For some athletes, intense workouts can send them running to the bathroom rather than the finish line—if they’re able to exercise at all, that is. A recent study by researchers at the University of Illinois suggests that many of these athletes may have undiagnosed irritable bowel syndrome. About half of the 430 endurance athletes surveyed […]
Identification of protective antibodies may be key to effective malaria vaccine
Researchers from the University of Oxford, along with partners from five institutions around the world, have identified the human antibodies that prevent the malaria parasite from entering blood cells, which may be key to creating a highly effective malaria vaccination. The results of the study were published today in the journal Cell. “Following an infectious […]
High-intensity exercise may restore heart function in people with type 2 diabetes
University of Otago researchers have discovered that high-intensity exercise can reduce or reverse the loss in heart function caused by type 2 diabetes. The study found that three months of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) improved heart function in adults with type 2 diabetes, without any change in medications or diet. Former Ph.D. student Genevieve Wilson […]
Exercise may help teens sleep longer, more efficiently
Getting more exercise than normal—or being more sedentary than usual—for one day may be enough to affect sleep later that night, according to a new study led by Penn State. In a one-week micro-longitudinal study, the researchers found that when teenagers got more physical activity than they usually did, they got to sleep earlier, slept […]
Daily folic acid supplement may reduce risk of gestational diabetes
Taking a folic acid supplement daily before pregnancy may reduce the risk of gestational, or pregnancy-related, diabetes, according to a study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health and other institutions. The findings appear in Diabetes Care. Folic acid is the synthetic form of folate, or vitamin B9, which is found in leafy green […]
Common oral infections in childhood may increase the risk of atherosclerosis in adulthood
A Finnish 27-year follow-up study suggests that common oral infections in childhood, caries and periodontal diseases, are associated with an increased risk of atherosclerosis in adulthood. The association between childhood oral infections and adulthood carotid atherosclerosis was observed in The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study, an ongoing prospective cohort. “The observation is novel, since […]
Novel antibody may suppress HIV for up to four months
Regular infusions of an antibody that blocks the HIV binding site on human immune cells may have suppressed levels of HIV for up to four months in people undergoing a short-term pause in their antiretroviral therapy (ART) regimens, according to a report published online today in The New England Journal of Medicine. Results of the […]
Researchers find probiotics may increase intestinal motility in mouse model
Emory researchers have found that adding good bacteria into the intestines can guide the development of the enteric nervous system, also called “the gut brain,” while increasing intestinal motility, or movement of the digestive tract, in a mouse model. The results are good news for medical conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome, Parkinson’s disease, autism […]
Childhood trauma may affect brain structure, predisposing adults to recurring major depressive disorder
Early life trauma may affect the structure of the brain in a way that makes clinical depression more likely to be severe and recurrent, according to a two-year observational study of 110 patients published in The Lancet Psychiatry journal. Previous studies have suggested an association between maltreatment and altered brain structure, while others have identified […]
Eating olive oil once a week may be associated with making blood less likely to clot in obese people
In a group of healthy, but obese adults, eating olive oil at least once a week was associated with less platelet activity in the blood, which may reduce the tendency of blood to clot and block blood flow, according to preliminary research presented at the American Heart Association’s Epidemiology and Prevention | Lifestyle and Cardiometabolic […]