Publisher Health

A novel study from the University of South Australia has identified a range of metabolic biomarkers that could help predict the risk of cancer.
Deploying machine learning to examine data from 459,169 participants in the UK Biobank, the study identified 84 features that could signal increased cancer risk.
Several markers also signalled chronic kidney or liver disease, highlighting the significance of exploring the underlying pathogenic mechanisms of these diseases for their potential connections with cancer.
The study, “Hypothesis-free discovery of novel cancer predictors using machine learning,” was conducted by UniSA researchers: Dr Iqbal Madakkatel, Dr Amanda Lumsden, Dr Anwar Mulugeta, and Professor Elina Hyppönen, with University of Adelaide’s Professor Ian Olver.
“We conducted a hypothesis-free analysis using artificial intelligence and statistical approaches to identify cancer risk factors among more than 2800 features,” Dr Madakkatel says.
“More than 40% of the features identified by the model were found to be biomarkers — biological molecules that can signal health or unhealthy conditions depending on their status — and several of these were jointly linked to cancer risk and kidney or liver disease.”
Dr Amanda Lumsden says this study provides important information on mechanisms which may contribute to cancer risk.

A team of researchers at the University of Waterloo and Dalhousie University have developed a method for forecasting the short-term progression of an epidemic using extremely limited amounts of data.
Their model, the Sparsity and Delay Embedding-based Forecasting model, or SPADE4, uses machine learning to predict the progression of an epidemic using only limited infection data. SPADE4 was tested on both simulated epidemics and real data from the fifth wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in Canada and successfully predicted the epidemics’ progressions with 95 per cent confidence.
“Covid taught us that we really need to come up with methods that can predict with the least amount of information,” said applied mathematics PhD candidate Esha Saha, the lead author of the study. “If we have a new virus emerge and testing has just started, we have to know what to do in the short-term.”
When a disease breakout occurs — whether for new infections like Covid-19 or existing ones like Ebola — being able to predict the development of the disease is essential for making public policy decisions.
“That’s what policymakers need right at the beginning,” Saha said. “What should we do in the next seven days? How should I allocate resources?”
Traditionally, epidemiologists prefer to build and use complex models to understand the progression of epidemics. These models, however, have several drawbacks, Saha said.
They require complex demographic information that is frequently unavailable at the beginning of an outbreak. Even if that detailed information is available, the models may not accurately reflect the complexity of the population or dynamics of the disease.
The Waterloo research team’s new model addresses these drawbacks.
“By the time we’re working on vaccines and cures, we’re looking at longer-term data,” Saha said. “But when a new disease arrives, this method can help give us insight into how to behave.”

A cosy set table, a nice steak in the pan, and romantic candlelight may sound like the start of a lovely evening. However, a new study from the Department of Public Health at Aarhus University suggests that you should be cautious about inhaling too much of the cosy atmosphere. Karin Rosenkilde Laursen, a postdoc at the department and co-author of the study, says:
“Our study shows that indoor air pollution caused by fumes from cooking and burning candles can lead to adverse health effects such as irritation and inflammation in young individuals with mild asthma. Among other things, we’ve found indications of DNA damage and signs of inflammation in the blood.”
When we turn on the oven, place a pan on the hob, or light candles, ultrafine particles and gases are produced, which we then inhale. Previous studies have shown that these particles and gases can be detrimental to health. What sets this study apart is that the researchers have focused on the effects on young individuals with mild asthma, aged between 18 and 25, says Karin Rosenkilde Laursen:
“In the study, we observed that even very young individuals with mild asthma can experience discomfort and adverse effects if the room is not adequately ventilated during cooking or when burning candles. Young people are generally fitter and more resilient than older and middle-aged individuals. Therefore, it is concerning that we observed a significant impact from the particles on this particularly young age group.”
But not only people diagnosed with asthma need to keep an eye on the indoor climate, she says.
“Even though the study focused on young asthmatics, its findings are interesting and relevant for all of us. Winter is approaching, a time when we tend to light many candles and perhaps are less likely to open doors and windows while cooking. By prioritising a healthier indoor climate, even when we’re cosying up indoors, we may be able to help reduce the incidence of serious lung and cardiovascular diseases, as well as cancer.”
Karin Rosenkilde Laursen plans to follow up this study with another examining how emissions from cooking and candles affect healthy adults.
The research results — more information Study type: The study is a randomised controlled double-blind exposure study in which 36 young asthmatics were exposed to three different exposures in the climate chambers at Aarhus University. They were exposed to emissions from cooking, emissions from burning candles and finally clean air. Each time, the participants were exposed for five hours under highly controlled conditions. During the exposures, we measured particles and gases, and participants reported symptoms related to irritation and general well-being. Biomarkers in relation to airway and systemic inflammatory changes were assessed before exposure, immediately after exposure and again the next morning. Partners: The Department of Chemistry, Aarhus University. The Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, The Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of Gothenburg, Aarhus University Hospital. Funding: The study is financed by Realdania Research grant of DKK 2.8 million.

