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Category: health – Page 2

Cacao genetics could help breeders reduce heavy metal levels in cocoa beans

Cadmium is a naturally occurring, toxic heavy metal found in many soils across Latin America and the Caribbean, where cacao trees are widely cultivated. It makes its way into cocoa seeds, called beans, that are roasted and made into chocolate, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)—but some cacao varieties take up less of the toxic element than others. An international team of researchers, including Penn State scientists, found genetic differences in how two varieties managed cadmium uptake and facilitated the metal’s movement throughout the plant.

The findings—published this week (Sept. 8) in Plant and Soil—may be an early step toward breeding cacao that accumulates less cadmium, according to the collaborators from Penn State and Corporación Colombiana de Investigación Agropecuaria–AGROSAVIA (the Colombian Agricultural Research Corporation).

While trace amounts of cadmium in chocolate don’t present a serious risk to public health, long-term exposure to too much cadmium can lead to bone fragility as well as kidney and lung damage, explained one of the study’s two senior authors, Siela Maximova, research professor of plant biotechnology in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences.

Scientists Discover Exercise Can Match One Key Benefit of Sleep for the Brain

One sleepless night can blur the brain, but just 20 minutes of exercise or a well-timed nap may help new memories survive for days.

In a McGill University-led study, participants who exercised for 20 minutes or slept for 90 minutes after prolonged wakefulness performed about 22 percent better on a delayed memory test than those who did neither. The findings, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), suggest that two very different interventions can partially protect memory when adequate sleep is temporarily out of reach.

“Sleep loss affects nearly every aspect of how we think and function, but many people can’t simply stop what they’re doing and get more sleep,” said senior author Marc Roig, a professor in McGill’s School of Physical and Occupational Therapy. “Our findings show that even a brief bout of exercise may help preserve one of our most important cognitive abilities.”

Gene circuits of human immunity

Scientists have unveiled a massive, high-resolution functional map of human immune cells that promises to transform our understanding of how genetics control health and disease.

Published in the journal Cell, the study represents a landmark achievement in immunology and genomics. By systematically stress-testing genes across the genome in 22 million human immune cells, scientists moved beyond mere DNA sequencing to decode the dynamic circuits that govern how these genes actually work in the context of health and disease. This leap from observation to intervention offers a powerful new framework for designing cancer immunotherapies and treating autoimmune conditions, among other things.

“To understand the significance of this study, you have to look at the last three decades of biology,” says a senior author of the study. “First came the Human Genome Project, which gave us the blueprint of our genes. Then, projects like the Human Cell Atlas showed us how different cells read that blueprint. Now, we’re in a grand third wave: discovering what happens to cells when you make targeted changes within the genome. We finally have a way to decode the link between genetic sequence and cell state.”

Transparent silicon-photonics chips could bring advanced optical systems to curved displays

The field of silicon photonics, which uses light rather than electricity to transmit and process data on semiconductor chips, has enabled optical systems to evolve from bulky setups to compact, advanced systems. Typically, however, these silicon-photonics chips are rigid and opaque.

MIT scientists have now figured out a scalable way to make silicon-photonics chips flexible and transparent, opening a route to advanced microchips that could be used in applications such as discrete health monitors that conform to the body or transparent augmented-reality displays that fit the curve of a pilot’s helmet.

While scientists have recently performed lab demonstrations of chips that were flexible or transparent, they could only fabricate a few devices at a time.

The brain-changing benefits of exercise

What’s the most transformative thing that you can do for your brain today? Exercise! says neuroscientist Wendy Suzuki. Get inspired to go to the gym as Suzuki discusses the science of how working out boosts your mood and memory — and protects your brain against neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s.

Human model of childhood dementia from drug screen and AI

In a new study published in the prestigious Nature Communications journal, medical researchers used patient-derived brain cells grown in the lab, combined with advanced imaging and artificial intelligence, to rapidly test approved drugs and pinpoint those that improve brain cell health.

The research focused on Sanfilippo syndrome, a devastating childhood dementia that causes progressive loss of memory, behavior and physical abilities. There are currently no widely available treatments.

Sanfilippo syndrome is one of more than 100 genetic disorders that together affect 1 in 2900 children in Australia and half of all children with dementia die by the age of ten.

CMV — The Virus Lurking Inside Us That Can Threaten Transplant Patients | Dr. Neil Inhaber, MD

The Hidden Organ Transplant Threat — CMV — Dr. Neil Inhaber, MD, FRCPC — Head, Marketed Products and Neuroscience, Global Medical Affairs, Takeda.

Every year, hundreds of thousands of people around the world receive life-saving organ transplants — new hearts, kidneys, lungs, and livers that offer patients a second chance at life.

But transplantation is only the beginning of the journey.

Because preventing organ rejection requires suppressing the immune system, transplant recipients become vulnerable to infections that most healthy people never even notice.

One of the most important — and least understood — is cytomegalovirus, or CMV.

Continue reading “CMV — The Virus Lurking Inside Us That Can Threaten Transplant Patients | Dr. Neil Inhaber, MD” | >

New guidelines recommend all patients with heart disease are tested for kidney disease

The first-ever European Society of Cardiology Guidelines on the management of cardiovascular disease and chronic kidney disease have been developed in collaboration with the European Renal Association. The new guidelines were published online in the European Heart Journal and presented at ESC Congress 2026 on Aug. 29.

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is defined as the presence of abnormalities of kidney structure or function for at least three months, with implications for health. It is estimated that around 100 million people in Europe have CKD, all of whom are at increased risk of a wide range of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) as a result of their kidney disease.

“The disability and lifetime lost to each disease are profound, but CKD can accelerate CVD and vice versa, resulting in cardiovascular events and the need for dialysis much earlier in life,” said Task Force Chair Associate Professor Kevin Damman from University Medical Center Groningen, Netherlands.

A Google-like search engine for single-cell RNA data could answer previously impossible questions

Imagine doctors could understand exactly which cells caused a patient’s cancer or whether pathogens contributed to the disease. They could then use the information to tailor a treatment plan to the patient’s specific cancer. But answering such questions would mean wading through data from thousands of experiments locked in massive databases around the globe. Moreover, the search would take at least several days.

Now, researchers at the Berlin Institute of Medical Systems Biology of the Max Delbrück Center (MDC-BIMSB) present a search engine that radically simplifies such tasks: “Malva.” It is the first platform that can quickly sort through massive single-cell data using sequence information only, explains Daniel León-Periñán, first author of the study in Nature. León-Periñán is a doctoral student in the Systems Biology of Gene Regulatory Elements lab of Dr. Nikolaus Rajewsky, director of MDC-BIMSB.

“Like Google did for the internet 30 years ago, Malva allows scientists and AI tools to search across millions of cells in seconds—without downloading huge files, needing a reference genome or having deep computational expertise,” adds Rajewsky, senior author of the paper. “Malva transforms static transcriptomic atlases into dynamic resources, which will further our understanding of RNA biology. It could also be transformative in helping researchers understand how health slides into disease or how and which cells respond to specific medical treatments.”

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