Publisher Health

Scientists have discovered the honey produced by Australian ants possesses unique anti-microbial activity against bacteria and fungi that could make the liquid useful medicinally.
The research, published today in PeerJ, was led by Andrew Dong and Dr Kenya Fernandes from the University of Sydney’s Carter Lab, which is led by Professor Dee Carter from the School of Life and Environmental Sciences and Sydney Institute for Infectious Diseases.
The team studied the Australian honeypot ant, Camponotus inflatus, which is found throughout desert areas mainly in Western Australia and the Northern Territory.
Among their colonies are a class of overfed workers that are stuffed with nectar and sugary substances by other worker ants, causing their abdomens to inflate with honey and take on a translucent, amber appearance.
These ants effectively become immobile vending machines for their colony, regurgitating honey when other food options are scarce.
Danny Ulrich from the Tjupan language group, who runs honeypot ant tours in Kalgoorlie, helped the researchers track down specimens for their study.
“For our people, honey ants are more than just a food source. Digging for them is a very enjoyable way of life, and a way of bringing the family together,” Mr Ulrich said.

Although rare, mucosal melanoma in humans has a low survival rate. It has been difficult to investigate due to a lack of similar cancers in animals for study. Researchers explored a protein common to human and canine mucosal melanoma. The protein seems to be what makes this cancer so problematic, as it mobilizes the cancer cells, allowing them to spread. Researchers hope that eliminating this protein could lead to a potential treatment. The study is published in Molecular Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.
Melanoma is a type of cancer that begins in the melanocytes, the pigments that give skin its range of tones. Skin cancer accounts for about 90% of all melanomas in humans, but a small percentage are mucosal melanomas, which can manifest in the body’s various mucosal linings such as in the nose. Mucosal melanomas are hard to detect and even harder to treat, with a five-year survival rate of only 25%. Partly due to its rarity, and partly due to the lack of analogous forms of cancer in animals, it has been very difficult to research mucosal melanoma.
But a team of researchers, including those from the University of Tokyo’s Laboratory of Veterinary Surgery, has studied a common form of cancer in dogs and found some specific biological similarities that mean two things: Firstly, that there is a suitable animal model for mucosal melanoma in humans, and secondly, that they both involve a very specific marker that could be a target for reducing the spread of this, and potentially other, cancers.
“Even though mucosal melanoma is not so common in humans, it is very common in dogs. There was no known connection between the two, but we have recently discovered something common to both,” said Assistant Professor Daiki Kato. “There is a protein that accompanies mucosal melanomas called podoplanin (PDPN). It’s a membrane protein, meaning it is involved in some functions on the surface of a cell. We found that patients suffering mucosal melanoma with a high presence of PDPN succumbed to their cancer much sooner than those with less.”
The team studied PDPN to see what might make it so potentially deadly. It seems the protein can metastasize, or mobilize, otherwise static tumor cells. PDPN morphs tumor cells into something resembling a free-moving amoeba, which can squeeze between gaps in healthy tissue and move around to settle elsewhere in the body. This mechanism would explain why mucosal melanoma, in particular, sees such a quick spread of the cancer throughout the body.
“We are sure that this happens, but we still do not understand the entire mechanism behind why,” said Kato. “A big challenge is actually our data. As mucosal melanoma is rare, there just isn’t a lot of human data to learn from; our study had to combine different data sets and is not as complete as we would like. However, our tests involving PDPN do confirm our suspicion. When we took mucosal melanoma samples from dogs and eliminated the PDPN, the resulting tumor released far fewer metastasized cells which could spread and cause more harm. Though the samples came from dogs, that part of the experiment was carried out in mice.”
This means PDPN could be a target for antibody therapy. If new drugs can eliminate PDPN in patients with mucosal melanoma, it might reduce the spread, and suffering, it causes. The team is working toward this now and aims to run clinical trials in dogs, within a few years.
“Of course, we will continue to work toward treatments for both canine and human cancers. PDPN is just one avenue of attack,” said Kato. “But also of great importance is the fact that we have found an animal model for an often fatal human cancer, which opens up many possibilities for study.”

