https://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Studies in mice reveal a new target for potentially treating and preventing life-threatening cardiovascular complications in the millions of patients with sleep apnea worldwide. The study, presented at ASM Microbe 2026, showed how microbes modify bile to help protect mice from sleep apnea's heart and metabolic toll. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-06-bile-acid-receptor-emerges-apnea.html Sat, 06 Jun 2026 10:00:05 EDT news699885241 There's a lot of buzz about the gut microbiome—the trillions of microbes that help us digest food and support the immune system. But your mouth is also home to its own highly specialized microbial community, and new research suggests that these oral microbes may play an equally important role in maintaining health. The work is published in the journal Microbiology Spectrum. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-06-road-health-requires-microbes-mouth.html Wed, 03 Jun 2026 15:34:56 EDT news699719609 Airborne diseases like measles, influenza and COVID-19 can easily spread between units in multi-family buildings via a type of bathroom ventilation system commonly used around the world, new research suggests. The study, conducted inside an older high-rise in Spain early in the coronavirus pandemic, adds to a growing body of evidence that airborne viruses can spread between separated indoor spaces, transmitting disease without face-to-face contact. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-05-diseases-apartments-ventilation.html Wed, 13 May 2026 15:29:51 EDT news697904461 Annual medical checkups typically cover the basics: diet, exercise and mental state. Surprisingly, many primary care providers fail to ask about one of the fundamental contributors to well-being: sleep. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-05-apnea-compromises-good-night-rest.html Wed, 06 May 2026 16:00:02 EDT news697293100 A study shows that small doses of the antibiotic minocycline may help treat panic disorder. Experiments conducted at São Paulo State University (UNESP) in mice and at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) in humans showed that minocycline has a similar effect to clonazepam, the most commonly prescribed anti-panic medication and best known by its brand name, Rivotril. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-small-dose-antibiotic-yields-good.html Thu, 30 Apr 2026 19:00:03 EDT news696781261 When we think about the causes of climate change, the usual suspects often come to mind: coal-fired power plants, traffic-choked roads, industrial agriculture. Rarely do we picture hospitals. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-uncomfortable-truth-health-protector-contributor.html Wed, 29 Apr 2026 21:00:04 EDT news696680886 The cells that line the blood vessels in our brains are highly selective. By deciding which molecules are allowed in and out of our most important organ, the barrier these cells form is critical for keeping us alive. But how the brain chooses what passes beyond this barrier has been difficult to decipher. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-blood-brain-barrier-proteins-future.html Thu, 09 Apr 2026 14:40:06 EDT news694962661 Getting past the barrier surrounding the eye is a difficult but necessary part of treating retinoblastoma (RB)—a form of eye cancer that is more common in children. Once the barrier is penetrated, RB responds well to treatment. However, current methods, such as injections, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy, are painful and often cause vision loss and other serious side effects. But, a new method, described in a study published in Science Advances, might offer a safer, more effective way to treat RB. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-effective-delivery-method-eye-cancer.html Tue, 31 Mar 2026 13:40:01 EDT news694177788 Infectious diseases are a major cause of death worldwide, and diagnosing bacterial infections remains a challenge in medicine. And doing so reliably is more important than ever, given the increasing frequency of antibiotic resistance. Now, research published in ACS Central Science could help health care professionals non-invasively diagnose bacterial infections, using breath-based tests. Initial experiments demonstrated the approach in animals with pneumonia and infections in the bloodstream, muscles and bones. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-prototype-bacterial-infections-minutes.html Wed, 18 Mar 2026 08:00:03 EDT news692955061 A new Northwestern Medicine study is challenging long-held assumptions about chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), according to results published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-09-carbon-dioxide-lung-copd.html Mon, 22 Sep 2025 13:37:04 EDT news677767021 We've long known that environmental factors—from humidity and temperature to trace chemical vapors—can influence how pathogens, such as viruses, bacteria and fungi, behave once released into the air. These tiny droplets of respiratory fluid, or aerosols, carry viruses and bacteria and can float for minutes or even hours. But while we've been busy focusing on physical distancing and surface cleaning, a quieter factor may have been playing a much bigger role in airborne disease transmission all along: carbon dioxide (CO₂). https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-04-role-carbon-dioxide-airborne-disease.html Wed, 16 Apr 2025 11:08:04 EDT news664020481 Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a major respiratory metabolite, and continuous monitoring of CO2 concentration in exhaled breath is not only an important indicator for early detection and diagnosis of respiratory and circulatory system diseases, but can also be widely used for monitoring personal exercise status. KAIST researchers have succeeded in accurately measuring CO2 concentration by attaching a sensor to the inside of a mask. