EurekAlert! News by Subject: Medicine & Health - News by Subject: Medicine & Health

Medicine & Health

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 17-Jun-2025 23:10 ET (18-Jun-2025 03:10 GMT/UTC)

Acidic foods at risk: Toxic elements from recycled paper packaging exceed safety limits

Zhejiang University

A new study has raised alarms over the potential health risks of recycled paper food contact materials (FCMs), showing that they can release dangerous levels of toxic metals—including lead, arsenic, cadmium, and aluminum—into food.

Journal: Food Quality and Safety

Hereditary Alzheimer’s: Blood marker for defective neuronal connections rises early

DZNE - German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Individuals with a genetic predisposition to Alzheimer’s disease show altered blood levels indicating damaged neuronal contacts as early as 11 years before the expected onset of dementia symptoms. This is evident in the levels of the protein “beta-synuclein”. An international team, including researchers from DZNE, Ulm University Hospital and University Medicine Halle report these findings in the journal “Alzheimer’s & Dementia”. The biomarker studied here could potentially help to detect neurodegeneration at an early stage and thus indicate an adequate time for starting treatment.

Journal: Alzheimer s & Dementia

Nurturing now, thriving later: The lasting power of affectionate mothering

American Psychological Association
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Affectionate mothering in childhood may have a lasting impact on important personality traits, potentially influencing life outcomes such as educational achievement, economic success, and health and well-being, according to research published by the American Psychological Association. The findings suggest that positive maternal parenting could foster important traits such as openness, conscientiousness and agreeableness.

Journal: American Psychologist

Lung-MAP 3.0: Landmark trial expands genomic screening options for enrolling patients

SWOG Cancer Research Network
Business Announcement

Most patients who enroll in the Lung-MAP precision medicine trial in non-small cell lung cancer can now be matched to a targeted investigational treatment based on the results of their prior genomic testing, without needing to submit new tumor or blood samples. This expanded screening process will help make Lung-MAP’s targeted treatment studies more accessible to patients at a wider range of clinical sites, including community-based locations where most patients receive care.

Funder: NIH/National Cancer Institute

How modified atmosphere packaging enhances nutrient levels in broccoli rabe

Nanjing Agricultural University The Academy of Science

A recent study shows that low-oxygen storage significantly enhances the health-promoting compounds in broccoli rabe, such as γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and lactic acid (LA).

Journal: Horticulture Research

Viewing art can boost wellbeing by giving meaning to life

Trinity College Dublin
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The simple act of looking at a piece of visual art can boost your wellbeing, a new research study has found, and this benefit can be gained in a hospital setting as well as an art gallery.

Journal: The Journal of Positive Psychology

Simulating protein structures involved in memory formation

Fujita Health University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Complex protein interactions at synapses are essential for memory formation in our brains, but the mechanisms behind these processes remain poorly understood. Now, researchers from Japan have developed a computational model revealing new insights into the unique droplet-inside-droplet structures that memory-related proteins form at synapses. They discovered that the shape characteristics of a memory-related protein are crucial for the formation of these structures, which could shed light on the nature of various neurological disorders.

Journal: Cell Reports
Funder: Core Research for Evolutional Science and Technology, Japan Science and Technology Agency, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Kobayashi foundation, Kyoto University, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT), Uehara Memorial Foundation, Naito Foundation, Research Foundation for Opto-Science and Technology, Novartis Foundation, Takeda Science Foundation, Human Frontier Science Program