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Trace levels of food pathogen do not always translate to health risk, says study

Ultra-sensitive food safety tests may drive food waste and unavailability with limited public health benefit, according to a Frontiers in Science study. These food safety measures and ultra-sensitive tests may drive edible ...

Automated intervention shows significant increase in smoking cessation behavior

Researchers at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) found that a new automated tobacco treatment system integrated into routine pediatric care helped drive a 3.9% absolute increase in smoking cessation among mothers—a ...

Medical research news

RNA barcodes fast-track brain connection mapping

By tagging neurons with molecular "barcodes," researchers have mapped connections among thousands of neurons in the mouse brain with unprecedented speed and resolution. The approach could expand understanding not only of ...

How serotonin can be hijacked in the brain

Scientists have uncovered a powerful strategy that the brain uses to coordinate chemical signaling. In a new study, researchers found that in the striatum, a brain region central to learning and moving, one chemical signaling ...

A poorly 'cleaned' brain may increase the risk of psychosis

How can the onset of psychotic symptoms characteristic of schizophrenia be explained? Despite their major and often irreversible impact on intellectual abilities and autonomy, the biological mechanisms that precede their ...

How a rare pediatric liver cancer emerges

Liver cancer in children is rare, but when it occurs, the two main types are hepatoblastoma (HB) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In some cases, however, the tumors show features of both types. These tumors have been classified ...

Fair and safe medical AI: Why local expertise matters

A Global Grand Challenges case study reveals the potential of large language models (LLMs) to close health gaps in South Asia, but only when they're adapted and fine-tuned using local data and expertise. The study, "Evaluating ...

Storytelling may be a key to boosting memory

New research from the University of Mississippi suggests that telling stories—from ancient campfire tales to modern-day digital communication—may be tied to how human memory evolved. It also could be a key to improving ...

Menopause shows no long-term effect on cognition, study finds

New research from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King's College London has found no evidence that the transitional symptoms of menopause such as brain fog and memory problems have a lasting ...

Severe burns present growing threat in overdose epidemic

A new analysis in Oregon reveals a heightened incidence of severe burns requiring hospital-level care as illicit drug use nationwide has shifted from injection to smoking. Researchers analyzed Oregon Medicaid data and found ...