Lifeboat Foundation

In a suite of 21 papers published in the journals Science (12), Science Advances , and Science Translational Medicine , a large consortium of researchers shares new knowledge about the cells that make up our brains and the brains of other primates. It’s a huge leap from previously published work, with studies and data that reveal new insights about our nervous systems’ cellular makeup across many regions of the brain and what is distinctive about the human brain.

The research consortium is a concerted effort to understand the human brain and its modular, functional nature. It was brought together by the National Institutes of Health’s Brain Research Through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative.

Hundreds of scientists from around the world worked together to complete a range of studies exploring the cellular makeup of the human brain and those of other primates, and to demonstrate how a transformative new suite of scalable techniques can be used to study the detailed organization of the human brain at unprecedented resolution.

Relief could be on the way for people with painful hand osteoarthritis after a Monash University and Alfred Health-led study found an affordable existing drug can help. Until now there has been no effective treatment.

Published in The Lancet, the paper investigated methotrexate, a low-cost, effective treatment for inflammatory joint conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis and psoriatic arthritis. It has been widely used in Australia and globally since the early 1980s.

Researchers found that methotrexate reduced symptoms in those with hand osteoarthritis (OA). A 20mg weekly oral dose over six months had a moderate effect in reducing pain and stiffness in patients with symptomatic hand OA.

Patients with advanced/metastatic non–human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive gastric/gastroesophageal junction cancer (GC/GEJC) or esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) and treated with Opdivo (nivolumab) and chemotherapy maintained their health-related quality of life (HRQoL) “with a reduced risk of definitive deterioration in disease-related and overall health status and without increased treatment-related symptom burden” when compared with patients treated with standalone chemotherapy, according to recent study findings.

Those findings, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, “can be helpful when counseling patients with advanced or metastatic GE/GEJC or EAC, providing reassurance that the benefits of adding (Opdivo) to chemotherapy extend not only to improved survival, but also to preservation of their quality of life and prolonged symptom control,” wrote Journal of Clinical Oncology associate editor, Dr. Andrew H. Ko, in a contextual commentary published alongside the study.

Analyzing patient-reported outcomes (PROs) from the phase 3 CheckMate 649 trial, researchers assessed 1,581 participants’ HRQoL via the EQ-5D and Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Gastric (FACT-Ga) scales, including the FACT-General (FACT-G) and Gastric Cancer subscale (GaCS), with the FACT-G GP5 item used to assess treatment-related symptom burden, and studied longitudinal changes in HRQoL measured with mixed models for repeated measures in the PRO analysis population of 1,360 randomly assigned patients, researchers detailed, noting that they also conducted time to symptom or definitive deterioration analyses.

Experts used to believe that stress, sleep problems, and substance use contributed to chronic mental health issues in a cause-and-effect type of way. What we now know is that the relationship between these factors is more complicated, and circular in nature. Join a panel of University of Michigan Health experts to discuss the complex interplay between stress, sleep, and substance use. Learn about the multidisciplinary approach U-M experts are taking in response to the mental health crisis in America and how emerging technologies can play a role in managing these risk factors.

Over the next few years, artificial intelligence is going to have a bigger and bigger effect on the way we live.

I hate going to the gym. Last year I hired a personal trainer for six months in the hope she would brainwash me into adopting healthy exercise habits longer-term. It was great, but personal trainers are prohibitively expensive, and I haven’t set foot in a gym once since those six months came to an end.

That’s why I was intrigued when I read my colleague Rhiannon Williams’s latest piece about AI gym trainers.

Of course, this study was performed on a relatively small group of individuals in an agricultural community, which is not the environment that most American teenagers grow up in. These links may also be due to some other confounding factors, like spending more time on the farm than in formal education. However, these results are still striking and important to consider for young people in farming communities (and non-farming communities) around the world.

“Many chronic diseases and mental-health disorders in adolescents and young adults have increased over the last two decades worldwide, and exposure to neurotoxic contaminants in the environment could explain a part of this increase,” senior author Jose Ricardo Suarez, an associate professor in the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health, said in a statement.

“Hundreds of new chemicals are released into the market each year, and more than 80,000 chemicals are registered for use today,” Suarez added. “Sadly, very little is known about the safety and long-term effects on humans for most of these chemicals. Additional research is needed to truly understand the impact.”

Did you know (RA) is a long-lasting autoimmune disease that affects joints? The immune system is meant to protect us, but with RA, it attacks healthy tissue. This can cause pain, swelling, stiffness, and loss of joint function.

Caring for yourself when living with RA includes knowing when to rest and when to exercise, occasionally wearing a splint, and managing stress levels.

Find more tips for coping with RA from NIAMS:

Continue reading “Rheumatoid Arthritis: Diagnosis, Treatment, and Steps to Take” »

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Guidance and recommendations for prostate cancer screening have changed over the years. While there is no standard screening test, doctors may use a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test to help diagnose prostate cancer. Doctors may follow a positive PSA test with a prostate biopsy.

Most recommending bodies emphasize a shared decision-making (SDM) approach for prostate cancer screening by PSA testing. This strategy moves away from doctors making treatment decisions and instead relies on collaborative interactions between patients and healthcare teams.

Why do expert opinions on prostate cancer screening differ? This remains a complex question with a lot to unpack. First, we have limited treatment options for cancer that has already spread outside of the prostate. Thus, detecting these cases will often not improve health or prolong life. Second, many cases of slow-growing prostate cancer will never become life-threatening; detection of these cases can be considered overdiagnosis and may lead to anxiety, unnecessary treatment, and accompanying side effects. Unnecessary biopsies, which provide no additional value to patients and physicians in decision-making, can also come with complications such as bleeding and infection.