Category: 8. Health

Academics found that some children in need of a kidney transplant are facing inequalities in their care.

Black children are less likely to be put on the transplant waiting list, as are those from more deprived backgrounds, researchers from the University of Bristol found.

There are currently 137 children aged 17 and under on the kidney transplant waiting list in the UK.

Researchers set out to examine whether inequalities exist in access to kidney transplantation among children in the UK by analysing the UK Renal Registry and NHS Blood and Transplant data between 1996 and 2020.

They found that girls were 12% less likely to be put on a transplant waiting list compared to boys.

Children from the poorest backgrounds were 33% less likely to be put on the waiting list compared to those from the wealthiest.

And black children were 19% less likely to be put on the waiting list compared to their white peers.

Once children are on the waiting list, the disparities related to gender and income appeared to reduce, but disadvantages for black children persisted.

“We were particularly struck by how early these disparities appear in the transplant process,” said Dr Alice James, lead author of the study.

“It’s not just about who gets a transplant, but who even gets considered in the first place.

“Those from black ethnic backgrounds face systemic disadvantages even after being placed on the waitlist, including fewer living donor opportunities.”

When looking at kidney transplants given by a living donor within two years of being on the waiting list, the odds of getting a transplant are lower among those from poorer backgrounds and children of black or Asian ethnicity, according to the study, which has been presented to the ESOT (European Society for Organ Transplantation) Congress 2025.

Dr James added: “It is notable – and particularly disquieting – that such disparities are evident even in a paediatric population within a universal healthcare system like the NHS.

“The persistent disadvantage faced by children from black ethnic backgrounds even after wait-listing is especially striking, suggesting systemic or cultural barriers that extend beyond access alone.”

On gender inequalities seen in the study, she added: “The gender disparity in wait-listing, with girls being less likely to be wait-listed, may reflect implicit gender biases in clinical decision-making, differences in parental advocacy, or variation in disease presentation and severity between sexes.

“There may also be social factors influencing clinicians’ assumptions about transplant suitability or family engagement in the transplantation process.

“While evidence is limited in paediatric populations, adult studies suggest that women are often perceived as less suitable candidates due to comorbidities or psychosocial factors— perceptions that may inadvertently extend to female children.”

Fiona Loud, policy director at Kidney Care UK, said: “This research is shocking and it’s not good enough to see such heartbreaking inequalities so early in life.

“There are around 1,000 children receiving kidney replacement therapy via either dialysis or transplant in the UK.

“This is a relatively small number which should mean we have a real opportunity to change this and make sure we improve things for the future for children and young people.

“But right now it is very hard for families whose children have kidney failure.

“More work needs to be done to explore local barriers and raise awareness of the value and importance of living kidney donation through personalised and community education programmes.”

Professor Derek Manas, medical director for organ and tissue donation at NHS Blood and Transplant, which is responsible for allocating organs to people on the list, said: “These results will help hospital clinical teams across the UK to further understand and mitigate this issue.

“NHS Blood and Transplant does not decide which individual patients are added to the transplant waiting list, but we do manage how organs are allocated to patients and the research found that once patients are on the waiting list, they had equitable access to donations, irrespective of ethnicity or deprivation.

“The transplant community has come a long way in ensuring equity once listed but this study confirms we all have more to do.

“Kidneys also need to be matched and people from the same ethnicity are more likely to be a match.

“There are currently not enough donors from black and Asian backgrounds and we urge people to show their support for donation on the NHS Organ Donor Register and to tell their families they want to donate.”

An NHS England spokesperson said: “The decision to place somebody on the transplant list should never be affected by their gender, ethnicity or family income and this analysis is a stark reminder that, whilst we have made progress on tackling health inequalities, much remains to be done – and this will be at the heart of the 10 Year Health Plan.

“More widely, we know kidney failure disproportionately impacts people from Black African and Black Caribbean heritage so we would always encourage more donors from these backgrounds to come forward, and we have recently launched a new simple genetic blood test for these groups to help reduce the risk of kidney failure.”

A new study published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology has found that MDMA’s mood-enhancing effects may be partly driven by changes in brain systems related to serotonin, oxytocin, and vasopressin—neurochemical pathways that are involved in emotional and social behavior. The results support the growing interest in MDMA as a possible treatment for mental health conditions.

MDMA, commonly known as ecstasy, is a synthetic stimulant with both energizing and hallucinogenic properties. In recent years, researchers have been exploring whether MDMA can be used in controlled therapeutic settings to help people with conditions like post-traumatic stress disorder or social anxiety. Its ability to reduce fear and increase feelings of connection makes it especially promising for patients who struggle with interpersonal difficulties. However, scientists still know relatively little about how MDMA produces these effects in the brain, or how these effects vary depending on dosage.

To explore these questions, researchers from the Medical University of Lublin and the International Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology in Poland tested the effects of MDMA on 3-week-old zebrafish. This developmental stage is roughly equivalent to adolescence in humans and represents a time when social behaviors are emerging and brain systems involved in emotion are still developing.

Zebrafish are small freshwater fish native to South Asia that have become widely used in biomedical research. They develop rapidly, are transparent in early stages, and share a high degree of genetic and physiological similarity with humans. Because their brains contain many of the same neurotransmitter systems as mammals, and their behavior can be easily observed and quantified, zebrafish are especially valuable for studying brain development, drug effects, and psychiatric disorders.

The researchers were particularly interested in how MDMA influences anxiety and sociability, and whether these effects could be linked to oxytocin—a hormone involved in social bonding and emotional regulation.

