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New map offers valuable insights into the underlying mechanisms of neurodevelopmental disorders and cancer

Scientists have created the first extensive map showing how all possible genetic changes can affect health in the gene DDX3X, leading to valuable insights into the underlying mechanisms of neurodevelopmental disorders and cancer.

11 Dec 2023

New project aims to revolutionize stroke treatment with digital twins

It sounds like something from a science fiction film. Assessing the best treatment for a patient with a cerebral infarction or cerebral hemorrhage by performing the procedure on their digital twin. If it's up to researchers at Amsterdam UMC, this will be reality in six years.

7 Dec 2023

Vegan diet outperforms omnivorous in cardiometabolic health, twin study reveals

In a JAMA Network Open study, researchers found that an eight-week vegan diet intervention in adult identical twins led to significant improvements in cardiometabolic health, including reduced LDL cholesterol and fasting insulin levels, compared to an omnivorous diet.

4 Dec 2023

Does immediate parent-infant skin-to-skin contact improve interaction in very preterm babies at 4 months?

The effect of initial skin-to-skin contact (SSC) at delivery on the quality of mother-infant interactions.

4 Dec 2023

Vegan diet improves cardiovascular health in 8 weeks, twin study finds

In a study with 22 pairs of identical twins, Stanford Medicine researchers and their colleagues have found that a vegan diet improves cardiovascular health in as little as eight weeks.

30 Nov 2023

Infant face preference linked to genetics

Whether infants at five months of age look mostly at faces or non-social objects such as cars or mobile phones is largely determined by genes.

27 Nov 2023

Placental inflammation's role in adult depression and heart disease

An expression signature related to inflammation expressed in Hofbauer cells in the placenta, calculating polygenic risk scores to predict its expression.

14 Nov 2023

Cannabis use alters DNA methylation, with implications beyond smoking effects

A large-scale meta-analysis in Molecular Psychiatry reveals that lifetime cannabis use is associated with DNA methylation changes in peripheral blood, which could have implications for understanding the long-term health effects of cannabis consumption.

8 Nov 2023

Study finds epigenetic signature for obesity susceptibility in human twins

A susceptibility to gain weight may be written into molecular processes of human cells, a Washington State University study indicates.

1 Nov 2023

Adaptability and promising potential of synthetic information in healthcare

The possible benefits and limits of artificially generated data in the context of healthcare analytics.

11 Oct 2023

Does IQ influence COVID-19 vaccination decision-making?

This study in the Journal of Health Economics finds that cognitive ability significantly influences the rate at which people get COVID-19 vaccinations. Pre-booked appointments were shown to effectively boost vaccination rates, especially among those with lower cognitive ability scores.

12 Sep 2023

People with traumatic brain injuries in earlier life may be at increased risk of late life cognitive decline

A study of twins shows that having a concussion early in life is tied to having lower scores on tests of thinking and memory skills decades later as well as having more rapid decline in those scores than twins who did not have a concussion, or traumatic brain injury (TBI).

7 Sep 2023

Smoking linked to increased risk of depression, bipolar disorder

Most of us know that smoking is unhealthy. Cigarette packets display shocking picture warnings of diseased lungs and rotting teeth. And we often hear in the media about how smoking can cause all sorts of cancer.

30 Aug 2023

Early sensitive parenting experiences associated with academic success for late preterm infants

Late preterm infants, or infants born between 34 and 36-6/7 weeks gestation, are the majority of infants born preterm, and are at greater risk for academic delays compared to full term infants.

29 Aug 2023

Maternal obesity linked to childhood weight issues through DNA changes

Boston Birth Cohort study finds that maternal pre-pregnancy obesity alters newborn DNA methylation, potentially increasing the risk of obesity in the child. The research targets high-risk U.S. demographics and could guide future interventions for childhood obesity.

27 Aug 2023

Dangers and deaths around Black pregnancies seen as a ‘completely preventable’ health crisis

Tonjanic Hill was overjoyed in 2017 when she learned she was 14 weeks pregnant. Despite a history of uterine fibroids, she never lost faith that she would someday have a child.

24 Aug 2023

Epigenetic formatting of satiety gene may increase risk of obesity in women

What determines whether we become overweight? Aside from lifestyle, predisposition plays a role, but genes cannot fully explain the inherited propensity to accumulate excess weight.

19 Jul 2023

Genes that influence pain perception linked to alcohol use disorders

An estimated 16 million people in the United States have alcohol use disorders (AUDs), according to the National Institutes on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA).

17 Jul 2023

More women opting for single embryo transfer during fertility treatment

More women are having just one embryo transferred per cycle of fertility treatment to get pregnant, according to research presented at the 39th annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology.

27 Jun 2023

Severe COVID-19 raises alarm for undiagnosed cancer

Severe SARS-CoV-2 infection is associated with a 1.31 higher risk of being diagnosed with cancer following hospital discharge, particularly renal, hematological, colon, and lung cancers, suggesting a potential link between the infection and undiagnosed cancer.

1 Jun 2023