News by Subject Medicine & Health

A new way to examine stress and inflammation in the heart will help Parkinson's researchers test new therapies and explore an unappreciated way the disease puts people at risk of falls and hospitalization.

A team of University of Iowa researchers built a web-based app called MapTrek. When synced with a Fitbit, MapTrek allows users to go on virtual walking tours of locations such as the Grand Canyon or Appalachian trail while competing against other users. A study showed MapTrek and Fitbit users averaged 2,200 more steps per day than a control group that used only Fitbits.

A new study has shown that people who regularly eat oranges are less likely to develop macular degeneration than people who do not eat oranges. Researchers at the Westmead Institute for Medical Research interviewed more than 2,000 Australian adults aged over 50 and followed them over a 15-year period.

A new commentary by scientists at the Universities of Manchester and Edinburgh on a study by Taiwanese epidemiologists supports the viability of a potential way to reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease.

A study has newly identified an immune trigger of some fibrotic diseases and an experimental compound to treat it. Fibrosis -- a progressive scarring and hardening of internal organs -- is estimated to cause 35 to 40 percent of deaths in the world.

UCLA researchers have found that the PGC-1α gene, previously known to control human metabolism, also controls the equilibrium of bone and fat in bone marrow and also how an adult stem cell expresses its final cell type. The findings could lead to a better understanding of the disruption of bone-to-fat ratio in bone marrow and its health consequences, and point to the gene as a therapeutic target in the treatment of osteoporosis and skeletal aging.