Search Index

​Dive into the latest biological research! Read about animal testing and ethics, discover how moving houses can affect your health in gentrification, and learn how specific organisms can survive in the extreme cold- along with public health news. Biology Articles Dive into the latest biological research! Read about animal testing and ethics, discover how moving houses can affect your health in gentrification, and learn how specific organisms can survive in the extreme cold- - along with public health news. You may also like: Cancer , Ecology , Genetics , Immunology , Neuroscience , Zoology , and Medicine Animal testing and ethics A breakdown on the practices and procedures Gentrification in the context of health How does moving houses impact your well-being? Cryptosporidium crisis Investigating the outbreak in Devon, UK in May 2024 Survival secrets of the Arctic springtail How do springtails (Collembola) survive the extreme cold? An introduction to stem cells Cells that can differentiate into any other type of cell. Article #1 in a series on stem cells. Monkey see, monkey clone An outline of recent discoveries in cloning research Are we doing enough to fight anti-fungal resistance? Preventing fungal infections in the body The chronotypes Demystifying the body clock Last updated: Mesenchymal stem cells Cells that can differentiate into connective and lymphatic tissues, and blood vessels. Article #2 in a series on stem cells. Discovery of channel-blocking nanoparticles A solution to plant diseases The effects of nanoparticles on (gut) health Looking at the nanoparticle silicon dioxide Yemen- a neglected humanitarian crisis Impacts of war and arms trade on health. Article #3 in the Global Health Injustices Series. Health gaps in conflicted Kashmir Impact of war and conflict on health. Article #5 in the Global Health Injustices Series. A deep, critical reflection How colonialism, geopolitics and health are interwoven. Article #7 in the Global Health Injustices Series. Previous The interplay of hormones and the microbiome A look at how hormones can affect the gut Health and well-being of Palestinians Impact of war on health. Article #1 in the Global Health Injustices Series. Civil war in Sudan Impact of war on health. Article #2 in the Global Health Injustices Series. Circadian rhythms and nutrition How nutrition timing plays a part in circadian rhythms Syria and Lebanon's diverging yet connected struggles Health challenges stemming from war. Article #4 in the Global Health Injustices Series. Health in Bangladesh's Rohingya community Health challenges stemming from oppression. Article #6 in the Global Health Injustices Series. Next

