Chronic suicidal thoughts can persist despite multiple antidepressant treatments, and effective options remain limited for many patients. Researchers have now tested whether a single dose of psilocybin could provide a new treatment option. The study included 20 adults aged 18 to 65 who had experienced active suicidal thoughts on most days for at least three months and had not improved after at least two antidepressant trials. People with a recent active suicide plan and imminent intent were excluded. After tapering psychiatric medications, all participants received a 25-milligram dose of psil... depression psychedelic
Read moreStanding and moving look simple, but they depend on fast, coordinated adjustments across the body. In a new study, researchers tested whether a short, low-intensity routine could improve body control in healthy young adults. The researchers tested the same 10-minute daily floor exercise routine in two ways. First, 17 healthy young men completed a controlled crossover experiment in which each participant served as his own comparison: balance and movement were tested before and after two-week periods with and without the exercises added to their usual routine. Second, another 23 healthy young a... exercise
Read moreDental cavities form when bacteria living on teeth repeatedly turn sugar into acid, lowering the local pH and, over time, leading to mineral loss in the tooth. Scientists have suspected that some nutrients might help counter this process, but it has been unclear whether they can make dental plaque less harmful by changing how it behaves rather than simply removing bacteria. The study involved ten adults with active tooth decay, each wearing a custom lower-jaw splint that held small glass surfaces with a texture similar to enamel (the protective outer covering of teeth), where plaque could gro... microbes sugar dental
Read moreRegular exercise is widely known to support good health and longer life, but less is known about whether all sports have similar long-term effects. To explore this question, researchers analyzed the lifespans of former elite athletes from around the world and compared them with people in the general population. Their goal was to see whether certain sports were associated with longer or shorter lives. The researchers gathered publicly available records of deceased elite athletes from Wikidata and English Wikipedia. The final dataset included 95,210 athletes from 183 countries who competed in 44... aging exercise
Read moreScreen use has become common, even in infancy, yet little is known about how it might influence brain development years later. To address this gap, researchers conducted a longitudinal study to explore how early screen exposure shapes later aspects of mental health. The study followed 168 children in Singapore from infancy into their teenage years. Parents reported how much time their children typically spent using screens at ages 1 and 2. As the children grew, researchers tracked their brain development using diffusion MRI, a type of brain scan that estimates structural connections between b... anxiety cognition development mental health
Read moreAge-related decline in muscle strength and function is accompanied by changes in how genes are controlled (epigenetic changes), yet it is unclear whether starting exercise late in life can meaningfully shift this trajectory. In a controlled mouse study, researchers tested whether a demanding training program could make old skeletal muscle look epigenetically younger. The experiment included young and aged mice. Older animals either remained sedentary or completed eight weeks of voluntary progressive weighted-wheel running, a protocol that combines endurance and resistance-like loading. Resear... epigenetics exercise muscle
Read moreHigher omega-3 fatty acid consumption could play a unique role in mitigating chronic inflammation by altering the methylation pattern of the interleukin-6 (IL-6) promoter, reducing the activity of this inflammatory cytokine. This epigenetic mechanism highlights omega-3's capacity to govern gene expression and shape the genetic landscape, transcending its contributions to cell membrane dynamics or mediator production and positioning its effects at the molecular blueprint level rather than merely fine-tuning cellular responses. The relationship between IL-6 and human health is multifaceted: Inte... omega-3 inflammation genetics
Read moreLight is a major regulator of circadian rhythm, especially in children, whose eyes are more photosensitive. Previous research demonstrates that exposure to bright light suppresses melatonin (the sleepiness hormone) production twice as strongly in children (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24840814/) as in adults. Authors of a new report found that children exposed to a wide range of light intensities experienced melatonin suppression that may decrease sleep quality. Light activates photosensitive cells in the retina that contain a pigment called melanopsin, which is most sensitive to blue light... sleep melatonin
Read moreMessenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines, such as the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, have significantly reduced SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 disease rates (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33964222/) in areas with vaccine availability. However, a small number of people who have received both doses of an mRNA vaccine have reported breakthrough cases with mild COVID-19 symptoms. New findings suggest people with breakthrough SARS-CoV-2 infection have lower than normal antibody levels preceding infection. Recent research has reported breakthrough cases of COVID-19 in just four percent (https://tinyurl.com... vaccine covid-19
Read moreObesity and metabolic disease are associated with reduced fertility and alterations in several markers of reproductive health, including plasma concentrations of sex hormone-binding globulin. Low levels of sex hormone-binding globulin are common in those with obesity and are predictive of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes risk, although it is unclear how glucose and insulin regulation affect sex hormone-binding globulin levels. A group of investigators recently performed a series of experiments with the aim of identifying mechanisms of sugar metabolism and sex hormone-binding globulin... testosterone estrogen sugar
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