Health News

Researchers have discovered that mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines have a persistent effect on the innate immune system. These mechanisms may help the human body to better protect itself against potential future infections.

People with autism are typically diagnosed by clinical observation and assessment. To deconstruct the clinical decision process, which is often subjective and difficult to describe, researchers used a large language model (LLM) to synthesize the behaviors and observations that are most indicative of an autism diagnosis. Their results show that repetitive behaviors, special interests, and perception-based behaviors are most associated with an autism diagnosis. These findings have potential to improve diagnostic guidelines for autism by decreasing the focus on social factors — which the established guidelines in the DSM-5 focus on but the model did not classify among the most relevant in diagnosing autism.

Researchers have solved a cellular mystery that may lead to better therapies for colorectal and other types of cancer. A professor of pediatrics-developmental biology and an assistant professor of molecular, cellular, and developmental biology have shown the importance of the H3K36 methylation process in regulating plasticity and regeneration in intestinal cells.

In 2010, a researcher was pouring over research data when he discovered something he thought was odd: His data showed that at 6 months of age, formula-fed babies born of mothers who were categorized as medically obese weighed about 5% units less fat than breastfed babies in the same dataset. That discovery struck him as unusual and led him on a research journey to better understand breast milk. Now, he’s studying the connections between maternal gestational diabetes, breastfeeding and infant health.

Even with significant expansion in the global market for antibodies used in clinical care and research, scientists recognize that there is still untapped potential for finding new antibodies. Many proteins group together in what are called protein complexes to carry out biological functions. The traditional method of generating antibodies by immunizing animals struggles to make antibodies related to these protein complexes. Scientists have now demonstrated that fusing protein complexes together adds stability during immunization and enables antibody generation.

A study finds NBA teams that hired more analytics staff, and invested more in data analysis, tended to win more games.

Researchers explored how the characteristics of communication networks in groups (i.e., density and centralization) affected the development of shared social identity and, as a result, group performance. The study’s findings can help managers and other business leaders develop strategies to enhance the performance of their teams.

Exposure to antibiotics during a key developmental window in infancy can stunt growth of insulin-producing cells in the pancreas and may boost risk of diabetes later in life, new research in mice suggests. The study also pinpoints specific microorganisms that may help those critical cells proliferate.

For human health, prematurely aging cells are a big problem. When a cell ages and stops growing, its function changes, which can cause or worsen cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s disease and other chronic diseases. But these cells are also like needles in a haystack, difficult to identify by traditional scientific measures.

This research comes as many mosquito-borne viruses are spreading rapidly.