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1 week ago | 
medicalxpress.com | Justin Jackson |Sadie Harley |Robert Egan
Boston Children's Hospital scientists have unveiled a five-day approach to generate functional vascular organoids capable of supporting blood flow and in vivo engraftment. Blood vessels are the living conduits that deliver nutrients and oxygen throughout the body, regulate hemostasis, and modulate inflammation. During development, vasculature shapes organ formation and supports postnatal tissue growth and repair, while vascular niches maintain stem cell populations.
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1 week ago | 
medicalxpress.com | Justin Jackson |Sadie Harley |Robert Egan
Brain death determination sits at the fraught intersection of critical-care medicine, ethics, and organ-donation logistics. Missteps risk either prolonging mechanical support with no prospect of recovery or declaring death in error—a prospect that evokes the terrors of many Edgar Allan Poe writings.
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1 week ago | 
medicalxpress.com | Justin Jackson |Sadie Harley |Robert Egan
Investigators at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology report walking more than 100 minutes per day was associated with a 23% lower risk of chronic low back pain. Low back pain affects people of all ages and accounts for 7.7% of all years lived with disability worldwide, ranking among the most costly chronic conditions in health care. In the US, back pain generates some of the highest health care spending.
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1 week ago | 
medicalxpress.com | Justin Jackson |Sadie Harley |Robert Egan
Children on the autism spectrum, often at odds with their own emotions, may find help in an unlikely place: their own inner voice. A team from the University of Pittsburgh and collaborators tested a novel intervention designed to train autistic children in developing internal speech—and the results suggest it may reduce emotional dysregulation. Emotional outbursts and difficulty with self-control can disrupt the lives of many autistic children and their families.
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1 week ago | 
phys.org | Justin Jackson |Sadie Harley |Robert Egan
Scientists at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard have identified 4,208 previously unannotated open reading frames (ORFs) across 679 human-associated viral genomes using a high-throughput method called massively parallel ribosome profiling (MPRP).
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1 week ago | 
phys.org | Justin Jackson |Sadie Harley |Robert Egan
Stanford University researchers report the discovery of eight previously unknown genes that, when expressed in tobacco leaves, reconstitute the Taxol precursor baccatin III at levels matching its natural abundance in yew needles. The find could accelerate the manufacture of a much-needed cancer drug.
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1 week ago | 
medicalxpress.com | Justin Jackson |Sadie Harley |Robert Egan
Stony Brook University-led researchers tracked post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms in more than 12,000 World Trade Center responders for 20 years and found that recovery was often delayed, non-linear and incomplete. Among World Trade Center responders, the psychological toll of 9/11 was immediate and profound. Previous studies have reported elevated PTSD rates well into the decade that followed.
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2 weeks ago | 
medicalxpress.com | Justin Jackson |Sadie Harley |Robert Egan
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center researchers have identified a metabolic switch that determines whether intestinal stem cells become absorptive or secretory cells. Manipulating the enzyme OGDH either fuels cell expansion or redirects fate, with potential consequences for colitis recovery and regenerative therapy. Stem cells in the intestine maintain a delicate balance between self-renewal and differentiation, continuously replenishing the epithelial lining of the gut.
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2 weeks ago | 
phys.org | Justin Jackson |Sadie Harley |Robert Egan
The Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies (UIB-CSIC) reports that thrush bones discarded in a Roman cesspit at Pollentia reveal the songbirds were routine street food rather than an elite rarity.
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2 weeks ago | 
medicalxpress.com | Justin Jackson |Sadie Harley |Robert Egan
Erythritol may impair cellular functions essential to maintaining brain blood vessel health, according to researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder. Findings suggest that erythritol increases oxidative stress, disrupts nitric oxide signaling, raises vasoconstrictive peptide production, and diminishes clot-dissolving capacity in human brain microvascular endothelial cells.
