Tag: boosts

Offering HIV screening to new patients in general practice on a routine basis increases testing rates and improves detection and earlier diagnosis, research co-led by Queen Mary University of London and UCL suggests. HIV testing rates in general practice are low, despite testing being recommended in UK and international guidelines. Lack of testing leads to

A team of researchers led by Harvard University scientists has improved the laboratory process of converting stem cells into insulin-producing beta cells, using biological and physical separation methods to enrich the proportion of beta cells in a sample. Their findings, published in the journal Nature, may be used to improve beta cell transplants for patients

Anyone who trains for a marathon knows that individual running workouts add up over time to yield a big improvement in physical fitness. So, it should not be surprising that the cognitive benefits from workouts also accumulate to yield long-term cognitive gains. Yet, until now, there was has been little research to describe and support

Though this may seem strange, human bodies are actually made, according to recent estimates, of about as many bacteria and other microorganisms as regular human cells. In the colon alone — the tract that contains the largest number of bacterial cells — there are approximately 38 trillion bacteria. These bacteria have important effects on the

Studies have shown that intermittent fasting can help certain people lose weight. Although researchers are still debating exactly how effective fasting can be for weight loss, new research hints at other benefits. In rats, for instance, studies show that fasting can increase lifespan. Although exciting, evidence of this in humans has yet to be seen.

A four-protein biomarker blood test improves lung cancer risk assessment over existing guidelines that rely solely upon smoking history, capturing risk for people who have ever smoked, not only for heavy smokers, an international research team reports in JAMA Oncology. “This simple blood test demonstrates the potential of biomarker-based risk assessment to improve eligibility criteria

A unique bacterial strain isolated from a patient with pelvic pain may represent a promising path to treating prostate cancer with immunotherapy, according to a Northwestern Medicine study published in Nature Communications. The study demonstrated how the bacterial strain travels directly to the prostate and induces low-level inflammation, boosting the effectiveness of immune checkpoint inhibitor

In response to antibiotics, a gene regulation network found in the bacterium Acinetobacter baumannii acts to boost both virulence and antibiotic resistance. Edward Geisinger of Tufts University School of Medicine and colleagues present new insights into this system in a study published in PLOS Pathogens. A. baumannii is a multi-drug resistant bacterium that spreads in

Recovery after severe spinal cord injury is notoriously fraught, with permanent paralysis often the result. In recent years, researchers have increasingly turned to stem cell-based therapies as a potential method for repairing and replacing damaged nerve cells. They have struggled, however, to overcome numerous innate barriers, including myelin, a mixture of insulating proteins and lipids

Impoverished female farm workers infected with intestinal parasites known as hookworms saw significant improvements in physical fitness when they were treated with a low-cost deworming drug. The benefits were seen even in those with low level infections, according to a study co-authored by researchers at Yale and the nonprofit company InnovationsCZ. The authors say that