The scientists conducted several behavioral tests to assess anxiety and social behavior in the zebrafish. One test measured how closely the fish stuck to the edges of a new environment—a behavior known as thigmotaxis, which is often used as an indicator of anxiety in animals. Another test evaluated how much time the fish spent in a light versus dark area, since zebrafish tend to avoid darkness when they feel safe. Finally, a social preference test measured whether the fish were more likely to spend time near familiar conspecifics, or members of their species.

The zebrafish were divided into groups and exposed to various concentrations of MDMA. They were also treated with either an oxytocin receptor agonist, which mimics the effects of oxytocin, or an antagonist, which blocks those effects. For comparison, some fish were given diazepam, a known anti-anxiety medication. After behavioral testing, the researchers examined the expression of several genes in the fish’s brains, looking at those related to serotonin signaling, oxytocin, and vasopressin. They also analyzed how MDMA affected specific intracellular pathways involved in mood and behavior, such as AKT and ERK1/2 signaling.

The researchers found that MDMA had a dose-dependent effect on anxiety. At very low doses, it appeared to increase anxiety-like behavior. But at moderate doses, particularly 2.5 micromolar, MDMA reduced signs of anxiety. Fish at this dose spent more time in the center of a new environment and were quicker to explore dark areas—both behaviors associated with lower anxiety. However, at higher doses, MDMA began to reduce locomotion and showed signs of possible toxicity, suggesting that the therapeutic range is narrow.

In terms of social behavior, the lowest dose of MDMA (0.5 micromolar) increased the time fish spent near their peers, suggesting enhanced sociability. Interestingly, this prosocial effect was most noticeable at doses that increased anxiety, indicating a complex relationship between emotional and social responses. The oxytocin receptor agonist also promoted social interaction and showed anti-anxiety effects, but only under certain conditions.

In contrast, the antagonist had no noticeable effect on behavior, which may indicate that blocking the oxytocin system is not enough on its own to alter emotional or social responses in zebrafish.

On the molecular level, MDMA exposure led to reduced expression of genes involved in serotonin signaling, including two types of serotonin receptors and the serotonin transporter. These changes may reflect the compound’s action on serotonin release, which is known to be one of MDMA’s main effects in the brain.

At the same time, MDMA increased the expression of genes for oxytocin receptors and reduced the expression of vasopressin receptor genes. While MDMA did not appear to increase actual oxytocin levels in the brain, the changes in receptor expression suggest that it may make brain regions more sensitive to oxytocin’s effects.

The researchers also found that different doses of MDMA affected specific signaling pathways in the brain. At the lowest tested dose, MDMA reduced activation of the AKT pathway, which has been linked to social behavior in other animals. The oxytocin agonist, on the other hand, increased activity in the ERK1/2 pathway, which is known to be involved in anxiety regulation. These findings suggest that different aspects of MDMA’s effects—its influence on anxiety versus social behavior—may be driven by distinct biological mechanisms.

As with any study, there are caveats to consider. Most importantly, the study was conducted in zebrafish, whose brains are simpler than those of mammals and lack some structures found in humans. Although zebrafish share many of the same neurotransmitter systems and genetic pathways, findings in fish may not always translate directly to human biology. Additionally, the study only looked at the short-term effects of MDMA, and more work is needed to understand how repeated or long-term exposure might influence behavior or brain function.

Future research could build on these findings by examining how MDMA affects brain circuits at different developmental stages or by testing how the compound interacts with stress. The researchers also suggested that genetic tools such as CRISPR could be used to further investigate the role of specific receptors in mediating MDMA’s effects. As scientists work toward better treatments for conditions like social anxiety and post-traumatic stress, studies like this one offer a window into how compounds like MDMA could be used not just as recreational drugs, but as tools for healing.

The study, “Exploring the impact of MDMA and oxytocin ligands on anxiety and social responses: A comprehensive behavioural and molecular study in the zebrafish model,” was authored by Monika Maciag, Olga Doszyn, Artur Wnorowski, Justyna Zmorzynska, and Barbara Budzynska.

Prolonged emergency department (ED) length of stays and boarding times for older adults significantly increased between 2017 and 2024, highlighting systemic challenges for hospitals across the US, according to a research letter published in JAMA Internal Medicine.¹

The researchers noted that extended ED stays in older adults are associated with a higher risk of adverse events, such as mortality and delirium, as well as treatment delays, worse patient experiences, and loss of privacy. To improve care for this population, CMS implemented the Age-Friendly Hospital Measure in January 2025.²

This policy requires hospitals to limit total ED length of stay to under 8 hours and ensure admission to occur within 3 hours of the decision to admit. However, national data on these measures have been lacking.¹ To address this gap, the researchers conducted a cross-sectional study to establish national benchmarks.

Using the Epic Cosmos health records database, which includes data from 1633 hospitals, 295 million patients, and 78 million admissions, they analyzed ED encounters from January 2017 to December 2024.³ They focused on 2 key metrics for patients aged 65 and older, namely the proportion with an ED length of stay over 8 hours and the proportion of admitted patients waiting more than 3 hours from bed request to admission.¹

In 2017, 12% of 4,564,359 ED encounters involved a length of stay over 8 hours. By 2024, this rose to 20% of 12,392,737 encounters. The largest increase occurred in academic hospitals, where prolonged stays grew from 22% of 1,787,179 encounters in 2017 to 36% of 4,311,417 encounters in 2024.

During the same period, boarding times over 3 hours increased from 22% of 1,787,179 encounters in 2017 to 36% of 4,311,417 encounters in 2024. Again, the largest increase was seen in academic hospitals, where boarding rose from 31% in 2017 to 45% in 2024.

