Health

Survivors of childhood cancer can make lifestyle changes to reduce later-in-life chronic health conditions, such as diabetes and heart disease. Still, some survivors report local environmental barriers to taking these actions. According to a new study from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital scientists, survivors from the most vulnerable neighborhoods—those with features including low income per capita, poor walkability, a lack of access to nearby health care or fewer healthy food options—have a significantly elevated risk. The findings, published recently in eClinicalMedicine, identify a need to consider these community-level factors to better support survivors.

Participation in school meal programs was linked to lower blood concentrations of certain PFAS, pollutants commonly known as “forever chemicals,” in a new study of Hispanic children in Northern Virginia.

Changing diets in India could be leaving a hidden group of people at greater risk of high cholesterol because of genes they do not know they carry.

Scientists have discovered that the drug losartan, commonly prescribed for high blood pressure, boosts brown adipose tissue activity in mice, enhancing their metabolism. This indicates that repurposing losartan—an angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) with a well-known safety profile—may be a clinically viable method of stimulating brown fat, which has been linked to improved cardiovascular health and, reported for the first time in this study, psychiatric health.

The fate of global health does not rest on any single disease. True preparedness means pairing the fight against illness with strength in finance, climate, defense and security. The COVID-19 pandemic, which brought the world to a standstill at the start of the decade, showed that containing and neutralizing a disease is only one part of being prepared.

A new analysis of U.S. national health data finds that high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), a blood marker of inflammation, rises across the stages of cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic (CKM) syndrome, with the largest increase at the earliest stage.

In the past, immune cells were all simply known as white blood cells. Nowadays, we know that there are T cells, B lymphocytes, macrophages, autoreactive T helper cells, microglia, Tregs and others. Together, they form a team that patrols the body like a health police force. Their targets include viruses, harmful bacteria, fungi, parasites, cancer cells and toxins.

Is it harmful to your health to lose weight repeatedly and then gain it back again? In a recent article in Nature Reviews Endocrinology, DZD researchers Norbert Stefan and Faidon Magkos of the University of Copenhagen offer an assessment: The deciding factor could be the starting weight. While weight fluctuations appear to be less problematic in people with obesity than is often assumed, they could increase the risk of developing obesity in the long term among people of normal weight.

A new study from Loma Linda University School of Public Health, published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, suggests that regularly incorporating walnuts into the diet may shift the overall diet pattern toward lower inflammatory potential.

“Do you smoke cigarettes?” I asked my patient during a recent clinic appointment.

Summer break can bring changes in daily routines that make it harder for adolescents to maintain healthy habits. Researchers from Pennington Biomedical Research Center, FMOL Health | Our Lady of the Lake Children’s Health and LSU are exploring how technology can help keep adolescents engaged in healthy behaviors during and after a structured summer program.