Published12 hours agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, Getty ImagesBy Philippa RoxbyHealth reporterStrength-training exercises such as wall squats or holding the plank position are among the best ways to lower blood pressure, a study suggests.Current guidance focusing mainly on walking, running and cycling should be updated, the UK researchers say.Analysis, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, of trials involving 16,000 people found all exercise lowered high blood pressure.But wall squats and planking led to larger falls than aerobic exercise.These isometric exercises are designed to build strength without moving muscles or joints.The plank position, which resembles a press-up, with elbows directly beneath shoulders, legs stretched out behind, strengthens the abdomen.Wall squats involve positioning the feet 2ft (60cm) from a wall and sliding the back down it until the thighs are parallel to the ground.Isometric exercises place a very different stress on the body to aerobic exercise, says study author Dr Jamie O’Driscoll, from Canterbury Christ Church University.”They increase the tension in the muscles when held for two minutes, then cause a sudden rush of blood when you relax,” he says. “This increases the blood flow, but you must remember to breathe.” Ex-marine, 62, breaks world planking recordDaily walk prevents one in 10 early deaths – studyPumping weights could help you live longerHigh blood pressure puts strain on the blood vessels, heart and other organs, increasing the risk of conditions such as heart attacks and strokes.Treatment often involves medication but patients are also advised to eat healthily, reduce alcohol intake, stop smoking and exercise regularly.Over-40s are advised to have their blood pressure checked every five years. The pressure of blood in the arteries is measured in millimetres of mercury (mmHg). Below 130/85mmHg is healthy while more than 140/90 mmHg is high, according to the study.The higher number equates to pressure of blood in the arteries when the heart beats, known as systolic blood pressure. The lower number is pressure between beats and known as diastolic blood pressure.For their analysis, researchers from Canterbury Christ Church University and Leicester University looked at data from 15,827 people exercising for two weeks or more in 270 clinical trials published between 1990 and 2023.They found resting blood pressure was reduced by: 4.49/2.53mmHg after aerobic-exercise training (such as running or cycling)4.55/3.04mm Hg after dynamic resistance or weight training6.04/2.54mmHg after combined training (aerobic and weights)4.08/2.50mmHg after high-intensity interval training (short bursts of intense exercise with periods of rest in between)8.24/4mmHg after isometric-exercise training (planks and wall squats)These are relatively small drops, Dr O’Driscoll says, but could lower someone’s risk of stroke.Current UK guidelines say adults should do at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise a week, or 75 minutes of vigorous activity, plus muscle-strengthening exercise twice a week.In addition, Dr O’Driscoll says they should consider two minutes of wall squats, or holding the plank position four times with two minutes’ rest in between, three times a week. The British Heart Foundation charity said exercise was good for heart health and could reduce the risk of heart and circulatory diseases by up to 35%. “We know that those who take on exercise they enjoy, tend to carry on for longer which is key in maintaining lower blood pressure,” says Joanne Whitmore, senior cardiac nurse at the BHF.She also pointed to other lifestyle changes that could help, such as cutting down on salt, keeping to a healthy weight and continuing to take any prescribed medication.Anyone concerned about their blood pressure is advised to ask their GP to check it and ask about the type of exercise best suited to your condition.Related Internet LinksBritish Journal of Sports MedicineStrength and Flex exercise plan- How-to videos – NHSHigh blood pressure – symptoms and treatment – BHFThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.

New research from Duke found that people who imagined being a thief scouting a virtual art museum in preparation for a heist were better at remembering the paintings they saw, compared to people who played the same computer game while imagining that they were executing the heist in-the-moment.
These subtle differences in motivation — urgent, immediate goal-seeking versus curious exploration for a future goal — have big potential for framing real-world challenges such as encouraging people to get a vaccine, prompting climate change action, and even treating psychiatric disorders.
The findings appeared online July 25 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Alyssa Sinclair, Ph.D. ’23, a postdoctoral researcher working in the lab of Duke Institute for Brain Sciences director Alison Adcock, Ph.D., M.D., recruited 420 adults to pretend to be art thieves for a day. The participants were then randomly assigned to one of two groups and received different backstories.
“For the urgent group, we told them, ‘You’re a master thief, you’re doing the heist right now. Steal as much as you can!’,” Sinclair said. “Whereas for the curious group, we told them they were a thief who’s scouting the museum to plan a future heist.”
After getting these different backstories, however, participants in the two groups played the exact same computer game, scored the exact same way. They explored an art museum with four colored doors, representing different rooms, and clicked on a door to reveal a painting from the room and its value. Some rooms held more valuable collections of art. No matter which scenario they were pretending to be in, everyone earned real bonus money by finding more valuable paintings.