A new study led by McGill University examines why people living in Atlantic regions are more at-risk for developing melanoma than other Canadians, providing lessons on skin cancer prevention for the whole country.
Rates of melanoma, a deadly form of skin cancer, have been rising globally, including in Canada. Current estimates indicate that up to 1 in 3 Canadians will develop some form of skin cancer during their lifetime. While some Atlantic provinces such as Prince Edward Island (PEI) and Nova Scotia have the highest incidence rate of melanoma in the country, neighbouring provinces like New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador have rates below or comparable to the Canadian average.
To find out why, the researchers compared UV exposure and behaviours among different groups in Atlantic Canada based on income, education, and gender, among other factors.
Higher-income individuals more at risk for melanoma
The study found that higher-income individuals had an increased risk of melanoma. Risk factors contributing to this include more lifetime sun burns, tanning bed use, and being tanned. Similarly, individuals with university education had higher rates of recreational sun exposure but were less likely to use tanning beds.
“A higher socio-economic status is known to be associated with more vacations in sunny climates and recreational tanning, which likely ultimately drives melanoma incidence in this population,” highlights Dr. Ivan Litvinov, an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine and Chair of the Dermatology Division at McGill University.
However, the study also showed that individuals earning less than $50,000 a year were more likely to work outdoors and experience occupational sun exposure, placing them at a higher risk of developing skin cancer. These findings suggest that policies to protect outdoor workers could help reduce melanoma risk, say the researchers.

In 2016, the research team conducted an initial study in southern Sweden (Skåne) where they revealed that sepsis is much more common than previously believed. The incidence turned out to be 750 adults per 100,000 individuals. In the latest study in the same region, the results showed that more than four percent of all hospitalizations involved the patient suffering from sepsis, and 20 percent of all sepsis patients died within three months.
“This makes sepsis as common as cancer with similar negative long-term consequences, and as deadly as an acute myocardial infarction. Among sepsis survivors, three-quarters also experience long-term complications such as heart attacks, kidney problems, and cognitive difficulties,” says Adam Linder, sepsis researcher and associate professor at the Departmentof infection medicine at Lund University, as well as a senior physician at Skåne University Hospital.
The European Sepsis Alliance has assigned the researchers with assessing how common sepsis is in the rest of Europe. Given the differing healthcare systems across countries, it wasn’t immediately clear how they should proceed to obtain accurate figures. Consequently, the researchers conducted a pilot study southern Sweden to determine if their methods were applicable to other European hospitals.
“Doctors classify patients using diagnostic codes. Since sepsis is a secondary diagnosis resulting from an infection, the condition is significantly underdiagnosed, as the primary disease often dictates the diagnostic code. This makes it challenging to find a way to accurately determine the number of sepsis cases,” says Lisa Mellhammar, sepsis researcher at Lund University and assistant senior physician at Skåne University Hospital.
In the study, which is now published in JAMA Network Open, it was revealed that 7,500 patients in Skåne were associated with sepsis in 2019. During the pandemic, the incidence increased to six percent. However, even without Covid-19, the researchers believe that sepsis should be viewed as an epidemic.
The aim is to use the publication to influence the EU to establish a common surveillance system for sepsis. The team are in contact with authorities and researchers from around thirty European countries and hope that the research project can secure sufficient funding to start soon. There is no indication that the number of sepsis cases would be lower in other parts of Europe than in Sweden. In Swedish hospitals, only two percent of all sepsis patients are antibiotic-resistant, and the researchers speculate that the proportion of resistant cases is higher in many other European countries.
“Although sepsis care has improved in recent years, we need to enhance our diagnostic methods to identify patients earlier and develop alternative treatment methods beyond antibiotics to avoid resistance. Increasing awareness about sepsis among the public and decision-makers is crucial to ensure that resources are allocated appropriately,” concludes Adam Linder.

