Inflammatory

New research suggests a high-fat diet and antibiotics work together to promote a gut microbiome imbalance that can lead to bowel inflammation. The study sheds light on the causal mechanism by which environmental factors can trigger IBD.

Researchers looking for biomarkers to predict rheumatoid arthritis flare-ups have discovered a never-before-seen type of cell. Dubbed PRIME cells, they accumulate in the bloodstream seven days before a flare, but strangely disappear during the flare.

New research is uncovering how non-alcoholic fatty liver disease influences the neurological conditions associated with Alzheimer’s disease. The study describes how a protein produced in the liver can travel to the brain and trigger neuroinflammation.

One of the many deteriorative effects of aging in humans is a decline in immune system function. But scientists may have uncovered a way to reverse this trend by transplanting a type of white blood cell from the young into the old.

A new study has solved a long-standing mystery of how acute stress seems to amplify inflammatory disease, despite the fact many stress hormones actually suppress the immune system. It found a specific immune cell is released by fat cells when stressed.

Two new studies are offering strong evidence that bowel inflammation and obesity are risk factors for developing dementia. The studies are observational, and cannot determine causality, but they build on prior research reaching similar conclusions.

New data has found the cheap steroid dexamethasone significantly reduces deaths when administered to COVID-19 patients in intensive care. The treatment has been described as “the first major breakthrough in the therapeutics of COVID-19 infection”.

Building on the growing link between poor oral health and gastrointestinal disease, research from the University of Michigan has homed in on the possible mechanisms by which periodontitis can exacerbate the gut inflammation seen in patients with IBD.

Scientists hope to improve our odds against cancer through the use of viruses that selectively infect and kill tumor cells. A newfound understanding of how tumor cells shield themselves from these attackers could give these efforts a big boost.

Not only do ticks suck your blood, but they're able to do so for a long time, undetected. Scientists have now synthesized the protein that lets them get away with it, and it may have life-saving medical applications.

New research has found an old drug, used for over half a century to treat alcoholism, could be repurposed as a useful anti-obesity medication. The animal study saw the drug prevent obesity and improve metabolic health in mice fed a high-fat diet.

A study is offering new evidence of a link between ALS and the gut microbiome. One researcher described the discovery as “remarkable”, finding genetically identical mice displayed different health outcomes determined by their gut microbiome.