Health

A group of 48 scientists from 50 institutions in the U.S. has formed the Unified Microbiome Initiative Consortium (UMIC). The UMIC’s goal is to drive cutting-edge microbiome research, enabling breakthrough advances in medicine, ecosystem management, sustainable energy, and production of commodities.

Harvard-affiliated researchers are working on a procedure that will allow fully obstructed blood clots in the brain to be cleared using a device that opens a small channel through the blockage, which combines with a clot-busting drug to target the obstructed site.

The first study to measure the incidence of medication errors and adverse drug events during the perioperative period has found that some sort of mistake or adverse event occurred in every second operation and in 5 percent of observed drug administrations, according to information gathered from 275 operations at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Americans often have no idea whether they’re getting value for their prescription drug dollars, something that has to change if costs are to be reigned in in this country, according to a panel at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

New research suggests a way to cost-effectively manufacture red blood cells from stem cells; the patients who could potentially benefit include those who cannot use blood currently available in blood banks.

Researchers create complex kidney structures from human stem cells derived from the skin of adult patients.

Specialists in addiction see promise in a more comprehensive approach to treating opioid abuse, aided by medication.

Relaxation-response techniques, such as meditation, yoga, and prayer, could reduce the need for health care services by 43 percent, according to a Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital study that looked at participants in a relaxation-response-focused training program.

A team of researchers has succeeded in imaging — at the nano scale — every item in a small portion of mouse brain. What they found, Lichtman said, could open the door to, among other things, understanding how learning alters the brain.

Patients with trauma, stroke, heart attack, and respiratory failure who were transported by basic life support ambulances had a better chance of survival than patients who were transported by advanced life support ambulances, a study of Medicare patients in urban counties nationwide found.

Great whales’ microbiome shares characteristics with both plant eaters and predators, study finds.

Catheter aided by UV light allows repairs of heart holes without requiring surgery.

Today’s discoveries in DNA technology are as exciting as another era’s moon missions, opening avenues of scientific inquiry and invigorating even longstanding fields, speakers at a Radcliffe science symposium on DNA said.

A molecule isolated from sea sponges and later synthesized in the lab can halt the growth of cancerous cells and could open the door to a new treatment for leukemia, according to a team of Harvard researchers.

A report on the science of getting hooked on heroin, one in a three-part series examining addiction and new ideas for combatting it.

Research at Harvard and elsewhere has repeatedly tied coffee consumption to health benefits.

Harvard researchers take a 2014 paper to task and find that butter isn’t one of the good guys. Get your fats from nuts and vegetable oils instead.

Lifestyle choices remain the best way to prevent heart attack, stroke, diabetes, cancer, and cognitive decline, panelists agreed.

Harvard Stem Cell Institute researchers studying spinal muscular atrophy have found molecular changes that help trigger the genetic disease in children.

Gene-editing study reveals pathway that could help short circuit sickle cell disease.

With parents and kids in back-to-school mode, refocusing on the daily demands of homework, sports, and activities, time spent staring at a screen comes at a premium. Steven Gortmaker, professor of the practice of health sociology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, has been studying how we have used and sometimes abused screen time since the 1980s, when he published one of the first studies linking TV watching to obesity.

An international team of researchers led by Harvard’s Pardis Sabeti have sequenced the genomes of hundreds of samples of Lassa fever and are using that data to try to unlock the virus’ secrets.

New porous hydrogel could boost success of some stem cell-based tissue regeneration, researchers say.

The world is smaller than ever when it comes to infectious disease, a fact that means people have more at stake than ever before in each other’s health, speakers said at a symposium marking the fifth anniversary of the Harvard Global Health Institute.

While recent federal guidelines enhanced the nutritional quality of school lunches, there are no standards regarding lunch period length. Many students have lunch periods that are 20 minutes or less, which can be an insufficient amount of time to eat, according to a new study from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

By first looking broadly at possible environmental factors and then deeply at preclinical models of multiple sclerosis (MS), a BWH research team found that melatonin — a hormone involved in regulating a person’s sleep-wake cycle — may influence MS disease activity.

Research led by a Harvard professor describes in detail how termite mounds are ventilated.

Research led by Carolyn Eng delivers insights into how the IT band stores and releases elastic energy to make walking and running more efficient.

Twelve advanced research projects aimed at developing new therapies and diagnostics receive support from Harvard’s Blavatnik Biomedical Accelerator.

New research shows that bird beaks are the result of skeletal changes controlled by two genetic pathways, shedding light on the origins of one of nature’s most efficient tools.