Trend analyses showed small annual increases in both measures from 2017 to 2020 (length of stay, 1.1% [95% CI, 0.6-1.6]; boarding, 2.8% [95% CI, 1.5-4.0]), followed by sharper rises from 2020 to 2022 during the COVID-19 pandemic (length of stay, 4.2% [95% CI, 1.7-6.7]; boarding, 6.1% [95% CI, 2.5-9.8]). In contrast, from 2022 to 2024, both trends slightly declined (length of stay, –1.7% [95% CI, –2.3 to –1.1]; boarding, –3.2% [95% CI, –4.5 to –1.9]).

Although further investigation is needed, the researchers suggested the increases may be driven by growing patient complexity, increased demand, and ongoing staffing and resource shortages.

Lastly, they acknowledged the study’s limitations, one being that Epic overrepresents larger and academic hospitals. Also, not all hospitals that use Epic contribute to Cosmos. Despite this, the researchers expressed confidence in their findings and emphasized the need to address the declining ED experience for older US adults.

“Worsening ED LOSs [lengths of stay] and boarding contribute to ED crowding, reflect systemic health care dysfunction, and, most importantly, harm individual patients,” the authors concluded. “Addressing these trends is critical to safeguarding both the health of older adults and the health systems caring for them.”

References

1. Haimovich AD, Berry SD, Landon BE. Prolonged emergency department stays for older US adults. JAMA Intern Med. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2025.2006
2. FY 2025 hospital inpatient prospective payment system (IPPS) and long-term care hospital prospective payment system (LTCH PPS) proposed rule—CMS-1808-P fact sheet. CMS. April 10, 2024. Accessed June 30, 2025. https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/fy-2025-hospital-inpatient-prospective-payment-system-ipps-and-long-term-care-hospital-prospective
3. Fast facts on US hospitals, 2024. American Hospital Association. 2024. Accessed June 30, 2025. https://www.aha.org/system/files/media/file/2024/01/fast-facts-on-us-hospitals-2024-20240112.pdf

Zucchini, a versatile and delicious summer squash, has quickly risen to the top of shopping lists for eaters everywhere. Whether spiralized into zoodles or baked into bread, zucchini is a nutrient-packed vegetable that offers numerous benefits—from heart health to eye health to digestion. But what actually happens to your body when you make zucchini a regular part of your diet? Whether you’re a zucchini lover or new to this vibrant green squash, keep reading to discover why this veggie deserves a permanent spot in your diet. 

Why We Love Zucchini

May Keep Your Digestive System Regular

Zucchini is loaded with dietary fiber, especially in its skin, making it great for promoting healthy digestion. Fiber adds bulk to stool, which can improve bowel regularity and support overall gut health. “Zucchini’s fiber and water content can help soften stool and prevent constipation, while also feeding beneficial gut bacteria,” says Samantha DeVito, M.S., RD.

Supports Hydration

By including zucchini in your meals, you not only enjoy its delicious taste but also help your body meet its daily hydration needs in a natural and refreshing way. “Zucchini is about 95% water,” says Amanda Godman, M.S., RD, CDN. “This delicious vegetable can actually help prevent dehydration. It’s a great choice especially in the warmer summer months (zucchini is actually a summer squash)!” Proper hydration is essential for maintaining energy levels, regulating body temperature, and supporting various bodily functions. 

Delivers Antioxidants

Zucchini is rich in antioxidants, which help protect your cells from damage caused by harmful free radicals. Free radicals occur through natural bodily processes but can also be compounded by exposure to smoke, pollution or an unhealthy diet. When free radicals build up, they can lead to oxidative stress—a process linked to chronic diseases. “You’ll also benefit from its antioxidants, like vitamin C and beta carotene, which help reduce inflammation and support immune health,” says Lisa Young, Ph.D., RDN. Including antioxidant-rich foods like zucchini in your diet may help strengthen your body’s defenses against conditions such as heart disease and certain cancers.

Promotes Heart Health

This humble vegetable is a heart-healthy choice due to its potassium content and low sodium levels. Potassium helps regulate blood pressure by counteracting the effects of sodium. “Zucchini is a heart-healthy powerhouse, rich in potassium and fiber, making it an excellent choice for supporting cardiovascular health,” says Toby Amidor, M.S., RD.

Supports Eye Health

The antioxidants in zucchini aren’t just good for your internal organs; they also benefit your eyes. “One medium zucchini contains 4,160 micrograms of lutein and zeaxanthin, carotenoids essential for eye health. Lutein and zeaxanthin accumulate in the retina, where they exert antioxidant properties to reduce eye damage from age-related macular degeneration,” says Amy Brownstein, M.S., RDN. 

Nutrition Information

Zucchini offers a wide range of essential nutrients that your body needs to thrive. Here’s what you can find in one small raw zucchini (about 100 grams): 

• Calories: 19
• Carbohydrates: 3 grams
• Dietary fiber: 1 gram
• Total sugars: 2.5 grams
• Added sugar: 0 grams
• Protein: 1 gram
• Total fat: 0.3 grams
• Saturated fat: 0 grams
• Cholesterol: 0 mg
• Sodium: 8 mg
• Vitamin C: 18 mg (20% Daily Value)
• Vitamin B6: 0.2 mg (10% DV)
• Potassium: 261 mg (6% DV)

Is Zucchini Safe for Everyone?

While zucchini is considered safe for most people, there are a few precautions to keep in mind. Zucchini is part of the Cucurbitaceae family—a group of vegetables that includes squash, pumpkins and cucumbers. If you have a known allergy to cucurbit vegetables, you should avoid zucchini. Additionally, zucchini contains compounds called cucurbitacins, which can sometimes impart a bitter taste. While rare, consuming overly bitter zucchini can lead to adverse side effects like stomachaches. To avoid this, ensure your zucchini tastes fresh before cooking or eating it.

For individuals on specific medications, such as diuretics or potassium-sparing drugs, it’s a good idea to consult with your health care provider before increasing your zucchini intake, as its potassium content might interact with your treatment.

