Disease Processes

Minneapolis, MN — High cholesterol, a major risk factor for heart disease, affects nearly 94 million Americans, and 1 in 2 adults over the age of 50.  While most doctors are quick to prescribe drugs (like statins) for treatment, a new study points to an effective food-based alternative for the millions of Americans impacted — […]

Kuopio, Finland — Arterial stiffness may be a novel risk factor to be targeted in the prevention and treatment of insulin resistance and dyslipidaemia from a young age, a new study published in Hypertension today (Jan. 18) suggests. Researchers from the University of Eastern Finland, the University of Exeter, Cardiovascular Engineering, and the University of […]

Lemont, IL — Researchers use advanced technology and mice to study dopamine neuron structure, addiction and the brain’s ability to recover. A late 1980s commercial meant to combat drug addiction used a pair of frying eggs as a metaphor for the effects of drugs on the human brain. While researchers have long understood that there is […]

Philadelphia, PA — Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP) is a rare disease characterized by extensive bone growth outside of the normal skeleton that pre-empts the body’s normal responses to even minor injuries. It results in what some term a “second skeleton,” which locks up joint movement and could make it hard to breathe. However, new research […]

Charlottesville, VA — New kidney research from the University of Virginia School of Medicine is raising concerns that long-term use of drugs commonly prescribed to treat high-blood pressure and heart failure could be contributing to kidney damage. Patients should continue taking the medications, which include the well-known and widely used ACE inhibitors, the researchers say. […]

Geneva, Switzerland — With nearly 10% of the world’s population affected, type 2 diabetes is a major public health issue. An excessively sedentary lifestyle and a too-caloric diet encourage the development of this metabolic disease by altering the functioning of pancreatic cells and making blood sugar regulation less effective. However, fat, which is often cited […]

Boca Raton, FL — Recent guidelines have restricted aspirin use in the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease to patients under 70, and more recent guidance to patients under 60. Yet, the risks of heart attacks and strokes increase markedly with age.    There has been considerable confusion from recently reported results of four large-scale randomized […]

Madrid, Spain — Scientists led by Dr. Andrés Hidalgo at the Centro Nacional de Investigadores Cardiovasculares (CNIC) have discovered that circulating neutrophils—a type of immune cell—acquire different behaviour patterns during inflammatory processes. The study, published in Nature, identifies a harmful neutrophil behaviour associated with cardiovascular disease.   The study provides important information that could lead […]

La Jolla, CA — Membrane-associated proteins play a vital role in a variety of cellular processes, yet little is known about the membrane-association mechanism. Lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 (Lp-PLA2) is one such protein with an important role in cardiovascular health, but its mechanism of action on the phospholipid membrane was unknown. To address this, researchers at […]

Bergen, Norway — By looking at the exposure to the parasitic roundworm Ascaris lumbricoides/suum in Nothern Europe (Norway, Denmark and Estonia), the study finds that younger men exposed to Ascaris had a striking reduction in lung function and nearly five times higher odds of having asthma compared to the non-exposed. These effects were independent of […]

Tokyo, Japan — Experts in Japan have identified a fundamental part of the immune system’s long-term memory, providing a useful new detail in the pursuit to design better vaccines for diseases, ranging from COVID-19 to malaria. The research, published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, reveals a new role for the enzyme TBK1 in deciding […]

Paris, France — In 2019, the WHO positioned chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) third in the global ranking of causes of death. However, some mechanisms of this debilitating chronic respiratory disease are yet to be identified. Against this backdrop, scientists at the Institut Pasteur, Université de Paris, CNRS, Inserm, University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne, Reims University […]