Health & Medicine

Until now, medical opinion about the impact of vegetarian diets on bone health has been based on anecdotal evidence and a range of contradictory findings that sometimes rely on studies too small to be biologically relevant.

Women who get less than the recommended eight hours sleep a night are at higher risk of heart disease and heart-related problems than men with the same sleeping patterns.

Schizophrenia is a devastating mental disease, thought to be caused by the interaction of both genetic and environmental factors. Because there is no biochemical test that can identify the disorder, physicians rely upon the recognition of its symptoms — which can include auditory hallucinations and paranoia — in order to make their diagnosis.

In an article in Science, Noam Zelcer from the LACDR describes a previously unknown mechanism for regulating the amount of LDL cholesterol. This offers opportunities for supplementing and improving the effect of so-called statins: medicines that remove 'bad' cholesterol from the bloodstream.

Tel Aviv University researcher Prof. Noam Eliaz of the TAU School of Mechanical Engineering has developed an electrochemical process for coating metal implants which vastly improves their functionality, longevity and integration into the body.

Muscle dysmorphia is a disorder characterized by an individual’s excessive preoccupation with muscularity and body fat percentage, usually in bodybuilding. It is predominantly evident in males when there is a pathological preoccupation with a lack of muscular size and leanness.

Curtin University of Technology researchers have found that long-term consumption of soy products can reduce the risk and symptoms of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Kidney injury that can arise after undergoing certain medical imaging procedures increases a patient’s risk of having a stroke or heart attack over the next year or two, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society Nephrology (CJASN). The findings indicate that seemingly minor and reversible kidney damage from these common clinical procedures is a serious health threat.

Childhood physical abuse is associated with elevated rates of cancer in adulthood, according to a new study by University of Toronto researchers.

Experiment after experiment confirms that a diet on the brink of starvation expands lifespan in mice and many other species. But the molecular mechanism that links nutrition and survival is still poorly understood. Now, researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have identified a pivotal role for two enzymes that work together to determine the health benefits of diet restriction.

Researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston have discovered two biochemical pathways that the Ebola virus relies on to infect cells. Using substances that block the activation of those pathways, they've prevented Ebola infection in cell culture experiments — potentially providing a critical early step in developing the first successful therapy for the deadly virus.

Appendicitis is the most common childhood surgical emergency, but the diagnosis can be challenging, especially in children, often leading to either unnecessary surgery in children without appendicitis, or a ruptured appendix and serious complications when the condition is missed. Now, emergency medicine physicians and scientists at the Proteomics Center at Children's Hospital Boston demonstrate that a protein detectable in urine might serve as a "biomarker" for appendicitis.

A new "fertility first" hypothesis published this week by a group of international experts in the American Journal of Human Biology, proposes that the global epidemic of Type 2 diabetes has its origins in the struggle, over millennia, to sustain human fertility in environments defined by famine.

Researchers have discovered a reason why smoking greatly increases the risk of heart disease and stroke. Nicotine promotes insulin resistance, also called prediabetes, which is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, according to the new study, which was presented at The Endocrine Society's 91st Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.

Obesity is probably the most important factor in the development of insulin resistance, but science's understanding of the chain of events is still spotty. Now, researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have filled in the gap and identified the missing link between the two.