Associated with poorer mental health outcomes and reduced quality of life, obesity is on the rise in the United States. Currently, more than 30% of American adults are classified as obese. A risk factor for several diseases, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and COVID-19, obesity is an important and growing public health concern.
Using a mouse model of high fat diet-induced obesity, a team of scientists at the University of California, Riverside, has found that, compared to males, female mice are protected against obesity and inflammation because they secrete more of an immune protein called RELMalpha.
“Our study identifies immune cells and RELMalpha in causing these sex-specific differences in the immune response to obesity,” said Meera G. Nair, an associate professor of biomedical sciences in the School of Medicine, who co-led the study published in eLife with Djurdjica Coss, a professor of biomedical sciences.
RELM, or resistin-like molecules, constitute a family of proteins secreted by mammals that are highly expressed in infectious and inflammatory diseases. One of these proteins, RELMalpha, is quickly triggered in the mouse body following infection and serves to protect the body’s tissues. It has a sequence and function similar to resistin in humans.
“RELMalpha regulates two immune cell types: the anti-inflammatory macrophage and the eosinophil,” Nair said. Macrophages and eosinophils are types of disease-fighting white blood cells but can be damaging to the body in the absence of infection. “In contrast, males expressed less RELMalpha, had less eosinophils, and had inflammatory macrophages that promoted obesity.”
When the researchers deleted RELMalpha in female mice, they found the mice were no longer protected from obesity, had fewer eosinophils, and had inflammatory macrophages — similar to male mice.
“However, we were able to reduce obesity in these female mice by treating them with eosinophils or with RELMalpha, suggesting promising therapeutic targets,” Nair said. “We are the first to map this pathway in females that protects against obesity.”
The research team found RELMalpha deficiency had significant effects in males also, but to a lesser extent than females.

Scientists at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus have discovered what they believe to be the central mechanism behind cognitive decline associated with normal aging.
“The mechanism involves the mis-regulation of a brain protein known as CaMKII which is crucial for memory and learning,” said the study’s co-senior author Ulli Bayer, PhD, professor of pharmacology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. “This study directly suggests specific pharmacological treatment strategies.”
The study was published today in the journal Science Signaling.
Researchers using mouse models found that altering the CaMKII brain protein caused similar cognitive effects as those that happen through normal aging.
Bayer said that aging in mice and humans both decrease a process known as S-nitrosylation, the modification of a specific brain proteins including CaMKII.
“The current study now shows a decrease in this modification of CaMKII is sufficient to cause impairments in synaptic plasticity and in memory that are similar in aging,” Bayer said.
Normal aging reduces the amount of nitric oxide in the body. That in turn reduces nitrosylation which reduces memory and learning ability, the study said.
Bayer said the new research opens the way toward developing drugs and other therapeutic interventions that could normalize the nitrosylation of the protein. He said that holds out the possibility of treating or staving off normal cognitive decline for an unknown period of time.
He pointed out that this would only work in normal age-related cognitive decline, not the decline seen in Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.
“We know this protein can be targeted,” Bayer said. “And we think it could be done pharmacologically. That is the next logical step.”