4 Ways to Enjoy Zucchini

Zucchini can be enjoyed in countless ways. Here are some creative ideas:

• Make zoodles: Up your veggie intake by making spiralized zucchini noodles. You can top them with your favorite marinara or pesto for a delicious pasta-like meal.
• Grill or roast: Brush zucchini slices with olive oil, sprinkle with your favorite herbs, and grill or roast for an easy side dish.
• Bake it into bread or muffins: Add zucchini to your favorite quick bread or muffin recipe for a moist, nutrient-packed treat.
• Try stuffed zucchini boats: Hollow out zucchini halves, fill with a mixture of ground meat, vegetables and cheese, and bake until tender.

Our Expert Take

Zucchini offers several health benefits, from supporting eye health to boosting heart health. Its high water and fiber content can help keep your digestive system regular, while its antioxidants can help protect your cells from oxidative stress. Plus, it’s incredibly easy to incorporate into your diet, whether as a main dish, snack or side.

However, like any food, it’s important to listen to your body. Monitor for any adverse reactions if you’re trying zucchini for the first time, and ultimately enjoy it as part of a balanced, varied diet. With its many benefits and delicious versatility, there’s no reason not to make zucchini a regular addition to your meals.

Newswise — A new paper in Cell Reports Medicine details the development of a nanoparticle-based system that delivers concentrated chemotherapy specifically to cancer cells and not normal cells, potentially allowing clinicians to administer higher, more effective doses of anti-cancer drugs while avoiding some of the well-known toxic side effects.

Glucose metabolism in cancer cells and healthy cells

Cancer cells are extremely difficult to distinguish from healthy cells — this is how they avoid detection by our bodies’ immune systems. It therefore remains a physiological challenge to kill cancer cells without damaging healthy cells in the process. To avoid toxic side effects, clinicians must administer treatments like chemotherapy and immunotherapy agents in limited doses, thereby restricting their effectiveness.

To address this problem, researchers at the University of Chicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center sought to develop a drug delivery method that was released specifically near tumor cells. They achieved this by exploiting a well-known phenomenon called the “Warburg effect,” which involves a difference in the way cancer cells metabolize glucose compared to healthy cells. Instead of fully breaking down glucose to carbon dioxide and water to generate a lot of energy, cancer cells typically break down glucose only part way to a molecule called lactate, generating a smaller amount of energy.

“Depending on the cancer cell type, some solid tumors can accumulate more than 40-fold higher lactate concentration than normal,” said senior author Xiaoyang Wu, PhD, Associate Professor in the Ben May Department of Cancer Research at the University of Chicago. “So, the idea was to take advantage of this dramatic change in a specific metabolite and create a drug delivery system that specifically targets these lactate-rich environments.”

How does nanoparticle drug delivery work?

Wu and his colleagues used nanoparticles — specifically, microscopic silica particles with pores into which a variety of cancer drugs can be loaded. These particles, small enough to be injected into the bloodstream, have been used to improve drug delivery for decades, but only a few are currently approved for clinical use in cancer treatment.

The novelty of Wu’s nanoparticle is that it’s controlled by a lactate-specific switch. The switch has two parts: first is lactate oxidase, an enzyme that binds and breaks down lactate and produces hydrogen peroxide, and second is a hydrogen peroxide-sensitive molecule that caps the nanoparticle, preventing the drug from being released.

This way, when the nanoparticle is in lactate-poor environments, like healthy tissues in the body, the capping material remains intact, preventing the drug from causing any damage to these tissues. But in a lactate-rich environment like the area within and around a tumor, the lactate oxidase begins breaking down lactate, generating a high enough concentration of hydrogen peroxide to trigger the degradation of the capping material and release of the drug.

“I had been thinking about how to specifically target lactate for a long time, since it is so enriched in tumors,” said Wu. “But lactate itself is not a very reactive chemical, so it was difficult to create a system that chemically responded to lactate. The biggest innovation was designing a switch that translated this cancer-specific signal to a chemically active molecule: hydrogen peroxide.”

Using mice to model two different forms of cancer, Wu and his colleagues tested the nanoparticle’s ability to specifically release its cargo in tumors. As they expected, the drug was specifically released in the lactate-rich tumor environment, and not in healthy tissues. Compared to directly injecting the drug itself into the bloodstream — the typical method of administering chemo drugs — the nanoparticle was able to deliver a 10-fold higher concentration of the drug in the tumor. They also found that this delivery method enhanced outcomes like slowing tumor growth and increased survival relative to direct drug injection.

Another advantage of this method is that lactate concentration is already measured in cancer patients, since it’s a useful biomarker to indicate cancer progression.

“It’s very easy to quantify lactate in human patients using non-invasive imaging methods like MRI,” Wu said. “And since we can accurately quantify lactate in tumors, it would be a very good means of screening patients for clinical trials and predicting how they would respond to the treatment.”

Broad potential applications for lactate-gated nanoparticles

In initial tests of their nanoparticle platform, Wu and his colleagues focused largely on a common drug called doxorubicin, which is a primary therapy for various cancers like breast cancer, sarcoma, lymphoma and acute lymphocytic leukemia. However, they also showed that several other chemotherapy drugs and immunotherapy drugs can be successfully loaded onto the nanoparticles.

“By designing this specific switch that controls drug release based on a well-characterized change in the cancer microenvironment, we hope to improve the safety profile for many drugs and allow an increased dose to be administered in order to more effectively kill cancer cells,” he said.

Cancer is not the only disease associated with increased lactate concentration. Patients with arthritis, for example, may have higher levels of lactate in their joints due to chronic inflammation. Because anti-inflammatory medications also suppress the immune response for the whole body, they can also put the patient at higher risk for infections. The lactate-gated nanoparticle, with its specific targeting of lactate-rich environments, would help avoid this general adverse effect just as it does with toxic cancer drugs.

