Latest Health News

FRIDAY, Oct. 13, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- New research uncovers troubling trends for lung cancer in young and middle-aged women. Cancer incidence in young women is higher than it is in men, a continuing trend, and now that extends to women over age 50, reversing historical patterns. “These findings are very concerning,” said study lead author Dr. Ahmedin Jemal, senior vice president of surveillance and health equity science at the American Cancer Society.“We don’t know why lung cancer incidence rates among younger and middle-aged individuals are now higher in women than men, reversing the historical pattern,” Jemal noted in a cancer society news release. “Cigarette smoking prevalence, the major risk factor for lung cancer in the United States, is not higher in younger women...

THURSDAY, Oct. 12, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- After a massive five-year effort, researchers have unveiled an “atlas” that gives an unprecedented look at the intricacies of the human brain.The atlas, which will be available to researchers everywhere, can be seen as similar to the atlases we all know: a book of maps.But this one catalogues human brain cells and their striking diversity and complexity. Going forward, the atlas will help other researchers “navigate” the brain, said Bing Ren, a professor at the University of California, San Diego, who was part of the research effort.The atlas encompasses more than 3,000 types of brain cells, and gives insight into how they vary from one person to another, how they differ from non-human primates’ brain cells, how particular brain...

THURSDAY, Oct. 12, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Severe inflammation very early in childhood might hamper the development of key brain cells, perhaps setting the stage for conditions such as autism or schizophrenia, new research suggests.The origins of many neurodevelopment disorders remain mysterious. But the new study of postmortem brain tissue from children who died between the ages 1 and 5 shows how inflammation affects brain cells.In their research, the team from the University of Maryland School of Medicine targeted a portion of the brain known as the cerebellum, using a cutting-edge technology called single nucleus RNA sequencing.“We looked at the cerebellum because it is one of the first brain regions to begin developing and one of the last to reach its maturity, but it remains...

THURSDAY, Oct.12, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Fifty years ago, the TV series “The Six Million Dollar Man” hyped a futuristic world of life-changing bionics with the stirring phrase: “We can rebuild him, we have the technology.”Cut to 2023, and researchers in Sweden appear to have delivered on that promise.A Swedish woman who lost her right hand in a farming accident more than 20 years ago has successfully been outfitted with a first-of-its-kind bionic appendage, a team of Swedish, Australian, Italian and American researchers reports in the Oct. 11 issue of the journal Science Robotics.Researchers said the science behind the technology is “groundbreaking,” because the artificial limb has fully integrated with the patient’s own nerves, bones and muscles in the years since its...