Health

Harvard researchers have discovered that a novel biomarker of aging in rDNA can accurately determine an individual’s chronological and biological age. The biomarker opens new opportunities for monitoring responses to interventions and lifestyle choices.

A team of researchers at the Wyss Institute at Harvard University and several collaborating institutions has created a drug-free, reversible antiplatelet therapy that uses deactivated “decoy” platelets to reduce the risk of blood clots and potentially prevent cancer metastasis.

Harvard researchers found that interaction between immune factors triggers cancer-promoting chronic inflammation, setting the stage for the development of skin cancer associated with chronic dermatitis and colorectal cancer in patients with colitis.

By exposing stem cell-derived kidney organoids to fluidic shear stress, A team of Harvard researchers has significantly expanded the organoids’ vascular networks and improved the maturation of kidney compartments.

A team of investigators from Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital, MIT, and Novo Nordisk has developed a microneedle pill that can deliver an oral formulation of insulin that can be swallowed rather than injected.

The combination of the antibody CD117 and the drug saporin selectively targets blood stem cells, making transplantation safer by limiting collateral damage caused by the current standard of treatment, chemotherapy, and radiation.

A half-day conference at Harvard Business School examined the growing promise of research on aging and the potential of now-experimental interventions to one day ease the burdens of infirmity.

Amid projections that global cancer rates will skyrocket, researchers from around the country gathered at Harvard Monday to share their latest findings and to launch a center whose aim is to boost cancer early detection and prevention.

Health care spending among the Medicare population age 65 and older has slowed dramatically since 2005, and as much as half of that reduction can be attributed to reduced spending on cardiovascular disease, a new Harvard study has found.

A project to write songs using individual soldiers’ combat experiences appears to help them overcome haunting memories of war, lessening the impact of trauma held too close for too long.

A new study finds two chemicals commonly used to flavor e-cigarettes may be damaging cilia production and function in the human airway.

Scientists at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute are seeking ways to protect newly transplanted cells from autoimmune attack.

A new study finds that being genetically programmed to rise early may lead to greater well-being and a lower risk of schizophrenia and depression.

Proteins produced by the tardigrade are suspected of playing a role in the organism’s resilience, ultimately providing the basis for human therapies that halt tissue damage and prevent cell death.

Reliving happy memories and anticipating pleasure boosted the moods of people recovering from addiction in a study conducted by researchers at MGH’s Recovery Research Institute who eye such exercises as a potential treatment tool.

In a new study, researchers found that African-Americans who experienced moderate to high financial stress had an increased risk of developing heart disease compared with those who did not report such stress.

Study finds virtual video visits, one form of telehealth visit used at MGH, can successfully replace office visits for many patients without compromising the quality of care and communication.

In the largest study of U.S. twins to date, researchers use insurance records to tease out the effects of genes and the environment in 560 diseases.

A new study from MassGeneral Hospital for Children looks at how people with Down syndrome continue to learn.

Figure out what resolutions fit your lifestyle and then make them happen with some expert advice.

A new study from Brigham and Women’s Hospital finds that pregnant women taking the common anti-nausea medication ondansetron during the first trimester have no increased risk of cardiac malformations and only a slight increased risk of oral clefts.

Amid studies showing e-cigarette use rising rapidly among teens, public health officials who recognize the devices’ potential to reduce health hazards discuss the need to tailor their message to keep the devices out of the hands of the young, according to the head of Harvard’s Center for Global Tobacco Control.

New Harvard Chan School study supports claims that antibiotic resistance in the U.S. is linked more closely to the widespread use of these drugs than to their heavy use among a small fraction of the population.

With a $1.5 million gift, Harvard Medical School launched the Sexual and Gender Minorities Health Equity Initiative, a three-year plan to amend the core M.D. curriculum so that all students and faculty clinicians can become exceptionally well equipped to provide high-quality, holistic health care for sexual and gender minority patients of all ages.

Scientists have discovered that irisin, a hormone released by muscles during exercise, directly acts on key regulatory cells that control the breakdown and formation of bone.

Harvard researchers have identified in mice a set of neurons responsible for sustained pain and pain-coping behaviors. The new study is the first one to map out how these responses arise outside the brain.

Professor of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology Paola Arlotta is seeking to develop a new tool to understanding brain function and dysfunction: self-generating brain organoids.

Against a backdrop of recent jumps in drug overdose deaths and suicide, McLean Hospital psychologist R. Kathryn McHugh discusses the opioid crisis and increasing suicide deaths with the Gazette.

A paper published earlier this year argues that shamanism develops as specialists compete to provide magical services to people in their communities, and the outcome is a set of traditions that hacks people’s psychological biases to convince them that they can control the uncertain.

Professor Robert Blendon of Harvard Chan School led discussion of a new poll that shows devastating costs in serious illness even among patients with health insurance.