Toward clinical implementation and future research

Wu co-founded an oncology startup called Alnair Therapeutics through the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation to take this research to the next level.

“In the lab, you only need a tiny batch. For clinical trials, though, we need a 10-fold greater amount, because humans are so big! So, scaling up the manufacturing process is our current challenge,” Wu said. “The first goal is to make manufacturing work with Doxil [brand name for doxorubicin], since it’s so well-characterized. But we’re very interested in expanding the platform to other cancer therapy drugs, because high toxicity is a common problem.”

Wu is also interested in further researching the unique aspects of tumor metabolism.

“There are many more unknown differences between cancer cell metabolism and regular cell metabolism,” he said. “My personal interest is to figure out more about what’s changing in tumor cells and what kind of chemical signals we can use to target cancers, maybe not only through drug delivery, but through other approaches as well.”

The study, “Enabling tumor-specific drug delivery by targeting the Warburg effect of cancer,” was published in Cell Reports Medicine in January 2025. Additional authors include Jian Zhang, Tony Pan, Jimmy Lee, Sarah Ann King, Erting Tang, Yifei Hu, Lifeng Chen, Alex Hoover, and Jun Huang at the University of Chicago, Sanja Goldberg at Safra Children’s Hospital, Tel Aviv, Linyong Zhu at East China University of Science & Technology, Shanghai, Oliver S. King at the University of California, Irvine, Orange, CA, and Benjamin Dekel at Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv.

This study was supported by National Institutes of Health grants R01OD023700, R21AR080761, R01DA047785, and R01AR78555, the Cancer Research Institute (CRI) Technology Impact Award, the Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation, the Alan B. Slifka Foundation and Israel Cancer Fund for Pediatric Sarcoma Grant, the Rally Foundation Outside the Box Grant, the University of Chicago Comprehensive Cancer Center Duckworth Family Commercial Promise Award, the Cancer Immunotherapy Team Science Award, the Pancreatic Cancer SPORE grant, the UCHAP pilot award, and the Ullman Family Team Science Award (to X.W.) and National Institutes of Health New Innovator Award (to J.H.).

AI models have the potential not only to spot pancreatic cancer at an early stage, but also to predict the deadly disease’s prognosis, say scientists

SHARJAH, EMIRATE OF SHARJAH, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES, June 30, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ — Oncologists utilizing Artificial Intelligence (AI) in their tests to spot pancreatic cancer at an early stage can also gain an overall picture of how the deadly disease is bound to develop, scientists from the University of Sharjah have revealed in a new study.

Although still at its initial stage, the AI-enabled prognosis, the scientists say, has the potential to pave the way for the provision of individualized healthcare and treatment of pancreatic cancer patients.

The scientists, who describe their findings in Beni-Suef University Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences, arrived at the groundbreaking conclusion following a comprehensive review of pancreatic cancer-related scientific literature. https://doi.org/10.1186/s43088-025-00610-4

Due to its high mortality rate, pancreatic cancer poses a serious health concern, with 467,409 deaths reported worldwide in 2022 and 510,992 new cases. Researchers often refer to pancreatic cancer as the ‘king’ of all cancers due to the exceptional ability of its cancerous cells to quickly spread to other parts of the body if not detected at an early stage.

“Nevertheless, due to several factors, including the lack of distinct molecular markers and clinical symptoms, the disease tends to be detected at an advanced stage, rendering surgical interventions futile,” the authors warn. ”For this reason, early detection and precise stratification of pancreatic cancer stages are crucial for enhancing therapeutic outcomes.”

In their study, the scientists provide what they claim to be “a concise overview” of how AI is used in the diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of pancreatic cancer.

“Utilizing AI for preliminary testing can significantly enhance the prognosis of those who have been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer,” they write. “Advances in AI-driven image analysis have the potential to transform computer-aided diagnostic systems, aiding doctors in establishing precise and reliable assessments.”

The researchers’ extensive review of the literature dwells on numerous aspects of AI and its multiple uses in handling cases of pancreatic cancer.

One important aspect for the scientists is multicomics, which requires the combination and analysis of different data types, along with professionals and scientists, to acquire a thorough and deep understanding of a complex and deadly disease like pancreatic cancer.

They note that “it is crucial to recognize the significance of AI in multiomics domains. The healthcare industry is at the forefront of a new era, driven by technological and scientific improvements, facilitated by the integration of AI in healthcare.

“This progress can only be made through the efforts of clinicians, scientists, data analysts, and technicians. Although computer systems have several limits, they are anticipated to contribute to substantial breakthroughs soon, owing to their amazing processing powers.”

The authors endow AI models with a high ability to spot pancreatic tumors at their earliest stages, helping doctors to correctly assess the risks for patients, and then provide the associated healthcare and draw plans for long-term treatment.

They call for a better grasp and control of these models, as they are not easy to operate and understand. They show that the plethora of AI-based solutions about pancreatic cancer detection, prognosis, and treatment have “made clinical use a bit sophisticated, whereby without understanding and clear interpretation, doctors cannot critically evaluate the output of these algorithms in terms of their applicability and reliability.”

Despite the sophistication associated with AI applications, the authors report that researchers have been exerting considerable efforts to develop a variety of approaches to make them accessible to healthcare professionals and at the same time gain the confidence of patients about their effectiveness.

They predict a promising future for upcoming AI tools, which they believe can be employed with much less sophistication due to the emergence of a new frontier in artificial intelligence called explainable AI that will make the tools easily accessible for clinical adoption.

