News by Subject Medicine & Health

Oxford University researchers have discovered a brain process common to sleep and aging in research that could pave the way for new treatments for insomnia.

Researchers from the George Washington University and the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology have developed a solution for multiparametric optical mapping of the heart's electrical activity. This technique is a useful tool for enhancing our understanding of the mechanisms behind cardiac arrhythmias. Arrhythmia causes your heart to beat too quickly, too slowly or erratically. Hijacking the heart's vital rhythm and pumping function can have serious consequences like a stroke or cardiac arrest.

A UCLA-led study confirms what women approaching menopause have long suspected: menopause does make fat go up. The study finds that women undergoing perimenopause lost lean body mass and more than doubled their fat mass. The research demonstrates that body mass index (BMI) is a very important clinical tool for predicting health events, such as getting diabetes or having cardiovascular disease -- but is a less useful gauge of cardio-metabolic risk in older women.

Seemingly harmless fluid-filled spaces around the cerebral small vessels, commonly seen on brain MRIs in older adults, are now thought to be associated with more compromised cognitive skills, according to a Vanderbilt University Medical Center study published in Neurology.

This study looked at the association of calcium intake (dietary and supplementation) with the risk and progression of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a leading cause of blindness. Previous research has had mixed results about the role of calcium in AMD progression. This study, a secondary analysis of 4,751 randomized clinical trial participants, found higher calcium intake was associated with lower risk of progression to late AMD but there was an inconsistent association between calcium intake and different stages of AMD.

Researchers at Joslin Diabetes Center have uncovered a new mechanism of lifespan extension that links caloric restriction with immune system regulation.

Most people who immigrated to the United States for a chance to live the 'American Dream' are more satisfied with their lives in the 'land of the free' than those who were born here, according to new research from Florida State University.