Distress signal from fat cells prompts heart to shore up defenses against consequences of obesity

A stress signal received by the heart from fat could help protect against cardiac damage induced by obesity, a new study led by UT Southwestern researchers suggests. The finding, published online in Cell Metabolism, could help explain the “obesity paradox,” a phenomenon in which obese individuals have better short- and medium-term cardiovascular disease prognoses compared with those who […]

Firefighters — ‘Health Care Providers on a Truck’ — Signal Pandemic Burnout

Tim Dupin thought — or at least hoped — that Missouri firefighters, paramedics and other emergency medical services personnel would be among the first to get vaccinated against the coronavirus. After months of feeling overlooked by elected leaders in the distribution of safety equipment and other resources, surely, Dupin thought, their role on the front […]

Creative insight triggers a neural reward signal

Creativity is one of humanity’s most distinctive abilities and enduring mysteries. Innovative ideas and solutions have enabled our species to survive existential threats and thrive. Yet, creativity cannot be necessary for survival because many species that do not possess it have managed to flourish far longer than humans. So what drove the evolutionary development of […]

Personalized blood biopsies may provide signal of cancer recurrence

Personalized blood biopsies, which scan patient blood samples for genetic traces of cancer, could potentially provide an earlier warning of metastatic cancer before it is picked up through standard monitoring. Researchers in the Gerstner Center for Cancer Diagnostics at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have increased the sensitivity of […]