They reveal that cancer researchers are “creating and applying explainable AI methods, including feature relevance ratings, infographics, and natural language explanations to interpret AI predictions.”

They highly commend the new Machine Learning models to identify pancreatic cancer at an early stage, with implications for a significant reduction in the morbidity and mortality rates.

The application of methods employing the Internet of Things have recently caught the attention of oncological researchers who, according to the authors, are expected to revolutionize pancreatic cancer detection, prognosis, and treatment.

“AI ought to help oncologists create personalized treatment regimens by combining patient-specific data. It is being utilized to predict how patients react to therapies like immunotherapy, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and surgery,” they write.

In their recommendations, the authors call for more AI-based pancreatic cancer research to eventually build “semi-autonomous models that reduce clinician stress, boost productivity, or be fully autonomous.”

LEON BARKHO
University Of Sharjah
+971 501654376
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The pursuit of a cure for Alzheimer’s disease is becoming an increasingly competitive and contentious quest with recent years witnessing several important controversies.

In July 2022, Science magazine reported that a key 2006 research paper, published in the prestigious journal Nature, which identified a subtype of brain protein called beta-amyloid as the cause of Alzheimer’s, may have been based on fabricated data.

One year earlier, in June 2021, the US Food and Drug Administration had approved aducanumab, an antibody-targeting beta-amyloid, as a treatment for Alzheimer’s, even though the data supporting its use were incomplete and contradictory.

Some physicians believe aducanumab never should have been approved, while others maintain it should be given a chance.

Related: New Link Connects Herpes to Alzheimer’s. Here’s What We Know.

With millions of people needing an effective treatment, why are researchers still fumbling in this quest for a cure for what is arguably one of the most important diseases confronting humankind?

Escaping the beta-amyloid rut

For years, scientists have been focused on trying to come up with new treatments for Alzheimer’s by preventing the formation of brain-damaging clumps of this mysterious protein called beta-amyloid.

In fact, we scientists have arguably got ourselves into a bit of an intellectual rut concentrating almost exclusively on this approach, often neglecting or even ignoring other possible explanations.

Regrettably, this dedication to studying the abnormal protein clumps has not translated into a useful drug or therapy. The need for a new “out-of-the-clump” way of thinking about Alzheimer’s is emerging as a top priority in brain science.

My laboratory at the Krembil Brain Institute, part of the University Health Network in Toronto, is devising a new theory of Alzheimer’s disease.

Based on our past 30 years of research, we no longer think of Alzheimer’s as primarily a disease of the brain. Rather, we believe that Alzheimer’s is principally a disorder of the immune system within the brain.

The immune system, found in every organ in the body, is a collection of cells and molecules that work in harmony to help repair injuries and protect from foreign invaders.

When a person trips and falls, the immune system helps to mend the damaged tissues. When someone experiences a viral or bacterial infection, the immune system helps in the fight against these microbial invaders.

The exact same processes are present in the brain. When there is head trauma, the brain’s immune system kicks into gear to help repair. When bacteria are present in the brain, the immune system is there to fight back.

Alzheimer’s as autoimmune disease

We believe that beta-amyloid is not an abnormally produced protein, but rather is a normally occurring molecule that is part of the brain’s immune system. It is supposed to be there.

When brain trauma occurs or when bacteria are present in the brain, beta-amyloid is a key contributor to the brain’s comprehensive immune response. And this is where the problem begins.

Because of striking similarities between the fat molecules that make up both the membranes of bacteria and the membranes of brain cells, beta-amyloid cannot tell the difference between invading bacteria and host brain cells, and mistakenly attacks the very brain cells it is supposed to be protecting.

This leads to a chronic, progressive loss of brain cell function, which ultimately culminates in dementia – all because our body’s immune system cannot differentiate between bacteria and brain cells.

When regarded as a misdirected attack by the brain’s immune system on the very organ it is supposed to be defending, Alzheimer’s disease emerges as an autoimmune disease.

There are many types of autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, in which autoantibodies play a crucial role in the development of the disease, and for which steroid-based therapies can be effective. But these therapies will not work against Alzheimer’s disease.

The brain is a very special and distinctive organ, recognized as the most complex structure in the Universe.

In our model of Alzheimer’s, beta-amyloid helps to protect and bolster our immune system, but unfortunately, it also plays a central role in the autoimmune process that, we believe, may lead to the development of Alzheimer’s.

Though drugs conventionally used in the treatment of autoimmune diseases may not work against Alzheimer’s, we strongly believe that targeting other immune-regulating pathways in the brain will lead us to new and effective treatment approaches for the disease.

Other theories of the disease

In addition to this autoimmune theory of Alzheimer’s, many other new and varied theories are beginning to appear. For example, some scientists believe that Alzheimer’s is a disease of tiny cellular structures called mitochondria – the energy factories in every brain cell.

Mitochondria convert oxygen from the air we breathe and glucose from the food we eat into the energy required for remembering and thinking.

Some maintain that it is the end-result of a particular brain infection, with bacteria from the mouth often being suggested as the culprit. Still others suggest that the disease may arise from an abnormal handling of metals within the brain, possibly zinc, copper, or iron.

It is gratifying to see new thinking about this age-old disease. Dementia currently affects more than 50 million people worldwide, with a new diagnosis being made every three seconds.

Often, people living with Alzheimer’s disease are unable to recognize their own children or even their spouse of more than 50 years.

Alzheimer’s is a public health crisis in need of innovative ideas and fresh directions.

For the well-being of the people and families living with dementia, and for the socioeconomic impact on our already stressed health-care system coping with the ever-escalating costs and demands of dementia, we need a better understanding of Alzheimer’s, its causes, and what we can do to treat it and to help the people and families who are living with it.

