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Plastics now commonly found in human stools

Nearly eight billion metric tons of plastic finds its way into the oceans each year. This huge amount of plastic either washes ashore or breaks down into tiny pieces that are less than 5 millimeters in diameter and are called microplastics.

22 Oct 2018

Researchers identify common genetic connection in lung conditions

An international research team led by members of the University of Colorado School of Medicine faculty has identified a genetic connection between rheumatoid arthritis-associated interstitial lung disease and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

22 Oct 2018

New topical gel can prevent pesticide-induced toxicity and lethality

Farmers are exposed to toxic pesticides, through skin contact and inhalation, during the spraying of pesticides. This is a severe health hazard. In the last year, from the Vidharbha region in Maharashtra alone, spraying is thought to have led to over 40 deaths, 25 cases of lost vision, and over 1000 hospitalizations.

22 Oct 2018

Patient-reported data confirms efficacy of brachytherapy alone in intermediate risk prostate cancer

Oncology trial RTOG 0232 comparing a combined treatment of external beam therapy and brachytherapy to transperineal interstitial permanent brachytherapy alone indicate a significantly different clinician and patient-reported late toxicity profile between arms despite similarities in progression-free survival results.

22 Oct 2018

Research offers new hope to men who received childhood cancer treatment

Researchers have discovered a way to grow human stem cells destined to become mature sperm in an effort to provide fertility options later in life to males who are diagnosed with cancer and undergo chemotherapy and radiation as children.

22 Oct 2018

New orthodontic bracket bonding adhesive protects tooth surfaces from decay

Researchers at Queen Mary University of London have produced a new orthodontic bracket bonding adhesive that protects the tooth surfaces around the brackets from decay. This decay is often referred to as white spot lesions which affects, according to a 2015 meta-analysis, nearly 70 percent of people fitted with orthodontic braces.

22 Oct 2018

Breathing through the nose improves memory consolidation

The way we breathe may affect how well our memories are consolidated (i.e. reinforced and stabilized). If we breathe through the nose rather than the mouth after trying to learn a set of smells, we remember them better, researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden report in The Journal of Neuroscience.

22 Oct 2018

Innovative strategy opens up new avenue of treatment for anthrax infections

A team led by Professor Arne Skerra at the Technical University of Munich has developed an innovative strategy for preventing the anthrax bacterium from absorbing iron, which is crucial for its survival.

22 Oct 2018

Researchers develop promising targeted strategy to treat chemo-resistant blood cancer

Researchers from The Ottawa Hospital and the University of Ottawa have developed a promising targeted strategy to treat chemotherapy-resistant acute myeloid leukemia and a diagnostic test to determine which AML patients would most likely benefit from this treatment.

22 Oct 2018

Paternal exercise has significant impact on child's lifelong metabolic health

Recent studies have linked development of type 2 diabetes and impaired metabolic health individuals to their parents' poor diet, and there is increasing evidence that fathers play an important role in obesity and metabolic programming of their offspring.

22 Oct 2018

Study: Targeting specific genomic mutation in breast cancer improves survival

Targeting a common mutation in patients with hormone receptor positive (HR+) HER2 negative (HER2-) advanced breast cancer with the alpha-specific phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K) inhibitor alpelisib significantly improves progression-free survival, according to late-breaking results reported at ESMO 2018.

22 Oct 2018

Stress related to social stigma negatively impacts mental health of autistic people

Stress related to social stigma may be the reason why autistic people experience more mental health problems than the general population, dispelling past theories that the condition itself is the origin of such distress.

22 Oct 2018

Drug cocktail that increases lifespan discovered

A team of researchers led by Principal Investigator Dr Jan Gruber from Yale-NUS College has discovered a combination of pharmaceutical drugs that not only increases healthy lifespan in the microscopic worm Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans), but also delays the rate of ageing in them, a finding that could someday mean longer, healthier lives for humans.

22 Oct 2018

Study shows potential positive impact of group prenatal care on birth outcomes

A recent retrospective matched cohort study of more than 9,000 pregnant women found that women who received group prenatal care had a significantly lower risk of having a preterm birth or a low birth weight baby compared with women who received individual care only, after adjusting for number of individual care visits.

22 Oct 2018

Immunotherapy with pembrolizumab extends survival in metastatic or recurrent head and neck cancer

Immunotherapy with pembrolizumab improves survival in patients with head and neck cancer that has recurred or metastasized, according to late-breaking results from the KEYNOTE-048 study reported at the ESMO 2018 Congress in Munich.

22 Oct 2018

Aspirin may be effective in preventing blood clots after knee replacement

When it comes to preventing blood clots after a knee replacement, good old aspirin may be just as effective as newer, more expensive drugs.

22 Oct 2018

Targeted drug and hormone therapy combination extends breast cancer survival

Combining a targeted drug with hormone therapy substantially extends survival for women with advanced breast cancer, a major clinical trial has found.

22 Oct 2018

Politicians hop aboard ‘Medicare-for-all’ train, destination unknown

After decades in the political wilderness, "Medicare-for-all" and single-payer health care are suddenly popular. The words appear in political advertisements and are cheered at campaign rallies — even in deep-red states.

22 Oct 2018

Immunotherapy achieves major pathological response in early-stage mismatch repair deficient colon cancer

Pre-operative treatment with a combination of the immune checkpoint inhibitors nivolumab and ipilimumab achieves major pathological responses in 100% of early-stage colon cancers with mismatch repair deficiencies, according to results reported at ESMO 2018 from the first exploratory phase II trial to investigate this approach.

22 Oct 2018

People with periodontal disease less likely to reach healthy blood pressure ranges

People with high blood pressure taking medication for their condition are more likely to benefit from the therapy if they have good oral health, according to new research in the American Heart Association's journal Hypertension.

22 Oct 2018