Category Health/Medical

An international team of 114 scientists reports the most comprehensive study of aging and longevity to date of reptiles and amphibians worldwide. Among their many findings, they document for the first time that turtles, crocodilians and salamanders have particularly low aging rates and extended lifespans for their sizes. The team also finds that protective phenotypes, such as the hard shells of most turtle species, contribute to slower aging, and in some cases even ‘negligible aging’ – or lack of biological aging.

At 190 years old, Jonathan the Seychelles giant tortoise recently made news for being the “oldest living land animal in the world...

Study highlights how current treatments for alopecia work on a cellular level. Salk scientists have uncovered an unexpected molecular target of a common treatment for alopecia, a condition in which a person’s immune system attacks their own hair follicles, causing hair loss...

Next step is to study in women receiving mastectomy. Delivering a targeted immunotoxin into breast ducts via openings in the nipple wiped out all visible and invisible precancerous lesions in laboratory studies, led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, of very early stage breast cancers.

A description of the work performed on mice, which the authors say provides a strong pre-clinical foundation for conducting feasibility and safety trials with patients who have stage 0 breast cancers, is published in the June 8 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Stage 0 breast cancer, also known as ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), is characterized as the presenc...

Paxlovid rebound patient did not show drug resistance or impaired immunity. Paxlovid is the leading oral medication for preventing severe cases of COVID-19 in high-risk individuals. However, symptoms returned in some patients after treatment was completed, prompting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to issue a health advisory on this so-called “COVID-19 rebound.”

In a study published June 20, 2022 in Clinical Infectious Diseases, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine evaluated one such patient and found their symptom relapse was not caused by the development of resistance to the drug or im...