The study, which examined the relationship between childhood exposure to trauma and vascular dysfunction among more than 400 Black adults in Atlanta ages 30 to 70, found that women who experienced childhood trauma had a worse vascular function, a preclinical marker of heart disease, while men had none. In addition, the findings indicated that women may be more vulnerable to a larger cumulative stress burden, eliciting varying physiological stress responses. Childhood trauma in women can cause arterial stiffness, or an impaired artery function of the cardiovascular system, contributing to major cardiac events, such as stroke and heart attack. It also contributes to heart disease, high blood pressure, and a malfunctioning small blood vessel system, which could damage tissues in the kidneys or brain. 

 

A new peer-reviewed Perspective (review) article shows that many widely-used prescription medications unintentionally disrupt sterol biosynthesis, a critical process for brain development. This disruption could have significant implications for fetal brain development when medications are taken during pregnancy, particularly in individuals with genetic vulnerabilities affecting cholesterol production.

In a recent paper published in the Nature journal  Scientific Reports, researchers from the University of Maryland School of Medicine described a new skin disease in a male patient with erythroderma,  causing 80 percent of his skin to be covered with red, exfoliating skin lesions that itched and burned. After undergoing months of treatment with traditional therapies for erythroderma, which included the steroid prednisone, anti-itch creams, and immunosuppressive drugs, the patient experienced little relief.

Researchers engineered a paper device with wax-printed patterns that collect precise volumes of blood, which can be used for sample collection at remote locations across the globe. A clinical pilot demonstrated significantly improved detection of HIV over current standard methods.