The research published in The Lancet monthly shows that before the pandemic, the average life expectancy in the world was increasing, from 49 in 1950 to more than 73 in 2019.

But during 2019-2021, that trend has changed to the opposite. Those are the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, during which mortality reached its peak.

“For adults worldwide, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a more profound impact than any event seen in half a century, including conflicts and natural disasters,” study author Austin Schumacher, an Acting Assistant Professor of Health Metric Sciences at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington in Seattle, said in a statement.

In 2020-2021, about 16 million people died either from COVID itself or from its consequences. This number of deaths led to a reduction in life expectancy from 73.4 in 2019 to 71.8 in 2021.

The aforesaid study presents updated mortality estimates from a global disease survey in 2021. The researchers studied data from 204 countries and territories. Among them, only 32 countries showed an increase in life expectancy from 2019 to 2021. Among those countries are Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Iceland, Ireland, and Norway, all of these countries have a high level of income.

“Life expectancy declined in 84% of countries and territories during this pandemic,” Schumacher said.

Among those countries, Peru and Bolivia showed the largest reduction in life expectancy between 2019 and 2021. Mexico City had a particularly high death rate compared to other sub-national regions.

When the researchers looked at age groups separately, rather than pooling them all together, they found that the South African provinces of KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo had the highest death rate and the highest reduction in life expectancy in the world. These provinces have relatively young populations whose data can skew overall averages about life expectancy, so this study of the data could help determine the true impact of COVID, particularly on the elderly.

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Also known as eczema, this chronic disorder causes the skin to become dry, itchy, red, and irritated.

Past studies have shown that children who have atopic dermatitis have an increased risk for other conditions such as asthma, skin infections, and food allergies.

Additionally, researchers have linked eczema in children to a higher incidence of neuro-developmental conditions, including attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder, and learning disabilities.

In a study recently published in the journal JAMA Dermatology, researchers from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Maryland provide more evidence linking eczema to cognitive impairment—such as learning and memory difficulties—in children.

The scientists reported children with atopic dermatitis were more likely to experience difficulties with learning and memory than those without the disease.

They also reported that children with eczema had a two-fold to three-fold greater risk of memory difficulties if they also had a neuro-developmental disorder such as ADHD or learning disabilities.

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The results of this study were published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Microplastics are small—typically less than five millimeters in size—plastic particles that enter the environment from a variety of sources, including cosmetics, clothing and industrial processes, and are also formed when larger plastic particles break down. They can enter the human body also through breathing, eating, and drinking.

Scientists have found that the entry of such particles into the ventricles, which supply blood and oxygen to the brain, can considerably increase the risk of heart attack and stroke. This became clear by studying the structure and composition of plaques surgically removed from these pairs of vessels from 257 people.

Researchers found that people with evidence of microplastics in their lungs had a four-fold increased risk of heart attack and stroke after surgery.

The scientists found as well more evidence of inflammation in people with pieces of plastic in their blood vessels.

According to the study authors, however, these findings do not prove that plastic particles cause strokes and heart attacks, but the toxins contained in them can cause events that contribute to the development of atherosclerosis.

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The results of this study were published in the journal Cancer Cell.

In the study, scientists subjected a group of laboratory mice with breast cancer to special conditions to simulate chronic stress. The researchers then took blood samples from the rodents to assess metabolic changes in their bodies. Tests have shown that when stressed, white blood cells called neutrophils begin to clump together and form sticky, mesh-like structures.

Also, the scientists found that the formation of such structures in tissues makes them vulnerable to cancer metastases. This was evidenced by the transfer of cancer cells from the chest area to the lungs of rodents.

The net-like structures created by neutrophils are called networks or extracellular traps of neutrophil cells. They act as a kind of net to “catch” invading pathogenic microorganisms. But in the case of cancer, such networks create a favorable environment for metastases.

The researchers have suggested that the development of new drugs that target neutrophil cell traps could improve the effectiveness of cancer treatment once the disease has not metastasized.

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Many people cut bread out of their diet because of concerns about weight gain and bloating, Bond said. According to the dietitian, celiac disease—that is, intolerance to grain protein and gluten—occurs in one in a hundred. Wheat can sometimes cause bloating in some people with sensitive intestines. However, bread is safe for most people.

Factory-packaged bread is classified as an ultra-processed food. Nonetheless, not all types of bread have a negative effect on health, despite the presence of emulsifiers and preservatives. Bond noted that wholemeal bread can be an excellent addition to a balanced diet.

Dietitian Azmina Govindji also said that there is no need to be afraid of fresh grain bread, which is sold in supermarkets. It is important to eat bread in moderation to avoid gaining weight. Lovers of white bread have little fiber, and they can eat it with sunflower seeds. This will provide the body with necessary dietary fibers.

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The findings of this research were published in the Nature Cancer journal

Researchers have found that vanoxerine exerts a powerful effect by suppressing the activity of stem cells in colon cancer. Cancer stem cells have characteristics associated with normal stem cells, namely the ability to give rise to all types of cells found in a specific cancer sample.

During application by prescription—in the treatment of cocaine addiction, the drug affects the protein that transmits dopamine, a biologically active chemical substance that participates in the formation of feelings of pleasure and reward.

