Author: healthadmin

USC Stem Cell scientists have developed a new method to generate a renewable and scalable supply of immune cell precursors that could help advance cancer immunotherapy and other treatments. Published in a magazine cellThe study focuses on granulocyte-monocyte progenitor cells (GMPs), a type of progenitor cell that produces macrophages and several other immune cells. Macrophages play an important role in protecting the body from infectious diseases and are of increasing interest as potential tools for cancer treatment. Researchers have shown that GMP can be broadly expanded in the lab and genetically engineered to recognize cancer cells while promoting a broader…

Low back pain affects more than 600 million people worldwide and is the single leading cause of disability. A new study from Boston Medical Center (BMC), New England’s largest flagship hospital, suggests that the Optimizing Point-of-Care Pain Treatment Using Mindfulness (OPTIMUM) trial delivered an adapted group mindfulness program via primary care telemedicine to patients with chronic low back pain, resulting in sustained pain relief and improvements in patients’ daily lives. The survey results are JAMA Internal Medicine Highlights scalable non-pharmacological approaches to treating chronic pain. Chronic back pain not only limits a person’s ability to walk, work, sleep, and socialize,…

Drugs to control rheumatoid arthritis may one day help people stop drinking. A new Scripps Research study shows that an anti-inflammatory molecule already approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat autoimmune diseases reduces excessive alcohol intake in alcoholic female mice. The new discovery is Neuroinflammation Journal May 22, 2026, There is growing evidence that brain inflammation plays a role in alcohol use disorder. This disorder is caused, in part, by damage to the neuroimmune system. Targeting this system may be an interesting clinical avenue to follow up in the coming years. ” Marisa Roberto, senior…

In the United States, the Hispanic/Latino population is disproportionately at risk for eye diseases such as glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy, or vision loss related to diabetes. However, the link between heart and eye health in Hispanics/Latinos remains understudied, said Dr. Charlotte Joslin, UIC professor of ophthalmology. In a new study published in JAMA network openJoslin studied vision and cardiovascular health data for more than 3,000 Hispanic/Latino adults. The results demonstrate an association between cardiovascular disease risk factors, such as diabetes, and visual impairment. “Typically, we tend to think of eye health as separate from the rest of the body. These…

RNA interference is a natural mechanism that controls whether living cells use certain genes. The discovery of RNA interference, which won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2006, has since been used by scientists to create a powerful and growing class of drugs that can suppress disease-related genes. Seven such drugs have already received FDA approval, including inclisiran, which can replace daily cholesterol-lowering medications with semiannual injections. Despite these clinical successes, the molecular details of how the system performs the cuts remained poorly understood. Now, scientists at the Scripps Research Institute have captured the first high-resolution structural images…

The Health Resources and Services Administration on Monday highlighted newly opened $140 million grant funding opportunities focused on local health priorities such as substance use treatment, workforce development and telehealth. Applications for a number of grants have opened in recent weeks and are expected to close in July. HRSA and its Administrator Tom Engels, who touted the funding opportunity at an event held Monday at an Iowa critical access hospital, said the program builds on the administration’s priorities of addressing opioid addiction and rural health care sustainability, the latter of which includes the ongoing $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program.…

For generations, environmental justice among Black Americans has been measured by asthma rates, cancer diagnoses, and poisoned drinking water. Scientists now say other effects may be at play. Chemicals and tiny plastics that are ubiquitous in everyday life may be having a negative impact on black men’s fertility. Researchers have found that black men tend to have higher levels of endocrine-disrupting chemicals, which mimic or block hormones, because consumer products and certain foods contain endocrine-disrupting chemicals. In addition to contributing to lower birth rates, researchers have linked these chemicals, along with microplastics, to other health problems disproportionately affecting black men,…

Scientists typically use animal models when studying Parkinson’s disease. This is because these models mimic the disease well. However, the method has limitations because it requires genetic modification and injection of toxins, and may not accurately represent how the disease develops in humans. But now researchers at Texas A&M University have developed a model that uses a non-toxic method to induce Parkinson’s symptoms: infection with a virus called Tyler Mouse Encephalomyelitis Virus (TMEV), a natural pathogen in mice. Their work is game-changing because it demonstrates that a simple viral infection can cause the exact brain damage and disability seen in…

The Trump administration unveiled new efforts to increase oversight of the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA), including hiring a federal IT contractor to provide audit, review, and compliance support. TFCA is a government-sponsored health data sharing initiative that allows patients, health care providers, and payers to share health records. This was mandated by the 21st Century Cures Act in 2016 and went into effect in December 2023. The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Medical Information Technology announced Friday that the number of medical records exchanged through TEFCA has increased from 10 million in early 2005…

An online study of an international sample of adolescent and adult alcohol users found that in social non-alcohol drinking environments, younger participants who experienced more social conformity reported higher overall alcohol use. The opposite is true for older adults: the more socially conformed they become, the less alcohol they consume. In social non-drinking environments, social conformity was associated with more alcohol use among older participants, but less among younger participants. The paper is addictive behavior. Social conformity is the degree to which an individual adjusts his or her behavior to be in harmony with the social environment without explicit social…