The LatestA tornado that ripped apart a vast Pfizer drug warehouse in North Carolina last week will probably lead to disrupted supplies of crucial drugs used in surgery and critical care, according to estimates made by an independent nonprofit.The tornado, which reached wind speeds of 150 miles per hour and snapped trees at the base, primarily hit a storage center where Pfizer kept raw materials, packing supplies and finished medications. The production plant at the site did not have “major damage,” the company said, noting that it’s working to restart operations soon.Pfizer released a list of drugs that could go into shortage — or in some cases, a deeper state of shortage. They include common I.V. pain relievers like fentanyl and morphine, as well as lidocaine, used in local anesthesia, and heparin, used to treat or prevent blood clots.The tornado-damaged Pfizer pharmaceutical factory in Rocky Mount, N.C.Sean Rayford/Getty ImagesWhy It Matters: Some of these medicine are not widely produced.The U.S. Pharmacopeia, a nonprofit that examines the drug supply chain, took a close look at the likely effect of the tornado damage. The nonprofit assigns “vulnerability scores” to medications, accounting for factors linked to shortages, like low prices, quality problems at production sites and the number of companies that make the drug.The painkiller infusions had a high vulnerability score, as did I.V. electrolytes like potassium chloride and magnesium sulfate that are made at the plant and listed by Pfizer as potentially affected by the tornado. These medications help patients with severe dehydration or diabetes complications, among other conditions.One unexpected upside to the deepening shortages of some medications is that, under federal rules, specialized pharmacies are allowed to make the drugs on an emergency basis. That policy “will come in handy at a time like this when you have an unexpected shock to the system,” said Vimala Raghavendran, a shortage expert at the U.S. Pharmacopeia.Last Time This Happened: Cancer drug shortage threatened patient care.This disaster struck as the last drug shortage crisis began to ease. For weeks this spring and summer, doctors were running out of two inexpensive, generic chemotherapy drugs that are the best shot at a cure for patients with testicular, ovarian and other cancers.Doctors predicted heightened death rates as patients arrived for treatment only to discover they would not be getting the most potent drug in the combination used to treat them. The Food and Drug Administration has since begun to allow shipments of the drugs from China that were not expressly approved for the United States market.Now, “it seems better,” Dr. Lucio Gordan, president of Florida Cancer Specialists, said in an email on Tuesday, noting that his centers have a month’s supply of the drugs, which are called cisplatin and carboplatin.What We Don’t Know: Will Congress or the White House act?Medication shortages are not new. But the cancer drug crisis started a widespread conversation about its root causes and solutions. Some proposals have come from Medicare, which unveiled a plan to incentivize hospitals to stockpile essential drugs. A key Senate health committee advanced a pandemic-funding bill that would give the F.D.A. more data to head off shortages.Leaders in the generic drug industry and other experts cite the pressure from intermediary companies that award the lowest-price bidder with access to millions of customers. The “race to the bottom” in prices, they say, destabilizes the industry and rewards those who might cut corners or operate overseas, often in India, where labor costs are lowest. House Republicans have been examining some of those dynamics but have not issued proposals.

Although bones have the ability to regenerate and repair themselves, they are generally unable to do so when the injury is larger than a small break or chip. In a study just published in Inflammation and Regeneration, Japanese researchers have developed a technique for improving bone regeneration over large areas in rats — and their findings may translate well to clinical settings.
As most of us know from experience, bones can repair themselves after a minor break or fracture, leaving us as good as new. Unfortunately, after a larger injury — or if a lot of bone needs to be removed because of something like a tumor — bones often don’t heal well. Although there are many different ways to improve bone repair over larger areas in animal models, very few techniques translate well into the clinic.
A research team from Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU) decided to tackle this challenge using vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), which improves regeneration of the blood circulatory system, and Runt-related transcription factor 2 (Runx2), which is important for bone regeneration.
“We had already used these two factors to improve bone regeneration in mice in a previous study,” explains senior author of the study Keiji Itaka. “But we injected DNA, which can insert itself into the body’s genetic information, rather than RNA, which cannot; this meant that our findings had little clinical relevance because of the risks involved.”
In their new study, the researchers used messenger RNA encoding VEGF and Runx2. They first demonstrated that the combination of these two RNAs led to a better regenerative response in bone cells than each RNA alone. Next, they injected the RNA combination into rats with large jawbone lesions. After three weekly injections, the jawbones of these mice were almost completely healed, unlike those of control mice. Importantly, their technique may have similar results in a clinical setting and is likely to be safe for use in humans.
“Our technique is especially promising for clinical use because of the coating that we used for the VEGF and Runx2 RNA,” explains Maorui Zhang, lead author of the study. “Many previous studies have used lipid nanoparticles, but this coating leads to inflammation, limiting its clinical use. We used a coating that we had developed previously, known as polyplex nanomicelles, which leads to very little inflammation.”
Given that large bone injuries can be difficult to repair in the clinic, the findings of this study bring new hope to patients. The use of combinations of RNA coated in polyplex nanomicelles is potentially an effective, low-risk technique for improving bone repair in humans and has many promising clinical applications.

