Goodbye, winter. Hello spring. Hello sunshine, blossoms, birdsong, … pollen, itchy eyes, runny nose …

By analyzing reported physical activity levels over time in more than 11,000 American adults, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers conclude that increasing physical activity to recommended levels over as few as six years in middle age is associated with a significantly decreased risk of heart failure, a condition that affects an estimated 5 million to 6 million Americans.

Children who were exposed to higher levels of air pollution during the third trimester of their mother’s pregnancy had a higher risk of elevated blood pressure in childhood, according to new research in the American Heart Association’s journal Hypertension.

With more space exploration and possible colonization on the horizon, a group of international researchers, including the University of Lethbridge’s Dr. Olga Kovalchuk, combined forces to produce a roadmap to enhancing human radioresistance, or the level of radiation an organism is able to withstand. The group recently published a paper exploring the subject in the peer-reviewed journal Oncotarget.

• Cancer patients are at high risk of developing blood clots

• Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE) collectively known as venous thromboembolism (VTE), can cause death and disability

Gut bacteria thrive on the food we eat. In turn, they provide essential nutrients that keep us healthy, repel pathogens and even help guide our immune responses.      

When people are out and about, they leave plumes of chemicals behind them—from both car tailpipes and the products they put on their skin and hair. In fact, emissions of siloxane, a common ingredient in shampoos, lotions, and deodorants, are comparable in magnitude to the emissions of major components of vehicle exhaust, such as benzene, from rush-hour traffic in Boulder, Colorado, according to a new CIRES and NOAA study.

University of Toronto researchers have developed a handheld 3D skin printer that deposits even layers of skin tissue to cover and heal deep wounds. The team believes it to be the first device that forms tissue in situ, depositing and setting in place, within two minutes or less.

Researchers at the European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), the University of Dundee and the Wellcome Sanger Institute have used human and worm data to explore the mutational causes of cancer. Their study, published today in Genome Research, also shows that results from controlled experiments on a model organism – the nematode worm C. elegans – are relevant to humans, helping researchers refine what they know about cancer.  

Maintaining a healthy lifestyle, including eating a healthy diet, regular exercise and not smoking, could prolong life expectancy at age 50 by 14 years for women and just over 12 years for men, according to new research in the American Heart Association’s journal Circulation.