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

Medicine & Health

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 5-Aug-2025 15:11 ET (5-Aug-2025 19:11 GMT/UTC)

Sanitary towels morph into test strips

ETH Zurich
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed the first technology that is able to recognise biomarkers in menstrual blood – directly in sanitary towels. MenstruAI promises a simple, non-invasive method for recording health data in everyday life.

Journal: Advanced Science

Refugees benefit from psychosocial support, but also need work and friends

Radboud University Nijmegen
Reports and Proceedings

Refugees are more likely to suffer from mental health problems than the average person due to their migration experiences and socio-economic status. Psychosocial support helps, but it should not stand alone. Further investment is needed in the social lives of refugees and undocumented migrants, for example by giving them access to work and education. This is the argument put forward by social scientist Tessa Ubels. “People often come to see their psychologist as a friend. That is not a problem in itself, but it is if they have no other friends.” Ubels will defend her thesis at Radboud University on 2 June.

Less bitter, just as satiating

Leibniz-Institut für Lebensmittel-Systembiologie an der TU München
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A recent study by the Leibniz Institute for Food Systems Biology at the Technical University of Munich shows that less bitter-tasting pea protein hydrolysates can induce just as strong satiety signals in stomach cells as their more bitter counterparts. The key factor is that new bitter-tasting protein fragments are formed in the gastric juice during digestion, which stimulate the release of gastric acid and the neurotransmitter serotonin – both signals contribute significantly to the feeling of satiety in the body. The study results open up new perspectives for the development of plant-based foods that combine health, pleasant taste, and sustainability in a useful way.

Journal: Food Chemistry
Funder: Industrial Collective Research (IGF) of the German Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi)

Machine learning simplifies industrial laser processes

Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa)
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Laser-based metal processing enables the automated and precise production of complex components, whether for the automotive industry or for medicine. However, conventional methods require time- and resource-consuming preparations. Researchers at Empa in Thun are using machine learning to make laser processes more precise, more cost-effective and more efficient.

Journal: Additive Manufacturing

Global warming could be driving up women’s cancer risk

Frontiers
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Scientists investigating the impact of climate change on women’s health have found that increased heat is linked to an increase in rates of breast, ovarian, uterine and cervical cancers. They looked at 17 countries in the Middle East and North Africa, where temperatures are expected to rise by 4 degrees Celsius by 2050, and found that these four cancers became more common and more likely to be fatal with each degree rise in temperature. The increase can’t be explained by improved diagnosis or survival rates. The researchers call for the urgent integration of climate change resilience into public health plans.

Journal: Frontiers in Public Health

Dog owners willing to pay more for food labeled for certain health attributes

University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Agricultural economists with the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture and Kansas State University examined product attributes present in dry dog food to show there exist potential price premiums and discounts associated with health and wellness attributes. The findings indicate price premiums are associated with attributes related to digestion and allergy care. Pricing discounts are found to be associated with immune support and dental attributes. The results of this study are anticipated to be a starting point for more sophisticated and dynamic analysis of pricing and willingness-to-pay studies int the pet food industry.

Journal: Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics

Integrating pharmacogenomic guided prescribing into routine clinical practice – promising results from the NHS PROGRESS study

European Society of Human Genetics
Reports and Proceedings

A pioneering approach to the integration of genomic data into electronic health records in UK GP practices and hospitals will means that patients’ genomic data can be made available to help select the safest and most effective treatment for everyone, and help medical professionals without extensive training in pharmacogenomics to interpret the data.

Funder: NHS England