Author: healthadmin

public health expert California is pushing to ban engineered quartz to protect countertop manufacturing workers from the spread of a deadly lung disease, but Republicans in Congress are trying to protect the industry with a bill that would ban lawsuits against manufacturers. Silicosis cases are on the rise among workers who cut, grind and polish terracotta for kitchen and bathroom countertops. This incurable lung disease is caused by workers breathing in crystalline silica dust, which scars and constricts the lungs. In extreme cases, only an intensive and dangerous procedure called a lung transplant may be able to prolong life. In…

I spent last summer walking through seagrass meadows across Northern Ireland, from the protected waters of Lough Strangford to the exposed shores of Waterfoot Bay. I was collecting seaweed leaves and testing them for nitrogen pollution. All the meadows I visited are within marine reserves. A marine reserve is a legally protected area of ​​sea to protect the wildlife that lives there. All of them were contaminated beyond the limits of healthy seagrass. Seagrass meadows are one of the most valuable habitats in coastal waters. They store carbon, nurture young fish and shellfish, stabilize sediments, and protect coastlines from storms.…

Eli Lilly has scored another victory in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) with the company’s BTK inhibitor Jaypirca showing its fourth positive Phase 3 result in a blood cancer. Lilly announced Monday that its Phase 3 Bruin CLL-322 trial in patients with previously treated CLL or small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL) met its primary endpoint. This industry-first study showed that the addition of Jpirca to a fixed-duration regimen of venetoclax and rituximab significantly prolonged progression-free survival (PFS) compared to the standard combination therapy alone. As Lilly noted, Bruin CLL-322 is the first Phase 3 to utilize and surpass a venetoclax-based regimen in…

Researchers at Sweden’s Chalmers University of Technology have introduced a new theoretical design for quantum systems based on what they call “giant superatoms.” The concept offers new ways to protect, control, and share quantum information and could bring scientists closer to building large-scale quantum computers. Quantum computers are expected to transform fields such as drug discovery and cryptography by solving problems that traditional machines cannot reach. However, progress is limited by a major challenge known as decoherence. This occurs when a quantum bit (qubit) loses information due to interactions with its surroundings. Even small amounts of electromagnetic noise can destroy…

Analysis of National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) data showed that people with opioid use disorder were 1.88 to 4.17 times more likely to have suicidal ideation than people without the disorder. They were 3.35 to 6.7 times more likely to have made a suicide plan, and 2.8 to 10 times more likely to have attempted suicide. The paper was published in. Psychiatric Research Journal. If you or someone you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts or a mental health crisis, help is available. Contact the free and confidential Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988 or…

Light plays a big role in plant growth, but scientists still don’t understand how light works. Researchers at Osaka Metropolitan University have identified a previously unknown mechanism that helps explain how light affects plant development. A research team led by Professor Koichi Soga of the Graduate School of Science focused on young pea stems. They used a special technique to measure how tightly the epidermis (the outermost layer) adheres to internal tissues. Their results showed clear differences depending on the light exposure. Plants grown in the light had much stronger adhesion between these layers than plants grown in the dark.…

Get the health information and medications you need every weekday with STAT’s free newsletter Morning Rounds. Sign up here. Good morning and happy Monday. Thank you for being here. Hospitals are getting into the chatbot business These days, more and more people are asking chatbots like ChatGPT and Claude questions about diet, exercise, and health insurance. In some cases, we also receive questions about serious symptoms that would normally be discussed in a 911 call or doctor’s appointment. As STAT’s Katie Palmer reports, some hospitals are now trying to redirect those questions by building their own patient-facing chatbots that can…

New peer-reviewed research published in digital health We found that a significant proportion of Chinese recent immigrants to the United States use China-based telemedicine applications for medical advice while living in the United States. This is often in response to barriers within the U.S. health care system itself. Researchers from the University of Texas at San Antonio and Sam Houston State University found that 15% of Chinese immigrants living in the United States surveyed used China-based telemedicine apps for medical consultations. Importantly, some participants said they would utilize these services as a first line of care rather than seeking U.S.-based…

Health tech founders, engineers, and IT pros face regulatory delays and data fragmentation. Discover how telemedicine, wearables, and AI diagnostics are breaking barriers, slashing costs by 40%, and driving digital health trends into 2026.

Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University (NTU Singapore), in collaboration with China’s Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) and Swedish biotech company Lipigon Pharmaceuticals AB, is working to develop a new inhaled treatment aimed at helping patients recover faster from serious lung infections. This treatment aims to reduce excessive inflammation in the lungs that can persist even after viruses and bacteria have been cleared from the body.Infectious diseases such as seasonal influenza, Covid-19, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), avian influenza, and pneumonia trigger the body’s immune system to fight invading pathogens. However, in some patients, this immune response becomes too strong.When…