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-02-wearable-carbon-dioxide-sensor-enable.html Thu, 13 Feb 2025 09:09:14 EST news658660148 A recent study on the effects of commonly used anesthetic and sedative drugs on cerebrospinal fluid flow and volume has uncovered significant findings regarding their impact on the brain's vital glymphatic system. These findings may affect neuroanesthesia practices. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-09-anesthesia-overrides-carbon-dioxide-cerebrospinal.html Wed, 04 Sep 2024 15:22:03 EDT news644682121 A promising emerging treatment (hypercapnia) for comatose adult cardiac arrest patients has been found to yield similar results to current treatment, in a new study published today in the prestigious medical journal New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-06-global-current-carbon-dioxide-cardiac.html Thu, 15 Jun 2023 12:10:34 EDT news606049830 Air pollution, a warm bedroom, and high levels of carbon dioxide and ambient noise may all adversely affect our ability to get a good night's sleep, suggests a study from researchers with the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Louisville. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-links-air-pollution-carbon-dioxide.html Tue, 18 Apr 2023 15:56:02 EDT news601052161 The inhalation of carbon dioxide (CO2) by mice a few hours after they formed a new fearful memory makes that memory stronger, so that the mice show more distress when they are prompted to 'retrieve' (ie, recall) it. That is the conclusion of a recent in Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience by neuroscientists from the University of Iowa, US. The authors also show that the memory-strengthening effect of CO2 only occurs when the protein acid-sensing ion channel-1a (ASIC1A) is functional in the mouse brain. If the human version of the ASIC1A gene will ultimately prove to have a similar role in the formation of fearful memories, interventions targeting this molecular pathway could one day be a useful strategy for the treatment strategy of people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-11-exposure-traumatic-memories-mice.html Mon, 08 Nov 2021 12:07:49 EST news555595660 Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed a way of using carbon dioxide monitors to help estimate the risk of catching COVID-19 and other airborne diseases in near real time. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-10-carbon-dioxide-track-indoor-covid-.html Mon, 04 Oct 2021 11:04:27 EDT news552564264 Tracking carbon dioxide levels indoors is an inexpensive and powerful way to monitor the risk of people getting COVID-19, according to new research from the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) and the University of Colorado Boulder. In any given indoor environment, when excess CO2 levels double, the risk of transmission also roughly doubles, two scientists reported this week in Environmental Science & Technology Letters. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-04-carbon-dioxide-covid-.html Wed, 07 Apr 2021 14:54:08 EDT news537026018 (HealthDay)—For menopausal women with significant vaginal atrophy symptoms, fractionated carbon dioxide (CO2) vaginal laser therapy results in similar improvement to that seen with vaginal estrogen treatment, according to a study published online Sept. 30 in Menopause. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2019-10-fractionated-carbon-dioxide-laser-therapy.html Thu, 10 Oct 2019 12:30:01 EDT news489929096 One of the biggest challenges to reducing hunger and undernutrition around the world is to produce foods that provide not only enough calories but also make enough necessary nutrients widely available. New research finds that, over the next 30 years, climate change and increasing carbon dioxide (CO2) could significantly reduce the availability of critical nutrients such as protein, iron, and zinc, compared to a future without it. The total impacts of climate change shocks and elevated levels of CO2 in the atmosphere are estimated to reduce growth in global per capita nutrient availability of protein, iron, and zinc by 19.5%, 14.4%, and 14.6%, respectively. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2019-07-carbon-dioxide-climate-availability-nutrients.html Thu, 18 Jul 2019 13:17:50 EDT news482674653 Commercial airline pilots were significantly better at performing advanced maneuvers in a flight simulator when carbon dioxide (CO2) levels on the flight deck (cockpit) were 700 parts per million (ppm) and 1500 ppm than when they were 2,500 ppm, according to new research led by Harvard T.H. School of Public Health. The study indicates that CO2 levels directly affect pilots' flight performance. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2018-08-carbon-dioxide-flight-deck-affect.html Wed, 08 Aug 2018 11:00:03 EDT news452929853 The first randomized, controlled trial testing carbon dioxide gas injections (carboxytherapy) to reduce belly fat found the new technique eliminates fat around the stomach. However, the changes were modest and did not result in long-term fat reduction, according to the Northwestern Medicine study. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2018-06-carbon-dioxide-belly-fat.html Fri, 08 Jun 2018 16:12:58 EDT news447693135 Stimulating a population of neurons in the midbrain with carbon dioxide (CO2) awakens adult male mice without enhancing breathing, finds a study published in JNeurosci. These findings are relevant to understanding disorders such as obstructive sleep apnea, sudden infant death syndrome and sudden unexpected death in epilepsy. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2018-01-carbon-dioxide-sensing-neurons-mice.html Mon, 29 Jan 2018 13:00:03 EST news436432918