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Last year the rather religious sounding film The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks was released in the US. It documents the tragic real life story of a young woman who died in the early 1950s due to rapidly growing ovarian cancer. The ‘immortal’ part refers to her cancer cells, which scientists at the John Hopkins

High blood pressure and prediabetes together may do more harm to the body than either one alone. The first study of its type looking into the association between slightly elevated blood sugar levels and high blood pressure found that prediabetes didn’t increase cardiovascular risk by itself. But when researchers looked at prediabetes paired with high

Researchers from the University of Dundee have identified an enzyme critical for cell division that could potentially be targeted to tip tumours ‘over the edge’ into remission. A team led by Professor Paul Clarke and Dr. Adrian Saurin, from the University’s School of Medicine, discovered that the enzyme USP9X controls the proper timing of cell

One class of drug used to treat type 2 diabetes may not reduce the risk of death when compared with placebo, suggests new findings. The research, led by scientists from Imperial College London and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, studied three types of diabetes treatment: sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT-2) inhibitors, glucagon-like

Following a heart attack, the parts of the heart muscle that die do not regenerate into new heart tissue and instead are replaced by scar tissue. Using rodent models, researchers at Baylor College of Medicine are looking for a means to genetically convert this scar tissue into muscle tissue at the cellular level, which could

Rising income and the subsequent improved standards of living have long been thought to be the most important factors contributing to a long and healthy life. However, new research from Wolfgang Lutz and Endale Kebede, from IIASA and the Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU) has shown that instead, the level of education a

A position statement from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) concludes that fatigue and sleepiness are inherent safety risks in the ridesharing industry. Both sleep deprivation and circadian influences leave ridesharing drivers at risk for drowsy driving. The typical schedule for workers in the ridesharing industry may lead to driving after extended periods of

The hippocampus is an area of the brain commonly linked with memory and dementia. But new U of T Scarborough research finds that it may also yield important clues about a range of mental health illnesses including addiction, anxiety and depression. The research, authored by a team of neuroscientists, found that a specific part of

(HealthDay)—The lives of contact lens wearers just got a whole lot easier. On Tuesday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first contact lenses that can act like sunglasses. A special additive automatically darkens the lenses when exposed to bright light, while they become clear again in normal or dark lighting conditions. “This contact

(HealthDay)—It’s no secret that weight gain results from consuming too many calories. But at its core is an imbalance of healthy and unhealthy habits. On one side of the scale—the healthy side—are foods such as whole grains, fruits and vegetables, lean protein and plant-based fats. On the other side are the not-so-healthy options—sugary foods, those

For many people, one of the unspoken rules for being cool is maintaining an emotionally inexpressive attitude. This message is reinforced through advertisements where fashion models rarely smile and by quotes from celebrities. In an article in the Huffington Post, Kanye West said he doesn’t smile in photographs because “it just wouldn’t look as cool.”

Because testicular cancer has a 95 percent cure rate, it is easier for men to move on and forget about it. But new research in the Journal of Clinical Oncology shows that it’s prudent for patients to stay in touch with their medical team as they age and to be aware of treatment toxicities. The

Two common iron compounds increase the formation of a known biomarker for cancer, according to a new study of cancer cells from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden. The two compounds, ferric citrate and ferric EDTA, are often used in dietary supplements and as a food additive respectively, in worldwide markets including the U.S. and the

The class of drugs currently prescribed to treat male erectile dysfunction has been flagged for its potential to be included in new trials for anti-cancer drugs, in a new clinical study published today in the open access journal, ecancermedicalscience. The paper is the latest publication from the Repurposing Drugs in Oncology (ReDO) project, an international

The UK governments need to ditch a 42-year-old trend and stop prioritizing the car if they are serious about tackling childhood obesity, insist clinicians and transport experts in a call to action, published online in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. The dominance of the “windscreen perspective” whereby governments and planners view the world from

In January of 2018, 15 Kentucky Medicaid beneficiaries filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia challenging the federal government’s legal authority to launch Medicaid work demonstrations and its approval of Kentucky’s Medicaid work demonstration, the first in the nation. The lawsuit (Stewart v. Azar) seeks to block the

Liver stem cells that express high levels of telomerase, a protein often associated with resistance to aging, act in mice to regenerate the organ during normal cellular turnover or tissue damage, according to a study by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine. The cells are distributed throughout the liver’s lobes, enabling it to

There are many factors that determine your likelihood of developing cancer, including age, genetic predisposition and lifestyle. Some factors, like age, cannot be controlled, so experts recommend learning as much as possible about your family’s medical history and doing everything you can to live a healthy lifestyle. “Sometimes our environment may not be within our

Although past research has shown that thigh, hip and buttocks fat might actually protect against heart disease, a new study says losing fat in those areas is linked to better cardiovascular health. The study, published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Heart Association, comes eight years after a well-publicized study in the International Journal

A new clinical study will test for the first time if MRI scans can be used for population screening to detect prostate cancer more accurately. The current prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test is considered too unreliable for population screening, and the scientists will study if MRI could be used to screen men to pick up cancers