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

Medicine & Health

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 9-May-2025 08:09 ET (9-May-2025 12:09 GMT/UTC)

Postoperative weight loss after anti-obesity medications and revision risk after joint replacement

JAMA Network
Peer-Reviewed Publication

About The Study: In this cohort study using a target trial emulation, a higher proportion of weight loss after initiating anti-obesity medications within 1 year was associated with a lower risk of 5-year and 10-year revision among patients with obesity undergoing joint replacement. These results suggest that anti-obesity medication use, with relatively safe and sustainable weight loss, may be an effective strategy for improving implant survivorship of hip and knee replacements in the obese population.

Journal: JAMA Network Open

Islet transplantation with blood vessel cells shows promise to treat type 1 diabetes

Weill Cornell Medicine
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Adding engineered human blood vessel-forming cells to islet transplants boosted the survival of the insulin-producing cells and reversed diabetes in a preclinical study led by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators. The new approach, which requires further development and testing, could someday enable the much wider use of islet transplants to cure diabetes.

Journal: Science Advances

Stealth virus: Zika virus builds tunnels to covertly infect cells of the placenta

Baylor College of Medicine
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Infection with Zika virus in pregnancy can lead to neurological disorders, fetal abnormalities and fetal death. Until now, how the virus manages to cross the placenta, which nurtures the developing fetus and forms a strong barrier against microbes and chemicals that could harm the fetus, has not been clear. Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine with collaborators at Pennsylvania State University report in Nature Communications a strategy Zika virus uses to covertly spread in placental cells, raising little alarm in the immune system.

Journal: Nature Communications

What happens when a diet targets ultra-processed foods?

Drexel University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Because almost no existing programs focus specifically on reducing ultra-processed food (UPF) intake, researchers from Drexel University’s College of Arts and Sciences designed an intervention that included a variety of tactics to target the uniquely problematic aspects of UPFs. On average, participants successfully reduced their UPF intake by almost half.

Journal: Obesity Science & Practice

Spending more than 3 hours a day sedentary worsens teens’ mental health

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The conclusion comes from a study that analyzed data from more than 3,600 adolescents aged 14 to 17. Moderate screen time spent on educational activities was associated with less psychological distress.

Journal: Journal of Adolescent Health
Funder: Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo

Key risk factors for diabetic foot reinfections uncovered in UT Health San Antonio study

University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio

A study published in the International Wound Journal conducted by researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UT Health San Antonio) revealed risk factors for reinfection after treatment of a diabetic foot infection. The study found nearly half of patients who receive treatment for diabetic foot infections will experience reinfection.

Journal: International Wound Journal

Novel method to synthesize valuable fluorinated drug compounds

National University of Singapore
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) have pioneered a new catalytic transformation that converts epoxides into fluorinated oxetanes, a coveted but difficult-to-make class of drug molecules that escaped synthetic preparation for years. By unlocking a pathway to these valuable drug scaffolds, this discovery potentially opens the door to new medicines for drug discovery applications.

The research team was led by Associate Professor Koh Ming Joo from the NUS Department of Chemistry, together with Professor Eric Chan from the NUS Department of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Professor Liu Peng from the University of Pittsburgh, United States of America.

Journal: Nature Chemistry