Category Health/Medical

Ground-breaking research led by University of Limerick has revealed for the first time that the immune system directly links personality to long-term risk of death. The study sheds new light on why people who are more conscientious tend to live longer.

Results from the new international study published in the journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity have found that the immune system plays a previously unknown role in the link between personality traits and long-term risk of death.

“Personality is known to be associated with long-term risk of death, it is a well replicated finding observed across numerous research studies...

Xray crystallography and recombinant antibodies uncover workings of an elusive molecule central to human health. In structural biology, some molecules are so unusual they can only be captured with a unique set of tools...

People who eat a Mediterranean-style diet — particularly one rich in green leafy vegetables and low in red meat — are more likely to stay mentally sharp in later life, a study shows.

Closely adhering to a Mediterranean diet was associated with higher scores on a range of memory and thinking tests among adults in their late 70s, the research found.

The study found no link, however, between the Mediterranean-style diet and better brain health. Markers of healthy brain ageing — such as greater grey or white matter volume, or fewer white matter lesions — did not differ between those regularly eating a Mediterranean diet and those who did not.

These latest findings suggest that this primarily plant-based diet may have benefits for cognitive functioning as we get older, researchers...

Algorithm using echocardiogram videos of the heart outperforms other predictors of mortality. Researchers at Geisinger have found that a computer algorithm developed using echocardiogram videos of the heart can predict mortality within a year.

The algorithm – an example of what is known as machine learning, or artificial...