Tag: study

Various diseases of the digestive tract, for example severe intestinal inflammation in humans, are closely linked to disturbances in the natural mobility of the intestine. What role the microbiome—i.e. the natural microbial community colonizing the digestive tract—plays in these rhythmic contractions of the intestine, also known as peristalsis, is currently the subject of intensive research.

Cloth face coverings, even homemade masks made of the correct material, are effective in reducing the spread of COVID-19—for the wearer and those around them—according to a new study from Oxford’s Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science. A comprehensive study, the report investigates the effectiveness of different face mask types and coverings, including an international comparison

There are 15 million cancer survivors in the United States, and prior research has provided strong evidence that lifestyle interventions, such as diet and physical activity, are especially important in the long-term recovery of cancer survivors. Energy imbalance—when energy expenditure does not equal energy intake- and metabolic changes after cancer treatment can directly affect the

A genetic analysis of COVID-19 patients suggests that blood type might influence whether someone develops severe disease. Scientists who compared the genes of thousands of patients in Europe found that those who had Type A blood were more likely to have severe disease while those with Type O were less likely. Wednesday’s report in the

Despite being at high risk of exposure to COVID-19, frontline healthcare professionals who were appropriately protected did not contract infection or develop protective immunity against the virus, finds a study from China published by The BMJ today. The researchers acknowledge that the healthcare professionals were working away from home, so had limited social interactions after

A large international study has discovered an association between consuming a higher amount of dairy—especially whole-fat varieties—and lower rates of hypertension and diabetes, the rates of which are rising in the U.S. Participants included nearly 150,000 people from 21 countries, including Africa, Asia, Europe and North and South America. The age of participants varied, ranging

Color awareness has long been a puzzle for researchers in neuroscience and psychology, who debate over how much color observers really perceive. A study from Dartmouth in collaboration with Amherst College finds that people are aware of surprisingly limited color in their peripheral vision; much of our sense of a colorful visual world is likely

Western Sydney University researchers have found same-sex attracted and gender diverse (SSAGD) young people want to participate in sport, but past and current negative experiences, including those of violence and discrimination, can hold them back. The pilot study, which explored the experiences and attitudes towards sport, exercise and physical activity of 13 SSAGD young people

A study conducted by a team of researchers at LSU Health New Orleans has shown for the first time that chronic exposure to inhaled nicotine alone increases blood pressure (hypertension), in both the body’s general circulation and in the lungs that can lead to pulmonary hypertension. The study also found that nicotine-induced pulmonary hypertension is

An international study will test whether a common anti-inflammatory drug can ward off serious complications from COVID-19 and possibly prevent patients from ending up in the hospital. The study, which would involve 6,000 participants in the U.S., Canada and Europe, is designed to be “contactless” — participants will receive the drug, called colchicine, by mail,

(HealthDay)—Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) can shorten time to clinical recovery and promote pneumonia absorption among patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), according to a study that has not yet been peer reviewed and was posted online March 31 at medRxiv.org. Zhaowei Chen, from the Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University in China, and colleagues examined the efficacy of

The day before the federal government issued new recommendations that Americans wear cloth face coverings to help slow the spread of the coronavirus, a researcher at Missouri University of Science and Technology decided to test a few common household materials—pillowcases, scarves, furnace filters—”out of curiosity.” His early results, which he shared on Twitter Thursday (April

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health have discovered in mice what they believe is the first known genetic mutation to improve cognitive flexibility—the ability to adapt to changing situations. The gene, KCND2, codes for a protein that regulates potassium channels, which control electrical signals that travel along neurons. The electrical signals stimulate chemical messengers

The streets of the UK are almost empty at the moment, as it was announced that we are all to avoid going outside except for essentials. In what’s being called a lockdown, people are being asked to leave only for food, medicine, and to work if they can’t work from home, in the hopes it

A new study from University of Alberta cardiac researchers casts doubt on the standard practice of using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to help diagnose the causes of heart failure not related to a heart attack. In a study published in the journal Circulation, 500 patients with heart failure from Canada and Finland were randomly selected

Mice exposed to stress in the womb and soon after birth can expect a lifetime of immune system deficiencies that hinder the ability to ward off infections and cancer, Yale University researchers report March 5 in the journal Cell. In a new study, they tracked a lifetime of physiological changes experienced by mice given a

It’s long been known that endurance athletes have larger hearts on average than the rest of the population and that cardiac enlargement is a healthy adaptation to exercise. But what wasn’t known until now was whether the aorta—the main artery leaving the heart and supplying the body with oxygenated blood—followed suit, and if it did,

MONDAY, Feb. 24, 2020 — Smartphones appear to be more effective than wearable fitness devices in helping doctors track patients’ physical activity, researchers say. Their new study included 500 patients who joined activity tracking programs at two Philadelphia hospitals. Half used a smartphone app to track their daily steps after leaving the hospital. The other

UCLA researchers have found that it is possible to assess a person’s ability to feel empathy by studying their brain activity while they are resting rather than while they are engaged in specific tasks. Traditionally, empathy is assessed through the use of questionnaires and psychological assessments. The findings of this study offer an alternative to

In the first national study of its size, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine and UC San Diego Health, Department of Nursing, have found that male and female nurses are at higher risk of suicide than the general population. Results of the longitudinal study were published in the February 3, 2020