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Watching television very often in midlife may be linked to troubling brain changes decades later. In a study of about 1,700 adults, frequent TV viewers later showed smaller brain regions involved in memory, decision-making, and visual processing, along with more signs of damage in the brain’s white matter. Surprisingly, sitting itself did not appear to be the main issue, since people who spent long hours seated at mentally engaging jobs often showed healthier brain patterns.

Scientists studying decades of pygmy sperm whale strandings have uncovered three previously unknown types of Helicobacter bacteria hiding in the animals’ stomachs. All four infected whales showed serious digestive damage, including inflammation, ulcers, scarring, and parasite infestations, although the bacteria were not confirmed as the cause of death.

Scientists uncovered how influenza A commandeers human cells, including a surprising strategy that dissolves tiny structures in the nucleus and releases proteins the virus may use to reproduce. The detailed molecular map could reveal new drug targets and help researchers study dangerous flu strains such as H5N1.

A naturally occurring compound found in foods such as wheat germ, mushrooms, and aged cheese may help older adults build stronger protection after vaccination. In a small pilot trial, researchers gave spermidine supplements to adults over 65 following their third COVID-19 vaccine dose. The biggest improvements appeared among people whose immune systems initially responded poorly, with higher antibody levels and stronger activity against several variants.

Scientists have developed a fully human antibody that halted the growth and spread of aggressive prostate cancer in preclinical research. Although more testing is needed, the drug’s unusual mechanism could open the door to a safer new treatment for advanced cancer.

Scientists have discovered a hidden warning sign of skin damage that appears before collagen fibers visibly thin, break, or lose their connections. Using advanced light-based techniques, the team found that collagen’s carefully organized molecular “handedness” can collapse even while the tissue still appears structurally intact and contains the same amount of collagen. This suggests that skin may begin deteriorating at a much deeper level long before conventional imaging can detect a problem.

Three headbutting goats showed signs of neurodegeneration similar to those in humans following head injuries

Researchers have uncovered a surprising culprit behind sleep loss in Alzheimer’s disease: the brain’s own immune cells. In mice with amyloid plaques, overactive microglia triggered inflammation that kept the brain from getting enough deep, restorative sleep. Temporarily removing most of these cells restored more than two hours of sleep per day, even though the plaques remained unchanged.

Parkinsonism is a common clinical manifestation of Parkinson's disease (PD) and other atypical parkinsonism (AP). Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) may help characterize pathological alterations in cerebral white matter (WM). This study aimed to analyze the differences in early white matter microstructural alterations between PD and AP using DTI and to explore the potential value of DTI in the early differential diagnosis of PD and AP. DTI data were acquired from 12 patients with early PD, 11 with...

Blood-based biomarkers are emerging as scalable tools for the diagnosis and monitoring of neurodegenerative diseases, but markers enabling differential diagnosis across major dementias remain limited. Here we show that large-scale plasma proteomics identifies disease-associated signatures across Alzheimer's disease, dementia with Lewy bodies and frontotemporal dementia. We analyzed 1,318 plasma samples from well-characterized international cohorts and identified more than 200 dysregulated...

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: The global burden of HHD-related HF continues to rise, primarily fueled by population aging, though regional trends, and underlying drivers vary substantially. To address this challenge effectively, tailored prevention strategies should be implemented alongside global collaboration and equitable health care resource allocation, ensuring region-specific precision in HHD-related HF control.

Healthy aging is defined as remarkable longevity (beyond 90 years of age) accompanied by preserved functional status and absence of major clinical conditions. Although the incidence of cardiac arrhythmias, including atrial fibrillation (AF), increases with age, epidemiological studies revealed a paradoxical reduction of AF prevalence in centenarians compared to octogenarians and nonagenarians. Emerging evidence indicates that the apparent cardioprotection in healthy aging may be related to...

In a previous study, chloroquine (CLQ) administration extended lifespan in middle-aged male NMRI mice without systemic toxicity, challenging the view that blockage of autophagy is uniformly detrimental. Here, we evaluated a modified step-down intermittent CLQ regimen in aged female Sprague-Dawley rats designed to minimize long-term toxicity while maintaining biological activity. CLQ treatment significantly extended median lifespan and increased maximum lifespan by 19%. Treated rats exhibited a...