Health
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What your brain score says about your body
Simple tool can be used to identify risk factors for cancer and heart disease too, says new study
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Son’s diabetes diagnosis sent scientist on quest for cure
Decades later, Doug Melton and team are testing treatment that could make insulin shots obsolete
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Wildfire smoke can harm heart and lungs even after the fire has ended
First study to fully assess its impact on all major types of cardiovascular, respiratory diseases
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Young researcher’s ALS attack plan is now a no-go
Career award among casualties of ‘terrifying’ cuts affecting lab of David Sinclair
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Miracle drugs don’t come out of nowhere
Healthcare, innovation experts say funding cuts to university labs will slow or stop basic research on which breakthroughs are built
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Vitamin D supplements may slow biological aging
Trial shows protection against telomere shortening, which heightens disease risk
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Sending DNA robot to do the job
Researchers at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University have developed a robotic device made from DNA that could potentially seek out specific cell targets within a complex mixture of cell types and deliver important molecular instructions, such as telling cancer cells to self-destruct or programming immune responses.
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Willing a way to clean water
Kennedy School Fellow Daniele Lantagne is using her engineering background to expand on a program, partially developed by Professor Michael Kremer, to provide clean water to communities in rural areas. The soluti
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Pain relief for patients in Uganda
A collaboration between anesthesiologists at Massachusetts General Hospital and overworked doctors at an African hospital provides training in a technique that can soothe patients during surgical recoveries.
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New subtype of ovarian cancer identified
Scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have identified a subtype of ovarian cancer able to build its own blood vessels, suggesting that such tumors might be especially susceptible to “anti-angiogenic” drugs that block blood vessel formation
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Secrets of ancient Chinese remedy revealed
For roughly 2,000 years, Chinese herbalists have treated malaria using a root extract, commonly known as chang shan, from a type of hydrangea that grows in Tibet and Nepal. More recent studies suggest that halofuginone, a compound derived from this extract’s bioactive ingredient, could be used to treat many autoimmune disorders as well. Now, researchers from the Harvard School of Dental Medicine have discovered the molecular secrets behind this herbal extract’s power.
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A swimsuit like shark skin? Not so fast
Experiments conducted in a Harvard lab reveal that, while sharks’ sandpaperlike skin does allow the animals to swim faster and more efficiently, the structure of some high-tech swimsuits has no effect when it comes to reducing drag as swimmers move through the water.
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Exploring roots of hunger, eating behaviors
Synaptic plasticity — the ability of the synaptic connections between the brain’s neurons to change and modify over time — has been shown to be a key to memory formation and the acquisition of new learning behaviors. Now research reveals that the neural circuits controlling hunger and eating behaviors are also controlled by plasticity.
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Deciding to go left or right
Researchers in a Harvard lab have developed a device, dubbed LADY GAGA, that allows them for the first time to precisely control airborne scents. They have used the device in their work unraveling how animals make navigational decisions based on their environment.
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Right time for ‘end-of-life’ talk
A study by Harvard-affiliated Dana-Farber Cancer Institute finds that most terminally ill cancer patients discuss end-of-life care with physicians but that such discussions often occur late in their illness.
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The search for life’s stirrings
As science wrestles with the problem of how life arose on Earth, hindsight shows that seemingly intractable obstacles can have simple, even elegant solutions, said Nobel laureate Jack Szostak.
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Making the worms turn
Biophysicist Aravinthan Samuel has developed new techniques to monitor and influence the behavior of roundworms to learn how their basic nervous systems work, a first step to understanding the circuitry in more complex creatures, like humans.
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Blood test for depression?
The initial assessment of a blood test to help diagnose major depressive disorder indicates it may become a useful clinical tool.
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Triumphs against smallpox, polio, AIDS
Harvard researchers have been at the forefront of many battles against devastating diseases, leading pivotal breakthroughs against scourges from 1800 to the present.
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Decoding keys to a healthy life
Now 74 years young, the Harvard Study of Adult Development continues to yield a treasure trove of data about how people behave, and change — including predictions of strong indicators to a happy life.
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Broad Institute awarded $32.5M grant
The Eli and Edythe L. Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT today announced that it has received a $32.5 million grant from the Boston-based Klarman Family Foundation to support a new collaborative effort focused on deciphering how human cells are wired.
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PFCs may hinder vaccine response
Perfluorinated compounds (PFCs), widely used in manufactured products such as non-stick cookware, waterproof clothing, and fast-food packaging, were associated with lowered immune response to vaccinations in children in research led by Philippe Grandjean of the Harvard School of Public Health.
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A winter wellness workout
Dozens of Harvard undergraduates started the year with a new emphasis on wellness, thanks to the Optimal Health program. With presentations from a lifestyle medicine consultant, a nutritionist, a personal trainer, a sleep specialist, and a stress manager, Optimal Health emphasized prevention and fitness.
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Enlightened eating
Color-coded food labeling and adjusting the way food items are positioned in display cases encouraged healthy choices in a large hospital cafeteria in a study by MGH researchers.
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Clues to addiction
Harvard scientists have developed the fullest picture yet of how neurons in the brain interact to reinforce behaviors that range from learning to drug use, a finding that could open the door to new treatments for addiction.
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Tumor cells can prevent tumor spread
A new study from Harvard-affiliated Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center finds that a group of little-explored cells in the tumor microenvironment likely serves as an important gatekeeper against cancer progression and metastasis.
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Muffin makeover
Nutrition experts at HSPH and chefs and dietitians at the Culinary Institute of America have developed five muffin recipes that incorporate healthy fats and whole grains, and use a lighter hand on the salt and sugar.
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Researchers develop ‘smart’ nanotherapeutics
Research collaboration between the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University and Children’s Hospital Boston has developed “smart” injectable nanotherapeutics that can be programmed to selectively deliver drugs to the cells of the pancreas.
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Good news for marathoners
Harvard researchers have found that those participating in marathons and half-marathons are not at an increased risk of cardiac arrest.
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Reaping benefits of exercise minus the sweat
A team led by researchers at Harvard-affiliated Dana-Farber Cancer Institute has isolated a natural hormone from muscle cells that triggers some of the key health benefits of exercise.
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Struttin’ its stuff
Harvard researchers have found that a tiny motor inside of us called dynein, one tasked with shuttling vital payloads throughout the cell’s intricate highway infrastructure, staggers, which is quite contrary to the regular, efficient poise of its fellow motors.
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Nicotine letdown
Nicotine replacement therapies did not improve smokers’ chances of long-term cessation in a study by researchers at Harvard and UMass.
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Age-related effects of MS may prove reversible
In a new study, Harvard stem cell researchers and scientists at the University of Cambridge have found that the age-related degeneration in conditions such as multiple sclerosis (MS) may be reversible.
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A possible aid for navigators
John Huth, the creator of the popular “Primitive Navigation” course, spent most of last summer investigating a mysterious phenomenon called “underwater lightning,” which some say can be used as a navigational tool.
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Use, abuse of Internet pharmacies
Efforts to halt the growing abuse of prescription drugs must include addressing the availability of these drugs on the Internet and increasing physician awareness of the dangers posed by Internet pharmacies.
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Health reform in the crosshairs
With health care costs set to gobble up more of the federal budget, analysts say that additional reforms are inevitable, though national indecision over what they should look like could mean a rocky path ahead.