Free food, not gym memberships, motivates frontline workers, USF study reveals
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Updates every hour. Last Updated: 24-Dec-2025 20:11 ET (25-Dec-2025 01:11 GMT/UTC)
When it comes to motivating employees, new research from the University of South Florida finds frontline workers, such as cashiers and retail clerks, value perks like food and outings far more than health benefits or gym memberships.
Researchers from UC San Diego School of Medicine found that testing for lipoprotein(a) — a genetic risk factor for heart disease — remains uncommon in the United States, despite modest increases over the past decade.
PTSD affects about 12 million U.S. adults, with veterans hit especially hard – and many also grappling with alcohol use disorder and chronic pain. These conditions often overlap and fuel each other, making treatment complex and largely ineffective. Using rat models, researchers tested a new drug, PPL-138, designed to target both PTSD and alcohol misuse. Early results are promising: the drug significantly reduced stress and alcohol-related behaviors, pointing to a potential breakthrough for those facing this difficult trio of disorders.
Scientists at Université de Montréal’s affiliated hospital research centre (CRCHUM) are testing out a mobile application to help young adults who have a first episode of psychosis to support safer cannabis consumption.
Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) remain the leading cause of disease burden, causing one in three deaths worldwide as a result of population growth, population aging and exposure to a broad range of risks, including increasing rates of obesity and diabetes, according to the latest Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study special report published today in JACC, the flagship journal of the American College of Cardiology.
In a new study titled “Enteric Viruses and Free-Living Amoebae: Protozoa as Potential Reservoirs and Transport Vessels for human Norovirus and Adenovirus,” published in Water & Ecology, an international team of researchers demonstrated that human norovirus (HNoV) and adenovirus (HAdV) can reside within environmental free-living amoebae (FLA) for up to 12 days. Viruses remained infectious within amoebae while encapsulated, protected from amoebal digestion and structural degradation. The detection of HAdV mRNA further suggests possible viral replication. These findings indicate that FLA may serve as environmental reservoirs and transmission vessels for enteric viruses—challenging the current water treatment efficacy and underscoring the need for updated public health guidance.