A soft ball that ‘personifies’ breath, expanding and contracting in synchronicity with a person’s inhalations and exhalations, has been invented by a PhD student at the University of Bath in the UK. The ball is designed to support mental health, giving users a tangible representation of their breath to keep them focused and to help them regulate their emotions.
Alexz Farrall, the student in the Department of Computer Science who invented the device, said: “By giving breath physical form, the ball enhances self-awareness and engagement, fostering positive mental health outcomes.”
Generally, breathing is an ignored activity, yet when done deeply and with focus, it’s known to alleviate anxiety and foster wellbeing. Measured breathing is highly rated by mental health practitioners both for its ability to lower the temperature in emotionally charged situations and to increase a person’s receptivity to more demanding mental-health interventions.
Disciplines that frequently include mindful breathing include Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) and trauma-focused therapies.
Most people, however, struggle to sustain attention on their breathing. Once disengaged from the process, they are likely to return to thinking mode and be less receptive to mental-health interventions that require concentration.
“I hope this device will be part of the solution for many people with problems relating to their mental wellbeing,” said Mr Farrall.
Focus lowers anxiety
Recent research led by Mr Farrall shows a significant improvement in people’s ability to focus on their breathing when they use his shape-shifting ball. With their attention heightened, study participants were then able to pay closer attention to a guided audio recording from a meditation app.

Ion channels are attractive drug targets due to their importance in health and disease, but finding ways to target a specific ion channel selectively is a major challenge. Now, researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine and RMIT University in Australia have discovered that ion channels called BK channels have unique openings in their sides, which drug molecules may be able to access. The finding, published Aug. 31 in Nature Chemical Biology, could lead to the development of selective drugs that target the BK channel to treat a wide range of diseases.
Ion channels are tunnel-like structures embedded in cell membranes that control the flow of charged molecules in or out of cells, which is required for many biological processes. BK channels, for instance, conduct the flow of potassium ions and inherited mutations in these channels have been linked to problems in multiple organ systems.
“The discovery of a site where small molecules can selectively access this important type of ion channel is an exciting development,” said study co-senior author Dr. Crina Nimigean, professor of physiology and biophysics in anesthesiology at Weill Cornell Medicine.
The other co-senior author of the study is Dr. Toby Allen, a professor at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia. The first author, Dr. Chen Fan, was a postdoctoral research associate in the Nimigean Lab in the Department of Anesthesiology during the study.
Dr. Nimigean and her team have been exploring the structure and function of BK channels, both directly and with experiments on a bacterial version called MthK that is easier to study in the laboratory. Recently, they observed that a family of MthK- and BK-blocking compounds—not suitable as drugs but useful as laboratory tools—can access and effectively plug the MthK channel, or “pore,” even when structural imaging shows that the entrance to the pore is fully closed.
“Since these compounds wouldn’t have direct access to the pore in this closed state, we wondered how they were able to get in,” Dr. Nimigean said.
To resolve this conundrum, the researchers turned to structural imaging methods, experiments with normal and mutated MthK, and, in Dr. Allen’s laboratory, computer modeling of the interactions between the channel-blocking compounds and the MthK ion channel.

