said co-author Andrea Duran, an assistant professor of medical sciences at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, using the medical terminology for the impairment seen in the study.   

The results of the study could help physicians persuade their patients who have heart disease and anger problems to manage their anger, through yoga, exercise, cognitive behavioral therapy or other established techniques, said Dr. Holly Middlekauff, a cardiologist and a professor of medicine and physiology at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine.

“It’s not widely known or widely accepted that anger does precipitate heart attacks,” said Middlekauff, who wasn’t involved with the study. “This study offers a biological plausibility to that theory, that anger is bad for you, that it raises your blood pressure , that we’re seeing impaired vascular health.” 

And that may get some patients’ attention, she added.

Duran cautioned that the laboratory study is a foundational study and that further research is needed. For example, scientists don’t know exactly how anger impairs blood vessel dilation. “That would be for a future study,” she said. 

In the paper, the researchers suggested several factors could be at work, including changes caused by stress hormones, increased inflammation and activation of the autonomic nervous system, which regulates involuntary processes like heart rate, blood pressure and breathing.  

In addition, the researchers intentionally selected participants who were healthy, without heart disease or other chronic conditions that could confound the results. While that is a strength of the study, it also is a limitation, because the findings may not apply to older people who are ill. 

“This was just the first step,”  said Rebecca Campo, a psychologist and program director at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, which funded the study.

Future research should look at “populations with cardiovascular disease, with diabetes and at people who live in rural settings and ethnic and racial minorities.”

Middlekauff said the biggest limitation of the study is that it looked at one bout of provoked anger.

“I’d like to see a study of a group of chronically angry people and see what their vascular function is,” she said.

Barbara Mantel is an NBC News contributor. She is also the topic leader for freelancing at the Association of Health Care Journalists, writing blog posts, tip sheets and market guides, as well as producing and hosting webinars. Barbara’s work has appeared in CQ Researcher, AARP, Undark, Next Avenue, Medical Economics, Healthline, Today.com, NPR and The New York Times.

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Helping women get better sleep by calming the relentless 'to-do lists' in their heads

Yuki Noguchi

Katie Krimitsos is among the majority of American women who have trouble getting healthy sleep, according to a new Gallup survey. Krimitsos launched a podcast called Sleep Meditation for Women to offer some help. Natalie Champa Jennings/Natalie Jennings, courtesy of Katie Krimitsos hide caption

Katie Krimitsos is among the majority of American women who have trouble getting healthy sleep, according to a new Gallup survey. Krimitsos launched a podcast called Sleep Meditation for Women to offer some help.

When Katie Krimitsos lies awake watching sleepless hours tick by, it's almost always because her mind is wrestling with a mental checklist of things she has to do. In high school, that was made up of homework, tests or a big upcoming sports game.

"I would be wide awake, just my brain completely spinning in chaos until two in the morning," says Krimitsos.

There were periods in adulthood, too, when sleep wouldn't come easily, like when she started a podcasting company in Tampa, or nursed her first daughter eight years ago. "I was already very used to the grainy eyes," she says.

Now 43, Krimitsos says in recent years she found that mounting worries brought those sleepless spells more often. Her mind would spin through "a million, gazillion" details of running a company and a family: paying the electric bill, making dinner and dentist appointments, monitoring the pets' food supply or her parents' health checkups. This checklist never, ever shrank, despite her best efforts, and perpetually chased away her sleep.

"So we feel like there are these enormous boulders that we are carrying on our shoulders that we walk into the bedroom with," she says. "And that's what we're laying down with."

By "we," Krimitsos means herself and the many other women she talks to or works with who complain of fatigue.

Women are one of the most sleep-troubled demographics, according to a recent Gallup survey that found sleep patterns of Americans deteriorating rapidly over the past decade.

"When you look in particular at adult women under the age of 50, that's the group where we're seeing the most steep movement in terms of their rate of sleeping less or feeling less satisfied with their sleep and also their rate of stress," says Gallup senior researcher Sarah Fioroni.

Overall, Americans' sleep is at an all time low, in terms of both quantity and quality.

A majority – 57% – now say they could use more sleep, which is a big jump from a decade ago. It's an acceleration of an ongoing trend, according to the survey. In 1942, 59% of Americans said that they slept 8 hours or more; today, that applies to only 26% of Americans. One in five people, also an all-time high, now sleep fewer than 5 hours a day.

Popular myths about sleep, debunked

"If you have poor sleep, then it's all things bad," says Gina Marie Mathew, a post-doctoral sleep researcher at Stony Brook Medicine in New York. The Gallup survey did not cite reasons for the rapid decline, but Mathew says her research shows that smartphones keep us — and especially teenagers — up later.

