ScienceDaily: Top Health News

Patients with mitral and tricuspid valve regurgitation, a condition sometimes called 'leaky heart valves,' appeared to do better after two years if they had a tricuspid valve repair at the time of mitral valve surgery, according to a new study.

Researchers used a virtual-reality environment to understand the impact anxiety has on the brain and how brain regions interact with one another to shape behavior.

A new study suggests that enlargement of stem cells contributes to age-related decline in function. The researchers found that blood stem cells, which are among the smallest cells in the body, lose their ability to perform their normal function -- replenishing the body's blood cells -- as they grow larger. When the cells were restored to their usual size, they behaved normally again.

Researchers have produced a single-cell chromatin atlas for the human genome. Delineating chromatin regions in cells of different human tissue types would be a major step toward understanding the role of gene regulatory elements (non-coding DNA) in human health or disease.

In an unexpected discovery, researchers have identified what appears to be a significant vascular defect in patients with moderately severe Parkinson's disease. The finding could help explain an earlier outcome of the same study, in which the drug nilotinib was able to halt motor and non-motor (cognition and quality of life) decline in the long term.

They say procrastination is the thief of time -- actually deadlines are. New research has found that if you want someone to help you out with something, it is best not to set a deadline at all. But if you do set a deadline, make it short.

In a new study designed to better understand and combat these structures, scientists identified some of the key proteins in biofilms of the fungus Candida albicans that control both how they resist antifungal drugs and how they become dispersed throughout the body.

Researchers probing the gut -- 'the inner tube of life' -- have for the first time discovered specific factors in its workings that in the future may help improve treatment for patients facing gut damage or gastrointestinal disease.

Scientists have engineered bacteria that can detect specific molecules in the gut.

A team of researchers has developed a new technique to open the blood-brain barrier temporarily to deliver medication to the brain. Getting medication past the brain's unique and protective blood vessels, known as the blood-brain barrier, is one of the biggest challenges in treating brain and central nervous system diseases, according to researchers. The technique uses light and nanoparticles to pry open temporarily these barriers -- called tight junctions -- to allow medication to reach its target.

A team has developed a digital tool to better monitor a condition known as Barrett's esophagus, which affects more than 3 million people in the United States. Barrett's occurs when the mucosal lining of the lower esophagus deteriorates, altering its cellular structure, and is most common in those with chronic acid reflux.