Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the leading cause of death globally, taking an estimated 17.9 million lives each year. CVDs are a group of disorders of the heart and blood vessels and include coronary heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, rheumatic heart disease and other conditions. More than four out of five CVD deaths are due to heart attacks and strokes, and

Weight loss achieved via bariatric surgery among adults with obesity is linked to a lower risk of developing cancer and cancer-related death compared to adults who do not undergo surgery. The corresponding study was published in JAMA.  “According to the American Cancer Society, obesity is second only to tobacco as a preventable cause of cancer in

A new class of antibiotics has shown promise in preclinical trials against drug-resistant tuberculosis. The corresponding study was published in PLOS Biology.  Each year, around 1.5 million people die from Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. Although antibiotics exist to treat the bacteria, multi-drug resistant, extensively drug-resistant, and totally drug-resistant strains have developed, and pose a significant health risk.

Different parts of the brain have been carefully mapped, so we have some idea of what parts of the brain are used to perceive our environment, move our bodies, or solve problems, for example. In vision, information about what we see moves through the brain. Our eyes see by assessing the images that fall on

A study published in eLife found that wakefulness, non-REM, and REM sleep have complementary functions for learning. University of Bern researchers found that introducing new, virtual sensory inputs during REM sleep facilitated the extraction of semantic concepts by mimicking a machine learning technique. They found that replaying episodic memories via perturbed dreaming during non-REM sleep can lead

A research team at the University of Virginia Hospital System found that a regularly-used medication for gout, called colchicine, helped improve the survival rates of hospitalized heart failure patients. Results of the study are published in Clinical Cardiology. As part of the study, researchers gathered and reviewed medical records for over 1,000 people who were hospitalized

According to a new research study published in iScience, specific species of dolphins can experience skin irritation or different kinds of skin conditions. However, much like humans would go to a doctor for treatment, the Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin also has a source they go to for treatment: coral reefs. Specifically, researchers noted that dolphins engaged in

A study published in Neuron revealed how different cell types in the cerebral cortex change their activity during general anesthesia. In particular, only one specific cell type called layer 5 pyramidal neurons showed an increase in activity when mice were exposed to different anesthetics. Researchers noticed that changes in layer 5 neurons coincide with the loss and