Dehydration can be dangerous for the elderly, since their thirst mechanisms and kidneys may not be as well tuned in to the body's status as compared to those of younger people. But the current urine tests don't accurately reflect what's happening in the body, according to a recent study.
Biomedicine & Biotech
Statins, those drugs widely used to lower blood cholesterol levels may have an added benefit for pregnant women. In a small study, researchers have found that women with an increased risk of preeclampsia, and their babies, can benefit from timely treatment with statins.
A colder temperature slows down a viral-infected cell's ability to commit suicide.
NRDC ceaselessly drones on about minute quantities of "endocrine disrupting chemicals" in our bodies. But THC from marijuana affects all sorts of hormonal systems, and you get plenty of it from smoking a joint. Not a word from the group on that. Are they stonewalling?
Nature gives us one incredible surprise after another. If you're a bird lover and have been admiring bluebirds, jays, or barn swallows, you're really seeing a brown bird. Here's how they trick you.
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You never think it can happen to you, until it does. I just spent the greater part of this morning being gently ridiculed by my colleagues here at the American Council on Science and Health. Why? One word: Zika.
I was in Jamaica last week to attend the wedding of a dear friend. I’d previously lived there for five years while I was pursuing my medical degree. Since I once lived there, I still consider myself a local when I visit, and like some local people do, my comfort level overruled my judgment. And now I have Zika.
For those with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, the unfamiliar can be paralyzing and they need more ritual and routine to offset the chaos of the outside world. A new study examined how endocannabinoids -- natural messengers in the body chemically similar to the active compound in marijuana, and known to generally reduce the activity of neurons -- play a role in how the brain controls this fundamental process.
With individuals afflicted with Kennedy's disease, muscle cells and motor neurons die over the years because they accumulate a protein that is mutated. Researchers have discovered that this protein has a self-protective mechanism through which the effects of the mutation are delayed.
Muhammad Ali has been lauded for his oratorical skill, his activism and certainly his boxing. Yet for decades it's been believed that even one of the greatest boxers could not beat back the head trauma that led to the Parkinson's disease he suffered from since the 1980s. Yet was it really boxing that caused it? We are inching closer to learning the truth, but some questions remain.
The neurotransmitter dopamine -- which is most famously associated with the "reward system" in the brain -- is also linked to eye blink rate and time perception, both of which are in constant flux. Immediately after a blink, time is perceived to go by a little more slowly.
While consumers across the U.S. have embraced, and are enjoying, the benefits of genetically-modified products, papaya-loving Hawaiians had less of a choice when an agricultural crisis struck the state in the 1990s. But by using a cell-inserting device, plant specialists eradicated a deadly virus and saved a vital industry.