She says sleep, as well as diet and exercise, is considered one of the three pillars of health. Yet American culture devalues rest.

"In terms of structural and policy change, we need to recognize that a lot of these systems that are in place are not conducive to women in particular getting enough sleep or getting the sleep that they need," she says, arguing things like paid family leave and flexible work hours might help women sleep more, and better.

No one person can change a culture that discourages sleep. But when faced with her own sleeplessness, Tampa mom Katie Krimitsos started a podcast called Sleep Meditation for Women , a soothing series of episodes in which she acknowledges and tries to calm the stresses typical of many women.

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Many grouchy, error-prone workers just need more sleep.

That podcast alone averages about a million unique listeners a month, and is one of 20 podcasts produced by Krimitsos's firm, Women's Meditation Network.

"Seven of those 20 podcasts are dedicated to sleep in some way, and they make up for 50% of my listenership," Krimitsos notes. "So yeah, it's the biggest pain point."

Krimitsos says she thinks women bear the burdens of a pace of life that keeps accelerating. "Our interpretation of how fast life should be and what we should 'accomplish' or have or do has exponentially increased," she says.

She only started sleeping better, she says, when she deliberately cut back on activities and commitments, both for herself and her two kids. "I feel more satisfied at the end of the day. I feel more fulfilled and I feel more willing to allow things that are not complete to let go."

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May 7, 2024

Blood biomarkers for knee osteoarthritis

At a glance.

• Researchers found biomarkers in blood that may predict knee osteoarthritis up to eight years before clinical diagnosis.
• The findings could lead to a blood test for detecting osteoarthritis before joints develop visible structural damage.

Osteoarthritis occurs when tissues in joints break down over time. The disease has become more common worldwide over the past few decades. Diagnosis usually involves finding signs of joint damage on an x-ray. But the disease likely begins long before this damage can be seen.

The early stages of osteoarthritis may offer the best opportunity to stop disease progression and repair joint damage. Thus, there is a need for ways to predict whether people will develop osteoarthritis before damage becomes detectable in medical images.

Earlier, a research team led by Virginia Byers Kraus at Duke University found a set of protein biomarkers in blood serum that could predict the progression of knee osteoarthritis once it appeared in imaging. In a new NIH-funded study, the team looked at whether these proteins could predict the development of osteoarthritis before it could be diagnosed via x-ray. Results appeared in Science Advances on April 26, 2024.

The researchers analyzed serum samples from 200 White women, ages 45-65, who were part of a large study in the United Kingdom. All were at low risk of osteoarthritis based on traditional risk factors. Half of the women were diagnosed with knee osteoarthritis within 10 years, while the other half were not. Women were matched between the groups by age and body mass index (BMI).

As few as six biomarkers in the serum samples could distinguish those who developed knee osteoarthritis from those who did not. Furthermore, they could do so up to 8 years before a clinical diagnosis was made. Predictions using these biomarkers were much more accurate than those based on age and BMI, knee pain, or preexisting osteoarthritis in the hip. Many of the biomarkers the team identified were from proteins involved in acute inflammation.

These results provide evidence that the damage to joint tissue that causes osteoarthritis begins at the molecular level, long before any damage can be seen by imaging. This damage may ultimately result from an acute inflammatory response that fails to shut off.

“Currently, you’ve got to have an abnormal x-ray to show clear evidence of knee osteoarthritis, and by the time it shows up on x-ray, your disease has been progressing for some time,” Kraus says. “What our blood test demonstrates is that it’s possible to detect this disease much earlier than our current diagnostics permit.”

More than half of the biomarkers the team identified also predict osteoarthritis progression after diagnosis. Thus, both the initial development and progression of osteoarthritis may share a similar physiological mechanism. Earlier detection could ultimately allow interventions to slow disease development before it becomes debilitating.

—by Brian Doctrow, Ph.D.

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References:  An osteoarthritis pathophysiological continuum revealed by molecular biomarkers. Kraus VB, Sun S, Reed A, Soderblom EJ, Moseley MA, Zhou K, Jain V, Arden N, Li YJ. Sci Adv. 2024 Apr 26;10(17):eadj6814. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adj6814. Epub 2024 Apr 26. PMID: 38669329.

Funding:  NIH’s National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) and National Institute on Aging (NIA).

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Research shows altered regulation of genes linked to prostate cancer among firefighters

A new study co-authored by researchers at the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health found that occupational exposure to chemicals may increase firefighters’ risk of prostate cancer.

Firefighters are exposed to a variety of chemicals in the course of their job, and some of those exposures may increase the risk of prostate cancer, according to new research published in Environmental and Molecular Mutagenesis.

