Skeletal muscle stem cells in hibernating Syrian hamsters preserve their ability to function by suppressing their activation during the hibernation period, a research team led by Hiroshima University has shown. This insight may lead to a broader understanding of the maintenance of muscle tissue under prolonged low temperature conditions and may eventually lead to therapeutic applications.

City of Hope has opened a phase 2 clinical trial comparing three different strategies for protecting heart health in prostate cancer patients who receive androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), a potentially lifesaving hormone therapy. Prostate cancer patients who receive ADT are at increased risk of cardiovascular disease, including heart attack, stroke and other heart and blood vessel problems. This may be due to treatment-related metabolic changes that can lead to weight gain, insulin resistance and an increase in body fat. The trial will compare three approaches: intermittent fasting with a 16-hour fasting window, an anti-obesity medication targeting the body’s natural glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) signaling pathway and the American Heart Association’s  Life’s Essential 8 guidelines.

As the FDA moves to finalize a rule requiring front-of-package (FOP) nutrition labels on most packaged foods and beverages in the US, new research suggests that while the proposed “Nutrition Info Box,” showing levels of saturated fat, sodium, and added sugar, was found to work best for consumers who had higher nutrition literacy, it may not be the most effective choice for all Americans. The findings from the study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, published by Elsevier, provide timely evidence on how FOP labels will help consumers identify healthier foods, which could ultimately support healthier eating.

New study shows that aggressive cancer cells can be identified in a simple, new way; by how they physically behave, not just by their genes. Using specially textured Meta surfaces pattered with tiny immobilized particles, the researchers found that aggressive cancer cells grip more strongly, swallow more particles, and change shape in ways that less aggressive cells do not, differences that standard flat lab tests completely miss. This matters because it offers a fast, label-free and potentially low-cost method to distinguish aggressive cancer cells, improves our understanding of how cancer spreads, and opens the door to new diagnostic and research tools that could better predict which cancers are most likely to metastasize.