Promising new research suggests a total of just 4.5 minutes of vigorous activity that makes you huff and puff during daily tasks could reduce the risk of some cancers by up to 32 percent. Published in JAMA Oncology and led by the University of Sydney, Australia, the study used data from wearable devices to track the daily activity of over 22,000 ‘non-exercisers’. Researchers then followed the group’s clinical health records for close to seven years to monitor for cancer. As few as four to five minutes of vigorous intermittent lifestyle physical activity or ‘VILPA’ was associated with ..read more

Acupuncture works as part of an integrative approach to cancer. Integrative oncology is patient-centered cancer care that uses mind and body practices, natural products, and lifestyle modifications alongside conventional cancer treatments. The benefits of acupuncture for people with cancer include: Relieving the side effects of cancer treatment Acupuncture offers a natural remedy for side effects that may eliminate the need for narcotics or other medications. According to the National Cancer Institute, studies show acupuncture can relieve a wide range of symptoms associated with cancer treatme ..read more

Various medical circumstances, including heart attacks and extreme cases of COVID-19, necessitate the use of anticoagulants, medicines that prevent blood clots. But the most commonly used, heparin, can induce potentially fatal side effects by making the blood clots worse rather than better. This only happens in a minority of patients so effective treatments are not commonly explored. For the first time, researchers, including those from the University of Tokyo, have proposed a side effect-free anticoagulating treatment that has so far proved effective in test mice and could be ready for human ..read more

Vibrant green leaves sprout from tall fragrant plants sitting neatly in two rows of terracotta pots in Valerie Sponsel’s UTSA biology laboratory. One floor just above her is the chemistry lab of Francis Yoshimoto, who is extracting the plant’s leaves for medicinal compounds. Soon, the researchers will meet with UTSA researcher Annie Lin, who will test the extracted compounds on cancer cells. The plant is Artemisia annua, or Sweet Annie, and it contains medicinal compounds. UTSA researchers are studying the plant to understand the bioactive properties of one of these co ..read more

Blood pressure among patients diagnosed with hypertension appeared to slightly increase and rates of systolic, or top number, blood pressure being controlled during an outpatient visit appeared to slightly decrease during winter months, according to a new study to be presented at the American Heart Association’s Hypertension Scientific Sessions 2023, held Sept. 7-10, 2023, in Boston. The meeting is the premier scientific exchange focused on recent advances in basic and clinical research on high blood pressure and its relationship to cardiac and kidney disease, stroke, obesity and genetics. Acc ..read more

Diabetes is a condition in which the body produces too little or no insulin. Diabetics thus depend on an external supply of this hormone via injection or pump. Researchers led by Martin Fussenegger from the Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering at ETH Zurich in Basel want to make the lives of these people easier and are looking for solutions to produce and administer insulin directly in the body. One such solution the scientists are pursuing is enclosing insulin-producing designer cells in capsules that can be implanted in the body. To be able to control from the outside when and ho ..read more

Researchers led by Hiroshi Ohno at the RIKEN Center for Integrative Medical Sciences (IMS) in Japan have discovered a type of gut bacteria that might help improve insulin resistance, and thus protect against the development of obesity and type-2 diabetes. The study, published August 30 in the scientific journal Nature, involved genetic and metabolic analysis of human fecal microbiomes and then corroborating experiments in obese mice. Insulin is a hormone released by the pancreas in response to blood sugar. Normally, it helps get the sugar into the muscles and liver so that they can use th ..read more

RNA vaccines against Covid-19 have proven effective at reducing the severity of the disease. However, a team of researchers at MIT is working on making them even better. By tweaking the design of the vaccines, the researchers showed that they could generate COVID-19 RNA vaccines that produce a stronger immune response, at a lower dose, in mice. Adjuvants are molecules commonly used to increase the immune response to vaccines, but they haven’t yet been used in RNA vaccines. In this study, the MIT researchers engineered both the nanoparticles used to deliver the Covid-19 antigen and the antigen ..read more

Generative AI has found its niche across various sectors, including the field of medicine, where Chinese scientists have harnessed its potential to develop a groundbreaking weight-loss drug capable of combatting obesity and treating Type 2 diabetes. This innovative pharmaceutical, named MDR-001, was formulated through the expertise of the AI-powered drug discovery firm, MindRank. MDR-001 specifically targets the glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor (GLP-1-R), a well-established drug target. By binding to this receptor, the drug stimulates insulin release from the pancreas, effectively lowering blo ..read more

The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) has reported that five batches of cough and allergic rhinitis syrups from two Indian manufacturers have been found to contain higher than permissible levels of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol. Out of a total of 1,166 samples tested in August, 48 drugs were declared as “not of standard quality” and “spurious” by the CDSCO. Samples from a batch of cough syrup and another batch of anti-allergy syrup manufactured by Gujarat-based Norris Medicines Limited were found to be not of standard quality, containing 0.118 percent ethylene glycol ..read more