During the research of Canadian scientists, it was found that vanoxerine also suppresses the enzyme named G9a. This enzyme plays an important role in the development of colorectal cancer. As a result of G9a suppression, tumors become more susceptible to immune system attacks when vanoxerine is used. Such results were obtained during testing of the drug on healthy tissues of humans and mice. It was noted that the positive effect of the drug was manifested on the samples that were observed at the late stage of colorectal cancer at the cellular level.

The conductors of this research noted that such a method of therapy is based on the reconstruction of critical gene networks, which enables avoiding damage to normal healthy stem cells. Of course additional research is needed to achieve the necessary results.

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“In the first four weeks of this year, 10 countries in the WHO African Region reported more than 26,000 cases and 700 deaths, almost double the number of cases reported in the same period in 2023,” she said.

Braca added that outbreaks are currently occurring in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia and Nigeria.

“There is a high risk of further spread to other countries, especially during this peak transmission season,” the WHO spokesperson emphasized.

Cholera is an extremely contagious disease transmitted through ingestion of contaminated food or water. Cholera can cause severe acute watery diarrhea, and a severe form of the disease can be fatal in a few hours if left untreated.

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More than 375,000 cases of cancer are diagnosed in Britain every year, which is equivalent to a thousand every day. Statistics show that one in two will develop some form of cancer during their lifetime. According to Rance Research UK, a third of all cancers in the UK are preventable.

That said, certain types of cancer are specific to certain age groups. The most common types in children and young adults are brain tumors, leukemia and lymphoma. Men over 50 are more likely to get prostate cancer (43,000 cases) than other tumors, and women are more likely to get breast cancer (almost 50,000 cases each year). 36% of cancer cases occur in people over 75 years old, 54% in people between 50 and 75 years old, and 9% in people between 25 and 49 years old.

Bowel cancer, lung cancer, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, kidney cancer, pancreatic cancer, bladder cancer, oral cavity cancer and pharyngeal cancer are also in the top 10 in terms of incidence.

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About half of those who survive a brain injury or stroke experience movement disorders and disabilities throughout their lives. In a new study, researchers found that low doses of X-ray radiation can reduce by 43-51 percent the area of brain tissue loss after suffering a stroke.

In addition, X-ray therapy accelerated the recovery of motor functions. For example, mice needed much less time to turn around on a narrow log and move in the opposite direction. A subsequent study showed that low doses of X-rays stimulated the activity (expression) associated with decrease in gene inflammation.

Previous animal studies have shown that low-dose X-ray radiation therapy can stimulate the immune system, wound healing and cell growth, as well as prevent brain tissue loss in neurodegenerative diseases.

According to the researchers, after additional checks, their method can be used in medicine.

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Now, researchers at University of Utah Health have found that some tumors can release a protein that looks like a virus, kickstarting an out-of-control immune reaction that may damage brain cells.

Their findings were published in Cell.

A rapid immune attack

Jason Shepherd, Ph.D., associate professor of neurobiology at University of Utah Health and last author on the study, explains that the swift escalation of symptoms—which can include memory and behavioral changes, loss of coordination, and even seizures—is a hallmark of the disease, called anti-Ma2 paraneoplastic neurological syndrome. The disease is one of a group of cancer-related neurological syndromes that occur in less than one in 10,000 people with cancer. The precise symptoms of these diseases vary, but all involve rapid immune reactions against the nervous system. “The symptoms come in quickly and can be quite debilitating,” Shepherd says.

Stacey L. Clardy, M.D., Ph.D., a neurologist at U of U Health and a coauthor on the study, adds, “Most patients begin to experience these unusual neurologic symptoms before they even know they have a cancer.”

These rapid-onset symptoms are the result of the immune system suddenly starting to target specific proteins that are found in the brain. Scientists knew that this flare of immunity often targets a protein called PNMA2. But nobody knew why PNMA2 provokes such a strong immune response, which left researchers at a loss for ways to prevent it.

A virus lookalike

To figure out how PNMA2 kickstarts an immune reaction, Junjie Xu, a graduate researcher in neurobiology at U of U Health and the lead author on the study, examined the protein’s structure using advanced microscopy. When he saw the first clear image of the protein, he was “so, so excited,” Xu says. Multiple PNMA2 proteins had spontaneously self-organized into 12-sided complexes that bore a striking resemblance to the geometric protein shells of some viruses.

One of the immune system’s healthy functions is to attack viruses, and PNMA2’s virus-like structure makes it particularly prone to being targeted as well, the researchers found.

Wrong place, wrong time

The location of PNMA2 in the body is also a crucial piece of the puzzle, the scientists found. “This protein normally is only expressed in the brain, in neurons,” Xu says, “but some cancer cells can express it, which can trigger an immune response.”

As long as PNMA2 stays in the brain, the immune system won’t react to it. But rarely, a tumor elsewhere in the body will start producing PNMA2 protein. And when the immune system detects PNMA2 protein outside the brain, it reacts like it would to any foreign invader. The immune system makes antibodies that bind to the unfamiliar substance, and those antibodies direct immune cells to attack.

But, once activated, the immune system doesn’t just attack the PNMA2 produced by the cancer. It also targets the parts of the brain that produce PNMA2 normally, including regions involved in memory, learning, and movement. The brain normally has a degree of protection from the immune system, but cancer weakens that barrier, leaving the brain especially vulnerable to this immune onslaught.

In future work, the researchers aim to figure out which aspect of the immune response leads to patients’ rapid cognitive decline—the antibodies themselves, immune cells making their way into the brain, or some combination of the two.

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