EurekAlert! News by Subject: Medicine & Health - News by Subject: Medicine & Health

Medicine & Health

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 9-May-2025 16:09 ET (9-May-2025 20:09 GMT/UTC)

Brewing tea removes lead from water

Northwestern University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

In a new study, Northwestern University researchers demonstrated that brewing tea naturally adsorbs heavy metals like lead and cadmium, effectively filtering dangerous contaminants out of drinks. Researchers tested different types of tea, tea bags and brewing methods. Finely ground black tea leaves performed best at removing toxic heavy metals. Longer steeping times helped tea remove larger amounts of contaminants.

Journal: ACS Food Science & Technology
Funder: U.S. Department of Energy

Novel cigarette pricing policy linked to decrease in sales in California city

Boston University School of Public Health
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new study in the journal Tobacco Control examined cigarette and cigar sales in Oakland, Calif., after the city implemented an $8 floor price per pack/package of cigarettes and cigars in 2020. The study found that the floor price led to a 15-percent decrease in cigarette sales overall and a 25-percent decrease in sales of lower-priced cigarettes during the first 17 months of implementation.

Journal: Tobacco Control

Teaming up tiny robot swimmers to transform medicine

Lehigh University
Grant and Award Announcement

Ebru Demir, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering and mechanics in Lehigh University’s P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science, recently received funding through the National Science Foundation’s Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program for her research combining artificial microswimmers with machine learning to build Smart Artificial Microswimmers (SAMs). By embedding AI into centimeter-scale robotic swimmers and comparing their behavior with predictions from simulations, her project aims to uncover the underlying physics that govern their movement in complex fluid environments.

Funder: U.S. National Science Foundation

As dengue spreads, researchers discover a clue to fighting the virus

La Jolla Institute for Immunology
Peer-Reviewed Publication

This research comes as dengue-carrying mosquitos expand their territory into new regions, including Southern California.

Journal: JCI Insight
Funder: NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

UC Irvine scientists invent new drug candidates to treat antibiotic-resistant bacteria

University of California - Irvine
Peer-Reviewed Publication

There’s an arms race in medicine – scientists design drugs to treat lethal bacterial infections, but bacteria can evolve defenses to those drugs, sending the researchers back to square one. In the Journal of the American Chemical Society, a University of California, Irvine-led team describes the development of a drug candidate that can stop bacteria before they have a chance to cause harm.

Journal: Journal of the American Chemical Society

Study shows primary care and telehealth can deliver life-changing diabetes care

University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers at The University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and colleagues at Massachusetts General Hospital, have found that people with diabetes can achieve the same positive results using advanced insulin technology when trained by their primary care providers (PCPs) or through telehealth as they would by seeing a specialist in person.

Journal: Clinical Diabetes

New drug may reduce need for aortic valve surgeries by slowing disease progression

Mayo Clinic
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Aortic valve stenosis (AVS) is a significant health concern affecting over 1.5 million Americans and millions more globally. Researchers at Mayo Clinic are exploring the use of a new drug called ataciguat to manage AVS. Results from preclinical and clinical studies, published in Circulation, show that ataciguat has the potential to significantly slow disease progression.

Journal: Circulation
Funder: National Center for Accelerating Translational Sciences, Minnesota Biotechnology and Genomics Partnership, National Institutes of Health, University of Minnesota, Sanofi Pharmaceuticals, Mayo Clinic