Mistletoe isn’t just for kissing under
In fact, the plant’s extract has been used as a cancer therapy in a small study published in Cancer Research Communications. Patients in the phase one trial reported this treatment improved their quality of life and had manageable side effects. Mistletoe extract is not currently FDA approved, but scientists hope further research will give cancer patients a new treatment option (Johns Hopkins University).
Your thirties are more important than you think
A new study reveals that having high blood pressure at age 30 is correlated with bad brain functioning around age 75. Scientists compared brain scans of older adults with hypertension in their younger years to adults who had normal blood pressure earlier in life. The research, published in JAMA Network Open, shows the group with high blood pressure has an increased risk for dementia. Hypertension is incredibly common and treatable, so fixing it early can set you up for a healthier brain later in life (UC Davis).
Always forgetting to take your daily pills?
That may be a mistake of the past. Researchers estimate that 50 percent of people don’t take their medications correctly, but new technology could fix that. Scientists used 3D printing to create tiny cylinders that can be filled with drugs and injected into patients. As the capsules dissolve, the medication is slowly released into the body and can be timed anywhere between 10 days to five weeks. So instead of taking pills every day, you could simply get an injection every couple of weeks. The study is published in the journal Advanced Materials (Rice University).
We may finally have a vaccine for RSV
The disease kills up to 10,000 adults each year, but research in the New England Journal of Medicine has studied a vaccine that fights against the respiratory syncytial virus. This vaccine is one of two that the FDA is currently reviewing for approval.
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