Author: healthadmin

Most pandemics begin when a virus or other pathogen is transmitted from animals to humans. Many scientists believe this is how COVID-19 emerged. SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the disease, is closely related to coronaviruses found in bats. Now, a team of researchers from the UCSF Institute for Quantitative Biosciences (QBI), the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, the Pasteur Institute, and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center has identified surprisingly small genetic differences that may help explain how some animal viruses adapt to and cause serious disease in humans. Their findings were; Cell hosts and microorganismshave shown that changing…

The 2026 International Plastic Pellet Count shows that tiny plastic beads are polluting waterways around the world.More than 1 million so-called “nurdles” have been identified, including more than 15,000 across California, according to a report released Tuesday.”We’re doing the tally as a way to show that this is a real problem,” Jen Engstrom said. “Because it’s transparent, it easily blends into the sand along the beach, so you often don’t even know it’s there.”Mr. Engstrom directs the CALPIRG Education Fund, which participated in the count.In May, more than 1,000 volunteers combed sites around railways, beaches and other waterways in six…

Season-long studies of teenage soccer players provide reassurance about short-term brain health, but elevated preseason biomarkers show why the heading debate is far from settled. Research: Youth soccer participation and its impact on brain health in youth athletes. Image credit: Master1305 / Shutterstock In a recent study published in JAMA network openresearchers conducted a longitudinal study to determine how competitive youth soccer, specifically heading the soccer ball, is associated with brain health outcomes in the developing brain. The study followed 129 male athletes over one season and assessed the participants’ cognitive performance, behavior, balance, and neuroimaging metrics. Encouragingly, the study…

olympic athlete jesse diggins She traveled to the Capitol on Wednesday with four medals in hand to advocate for clean air, clean water and a healthy planet.America’s most decorated cross-country skier is part of Protect Our Winters, an athlete-led environmental group that sent a coalition to Washington to meet with lawmakers on Tuesday and Wednesday. The group’s biggest concern is how the Environmental Protection Agency is acting. Key climate, water and pollution regulations weakened Since President Donald Trump returned to power. “I don’t want to stick my head in the sand and ignore the world burning,” Diggins said in an…

Deaths related to air pollution have fallen by an estimated 40% in London in the five years since 2019, according to new analysis.The city’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, welcomed “overwhelming evidence” that ultra-low emission zones save lives.The figures come from a study by Imperial College London, which found that toxic air pollution in London had fallen significantly, with nitrogen dioxide levels falling by 41% and particulate pollution by 28%.Imperial researchers said the latest scientific evidence shows air pollution has a greater impact on health than previously recognized, with previous estimates putting air pollution at risk for 4,000 premature deaths in 2019.This…

The Upper Colorado River Commission welcomed a new representative from New Mexico to a meeting in downtown Denver on Tuesday to discuss ongoing negotiations over how to share the nation’s most over-allocated river. Tanya Trujillo, deputy state engineer and senior water policy advisor to New Mexico Governor Michelle Grisham, has replaced Esteban López as the state’s top negotiator for the Colorado River, which supplies water to seven western states, 30 tribes and 40 million people in Mexico. Trujillo served as assistant secretary for water and science at the Department of the Interior under President Joe Biden. Although she has never…

People who experience intense, obsessive fantasies that disrupt their daily lives have higher rates of co-occurring mental health conditions. A recent comprehensive review published in the International Journal of Psychology found that this immersive habit is strongly associated with a wide range of psychological distress. This study suggests that maladaptive daydreaming deserves formal recognition by psychiatric professionals. Daydreaming is usually a normal psychological process. Most people regularly experience their minds wandering to fun or imaginative scenarios. This common mental activity can even enhance creativity and everyday problem-solving skills in healthy people. However, a portion of the population experiences mutations that…

Scientists have identified a previously unrecognized bird species in Japan after genetic research revealed that what was thought to be a single species is actually two species. The discovery involves the Japanese warbler, a rare migratory bird found only on two island groups in Japan. New species of birds are described every year, but this case stands out because the birds look almost the same. Instead, DNA evidence provided the strongest evidence that they belonged to a different species. “This shows how important it is to use genetic methods to uncover hidden biodiversity during a global biodiversity crisis. These methods…

Diabetic foot ulcers (DFU) are one of the most serious complications of diabetes and a leading cause of lower extremity amputations. Successful wound healing relies on tightly coordinated inflammation, fibroblast proliferation, extracellular matrix remodeling, and tissue remodeling. However, in diabetes, hyperglycemia and metabolic stress can lead fibroblasts to undergo cellular senescence and release persistent senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP) factors that damage the wound environment. RNA-binding proteins (RBPs), which control RNA stability and gene expression, are novel regulators of tissue repair, but their role in DFU remains unclear. Based on these questions, detailed studies are needed to elucidate how RNA-binding proteins…

Long-term exposure to nicotine not only increases the desire for the drug itself, but also rewires certain brain circuits, dramatically increasing motivation to work for food. These findings help explain how tobacco use alters how individuals perceive natural rewards and point to potential mechanisms behind non-drug behavioral problems such as overeating and gambling in smokers. The study was published in the journal biological psychiatry. The brain processes motivation and reward through a network of specialized areas that communicate via chemical messengers. Dopamine is the most prominent of these messengers. It is primarily produced by a cluster of cells known as…