Author: healthadmin

To what extent do stars determine the appearance of their planets, and could that affect whether those worlds can support life? Carnegie University’s Luke Buuma is researching a new way to tackle this question by using naturally occurring “space weather observatories” that appear around some young stars. His findings will be presented this week at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society. M dwarfs are smaller, cooler, and dimmer than the Sun, but most host at least one rocky planet about the size of Earth. Many of these worlds are not considered friendly to life. It can be too hot,…

Family-owned Recordati, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary, is considering an acquisition offer from CVC Capital Partners. Luxembourg-based CVC offered 52.00 euros ($60) per share, totaling 10.9 billion euros ($12.6 billion). The Italian pharmaceutical company said in a statement that the investment firm, which already holds a 47% stake in Recordati, intends to delist it. Recordati confirmed the proposal after the market closed on Thursday (PDF). Earlier in the day, Italian economic news outlet Il Sole 24 Ore reported on the potential deal, triggering a 5% jump in Recordati’s stock price. “The expression of interest is not legally binding and…

A new tool that not only identifies dietary and nutrition misinformation online, but also assesses the risk of content for potential harm, has been developed by a team of UCL researchers. Unlike existing tools that make binary judgments about whether content is “true” or “false,” this first-of-its-kind tool addresses misinformation that is not obviously false but can be dangerously misleading, especially among vulnerable groups. The tool’s developers confirmed that “true” or “false” ratings fail to capture the cumulative and contextual ways in which misleading health information can influence behavior and decision-making. According to the WHO, health misinformation spread online poses…

SCAN Group has appointed its first AI chief executive as the insurer aims to further drive its technology-centric strategy. Dr. Aman Bhandari most recently served as Vice President of Data Science at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, where he also played a key role in building the first data science team at Merck. Mr. Bhandari also spent time working in this field at the White House and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Bhandari told Fierce Healthcare that his previous experience in regulatory agencies made joining the SCAN team and leaving the biopharmaceutical industry for insurance felt like coming home. He said…

Today, Mars is known as a cold, dry desert, but its surface tells a completely different story. Ancient water channels, water-altered minerals, and other geological features indicate that the planet once had an abundance of water and a much more dynamic environment. Understanding how this wet world transformed into the barren landscape we see today remains a big question in planetary science. Scientists have identified several processes that contribute to water loss, but much of Mars’ lost water remains unknown. New international research published in Communication: Earth and Environment Scientists are getting closer to solving this mystery. Researchers found that…

New research published in Archives of sexual behavior provides evidence that women in relationships tend to be slightly more satisfied with their sex lives than men. These findings challenge common societal assumptions that women are less sexually satisfied due to a variety of physical and social impairments. This study suggests that in the context of an established partnership, women’s subjective enjoyment of intimacy remains highly positive. Scientists designed this study to clarify years of contradictory research on gender and sexual satisfaction. Many cultural depictions and biological perspectives suggest that women face unique barriers to enjoying intimate relationships. For example, anatomical…

Based on 27 years of data analyzed by scientists at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, the length of time that sea ice remains on Alaska’s northern coastline is getting shorter and shorter each year. This type of ice, known as fast ice because it remains fixed to the shore rather than drifting away with wind or ocean currents, has started covering smaller areas in recent winters. The study, led by Professor Andrew Mahoney of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute, was published in January in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans. Former UAF graduate student Andrew Einhorn contributed as…

Decades after the Vietnam War, hematology-oncologist Michael Sekeres began seeing veterans in his clinic with myelodysplastic syndromes, a group of blood cancers known as MDS. Many of the veterans had been exposed to Agent Orange, a blend of herbicides used by the military to strip dense foliage during the war. This exposure has long been associated with many serious diseases, including some cancers, but not with MDS. In data published this month in the journal Blood Advances, Sekeres and his colleagues were able to provide clear evidence that exposure to Agent Orange is associated with MDS and may cause an…

A major U.S. medical school accrediting organization has removed language from its standards that required accredited schools to teach about health inequities. The move comes as efforts to diversify the health care workforce and study different health outcomes have come under fire from the Trump administration, and accreditors themselves are under political pressure. STAT Plus: Jay Bhattacharya once studied health disparities. As NIH director, he has allowed such research to wither. On Wednesday, the Justice Department contacted three medical schools and asked them to provide data as part of an investigation into their admissions practices. “The current investigation will focus…

A research team led by the University of Oxford has developed a breakthrough nutritional supplement that could help reverse the alarming decline in bees. Scientists, in collaboration with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, the University of Greenwich and the Technical University of Denmark, have designed a diet that mimics the key nutrients bees normally get from pollen. When tested, colonies given this supplement produced up to 15 times more young. The research results were published in a magazine nature. Bees are hungry for proper nutrients Bees rely on pollen as their main food source. It contains essential lipids called sterols,…