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Medicine & Health

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 23-Jun-2026 11:15 ET (23-Jun-2026 15:15 GMT/UTC)

Beyond nutrition: Role of dietary fiber metabolites in the development of dendritic cells

Tokyo University of Science
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), produced by gut microbiota through the fermentation of dietary fiber, play an important role in regulating immune responses. A new study investigated the role of butyrate, an SCFA, in the development and differentiation of dendritic cells. The findings revealed that butyrate primarily acts by inhibiting histone deacetylases, leading to increased histone acetylation around genes involved in dendritic cell development and differentiation.

Journal: Allergology International
Funder: Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research, Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists, Research Fellowship for Young Scientists, Grant-in-Aid for JSPS Fellows, Scholarship for Doctoral Students in Immunology from the Japanese Society for Immunology, Tokyo University of Science Grant for President’s Research Promotion, Tojuro Iijima Foundation for Food Science and Technology, Research Grant from the Mishima Kaiun Memorial Foundation, Joint Research Grant from the Research Center for Radiation Disaster Medical Science, Research Grant from the Takeda Science Foundation, Foundation for Dietary Scientific Research

Study challenges reliability of widely cited Gaza mortality survey in The Lancet Global Health

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A newly published correspondence in The Lancet Global Health challenges the reliability of a widely cited Gaza Mortality Survey. Based on a reanalysis of the survey's publicly released data, the authors identify interviewer-level anomalies, departures from the stated sampling methodology, and inconsistencies with external demographic data, arguing that these issues raise significant concerns about the survey's representativeness and the validity of its estimates of conflict-related deaths in Gaza.

Journal: The Lancet Global Health

Neuroimmune abnormalities may play a key role in fibromyalgia

University of Barcelona
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Fibromyalgia is a complex disorder characterized primarily by chronic widespread pain, fatigue and other physical and cognitive symptoms. Although it affects millions of people worldwide, the underlying biological mechanisms are not yet fully understood. Now, a study by the University of Barcelona suggests that neuroimmune alterations in the central nervous system may play a key role in the development and progression of this condition. The findings, based on a comprehensive review of recent research in this field, help move beyond the view of fibromyalgia as a purely subjective condition and may open up new avenues for the diagnosis and treatment of this disorder.

Journal: Brain Behavior and Immunity

The tumor's lipid fingerprint: How cholesteryl ester buildup predicts fertility-preserving treatment success in young women with endometrioid endometrial carcinoma

Science China Press
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Progesterone insensitive has long hindered fertility-preserving treatment for endometrial cancer. Now in Science Bulletin, researchers from Peking University People's Hospital and Peking University, in collaboration with Beihang University show that cholesteryl ester accumulation in the tumor microenvironment predicts response. Adding statins to standard therapy reverses progesterone insensitivity, significantly increasing the likelihood of both achieving endometrial cancer remission and preserving future fertility.

Journal: Science Bulletin

Algae microbots take aim at bladder cancer

University of Edinburgh
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Tiny algae-based robots guided by magnets could improve bladder cancer treatment by boosting delivery of chemotherapy drugs into tumours, researchers say.

Journal: Nature Nanotechnology

New gene-network approach prioritizes more than 600 schizophrenia-associated genes

Lieber Institute for Brain Development
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Scientists have long known that schizophrenia runs in families, but pinpointing exactly which genes contribute to risk has been like searching for needles in a haystack. Now, researchers at the Lieber Institute for Brain Development and a consortium of collaborators from the University of Bari, Italy, and over 60 psychiatric hospitals all over the world, have developed a groundbreaking approach that looks beyond individual genes. They have uncovered how networks of genes communicate across the brain — revealing 641 previously unrecognized genes associated with schizophrenia.

Journal: Nature Genetics

Does drinking juice, soda during childhood increase the risk of high blood pressure?

American Heart Association
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Drinking fruit juice and sugar-sweetened beverages from childhood through adulthood may be linked to an increased risk of developing high blood pressure as an adult, according to new research published today in the American Heart Association’s flagship journal Circulation.

Journal: Circulation

Are certain demographic, birth, and parental characteristics linked to an increased risk of early-onset colorectal cancer?

Wiley
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A recent study published by Wiley online in CANCER found that factors such as a person’s birthweight, sex, ethnicity, and father’s age may affect the risk of being diagnosed with colorectal cancer at a young age.

Journal: Cancer

Cats age like humans – could studying their brains reveal healthy ageing secrets?

University of Bath
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Domestic cats age in remarkably similar ways to humans and show comparable age-related patterns of brain deterioration, according to an international collaboration between the University of Bath in the UK, Auburn College of Veterinary Medicine in the US and École Nationale Vétérinaire de Toulouse in France. This research offers new opportunities for studying human ageing and age-related diseases.

Journal: Biology Open

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