This is a significant development that brings hope to the one billion individuals with obesity worldwide. Researchers led by Director C. Justin LEE from the Center for Cognition and Sociality (CCS) within the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) have discovered new insights into the regulation of fat metabolism. The focus of their study lies within the star-shaped non-neuronal cells in the brain, known as ‘astrocytes’. Furthermore, the group announced successful animal experiments using the newly developed drug ‘KDS2010’, which allowed the mice to successfully achieve weight loss without resorting to dietary restrictions.
The complex balance between food intake and energy expenditure is overseen by the hypothalamus in the brain. While it has been known that the neurons in the lateral hypothalamus are connected to fat tissue and are involved in fat metabolism, their exact role in fat metabolism regulation has remained a mystery. The researchers discovered a cluster of neurons in the hypothalamus that specifically express the receptor for the inhibitory neurotransmitter ‘GABA (Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid)’. This cluster has been found to be associated with the α5 subunit of the GABAA receptor and was hence named the GABRA5 cluster.
In a diet-induced obese mouse model, the researchers observed significant slowing in the pacemaker firing of the GABRA5 neurons. Researchers continued with the study by attempting to inhibit the activity of these GABRA5 neurons using chemogenetic methods. This in turn caused a reduction in heat production (energy consumption) in the brown fat tissue, leading to fat accumulation and weight gain. On the other hand, when the GABRA5 neurons in the hypothalamus were activated, the mice were able to achieve a successful weight reduction. This suggests that the GABRA5 neurons may act as a switch for weight regulation.
In a new surprising and unexpected turn of events, the research team discovered that the astrocytes in the lateral hypothalamus regulate the activity of the GABRA5 neurons. The numbers and sizes of the reactive astrocytes are increased, and they begin to overexpress the MAO-B enzyme (Monoamine Oxidase B). This enzyme plays a crucial role in the metabolism of neurotransmitters in the nervous system and is more predominantly expressed in reactive astrocytes. This ends up in the production of a large amount of tonic GABA (Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid), which inhibits the surrounding GABRA5 neurons.
It was also discovered that suppressing the expression of the MAO-B gene in reactive astrocytes can decrease GABA secretion, thereby reversing the undesirable inhibition of the GABRA5 neurons. Using this approach the researchers were able to increase the heat production in the fat tissue of the obese mice, which allowed them to achieve weight loss even while consuming a high-calorie diet. This experimentally proves that the MAO-B enzyme in reactive astrocytes can be an effective target for obesity treatment without compromising appetite.
Furthermore, a selective and reversible MAO-B inhibitor, ‘KDS2010’, which was transferred to a biotech company Neurobiogen in 2019 and is currently undergoing Phase 1 clinical trials, was tested on an obese mouse model. The new drugs yielded remarkable results, demonstrating a substantial reduction in fat accumulation and weight without any impacts on the amount of food intake.
Postdoctoral researcher SA Moonsun said, “Previous obesity treatments targeting the hypothalamus mainly focused on neuronal mechanisms related to appetite regulation.” She added, “To overcome this, we focused on the non-neuronal ‘astrocytes’ and identified that reactive astrocytes are the cause of obesity.”
Center Director C. Justin LEE also said, “Given that obesity has been designated by the World Health Organization (WHO) as the ’21st-century emerging infectious disease,’ we look to KDS2010 as a potential next-generation obesity treatment that can effectively combat obesity without suppressing appetite.”

