Mosquitoes in Australia may be carrying Japanese encephalitis this summer—What to know if you’re spending time outdoors
A Victorian man is reportedly in a critical condition in hospital after contracting Japanese encephalitis from a mosquito bite.
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How wildfire smoke and ash impact your health and how to protect yourself
The fires raging in Los Angeles have destroyed thousands of structures, and the death toll is rising. Along with the wildfires, residents must deal with other hazards: smoke and ash.
Immunofluorescence study sheds light on brain’s DNA damage and repair processes
Brain cells receive sensory inputs from the outside world and send signals throughout the body telling organs and muscles what to do. Although neurons comprise only 10% of brain cells, their functional and genomic integrity must be maintained over a lifetime. Most dividing cells in the body have well-defined checkpoint mechanisms to sense and correct DNA damage during DNA replication.
Long-read sequencing successfully uncovers genetic causes of rare diseases
The cause of rare diseases is increasingly being detected through genome sequencing, which involves reading the entire human DNA by first breaking it into small pieces—short reads. Christian Gilissen, Lisenka Vissers, and colleagues found that a new technique using long reads is even more effective at detecting complex causes. They report that 80–90% of cases were detectable, as stated in The American Journal of Human Genetics.
What is HMPV, the cold-like virus circulating in China?
Not many people had heard of human metapneumovirus, or HPMV, until a surge of recent cases in China made headlines.
Brain connectome phenotype linked to cerebrovascular disease can track cognitive decline
Researchers have uncovered novel insights into how brain function disruptions related to cerebrovascular disease (CeVD) interact with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) pathology to impact neurodegeneration and cognition in older adults.
Smoking’s impact on bronchitis: Increased risk and prolonged recovery
You likely know that cigarette smoking is the leading cause of lung cancer, but cigarette use poses other threats to your lungs as well.
Study finds that community health workers were vital to Orange County’s COVID-19 response
Community health workers were found to be the unsung heroes of the health care system’s pandemic response, according to a study led by a team of public health researchers from the University of California, Irvine, and their community partners. Findings also show that current funding and reimbursement mechanisms remain inadequate to sustain their work.
ADHD diagnoses in adults surged post-2020, while teen rates stabilized
New research identifies differing trends in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) diagnoses among adolescents and adults, including an increase among adults from 2020 to 2023. The study, published in the journal Psychiatric Research and Clinical Practice, found a significant downward trends in ADHD incidence among adults from 2016 to 2020 and adolescents from 2016 to 2018. The ADHD incidence rate remained stable for adolescents in subsequent years.
Depression in older adults could signal early dementia, study suggests
Having depression is known to increase a person’s risk of developing dementia, but depression is also an early indicator of dementia—particularly in older people—according to new research led by Queen Mary University of London and published in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry.