Author: healthadmin

When Lillian was incarcerated in a rural prison in Pennsylvania, she couldn’t stop vomiting. The “brain zap” continued to destabilize her as she showered and changed into her prison uniform. “The prison guard who was watching me had to keep a firm grip on me, otherwise I would have fallen and hit the floor,” Lilian recalled. She had stopped taking fentanyl mixed with medetomidine, a powerful tranquilizer that began becoming a common adulterant in illegal opioid supplies two years ago. Medetomidine often causes excruciating and complex withdrawal symptoms within hours of the last dose, and many medical institutions are unprepared…

A chance encounter with a young great white shark prompted scientists to revisit more than a century and a half of records to better understand one of the Mediterranean’s most elusive predators. On April 20, 2023, a local fisherman accidentally caught a juvenile great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) off the eastern coast of the peninsula. The shark was about 210 centimeters (about 7 feet) long and weighed 80 to 90 kilograms (176 to 198 pounds). Great white sharks are one of the world’s most famous marine animals, but sightings in this part of the Mediterranean are extremely rare. This unusual…

Local residents who live next to Europe’s largest data center park say the scorching summer heat is becoming unbearable.Nabeel Nawaz, manager of the Chaiwala franchise in central Slough, said days like Wednesday’s can be so hot that it “wraps you up and makes your skin burn”.Even more difficult to establish is whether the heat is solely a result of the climate emergency and the growing industrial sprawl across London, or whether the creation of dozens of energy-hungry data centers is also contributing to the problem.Nabeel Nawaz: The heat is like something “squeezing” your body. Photo: Martin Godwin/The GuardianSlough, 10 miles…

A newly discovered spider in the rainforests of northern Queensland has evolved an amazing hunting technique. Researchers say the species has the “ultimate special ability” to use powerful spring-loaded silk traps to capture a single type of prey, capturing ants one at a time. These small nocturnal arachnids are called ballista spiders, after ancient Roman siege engines that used built-up tension to fire bolts and stones. Scientists say the spider appears to have developed a unique web system designed specifically to trap aggressive green ants. Oecophila smaragdina. The discovery and detailed analysis of spider hunting behavior was published in the…

Panspermia theory proposes that life, or the ingredients necessary for life, could spread throughout the universe on asteroids, comets, and other rocks. When life develops on a planet, powerful impacts can blow material off the surface and into space, transporting microorganisms and organic compounds to other worlds. Scientists have long debated whether this type of migration could have occurred between Earth and Mars (in both directions). Recently, there has been renewed interest in the possibility that microorganisms exist in Venus’ thick cloud layers, and the discussion has extended to Earth, Venus, and Mars. A recent study presented at the 2026…

aA heatwave is intensifying across Europe, forcing most cities to install more air conditioning. But in Paris in the 1990s, plans began for a different kind of solution: one of the world’s largest district cooling networks.The system includes 120 kilometers (75 miles) of underground pipes that provide chilled water to museums, offices, hospitals, schools, and other public buildings, including the Louvre, the Grand Palais, and some luxury hotels and business districts. Instead of thousands of individual air conditioning units, cooling is generated centrally and shared throughout the city, like a public utility.This system circulates cold water through a network of…

North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein, left, and Department of Environmental Quality Secretary Reed Wilson sampled water from Brenda Moore’s kitchen faucet at her Wilmington-area home Wednesday. Photo: Trista Talton WILMINGTON – North Carolina officials and environmental groups are slamming Chemours’ proposed $450 million federal settlement over PFAS contamination, arguing the deal would do little to help the state. The U.S. Department of Justice announced the multistate agreement Wednesday, touting it as the federal government’s first comprehensive settlement for per- and polyfluoroalkyl contamination. Under the terms of the settlement, Chemours will pay a civil penalty of $22.5 million over three years…

A 13-year UK Biobank analysis suggests that neuroticism, adversity and other psychosocial pressures may explain more of the population burden of depression and anxiety than physiological risk factors alone. Study: Associations between modifiable risk factors and depression and anxiety in women and men: Evidence from the UK Biobank. Image credit: manka_web / Shutterstock Given the large global burden of depression and anxiety, it is important to understand the relative importance of modifiable risk factors. Journal’s recent “press articles” translational psychiatry They found that psychosocial factors were estimated to contribute most significantly to the population burden of depression and anxiety in…

Scientists say that gut bacteria may do more than just recycle estrogen, but stronger causal links and clinical evidence will be needed to target the endocrine microbiome for cancer treatment. Review: Beyond the Estrobolome 1.0: Unraveling the endocrine-microbiome axis as a driver and therapeutic target for hormone-driven cancer. Image credit: Explode / Shutterstock In a recent review published in a magazine npj biofilm and microbiomeresearchers reviewed current evidence on how interactions between the microbiome and endocrine system influence hormone-driven cancers and explored its potential as a future therapeutic target. background Estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer and many endometrial malignancies are the…

The most helpful questions in the new HIV prevention guide may be the questions you never ask. “Why do I want to know about pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP)?” In a pilot study conducted in three clinics, a two-page decision-support tool helped people choose between a daily pill, long used for HIV prevention, and a new injection treatment given every two months, without disclosing details of their sex life or explaining why they wanted protection. research in PLOS Global Public Health Detail patient responses to decision-making tools. Lead author Wendy Davis and lead author Deanna Kerrigan developed the tool with collaborators at…