Donald Weaver, Professor of Chemistry and Director of Krembil Research Institute, University Health Network, University of Toronto

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

An earlier version of this article was published in September 2022.

Brain health has become a popular topic as scientists continue to study the brain in more depth. And while there is still much to learn about the brain, one thing we do know is that dementia is on the rise. We recently reported on a study that suggests that new dementia cases may double from half a million to a million per year by the year 2060. Since we know more about the brain and how to take care of it than we did just a few years ago, this estimation is pretty astonishing.

Dementia is a general term for a loss of memory, language, problem-solving skills and other abilities that are severe enough to interfere with everyday life. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type of dementia. 

We know that nutrition plays a large role in brain health. There’s even a diet designed specifically to provide brain-healthy nutrients, called the MIND diet. Scientists also consider specific foods to see if there is any correlation between them and decreased disease risk. This is what researchers from Japan did regarding green tea and dementia risk. They recently published their findings in The Journal of Nutrition, Health and Aging. Let’s break down what they found.

How Was This Study Conducted?

Researchers drew data from a long-running Japanese study called the Murakami study. This study included 13,660 people, about 52% women with an average age of 59. 

Some of the demographics adjusted for during statistical analysis included sex, age, BMI, physical activity, smoking status, alcohol consumption, education level, marital status and medical history. Participants also filled out food frequency questionnaires asking how much and how often certain foods and beverages were consumed, including tea and coffee.  Baseline data was collected between 2011 and 2013, and the average follow-up time for each participant was 11.5 years. 

For tea and coffee, participants were given the following options for their intake: <1 cup per week, 1-2 cups per week, 3-4 cups per week, 5-6 cups per week, 1 cup per day, 2-3 cups per day, 4-6 cups per day, 7-9 cups per day, and 10 cups per day. Options were also given for canned and bottled tea and coffee, and amounts were calculated into the total intake. 

It’s important to note that “a cup” can be interpreted as different amounts in studies and, in this case, is not equal to our American-sized measuring cup. For this reason, researchers calculated consumption into milliliters per day and then placed participants into one of four quartiles (categories). Q1 drank <94 mL of green tea per day, Q2 drank 94-299 mL/day, Q3 drank 300-599 mL/day and Q4 drank ≥ 600 mL/day. 

Because they were looking specifically for associations between tea and dementia risk, researchers also gathered data regarding dementia from Japan’s long-term care insurance (LTCI) database. In the LTCI, physicians assess the degree of dementia and classify patients into six ranks ranging from no dementia (0) to severe dementia-related behavioral impairment and cognitive impairment requiring treatment (V)—basically using Roman numerals, plus the number 0. Those with rank II (moderate dementia-related behavioral disturbances and cognitive dysfunction with mild dependence) or higher are considered to have dementia.

What Did This Study Show?

After running statistical analyses, researchers found that those in the higher quartiles for green tea intake had a lower risk of dementia. Specifically, those in the highest quartile, who drank at least 600 mL (or 20 fluid ounces) per day, had a 25% lower risk of dementia compared to those in the first quartile. 

They also broke it down by cups of green tea consumed. Participants saw about a 5% reduction in dementia risk for each cup increase in green tea. For example, if someone averaged a cup of green tea a day, they may decrease their risk of dementia by 5%. For someone who drinks 2 cups a day, the reduction in risk goes to 10%. Keep in mind, though, that these cups are not what we consider a measuring cup amount—they’re actually closer to about ½ cup. As an example, Q4 drank at least 600 mL of green tea a day, which is equal to about 2.5 American measuring cups, and reduced their risk of dementia by 25% compared to those in Q1.

Because there is some evidence that coffee may decrease dementia risk, researchers were curious to know if those who drank both coffee and green tea might lower their risk even more. Turns out, unlike those who drank a lot of green tea, adding high levels of coffee in addition to green tea did not have the same effects as green tea alone, and showed no reduction in dementia risk. 

Researchers propose a couple of possible reasons for this. First, drinking both green tea and coffee in high doses might have a sort of overdose effect, especially regarding caffeine. As an example, green tea contains 20 mg of caffeine per 100 mL dose, and coffee contains 60 mg of caffeine for the same amount. During the combined portion of this trial, participants in Q4 consumed at least 600 mL/day of green tea and 300 mL/day of coffee, which averages out to 300 mg of caffeine per day. And some were drinking well beyond these amounts. The current recommendation for caffeine is no more than 400 mg/day, so those in Q4 were definitely near or beyond that amount.

Researchers also note that coffee and tea contain different plant compounds and that they may counteract each other. But they seemed to lean more into the caffeine theory.

There are a few limitations to this study. One is that participants’ cognitive status was not assessed at baseline. So there’s a chance that those who had lower cognitive function at the start of the study drank less green tea. If this is true, then the association between green tea and reduced risk of dementia would be weaker. Also, because green tea consumption was estimated based on self-reports, it leaves room for bias and inaccuracies. Lastly, the type of dementia wasn’t investigated, so they can’t say which types of dementia green tea may reduce. Researchers do note, however, that because it’s estimated that Alzheimer’s disease makes up about two-thirds of dementia cases, green tea may help reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s. 

How Does This Apply to Real Life?

All types of true teas—green, black, white and oolong—are loaded with antioxidants. They are, after all, plants, and all plants contain antioxidants. But compared to the others, green tea has been shown to have the highest levels of catechins, a specific type of flavonoid antioxidant, providing about four times more catechins than black tea. One of these catechins is epigallocatechin3-gallate (EGCG), which researchers note in previous studies has been linked to reduced Alzheimer’s risk. Reasons for this may be due to EGCG’s ability to reduce inflammation, including in the brain, plus reduce amyloid-beta and tau-tangle accumulation, both of which are implicated in Alzheimer’s disease. 

