All posts by : Felistas

Much attention has been paid to malaria research conducted on inmates at Illinois’ Stateville Penitentiary and the fraught ethical issues that the carceral studies raised. Stateville inmates were infected with the potentially fatal mosquito-borne disease from 1945 to 1974 to test the efficacy of various antimalarial treatments—part of an effort to protect American troops serving overseas.

Scientists have discovered a specific group of brain cells that create memories of meals, encoding not just what food was eaten but when it was eaten. The findings, published in Nature Communications, could explain why people with memory problems often over-eat and why forgetting about a recent meal can trigger excessive hunger and lead to disordered eating.

For many patients with schizophrenia, other psychiatric illnesses, or diseases such as hypertension and asthma, it can be difficult to take their medicine every day. To help overcome that challenge, MIT researchers have developed a pill that can be taken just once a week and gradually releases medication from within the stomach.

Once marketed as a safer alternative to smoking, electronic cigarettes have been often considered less harmful by consumers. But emerging research reveals that vaping may carry serious health risks of its own. At the University of Miami College of Engineering, recent Ph.D. graduate Kapiamba Fabrice is leading critical research into the invisible toxins released by e-cigarette aerosols and their potential impact on users and bystanders.

Pancreatic cancer has a five-year survival rate of just 13%, making it the deadliest cancer, according to the American Cancer Society. It typically causes no symptoms until it has already metastasized. Surgery, radiation and chemotherapy can extend survival, but rarely provide a cure.

More than 40 million people worldwide are living with HIV-1, which continues to be a major global health challenge due to its ability to persist silently within immune cells, evading complete eradication. Researchers at LKS Faculty of Medicine, the University of Hong Kong (HKUMed), have identified a specific gene transcription factor, BRD9, as a potential key to unlocking the mechanisms behind HIV-1 latency.

Malaria is one of the deadliest diseases spread by mosquitoes. Each year, hundreds of millions of people worldwide are infected and half a million people die from the disease.

Memory problems have long been considered the primary hallmark of dementia, but a team of researchers is now challenging this view. They argue that changes in sensory perception—from vision to balance—may be equally important indicators that many health care providers are currently missing.

A new comparative study led by researchers at the UNC School of Medicine found that a new therapy for prevention of recurrent Clostridioides difficile infection may be less effective than traditional therapy when it comes to preventing severe disease over time.

Smartphone apps that track menstrual cycles are a “gold mine” for consumer profiling, collecting information on everything from exercise, diet and medication to sexual preferences, hormone levels and contraception use, according to a University of Cambridge report.