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1,219 news posts in Mind and body

Health

25 Jul 2025

Persistently, intensely grieving relations are nearly twice as likely to die within 10 years after losing a loved one

Researchers followed 1,735 people in Denmark over 10 years after their loss of loved one. 6% participants showed unabatingly high levels of grief symptoms, and these had a 88% higher hazard rate of dying from any cause over the time period than those with persistently low symptoms. The first group were likewise more likely to use healthcare services, with 186% higher odds of receiving talk therapy or other mental health services, and between 160% and 463% higher odds of being prescribed psychotropic medication. This is the first study on the long-term mortality rate and the use of healthcare in a large-scale cohort of bereaved persons. The results suggest that patients at risk for long-term ‘high grief’ may be identified in advance, and need additional support from the healthcare system.

Health

18 Jul 2025

Gene essential for vitamin D absorption could help unlock treatments for cancer and autoimmune diseases

Scientists have identified the human gene SDR42E1 as essential for the absorption of vitamin D from the intestine, its subsequent metabolic processing, as well as the production of lipids and steroids. Without the functional protein, the survival of cells dropped by 53%. This discovery has at least two potential applications in precision medicine. First, the experiments showed that the gene can be blocked to selectively kill cancer cells. Second, boosting SDR42E1’s expression could help treat many other diseases, for example, autoimmune and metabolic disorders, against which vitamin D and its related forms are thought to protect.

Health

11 Jul 2025

‘Molecular shield’ placed in the nose may soon treat common hay fever trigger

Researchers here developed a monoclonal antibody specific against mugwort pollen – an important allergen causing hay fever – in mice, which is highly effective in blocking symptoms of IgE immunoglobin-mediated allergy against this pollen. The monoclonal antibodies can be delivered inside the nose, rather than intravenously, acting almost like a ‘molecular shield’. The study is a proof-of-principle, which can be extended to other pollen species.

Health

25 Jun 2025

New ‘designer drugs’ pose growing threat to road safety in the US

Researchers from the US have reported the initial results from the first quantitative study to focus on the contribution of multiple new psychoactive substances (NPS) from a range of classes to roadway crashes in the US. They found that 2% of 1,000 adults who visited one of two trauma centers in California within six hours after being involved in a roadway crash had traces of NPS in their blood. The most frequent were bromazolam, para-fluorofentanyl, and mitragynine. In most (88%) of these positive cases, NPS had been taken together with traditional recreational drugs such as fentanyl, methamphetamine, and cocaine. These results indicate that NPS are a new concern in roadway crashes and put lives at risk.

Life sciences

16 Jun 2025

'Chicken is her favorite dish. If one clucks, she comes': how anacondas, chickens, and locals may be able to coexist in the Amazon

Dr Beatriz Cosendey is the author of a recently published Frontiers in Amphibian and Reptile Science article. In it, she and co-authors investigated the role of the anaconda as a mythical creature in Brazil’s Lower Amazon region, locals’ perception of the snake, and how better coops for chickens could play a vital role in the peaceful co-existence of people and snakes.

Life sciences

13 Jun 2025

Swarm intelligence directs longhorn crazy ants to clear the road ahead for sisters carrying bulky food

Scientists studied the obstacle-clearing behavior of longhorn crazy ants, where a subset of workers temporarily specializes in removing tiny objects blocking the path between the nest and large food items. Experiments revealed that serial clearing behavior can be triggered by a single pheromone mark, which happened to be deposited near an obstacle by a forager recruited to a large food item. Clearing mostly occurs in the context of collective transport, which typically stalls in front of obstacles. The authors concluded that obstacle-clearing is a form of ‘swarm intelligence’ which emerges at the colony level, and which does not require understanding by individual ants.

Health

06 Jun 2025

Statins may reduce risk of death by 39% for patients with life-threatening sepsis

It has been suggested that statins could boost the chances of survival of patients with sepsis because of their multipronged effects on inflammation. Here, researchers from China used the MIMIC-IV database to perform a retrospective cohort study on two large, matched groups: critically ill patients with sepsis in the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center who received standard of care with or without statins. The 28-day all-cause mortality was 39% lower in relative terms [an absolute reduction from 23.4% to 14.3%] in the statin group, suggesting a protective effect. Previous randomized controlled trials that didn’t find any such benefit might have been too small or have had other weaknesses. The present results need to be confirmed in a large, well-designed randomized clinical trial.