Category: Lifestyle

Pandemic lockdowns will increase Americans’ risk of loneliness and depression this holiday season, an expert warns. “People are grieving for similar reasons: loss of family members, jobs, relationships, friendships and physical touch. Everyone is suffering,” said Dr. Asim Shah. He’s professor and executive vice chair of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Baylor College of Medicine […]

When Chadwick Boseman died of colon cancer a few months ago, I was surprised that he was so young—I always thought it was an old person’s disease. What are the risk factors for younger people, especially men? You’re absolutely right. Boseman was diagnosed with colon cancer at age 39 and died at 43—far younger than […]

Niacin is an important B vitamin that may raise your HDL, (“good”), cholesterol. Find out if you should talk to your health care provider about taking niacin alone or with cholesterol medications. Niacin, a B vitamin, has long been used to increase high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol—the “good” cholesterol that helps remove low-density lipoprotein (LDL), the […]

Physicians and scientists are constantly on the lookout for new disease genes that can help them understand why patients have undiagnosed medical problems. Often the first clues come from genetic testing that reveals a change or mutation in a gene that they see in a child but not their parents. This is exactly what led […]

The insulation around nerve cell components in our corneas have unique properties, and little is known about them. But UConn School of Medicine neuroscience professor Royce Mohan believes his lab is on the verge of uncovering a path to better understanding that ultimately could lead to several vision-preserving advances. Learning more about the cellular environment […]

Rice University biochemists Michael Stern and James McNew have studied how neurodegeneration kills cells. They’ve conducted countless experiments over more than a decade, and they’ve summarized all they’ve learned in a simple diagram they hope may change how doctors perceive and treat degenerative diseases as varied as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and muscle atrophy. In a study […]

In March, Stanford University bioengineer Manu Prakash flew from France to his home in California and spent two weeks in personal quarantine. After being holed up in the room where he stores his snorkeling and scuba equipment, Prakash emerged with an idea for addressing two of the pandemic’s most pressing challenges. First, he saw that […]