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CONCLUSIONS: Healthcare access among adults aged 80 years and older is shaped by interacting digital, physical, relational, communicative, organizational, and age-related factors. Access was generally not perceived as completely impossible, but as dependent on timely appointments, digital or telephone support, physical capacity, family assistance, and the ability to navigate healthcare processes. These findings highlight the need for age-sensitive healthcare pathways, including simplified...

Traditionally viewed as a classic sentinel of innate immunity, Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) has emerged as a crucial pathological driver within the vascular endothelium, with its identity dictated by cell-type specificity, microenvironmental context, and fluctuating expression levels. This review critically examines the dual functional nature of endothelial TLR4, delineating how it transitions into a primary driver of vascular aging and organ-specific vascular pathologies. The profound spatial,...

Francis Halzen honored for work on IceCube Neutrino Observatory, used to discover ghostly particles from far off universe

Scientists found that prolonged fasting triggers major changes throughout the body, but many of the most interesting effects only appeared after about three days without food. The results suggest fasting may influence health in ways that go beyond weight loss and could eventually inspire treatments that mimic its effects.

Stimulating the vagus nerve after practice helped mice develop stronger long-term motor learning, revealing a potentially important window when the brain is still locking in a new skill. The effect was linked to rhythmic changes in brain blood vessels, hinting that body-to-brain signals may help prepare the brain for lasting change.

Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann, and Georg Nagel honored for developing optogenetics

A new nanoparticle therapy reduced lung tumors in mice while also targeting cachexia, the severe muscle wasting that can accompany cancer. By delivering follistatin mRNA directly to tumors, the approach could eventually offer a way to fight both the disease and one of its most dangerous complications.

New analysis refutes James Watson’s claim he was first to recognize significance of famed photograph 51

Scientists have discovered a human gene with a remarkable double life: it appears to play an important role in brain cells while still retaining the ability to jump around the genome. Called BC200, the gene evolved millions of years ago from a mobile piece of DNA known as a transposon, but unlike most genes that arose this way, it never lost its mobility. Researchers even found BC200 embedded inside a human poxvirus, suggesting it may have jumped from infected skin cells into the virus.