Photo by Ted Horowitz Photography via Getty Images

Firefighters may have an increased risk of prostate cancer due to on-the-job chemical exposures, according to new research from the University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health and University of Michigan in collaboration with fire service partners and researchers around the country through the Fire Fighter Cancer Cohort Study .

Prostate cancer is the leading incident cancer among U.S. males. Firefighters are diagnosed with prostate cancer at a rate 1.21 times higher than the general population, possibly because of chemical exposures including smoke and firefighting foam during firefighting.

Some of those chemicals can affect how genes are expressed through a process called epigenetic modification, and certain epigenetic modifications, including DNA methylation, contribute to cancer development. Researchers found evidence that experienced firefighters had different epigenetic modifications than new firefighters in regions linked to prostate cancer.

“With these published findings, we have clear evidence of the health risks that firefighters face due to cumulative exposure on the job,” said Jeff Burgess, MD, MPH , director of the Center for Firefighter Health Collaborative Research and professor at the Zuckerman College of Public Health . 

The paper, “ Firefighting, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, and DNA methylation of genes associated with prostate cancer risk ,” was published in the journal Environmental and Molecular Mutagenesis.

Burgess, also a member of the BIO5 Institute , has been investigating firefighter health for decades. He collaborated with lead author Margaret Quaid, MS, and researcher Jackie Goodrich, PhD, from the University of Michigan, who led the analysis on the methylation of genes.

They found that experienced firefighters had different epigenetic modifications at chromosome 8q24 – a particular area of the genome where epigenetic modifications have been linked to prostate cancer risk – compared with new firefighters. 

One class of chemicals that is linked with epigenetic modifications is per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, which are used in firefighting foam as well as in many household items, including nonstick pans and water-resistant clothing. The research team also investigated whether there was a link between exposure to PFAS and epigenetic modification.

The results showed that, in many fire departments, new and experienced firefighters had similar exposure to PFAS. However, exposure to a specific PFAS chemical – branched perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA – was linked to epigenetic modifications.

“This study demonstrates the power of the Fire Fighter Cancer Cohort Study to combine data across grants – in this case awards from the Federal Emergency Management Agency in 2014, 2015 and 2018 – to more powerfully evaluate questions from the fire service, this time around exposures and increased prostate cancer risk,” Burgess said.

Other co-authors from the Zuckerman College of Public Health include toxicologist Shawn Beitel, MSc , research program administrative officer of the Firefighter Health Collaborative Research Program, and Sally Littau , health research coordinator. John Gulotta and Darin Wallentine of the Tucson Fire Department also contributed. The research team included members from the University of Miami, Rutgers University, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Los Angeles County Fire Department, the Orange County Fire Authority, and the Fire Protection Research Foundation.

This research was supported in part by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, a division of the National Institutes of Health, under award nos. P30ES006694 and P30ES017885; by the Federal Emergency Management Agency under award nos. EMW-2014-FP-00200, EMW-2015-FP-00213 and EMW-2018-FP-00086; and by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Shipherd Reed Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health 520-626-9669, [email protected]

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In the News: Berberine

Berberine is a compound found in some plants such as European barberry,  goldenseal , goldthread, Oregon grape, phellodendron, and tree turmeric. Plants containing berberine have been used medicinally for thousands of years in Ayurvedic medicine and traditional Chinese medicine. In Ayurvedic medicine, plants rich in berberine have been used for treating infections, for promoting wound healing, and as a remedy for gastrointestinal disorders. Traditionally, berberine has also been used as a treatment against various bacteria, fungi, and viruses. Today, berberine is often sold as an herbal dietary supplement and is promoted as a remedy for diabetes, high cholesterol levels, high blood pressure, and canker sores, and most recently as a weight loss aid.

Recently, berberine has gained popularity across the internet and on social media platforms such as TikTok for its purported ability to induce weight loss. However, while some preliminary studies have suggested that berberine may play a role in losing weight, there haven’t been many clinical trials (studies conducted in people), so there isn’t enough rigorous scientific evidence to determine whether it is effective.

There is some evidence that berberine may have a modest effect on lowering blood glucose levels in people with type 2 diabetes and may reduce cholesterol levels. Berberine may have additional beneficial effects on high blood pressure when used in combination with the medication amlodipine.

In general, when taken orally, berberine is well tolerated; however, it is not without its risks and side effects. The most common adverse effects of berberine include abdominal pain, constipation, diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting. People who are pregnant or breastfeeding should not use berberine, and it should not be given to infants. Berberine can cause or worsen jaundice in newborn infants and could lead to a life-threatening problem called kernicterus. Berberine might also interact with medicines in negative ways. 

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Berberine and Weight Loss: What You Need To Know