That’s not to say that other teas don’t have their own benefits. For example, black tea may help you live longer, and ginger tea can help ease an upset stomach and reduce arthritis pain. Mint tea has been shown to have digestive, respiratory and mental health benefits, as well as antimicrobial and antiviral properties.

Besides brain health, green tea has also been associated with lower inflammation, better digestion, less bloating, improved blood sugar and cholesterol levels, and reduced risk of cancer. 

It’s easy to add green tea to your life. Simply brew up a cup. Ideally, we recommend using loose-leaf tea and steeping it in a tea strainer. The reason for this is that some tea bags have been shown to contain microplastics. These tiny particles may end up steeping from the bag into your cup of tea and ultimately into your body, including your brain. If you’re looking to limit your microplastic exposure, a tea strainer may be the best steeping option. 

Plain green tea is best, but adding a small amount of honey or sugar or a touch of milk is fine if that’s how you prefer it. Just be mindful of how much you add, since too much added sugar has been associated with worse brain health, including dementia. If you want to get to zero additions in your tea, take your usual amount of sweetener and/or cream and begin reducing that amount each week until you’re at nothing but the tea. Doing this gradually will help your taste buds adjust. It’s also important to point out that the longer you steep your tea, the more bitter it’s likely to become. If you don’t care for the bitterness, go with shorter steeping times.

If you’re not a tea drinker (and even if you are) and want the benefits of catechins, there are a few options for you. Dark chocolate, cherries and berries, including blackberries, raspberries and strawberries, are rich in these powerful plant compounds. Dark chocolate and walnuts make a great brain-healthy snack. And cherries and berries are amazing in smoothies, including our Cherry-Mocha Smoothie,  Raspberry-Kefir Power Smoothie and our Berry-Green Tea Smoothie, which provides catechins from both berries and green tea. 

If you’re ready to really dive into eating for brain health, then you’ll want to try our 30-Day MIND Diet Meal Plan for Cognitive Health or our Simple 7-Day Cognitive Health Meal Plan. 

Our Expert Take

This study suggests that higher consumption of green tea is associated with reduced risk of dementia, compared to those with little to no green tea intake. Other lifestyle habits also contribute to brain health, including overall diet, physical activity, managing stressors and getting plenty of quality sleep. If this feels overwhelming and you’re not sure where to start, choose an area you’re likely to have success in. Adding a couple of cups of green tea each day could be an easy addition and starting point.

Inflammation, long considered a hallmark of aging, may not be a universal human experience, according to a new study from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. The research suggests that “inflammaging”-chronic, low-grade inflammation associated with aging-appears to be a byproduct of industrialized lifestyles and varies significantly across global populations. The findings are published in Nature Aging.

Researchers analyzed data from four populations: two industrialized groups-the Italian InCHIANTI study and the Singapore Longitudinal Aging Study (SLAS)-and two Indigenous, non-industrialized populations-the Tsimane of the Bolivian Amazon and the Orang Asli of Peninsular Malaysia. While the inflammaging signature was similar between the two industrialized populations, it did not hold in the Indigenous groups, where inflammation levels were largely driven by infection rather than age.

“In industrialized settings, we see clear links between inflammaging and diseases like chronic kidney disease,” said lead author Alan Cohen, PhD, associate professor of Environmental Health Sciences at Columbia Mailman School and faculty member of the Butler Columbia Aging Center. “But in populations with high infection rates, inflammation appears more reflective of infectious disease burden than of aging itself.”

Interestingly, while the indigenous populations, particularly the Tsimane, had high constitutive levels of inflammation, these did not increase with age and, crucially, did not lead to the chronic diseases that plague industrialized societies. In fact, most chronic diseases- diabetes, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, etc.-are rare or largely absent in the Indigenous populations, meaning that even when young Indigenous people have profiles that look similar on the surface to those of older industrialized adults, these profiles do not lead to pathological consequences.

“These findings really call into question the idea that inflammation is bad per se,” said Cohen. “Rather, it appears that inflammation-and perhaps other aging mechanisms too-may be highly context dependent. On the one hand, that’s challenging, because there won’t be universal answers to scientific questions. On the other, it’s promising, because it means we can intervene and change things.”

The study used a panel of 19 cytokines-small immune-signaling proteins-to assess inflammation patterns. While these markers aligned with aging in the Italian and Singaporean datasets, they did not replicate among the Tsimane and Orang Asli, whose immune systems were shaped by persistent infections and distinct environmental exposures.

Key findings include:

• Approximately 66 percent of Tsimane had at least one intestinal parasitic infection; over 70 percent of Orang Asli had a prevalent infection.
• Inflammaging markers were strongly linked to chronic disease in industrialized populations, but not in Indigenous groups.
• The study challenges the assumption of universal aging biomarkers, suggesting instead that immune-aging processes are population-specific and heavily influenced by the exposome-the totality of environmental, lifestyle, and infectious exposures.

“These results point to an evolutionary mismatch between our immune systems and the environments we now live in,” Cohen explained. “Inflammaging may not be a direct product of aging, but rather a response to industrialized conditions.”

The authors call for a reevaluation of how aging and inflammation are measured across populations and emphasize the need for standardized, context-aware tools. “Factors like environment, lifestyle-such as high physical activity or a very low-fat diet-and infection may all influence how the immune system ages,” said Cohen. “Understanding how these elements interact could help develop more effective global health strategies.”

Co-authors are listed in the manuscript.

The study was supported by the Impetus program, the French National Research Agency (ANR) under the Investments for the Future (Investissements d’Avenir) program, grant ANR-17-EURE-0010; the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) under project ID 499552394 (SFB 1597/1) and grant HE9198/1-1, and the Intramural Research Program of the NIH, National Institute on Aging.