Health & Medicine

Researchers identify protein that plays key role in diabetic blindness

For millions of Americans, their world is dissolving into an unrecognizable blur. Diabetic retinopathy is an eye disease affecting one-third of the estimated 30 million Americans who struggle with diabetes. As the patients’ vision slowly fades, it never recovers and few treatments are available. Researchers at University of Utah Health have identified a protein (ARF6) […]


Making Sense of Doctor’s Notes

Wendy Chapman, the chair of biomedical informatics at University of Utah Health whose informatics tools have been applied toward addressing a wide array of problems in health care, has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine (NAM). The high honor comes on the heels of receiving a top accolade in her field, the Donald A.B. […]


U.S. Olympians at the 2016 Rio games were infected with West Nile Virus, not Zika

United States Olympic and Paralympic athletes and staff who traveled to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for the 2016 Summer Games did not become infected with Zika virus but did test positive for other tropical, mosquito-borne viral infections, including West Nile Virus, Dengue Fever and Chikungunya. Results from the University of Utah Health-led study was reported […]


Boosting a lipid fuel makes mice less sensitive to the cold

When grandpa nudges the settings on the thermostat, there’s likely a good reason. Humans, like other animals, become more sensitive to cold with age. Now, scientists from University of Utah Health report that delivering a single dose of a nutritional supplement called L-carnitine to older mice restores a youthful ability to adapt to the cold. After treatment, […]


Hormonal IUDs have no effect on lactation or breastfeeding

Having a hormonal intrauterine device (IUD) implanted immediately after birth does not affect a woman’s ability to lactate and breastfeed, according to new research by investigators at University of Utah Health and University of New Mexico School of Medicine. The results of this study are available online Aug. 21 in the American Journal of Obstetrics […]


Given the choice, zebrafish willingly dose themselves with opioids

As the opioid crisis escalates, the science behind addiction remains poorly understood. To address this need, researchers at University of Utah Health devised a system that allowed zebrafish, a small tropical fish, to self-administer doses of hydrocodone, an opioid commonly prescribed to people for pain. After one-week, the fish had increased their drug-seeking behavior, even […]


Catheter ablation better than traditional drug therapies for treating atrial fibrillation

Every year, millions of people around the world are diagnosed with heart failure, a chronic, progressive condition where the heart is unable to pump enough oxygenated blood throughout the body. Researchers at the University of Utah Health and Klinikum Coburg, Germany, co-led a clinical trial that showed radiofrequency catheter ablation lowered hospitalization and mortality rates […]


Manipulating a Single Gene Defines a New Pathway to Anxiety

Removing a single gene from the brains of mice and zebrafish causes these animals to become more anxious than normal. Researchers from University of Utah Health show that eliminating the gene encoding Lef1 disrupts the development of certain nerve cells in the hypothalamus that affect stress and anxiety. These results are the first implication that […]


Two Studies Support Intensive Blood Pressure Control for Long-term Health, Quality of Life

Two studies provide additional support for lowering systolic blood pressure to an intensive goal of 120 mmHg – far below the standard guidelines of 140 mmHg – to reduce the risk of heart disease in high-risk patients with hypertension. The new research shows that intensive blood pressure control is well-tolerated by patients and is cost-effective […]


Putting it to the test

It’s estimated that about 788,000 people worldwide died of liver cancer in 2015, the second-leading cause of cancer deaths, according to the latest statistics from the World Health Organization. One of the major challenges in combatting this disease is detecting it early because symptoms often don’t appear until later stages. But a team of researchers […]