Cancer is most treatable in its early stages, so finding innovative and non-invasive methods to diagnose cancer early on is crucial for fighting the disease. Liquid biopsies, which require just a simple blood draw, are an emerging technology for non-invasively testing for cancer using DNA or RNA sequencing of a patient’s blood.
Assistant Professor of Biomolecular Engineering Daniel Kim and his lab are developing more accurate and powerful liquid biopsy technologies that take advantage of signals from RNA “dark matter,” an understudied area of the genome. Kim’s new research shows that this genetic material is present in the blood of people with cancer and can be identified to diagnose specific cancer types such as pancreatic, lung, esophageal, and others early in the course of the disease.
Kim’s lab developed an RNA liquid biopsy platform that detects both protein-coding RNA and RNA dark matter in the blood, and showed that this new approach significantly improves the performance of liquid biopsy for cancer diagnosis. This research was published today in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering.
Focus on ‘dark matter’
While most researchers and companies are pursuing DNA-based liquid biopsy for cancer diagnosis, Kim’s approach is unique in its focus on RNA “dark matter,” specifically noncoding and repetitive RNA.
Most of the three billion base pairs of DNA that make up the human genome are transcribed into RNA, and all of the RNA is collectively known as the transcriptome. The most commonly recognized function of RNA is to code for proteins in the body, but 75% of the human genome generates noncoding RNA that does not code for proteins.
A substantial portion of these noncoding RNAs are derived from repetitive elements, and these RNAs can travel out of the cell from which they originate and into the bloodstream. A healthy individual’s blood typically would have very few of these repetitive noncoding RNAs. However, Kim’s research has shown that even at the earliest stages of cancer, many of these repetitive RNAs are secreted out of cancer cells, making them potent biomarkers of early-stage disease.

Published35 minutes agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, Getty ImagesBlood clots in the brain or the lungs might explain some common symptoms of “long Covid”, including brain fog and fatigue, a UK study suggests.In the study, of 1,837 people admitted to hospital because of Covid, researchers say two blood proteins point to clots being one cause.It is thought 16% of such patients have trouble thinking, concentrating or remembering for at least six months.Long Covid can also develop after milder infections.But the research team, from the universities of Oxford and Leicester, stress:Their findings are relevant only to patients admitted to hospitalThey are “the first piece of the jigsaw” but further research is needed before they can propose or test any potential treatmentsThey tracked cognitive problems at six and 12 months only and through tests and questionnaires, which may “lack sensitivity”Identifying predictors and possible mechanisms was “a key step” in understanding post-Covid brain fog, study author Prof Paul Harrison, from the University of Oxford, said.But there may still be many different causes of long Covid.Leicester’s professor of respiratory medicine, Chris Brightling, said: “It’s a combination of someone’s health before, the acute event itself and what happens afterwards that lead on to physical and mental health consequences.”Image source, Simon RetfordUniversity lecturer Dr Simon Retford, from Lancashire, spent two weeks in a coma after catching Covid in October 2020, with his family told to expect the worst.Now, he is 60-70% back to where he was before but still has problems concentrating and with short-term memory loss and losing his train of thought.”I took on a course-leader role last May and I was like a really slow computer which struggled to get going,” he says.Dr Retford used to work for the police but would be unable to do so now.”If I overdo it now, I feel so fatigued,” he says.But although he may never completely recover, Dr Retford is determined to remain positive.”I’m still here and thousands aren’t,” he says.’I’ve had long Covid for three years’What are the symptoms of long Covid?Brain changes seen after mild CovidThe Post-hospitalisation Covid-19 study (PHosp-Covid), in Nature Medicine, blames higher levels of the protein fibrinogen and protein fragment D-dimer for brain fog.Study author Dr Max Taquet, from Oxford, said: “Both fibrinogen and D-dimer are involved in blood clotting and so the results support the hypothesis that blood clots are a cause of post-Covid cognitive problems.”Fibrinogen may be directly acting on the brain and its blood vessels, whereas D-dimer often reflects blood clots in the lungs and the problems in the brain might be due to lack of oxygen.”Those with high D-dimer levels also:complained of extreme tiredness and being short of breath tended to have difficulty holding down a jobA US study found similar results.More on this storyBrain fog more common after Covid, study suggestsPublished18 August 2022Brain changes seen after mild CovidPublished7 March 2022