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Category: health – Page 2

Precision medicine intervention found to ease symptoms of a depression biotype

Depression is one of the most widespread mental health disorders worldwide, characterized by persistent feelings of sadness, a loss of interest in everyday activities, dysregulated sleep or eating patterns and other impairments. Some individuals diagnosed with depression also report being unable to pay attention during specific tasks, while also experiencing difficulties in planning and making decisions.

Recent studies have uncovered different biotypes of depression, subgroups of patients diagnosed with the condition that exhibit similar neural circuit patterns and behaviors. One of these subtypes is the so-called “cognitive biotype,” which is linked to a reduced ability to focus attention and inhibit distractions or unhelpful thinking patterns.

Researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine and the VA Palo Alto Health Care System recently carried out a study assessing the potential of guanfacine immediate release (GIR), a medication targeting known to be impaired in people with the cognitive biotype of depression.

Ultra-thin 3D display delivers wide-angle, highly-detailed images

Researchers have developed an ultra-thin 3D display with a wide viewing angle, clear image quality and vivid display depth. By overcoming tradeoffs that typically limit glasses-free 3D displays, the advance could open new possibilities for highly detailed interactive experiences in health care, education and entertainment.

“The new display is just 28 mm thick, dramatically slimmer than conventional directional backlight systems, which typically exceed 500 mm,” said research team leader Xu Liu, from Zhejiang University in China. “This level of compactness, combined with the substantial boost in resolution we achieved, represents an important step toward making the technology practical for real-world products.”

In Optica, the researchers demonstrate an ultra-slim 32-inch directional backlight-based prototype based on the new display design. The prototype is roughly the size of a large computer monitor, has a wide viewing angle of over 120° and a large 3D display volume of 28 × 16 × 39 inches.

Experts warn of wider health impact of tropical cyclones in a warming climate

Beyond direct injuries, exposure to tropical cyclones is associated with higher risks of death across a range of causes including kidney, heart and lung diseases, neuropsychiatric conditions, and diabetes, finds a study published in The BMJ’s climate issue.

Risks were substantially higher in deprived communities and areas that have previously experienced fewer tropical cyclones, suggesting an urgent need to integrate more evidence on into disaster response plans, say the authors.

Tropical cyclones are one of the most devastating and costly extreme weather events, affecting an average of 20.4 million people a year with direct economic losses of US$51.5 billion over the past decade.

Nanoparticle Treatment Reverses Alzheimer’s in Mice

Scientists have developed a nanoparticle-based treatment that successfully reversed Alzheimer’s disease in mice.

As detailed in a new paper published in the journal Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy, the team co-led by the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia, Spain (IBEC), and West China Hospital, Sichuan University, developed bioactive “supramolecular drugs” that can proactively repair the blood-brain barrier.

The barrier plays an important role in the health of the brain, defending it from harmful substances and other pathogens. Alzheimer’s has been linked to a weakening of the barrier’s integrity, allowing for impairing toxins to make it through.

Bisphenol A causes sex-specific changes in metabolism and the immune system, study reveals

Even small amounts of bisphenol A can lead to long-term health effects. When researchers studied adult rats exposed in the fetal stage, they found that females had developed a more masculine and males a more feminine gene expression pattern. This led to females progressing towards a cancer-like state, while males progressed towards metabolic syndrome, which can increase the risk of diabetes and heart disease.

Bisphenol A is a synthetic chemical with estrogen-like properties that is commonly used in food packaging materials. The substance is banned in many products, but is still present in some packaging. Levels of bisphenol A in people’s bodies are often above levels considered safe, with previous research showing that the substance can cause adverse health effects.

Females masculinized and males feminized In the current study, published in Communications Medicine, researchers investigated how bisphenol A affects the body during the fetal stage.

How hops produce chiral α-bitter acids that give beer its signature taste

Hops are an essential ingredient in beer brewing and an important economic crop. The female flowers of hops are covered in tiny glandular trichomes that synthesize and store a variety of specialized metabolites, collectively defining the flavor and quality of beer. Terpenes provide the distinctive aroma, xanthohumol has potent antioxidant properties that benefit human health, and α-bitter acids give beer its characteristic bitterness.

Voting is a stronger determinant of mortality than education: a full-electorate survival analysis with 21-year follow-up

Background Although voting is recognised as a social determinant of health, the association between electoral participation and subsequent mortality at an individual level has not been established.

Objective To assess whether voters and non-voters differ in mortality risk.

Methods We used register-based information on electoral participation in the 1999 parliamentary elections from the full electorate of at least 30-year-old Finnish citizens living in mainland Finland linked to registers containing sociodemographic and mortality information by Statistics Finland. Mortality was assessed with Cox proportional hazards regression models, with follow-up until the end of 2020 (n=3 185 572 individuals; 58 133 493 person-years; 1 053 483 deaths).

Women perceive sleek and shiny hair as healthier and more youthful, study finds

Straight-aligned hair paired with higher shine evokes the appearance of greater youth, health, and attractiveness, according to researchers at The Procter & Gamble Company, which owns several brands of hair care products, including ones designed to make hair shinier.

Studies on appearance often center on facial shape and . Previous studies also note that skin topography and coloration can influence judgments of age, health, and attractiveness across populations. Facial studies often remove hair cues to avoid biasing feature focused framing of perception.

Hair holds social cues that observers can read quickly. Work with computer-rendered hair has tied diameter, density, style, and color to shifts in perceived age, health, and attractiveness, and some studies previously associated healthier-looking hair with the appearance of better reproductive health.

Scientist Solves 100-Year-Old Physics Puzzle To Track Airborne Killers

Researchers at the University of Warwick have created a straightforward new way to predict how irregularly shaped nanoparticles, a harmful type of airborne pollutant, move through the air.

Each day, people inhale countless microscopic particles such as soot, dust, pollen, microplastics, viruses, and engineered nanoparticles. Many of these particles are so small that they can reach deep into the lungs and even pass into the bloodstream, where they may contribute to serious health problems including heart disease, stroke, and cancer.

While most airborne particles have uneven shapes, existing mathematical models often treat them as perfect spheres because that makes the equations easier to handle. This simplification limits scientists’ ability to accurately describe or track how real, non-spherical particles move, especially those that are more dangerous.

An Introduction to Ebolavirus Biology

I wrote this educational primer on ebolavirus as a fun exploration of a topic not related to my current research. While such knowledge may be useful in the event of some future ebolavirus epidemic, it is mostly just an exercise in curiosity and intellectual enrichment. #virology #molecularbiology.

My website version: [ https://logancollinsblog.com/2025/11/04/an-introduction-to-ebolavirus-biology/](https://logancollinsblog.com/2025/11/04/an-introduction-to-ebolavirus-biology/)

Substack version: [ https://loganthrashercollins.substack.com/p/an-introduction-…us-biology](https://loganthrashercollins.substack.com/p/an-introduction-…us-biology)

PDF version: An Introduction to Ebolavirus Biology – Logan Thrasher Collins

I wrote this educational primer as a fun exploration of a topic not related to my current research. While such knowledge may be useful in the event of some future ebolavirus epidemic, it is mostly just an exercise in curiosity and intellectual enrichment. I hope that you too enjoy learning about this fascinating (but scary!) virus as you browse my writeup. Also, if you’re an ebolavirus expert with concepts, edits, and/or ideas to offer, feel free to reach out with your additional insights! Shoutout: I’d like to give a special shoutout/thanks to Jain et al. (reference 4) and Bodmer et al. (reference 2). I used their papers extensively throughout the creation of writeup!

Genome

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