Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) not only impact an individual’s health but also result in multibillion-dollar economic losses worldwide. To study these diseases, a team of researchers has developed the first-of-its-kind immune-capable “organ-on-a-chip” model that realistically reproduces the human cervical environment, allowing scientists to study how the microbiome, immune system, and STIs interact—something that has not been possible before with oversimplified cell cultures or animal models.

While the COVID-19 pandemic challenged all veterans transitioning to civilian life, female post-9/11 veterans experienced a sharper decline in overall well-being compared to their male counterparts, according to new research from the Clearinghouse for Military Family Readiness at Penn State.

Physicians are less likely to provide preventive care such as conception counseling and some cancer screenings to women with diabetes than they do for women without the disease, putting them at risk for preventable medical conditions such as pregnancy complications.

The GVN is monitoring the SARS-CoV-2 variant BA.3.2, sometimes informally referred to in media reports as the “cicada” variant, and emphasizes that current evidence does not indicate cause for alarm or heightened public concern

Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine have uncovered a previously unrecognized mechanism by which inherited calcium channel mutations disrupt early brain development and predispose children to epilepsy and related cognitive challenges. The findings shed new light on how subtle genetic changes can alter brain circuits long before seizures begin.

Children who live within 11 kilometers of the Salton Sea, a drying body of water with a high concentration of salts and contaminants in Imperial Valley, California, have slower lung function growth between ages 10 and 12 than children who live farther away. The impact is comparable to living within 500 meters of a freeway and could affect respiratory health into adulthood. The Keck School of Medicine team worked with Comité Civico del Valle, a longstanding local community organization, to recruit children for the first long-term health study in the region. Researchers followed 369 children, whose average age was 10 when the study began, for roughly two years. Lung function was measured in two ways: forced vital capacity (FVC) and forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1). FVC measures how much air the lungs can expel after a deep breath and FEV1 tests how quickly that air can be pushed out of the lungs. Taken together, these measures help show whether or not air is flowing normally through the lungs. The researchers also calculated the distance between each child’s home and the Salton Sea and obtained data on fine particle pollution and spikes in dust levels from local air quality monitors. In their analysis, they controlled for the effects of age, sex, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, height, body mass index and respiratory health at the beginning of the study. Children who lived within 11 kilometers of the Salton Sea had 52.18 milliliters per year lower growth in FVC and 38.7 milliliters per year lower growth in FEV1 than children who lived farther away. More hours of exposure to high dust levels were also linked to lower FVC and FEV1 growth, especially for children living closer to the Sea.  Their findings on lung function patterns over time could have implications well beyond Imperial Valley, as drought and rising temperatures cause other lakes, such as the Great Salt Lake in Utah and the Aral Sea in Central Asia, to shrink and emit dust. Lung function typically undergoes a growth spurt in adolescence, then peaks in young adulthood. More research is needed to understand what happens when development is interrupted, but ongoing problems with lung capacity could have lasting health consequences.

In a new study published in Nature Metabolism, researchers identified cellular pathways that can influence metabolic changes when cells progress from metaplasia to cancer.

Their results could help researchers treat benign lesions before they become tumors.

The latest issues of four American Psychiatric Association journals (The American Journal of Psychiatry, Psychiatric Services, American Journal of Psychotherapy and Psychiatric Research and Clinical Practice) are now available online.