Cardiovascular diseases continue to be the leading causes of death worldwide. Metabolic syndrome, a cluster of risk factors including hypertension and obesity, significantly increases the likelihood of cardiovascular diseases. Behavioral and lifestyle modifications, including regular physical activity, have been identified as important factors in the prevention and management of metabolic syndrome. Creating activity-friendly environments can facilitate regular physical activity, thus reducing the risk of developing metabolic syndrome. Unfortunately, there is limited research directly investigating this connection between the neighborhood environment and the prevalence of metabolic syndrome.
To address this gap, a group of researchers from Japan and Canada led by Associate Professor Mohammad Javad Koohsari from the Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (JAIST), an adjunct researcher at the Waseda University as well, conducted a study to explore associations between an activity-friendly built environment and metabolic syndrome in a sample of Canadian adults. “Targeted policy and population-level strategies have long been recognized as a tool for preventing cardiovascular diseases and studies like these play a crucial role in shaping policy and practice through informative insights,” says Dr. Koohsari. Professor Yukari Nagai from JAIST, Professor Koichiro Oka from Waseda University, Professor Tomoki Nakaya from Tohoku University, Professor Akitomo Yasunaga from Bunka Gakuen University and Associate Professor Gavin R. McCormack from the University of Calgary, Canada, were also involved in this study.
The study utilized cross-sectional data from Alberta’s Tomorrow Project (ATP), a province-wide cohort dataset in Alberta, Canada. Researchers examined data from ATP participants who completed the health and lifestyle survey, underwent physical measurements and provided biological samples, and resided in urban areas. A total of 6,718 participants were enrolled, consisting of 4,455 women and 2,263 men. The average age of the participants was 54 years and 34% of the participants had metabolic syndrome. The team measured the “greenness” of each participant’s neighborhood using the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). They also examined specific features of the neighborhoods related to physical activity, such the density of homes, the number of intersections, and the number of places of interest.
The results showed that neighborhoods with a higher number of ‘points of interest’ — which refers to destinations such as schools, parks, and shops — and a friendlier environment for active living were associated with fewer risk factors for metabolic syndrome. Essentially, residing in a neighborhood that offers more destinations, walkability, and opportunities for physical activity was linked to improved metabolic health. Interestingly, the researchers also found fewer health-related risk factors in areas with a higher number of homes. This can be attributed to increased access to amenities, facilitating social interaction, and reducing reliance on cars. Such environments foster active transportation, encouraging individuals to engage in walking or cycling, which further enhances their overall metabolic well-being. The study also noted that the NDVI was higher for women compared to men, indicating that women tend to live in neighborhoods with more greenery. However, no significant associations were found for NDVI or intersection density in relation to the metabolic syndrome outcomes.
The findings of the current study align with previous research, indicating that activity-friendly neighborhoods, characterized by a higher number of destinations, dwelling density, and overall active living environment friendliness, were associated with lower odds of having metabolic syndrome. “These findings indicate the importance of designing neighborhoods that encourage physical activity, as they can significantly improve overall population health,” concludes Dr. Koohsari.
The study also emphasizes the need for additional research to investigate alternative measures of residential greenness and highlights the importance of cautious interpretation when generalizing findings from non-Canadian studies, considering differences in climate, politics, healthcare systems, and culture.

You might not think of diabetes when you think of muscle function. But a common diabetes drug that regulates blood sugar can also prevent muscle atrophy and muscular fibrosis — which can help the elderly bounce back faster from injury or illness.
University of Utah Health researchers have discovered that Metformin, a common drug that’s been used in diabetes treatment for more than half a century, has surprising applications on a cellular level. It can target “zombie-like cells,” called senescent cells, which impact muscle function. Senescent cells secrete factors associated with inflammation that may underlie fibrotic tissue, a hardening or scarring of tissues. Metformin also reduces muscle atrophy. Their findings published in Aging Cell.
“We’re interested in clinical application of this research,” says Micah Drummond, Ph.D., senior author of the study and professor of physical therapy and athletic training at the College of Health. “For example, knee surgeries in the elderly are notoriously hard to recover from. If we give a Metformin-type agent during the recovery period, could we help the muscles get back to normal faster?”
Reinvigorating muscle recovery
As adults age, they’re more likely to fall, be hospitalized, or develop chronic disease, and muscle disuse increases these risks. The research team wanted to find a therapeutic solution that could properly target both disuse atrophy and muscle recovery.
There’s an optimal level of senescent cells that are beneficial, no matter your age. In younger, healthier people, short-term senescence is required for a proper recovery from injury, and completely blocking the senescent effect impedes the body’s efforts to heal. Typically, a younger person can bounce back more easily after muscle disuse without the use of an intervention such as Metformin.
“In the case of aging, we know that there’s immune dysfunction,” says Drummond. “As you get older, it becomes harder for your body to clear senescent cells and they accumulate. That’s one reason recovery is much slower for the elderly after periods of disuse.”
Metformin’s anti-senescent properties have been demonstrated through pre-clinical studies. To test the intervention in humans, the team recruited 20 healthy male and female older adults for a multi-week study. They had participants undergo a muscle biopsy and MRI before the intervention, which involved five days of bed rest. One group of 10 received Metformin and the other 10 received placebo pills during a two-week run-in period, then each group continued the placebo or Metformin treatment during bed rest.