Author: healthadmin
Anyone who has had a severe stomach illness will recognize this pattern. Even after the worst symptoms have subsided, people often lose their appetite, and recovery may take time. This same effect is experienced by millions of people around the world living with long-term parasitic infections. Despite how common it is, scientists have a hard time pinpointing the exact cause of this loss of appetite. Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco have identified a biological pathway that links the gut’s immune response to the brain during parasitic infections. Their research shows how signals from the immune system can…
Researchers have discovered how a key protein turns on brown fat by helping build blood vessels and nerve connections needed for heat production. The survey results are nature communicationsproposes a new way to tackle obesity that focuses on increasing the body’s energy expenditure rather than reducing appetite. Brown fat and how it burns calories Most of the fat in the body is white fat, which stores excess energy and can cause obesity when accumulated. In contrast, brown fat exists in small amounts and plays a specialized role in regulating body temperature and supporting metabolic health. When exposed to cold, brown…
Newly discovered ape fossils in northern Egypt are changing the way scientists view early human evolution, researchers report. The discovery suggests that the closest ancestors of modern apes may have originated in North Africa, rather than East Africa, which has long been the main focus of fossil research. “(The) discovery (…) confirms that paleontologists may have been looking for crown hominin ancestors in the wrong place,” David Alba and Julia Arias-Martorell write in a related Perspective. The fossil is about 17 to 18 million years old and belongs to a newly identified species called Maslipithecus. It is considered the closest…
Portal hypertension (PH), a serious complication of liver cirrhosis, is defined as a pressure gradient greater than 5 mmHg between the portal vein and the inferior vena cava. When the hepatic venous pressure gradient (HVPG) exceeds 10 mmHg, the condition becomes clinically significant and complications are significantly increased, making early detection important to guide treatment. Recent reviews were available online on March 1, 2025 and published on March 17, 2025. Portal hypertension and cirrhosis This journal investigates whether advances in ultrasound technology can provide a reliable, non-invasive method to assess PH.PH develops when cirrhosis increases the resistance to blood flow…
Researchers from the Institute of Food Color Quality at the University of Seville studied the effect of different cooking methods used for tomatoes and carrots (in particular oven, microwave, and fryer) on the amount of carotenoids that can be absorbed by the body after digestion of these foods. According to this study, the bioavailability index varies greatly depending on how these foods are prepared. Carotenoids are very important compounds because of their positive effects on health. For carrots, oven cooking increased the bioavailability of total carotenoids by nine times. For tomatoes, the highest bioavailability values were obtained by cooking in…
In 2023, 259,000 people worldwide will die from meningitis and 2.5 million people will be infected with the disease, a study published in 2016 suggests. Lancet Neurology. Although mortality and infection rates have fallen significantly since 1990, progress is insufficient to meet the WHO’s goals of reducing infections by 50% and deaths by 70% by 2030. Meningitis is the leading infectious cause of neurological disorders worldwide. Since 2000, the global rollout of vaccines has significantly reduced infections and deaths in both high- and low-income countries, but progress has lagged compared to other vaccine-preventable diseases. This study provides the most comprehensive…
Postmenopausal women are at increased risk of fractures. Reduced estrogen levels can lead to an increased risk of osteoporosis, so even low-impact falls can cause serious injuries to the hips, back, and wrists. It is estimated that one in three women over the age of 50 will experience a fracture due to bone loss during their lifetime. A new study from Tulane University finds that heart health may influence fracture risk after menopause, with women at higher risk for cardiovascular disease more likely to experience hip and other major fractures. The association between cardiovascular disease risk and fractures was also…
Italian research to be presented at this year’s European Congress on Obesity (ECO 2026, Istanbul, Turkey, May 12-15) and published in a journal nutrients When the gold standard technique of dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) is used to measure body fat in the general population, the traditional WHO body mass index (BMI) classification system has been shown to misidentify a significant number of people as overweight or obese. Marwan El Gogh, a professor at the Department of Biomedical, Metabolic and Neurosciences at the University of Modena Reggio Emilia in Modena, Italy, explains that in recent years the BMI system has received…
Louisva Carolas, a 35-year-old Brooklyn resident, was healthy, had no history of heart disease, and had no reason to believe she was at risk for heart disease. But pregnancy can act as a stress test for the heart, and shortly after giving birth to her son at NYU Langone Health on February 3, 2024, she was diagnosed with complications she wasn’t expecting. “I thought once the baby was here and healthy, it would be okay,” Carolas said. “I never thought something like this would happen after that.” Unexpected developments after delivery A few days after giving birth, I felt something…
During Friday noon prayers on March 28, 2025, a powerful earthquake of magnitude 7.7 struck central Myanmar along the Sagaing Fault. The epicenter was near Mandalay, the country’s second largest city. The earthquake was the largest to hit Myanmar in more than 100 years, and the second deadliest earthquake in modern history. This earthquake was caused by a strike-slip fault. In this fault, two large sections of the Earth’s crust are moved horizontally relative to each other along a vertical crack. To the viewer, it will appear as if the ground is splitting along distinct lines, with each side being…