James Kinross, an expert in the gut microbiome, believes changes in our digestive health could help explain rising colon cancer cases among the under-50s.
Category: health
A new study led by researchers from Michigan State University, Yale University and Johns Hopkins University reveals that ransomware attacks—which involve a hacker putting encryption controls into a file and then demanding a ransom to unlock the files—have become the primary driver of health care data breaches in the United States, compromising 285 million patient records over 15 years.
Published May 14 in JAMA Network Open, the study provides the first comprehensive analysis of ransomware’s role in health care breaches across all entities covered by privacy laws—hospitals, physician practices, health plans and data clearinghouses—from 2010 to 2024.
“Ransomware has become the most disruptive force in health care cybersecurity,” said John (Xuefeng) Jiang, Eli Broad Endowed Professor of accounting and information systems in the MSU Broad College of Business and lead author of the study. “Hospitals have been forced to delay care, shut down systems and divert patients—all while sensitive patient data is held hostage.”
Current dental implants can work well, but they’re not perfect. They don’t attach to bones and gums in the same way that real teeth do. And around 20% of people who get implants end up developing an infection called peri-implantitis, which can lead to bone loss.
It is all down to the microbes that grow on them. There’s a complex community of microbes living in our mouths, and disruptions can lead to infection. But these organisms don’t just affect our mouths; they also seem to be linked to a growing number of disorders that can affect our bodies and brains. If you’re curious, read on.
The oral microbiome, as it is now called, was first discovered in 1670 by Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, a self-taught Dutch microbiologist. “I didn’t clean my teeth for three days and then took the material that had lodged in small amounts on the gums above my front teeth … I found a few living animalcules,” he wrote in a letter to the Royal Society at the time.
Scientists have developed a dual-laser Brillouin optical correlation-domain reflectometry (BOCDR) system that uses two frequency-modulated lasers. By scanning the relative modulation phase between the pump and reference lasers, the setup measures strain and temperature all along an optical fiber. In a proof-of-concept test on a 13-meter silica fiber, the team recorded Brillouin gain spectra (BGS) at only about 200 MHz—over 50 times lower than the usual 11 GHz band.
The research was published in the Journal of Physics: Photonics on April 25, 2025.
“The dual-laser approach makes BOCDR equipment simpler, more cost-effective, and easier to deploy, giving engineers a practical tool for long-term structural health monitoring, factory process control, and many other sensing tasks,” said senior author Associate Professor Yosuke Mizuno of Yokohama National University.
Biomarkers used to predict heart failure risk in the general population may be ineffective for assessing risk after pregnancies complicated by hypertension or diabetes, according to a study published in JAMA Cardiology.
Several adverse pregnancy outcomes, including preeclampsia and gestational diabetes, have been linked to long-term heart health risks for pregnant women, said Priya Freaney, MD, ‘22 GME, assistant professor of Medicine in the Division of Cardiology, who was first author of the study.
“We know that features of complicated pregnancies can impact a woman’s heart disease risk decades later,” Freaney said. “It’s important for us to have some way to track and screen the patients that have pregnancy complications to further clarify if someone’s on a high-risk path toward heart disease and help bring their risk down with aggressive screening, prevention or early implementation of therapies.”
A multi-institutional collaboration of synthetic biology research centers in China has developed a genetically engineered strain of Vibrio natriegens capable of bioremediating complex organic pollutants, including biphenyl, phenol, naphthalene, dibenzofuran, and toluene, in saline wastewater and soils.
Complex organic pollutants are prevalent in industrial wastewater generated by petroleum refining and chlor-alkali processing. Due to their chemical stability and resistance to natural degradation, these compounds persist in marine and saline environments, posing ecological risks and potential threats to public health.
Microbial bioremediation methods typically use consortia of wild-type bacterial strains, yet these organisms demonstrate limited capacity to degrade complex pollutant mixtures. Elevated salinity levels further inhibit bacterial activity, diminishing bioremediation efficacy in industrial and marine wastewater. Developing bacterial strains capable of degrading pollutants while tolerating saline conditions remains a critical challenge.
Life truly is radiant, according to an experiment conducted by researchers from the University of Calgary and the National Research Council of Canada.
An extraordinary experiment on mice and leaves from two different plant species has uncovered direct physical evidence of an eerie ‘biophoton’ phenomenon ceasing on death, suggesting all living things – including humans – could literally glow with health, until we don’t.
The findings might seem a little fringe at first glance. It’s hard not to associate scientific investigations into biological electromagnetic emissions with debunked and paranormal claims of auras and discharges surrounding living organisms.
Cinnamon consumption in large amounts could interfere with medication effectiveness, according to recent research. A study examines health implications and differences between cinnamon types.
Artificial intelligence could be affecting the scientific rigor of new research, according to a study from the University of Surrey.
The research team has called for a range of measures to reduce the flood of “low-quality” and “science fiction” papers, including stronger peer review processes and the use of statistical reviewers for complex datasets.
In a study published in PLOS Biology, researchers reviewed papers proposing an association between a predictor and a health condition using an American government dataset called the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), published between 2014 and 2024.
The influence of the magnitude of sagittal correction and local junctional factors on proximal junctional kyphosis and failure following correction of adult spinal deformity: an inverse probability weighted analysis
Posted in biotech/medical, health | Leave a Comment on The influence of the magnitude of sagittal correction and local junctional factors on proximal junctional kyphosis and failure following correction of adult spinal deformity: an inverse probability weighted analysis
Proximal junctional kyphosis (PJK) and proximal junctional failure (PJF) remain difficult problems following correction of adult spinal deformity (ASD). The goal of this study was to perform a comprehensive evaluation of risk factors associated with PJK and PJF using advanced statistical methods through inverse probability weighting (IPW).
Patients who presented to the authors’ institution with symptomatic ASD from 2013 to 2021 and who underwent thoracolumbar fusion ending in the pelvis were included in the study. The primary outcomes were development of PJK and PJF following ASD correction. PJK was classified using Glattes’ criteria. PJF was defined as a proximal junctional angle 20° from preoperative measures or complications at the upper instrumented vertebra (UIV) including vertebral body fracture, instability, and/or hardware failure. Patient charts and images (radiography, CT, and MRI) were used to extract demographics, measures of sagittal and coronal balance on pre-and postoperative radiography, operative techniques, and bone health metrics. Propensity score generation with IPW was used to control for confounding variables.
In total, 187 patients were included in the study with a median follow-up of 24.6 months. Sixty-nine patients (36.9%) developed PJK, while 26 (13.9%) developed PJF. Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that both PJK and PJF largely occurred within the 1st year of index ASD correction. IPW showed that patients who developed PJK had a larger correction in the sagittal plane including global lumbar lordosis (p < 0.001) and sagittal vertical axis (p = 0.020). PJF development was associated with factors at the UIV including low Hounsfield units (p = 0.026) and cranially directed screws at the UIV (p = 0.040).