News by Subject Medicine & Health

Improving air quality may improve cognitive function and reduce dementia risk, according to several studies reported today at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference® (AAIC®) 2021 in Denver, Colorado, and virtually.

A prospective cohort study found that quitting smoking after being diagnosed with early-stage non-small cell lung cancer may slow disease progression and decrease mortality. Given that about half of all smokers continue to smoke after a lung cancer diagnosis, these findings present an opportunity to improve overall and progression-free survival in this type of cancer. The study is published in Annals of Internal Medicine.

Reduced mobility induced by the COVID-19 restrictions had only minor influence on particulate pollution levels according to atmosphere studies in the Po Valley region of northern Italy. Eventually computer simulations indicated that the change in air quality led to an increase in secondary aerosol formation.

Restoration of degraded drylands is urgently needed to mitigate climate change, reverse desertification and secure livelihoods for the two billion people who live there, experts warn in a major new paper in Nature Ecology & Evolution. Scientists leading the Global Arid Zone Project examined restoration seeding outcomes at 174 sites on six continents, encompassing 594,065 observations of 671 plant species - with the lessons learned important to meeting ambitious future restoration targets.

Without a standard definition for carbohydrate quality, some foods that contain carbohydrates are often stigmatized based on isolated and reductionist assessment methods that fail to consider their contributions to nutrient intakes and balanced, healthy diets. In a new perspective piece, published in Advances in Nutrition, authors call for a more holistic approach to carbohydrate guidance to address the complex needs of both people and the planet.

A new study from Oregon State University found that infants born within 3 kilometers of oil and natural gas drilling facilities in Texas had slightly lower birthweights than those born before drilling began in their vicinity.

Common yeast are able to adapt and thrive in response to a long-term rise in temperature by changing the shape, location and function of some of their proteins. The surprising findings demonstrate the unappreciated plasticity in the molecular and conformational level of proteins and bring the power of molecular biology to the organismal response to climate change. Results from the Zhou lab at the Buck Institute are published in Molecular Cell.

a new study shows that several hundred common chemicals, including pesticides, ingredients in consumer products, food additives, and drinking water contaminants, could increase the risk of breast cancer by causing cells in breast tissue to produce more of the hormones estrogen or progesterone.