The circadian clock in heart failure
Disrupting circadian rhythms, which change naturally on a 24-hour cycle, has been implicated in heart disease, but it is unclear how it leads to the condition. A research team at Baylor College of Medicine and collaborating institutions investigated the function of the protein Rev-erbα/β, a key component of the circadian clock, on heart disease development […]
What Experts Want Parents To Know About Soaring COVID Hospitalizations In Kids
A record number of children have been hospitalized with COVID-19 amid the ongoing omicron surge. An average of 797 children were admitted to hospitals daily over the past week — double the number from just two weeks ago. And overall pediatric cases continue to climb. Those numbers are a disheartening setback in a pandemic that […]
Why Branded Viagra Is Vastly More Expensive Than Its Generics
In a weird paradox, it’s never been cheaper — and more expensive — for men to treat themselves with sildenafil (Viagra), the mainstay of erectile-dysfunction therapy. And herein lies a tale about the bizarro world of drug pricing. Generic versions of sildenafil cost as little as 44 cents per typical 50-mg dose in the U.S. […]
Howie Mandel ‘Living in a Nightmare’ With OCD
“America’s Got Talent” judge Howie Mandel has been open for many years about his struggles with anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). However, in a recent interview with People magazine, the comedian discussed how painful that struggle could be: “If I’m not laughing, then I’m crying. And I still haven’t been that open about how dark […]
Researchers lay groundwork for potential dog-allergy vaccine
There have been many research efforts describing the nature and progression of dog allergies, but there have been very few applied studies that use this information to try to cure people of dog allergies entirely by artificially inducing immune tolerance. But researchers have now for the first time identified candidates for those parts of the […]
FDA Approves First Long-Acting Injectable to Prevent HIV Infection
The first long-acting injectable for HIV prevention has now been approved for use, the FDA announced on Monday. Long-acting injectable cabotegravir (CAB-LA, branded as Apretude) is administered as a monthly injection for the first 2 months, then every 2 months afterwards. It is the first long-acting injectable for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). The drug is approved […]
Millipedes ‘as big as cars’ once roamed Northern England, fossil find reveals
The largest-ever fossil of a giant millipede — as big as a car — has been found on a beach in the north of England. The fossil — the remains of a creature called Arthropleura — dates from the Carboniferous Period, about 326 million years ago, over 100 million years before the Age of Dinosaurs. […]
Soils in old-growth treetops can store more carbon than soils under our feet
New research reveals a previously underappreciated way old-growth forests have been recycling and storing carbon: treetop soils. Branches in forest canopies can hold caches of soil that may store substantially more carbon than soils on the ground beneath them, and scientists are just beginning to understand how much carbon canopy soils — which exist on […]
This Is Your Body On Pandemic ‘Whiplash’
The year 2021 has been like a roller coaster. It was supposed to be the year the pandemic fizzled out. Instead, it was a year of intense whiplash. There were multiple points when it seemed like we’d finally gotten a handle on COVID, only to realize later that the virus wasn’t going anywhere, and that […]
International study supports dupilumab for treatment of moderate-to-severe asthma in children
A new medication has been added to the treatment options for children with moderate-to-severe asthma. In a late-stage clinical trial, the biologic agent dupilumab reduced the rate of severe asthma attacks and improved lung function and asthma control for children ages 6 to 11. The findings of the international multicenter Liberty Asthma VOYAGE trial, reported […]