Loss of function in key Y-chromosome genes increases cancer risk in men

Numerous studies have shown that men are more susceptible to cancer than women; however, the reason for this difference remains poorly understood. A new study by researchers from the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) has identified a key biological mechanism that puts men at higher risk of cancer: loss of function in certain genes of the sex-determining Y chromosome. […]

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Intermittent fasting increases longevity in cardiac catheterization patients

While Intermittent fasting may sound like another dieting craze, the practice of routinely not eating and drinking for short periods of time has shown again to lead to potentially better health outcomes. In a new study by researchers at the Intermountain Healthcare Heart Institute in Salt Lake City, researchers have found that cardiac catheterization patients who practiced regular intermittent fasting […]

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Study: Active voice conveys a sense of immediacy and increases the chance people will believe you

The way we interpret a message changes depending on whether it’s framed in the active or the passive voice, University of Toronto researchers have found—even if the content is exactly the same. “What we found is that depending on which form you choose, it changes how your audience comes to understand that message,” says Sam Maglio, an associate professor in […]

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Laser therapy increases survival in grim cancer diagnosis

People diagnosed with the aggressive brain cancer glioblastoma face a grim prognosis. Half die within 14 months of diagnosis. Even if initial treatment with surgery, radiation and chemotherapy is successful, such brain tumors typically recur, leaving patients with few options. Now, a research team at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has found that laser treatment designed to […]

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Ethiopian 7-year trial finds that childhood eye infection increases after antibiotic program ends

Continuous mass distribution of azithromycin in northern Ethiopia, where the childhood eye infection trachoma is a major cause of blindness, is effective in preventing recurrence of trachoma but does not eliminate the infection entirely, according to a new study in PLOS Medicine by Jeremy Keenan and colleagues from the University of California in San Francisco, USA and the Carter Center […]

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Alcohol increases tuberculosis-related deaths in young mice

Alcohol increases the mortality of young but not old mice infected with the tuberculosis-causing bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), and this effect is mediated by the production of a protein called interferon-alpha (IFN-α). The study, led by Deepak Tripathi of the University of Texas Health Science Center, will be published August 2 in the open-access journal PLOS Pathogens. Chronic alcohol consumption […]

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