Looking at modern society in terms of the food being consumed and the amount of exercise undertaken collectively, it is entirely inevitable that diabetes will become an epidemic. Now before delving into the above statement further, diabetes mellitus (from Greek ‘siphon’ and Latin ‘sweet’) is a non-communicable disease that occurs when blood sugar levels in the body are so high, that the pancreas is unable to produce adequate insulin in order to manage this problem. Go back Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link Will diabetes mellitus become an epidemic? Last updated: 25/02/26 Published: 18/05/23 Defining diabetes and its causes Looking at modern society in terms of the food being consumed and the amount of exercise undertaken collectively, it is entirely inevitable that diabetes will become an epidemic. Now before delving into the above statement further, diabetes mellitus (from Greek ‘siphon’ and Latin ‘sweet’) is a non-communicable disease that occurs when blood sugar levels in the body are so high, that the pancreas is unable to produce adequate insulin in order to manage this problem. Also, diabetes can be categorised into various types, but the most common are types 1 and 2 as well as gestational (which happens during pregnancy). There is also diabetes insipidus (from Latin ‘lacking taste’), and this is where the kidneys are unable to conserve water. The causes of diabetes mellitus can be divided based on the type. Since type 1 can be caused by the body’s immune system attacking the pancreas, this means that the beta cells are unable to make enough insulin because they are damaged. Not only can type 1 diabetes arise this way, it is possible that environmental factors such as diet and viral infections lead to the disease. As for type 2, it primarily comes from insulin resistance, meaning that the body does not respond to the hormone effectively compared to a person without diabetes. This in turn impacts insulin mediated glycogen synthesis and glycolysis leading to hyperglycemia as seen in figure 1. There are many reasons why diabetes is likely to become an epidemic. Firstly, there is a clear connection between obesity and type 2 diabetes which cannot be ignored; this is because an article found that people with both conditions are exacerbated perhaps due to increased non esterified fatty acids (NEFAs) and glycerol among other linked biochemicals. On the other hand, this same article stated that people with type 1 diabetes are not usually obese. Nevertheless, it is vital that in order to prevent the incidence of type 2 diabetes in later life, it is important to implement strategies such as regular exercise and lowering carbohydrate intake in the diet. Alluding to the previous paragraph, one of the major factors to the increase in obesity and type 2 diabetes diagnoses is the sedentary lifestyle or decreased mobility through sitting. A meta-analysis evaluated 10 studies with over 500,000 volunteers and concluded that there was a 112% cumulative increase in type 2 diabetes risk linked to watching TV. Additionally, a study showed that more sedentary time had raised body and trunk fat percentage while there was reduced appendicular skeletal muscle mass. Taking into account these findings among others, it is evident that exercise does play a role in reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes. Counteracting the previous paragraphs, it is equally plausible that diabetes will not be epidemic because there are current pharmaceutical drugs taken orally like sulfonylureas and meglitinides that cause the pancreas to release insulin aside from injection based ones such as amylin mimetics, which maintains blood glucose concentration, which are used for type 2 diabetes. As for those afflicted with type 1 diabetes, they mainly take insulin because they are in deficit of the hormone or they can have a pancreatic transplant, which has more than 96% and 83% survival rates after 1 and 5 years of the operations respectively, although it does have a major complication of rejection like any other type of operation. With regards to future treatments, a review discussed how newer drugs for decreasing blood glucose such as dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitors have been re-evaluated for cardiovascular outcome trials by showing patients experiencing a decrease in other non-communicable diseases like myocardial infarction and albuminuria, indicating that they can be useful for heart and kidney diseases associated with type 2 diabetes. Furthermore, there are other potential therapies such as probiotics and prebiotics that can be used along with faecal transplants to change the gut microbiome for type 2 diabetes patients. (New NICE guidance recommends that most people should now be offered metformin along with an SGLT-2 inhibitor from the start). It is uncertain that diabetes will/won’t become an epidemic From a more neutral perspective, there is not enough certainty that diabetes will or will not become an epidemic simply because accurately predicting the future 100% of the time is impossible. As such, the future interventions for treating diabetes may not actually get to exist, perhaps due to prospective factors like politics and societal values with respect to science as well as taking into account the difficulty for a therapeutic method to be put onto the market for the patients to consider. Another point to address is the fact that the human body is so incredibly complex that it took humans thousands of years to truly discover all of the current facts known in relation to its anatomy and physiology along with having some level of understanding of them. Not only that, there are still observations about the human body that are still unclear to scientists today and so the drugs for treating diabetes may or may not be effective depending on who is receiving the therapy because each person is genetically unique. Conclusion Referring to all of the arguments made, it is evident that diabetes is a huge burden for modern and future societies because of its links to obesity or sedentary lifestyle and consuming foods high in carbohydrates. Yet, this issue may be prevented by exploring future therapies, exploiting current ones and implementing non-clinical interventions such as increased regular exercise and reducing carbohydrate intake. Therefore, it is the responsibility of each patient and health organisation to manage diabetes before it becomes even worse. Written by Sam Jarada Related articles: Pre-diabetes / Diabetes drug to treat Parkinson's / The world vs the next pandemic REFERENCES Diabetes UK. Types of diabetes. Diabetes UK. 2022. Paschou SA, Papadopoulou-Marketou N, Chrousos GP, Kanaka-Gantenbein C. On type 1 diabetes mellitus pathogenesis. Endocrine Connections. 2018 Jan;7(1):R38–46. Cersosimo E, Triplitt C, Solis-Herrera C, Mandarino LJ, DeFronzo RA. Pathogenesis of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus. Nih.gov. MDText.com, Inc.; 2018. Algoblan A, Alalfi M, Khan M. Mechanism linking diabetes mellitus and obesity. Diabetes, Metabolic Syndrome and Obesity: Targets and Therapy. 2014 Dec;7(587–591):587. Barnes AS. The epidemic of obesity and diabetes: trends and treatments. Texas Heart Institute journal. 2011;38(2):142–4. Hamilton MT, Hamilton DG, Zderic TW. Sedentary Behavior as a Mediator of Type 2 Diabetes. Medicine and Sport Science. 2014;60:11–26. Li D, Yang Y, Gao Z, Zhao L, Yang X, Xu F, et al. Sedentary lifestyle and body composition in type 2 diabetes. Diabetology & Metabolic Syndrome. 2022 Jan 15;14(1). Mayo Clinic. Diabetes treatment: Medications for type 2 diabetes. Mayo Clinic. 2018. Bahar SG, Devulapally P. Pancreas Transplantation. PubMed. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2022. Bailey CJ, Day C. The future of new drugs for diabetes management. Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice. 2019 Sep;155:107785. Bailey CJ, Day C. Treatment of type 2 diabetes: future approaches. British Medical Bulletin. 2018 Jun 1;126(1):123–37.

Brush up on your mathematical knowledge with informative articles ranging from statistics and topology, to latent space transformations and Markov chain models. Maths Articles Brush up on your mathematical knowledge with informative articles ranging from statistics and topology, to latent space transformations and Markov chain models. You may also like: Economics , Physics , Engineering and Technology Unlocking the power of statistics What statistics are and its importance Latent spac e transformations Their hidden power in machine learning Topology In action Teaching maths How we can apply maths in our lives How to excel in maths A useful resource for students studying the subject Cognitive decision-making The maths involved Cross-curricular maths The game of life The maths behind trading A comprehensive guide to the Relative Strength Index (RSI) Markov chain models Named after the Russian mathematician, Andrei Markov, who had first studied them Proving causation Investigating why correlation doesn't necessarily mean causation, via Randomised Controlled Trials and Instrumental Variables

Conservation, diseases, animal behaviour, adaptation and survival. Expand your knowledge on the incredible diversity of life on Earth with these articles. Zoology Articles Conservation, diseases, animal behaviour, adaptation and survival. Expand your knowledge on the incredible diversity of life on Earth with these articles. You may also like: Biology , and Ecology Deception by African birds The species Dicrurus adsimilis uses deception by flexible alarm mimicry to target and carry out food-theft attempts An experiment on ochre stars Investigating the relative fitness of the species Pisaster ocharceus Orcinus orca A species report Rare zoonotic diseases We all know about COVID-19. But what about the other zoonotic diseases? Article #1 in a series on Rare diseases. Marine iguanas Their conservation The cost of coats 55 years of vicuna conservation in South America. Article #1 in a series on animal conservation around the world. Conserving the California condor These birds live on the west coast of North America. Article #2 in a series on animal conservation around the world. Emperor penguins Kings of ice. Article #6 in a series on animal conservation around the world. Protecting rock-wallabies in Australia A group of 25 animal species, and subspecies related to kangaroos. Article #7 in a series on animal conservation around the world. Do other animals get periods? Looking at menstruation in non-human animals e.g. monkeys, bats Same-sex attraction in non-human animals SSSB in birds, mammals, and invertebrates Changing sex in fish Why some fish change sex during their lifetimes

Explore artificial intelligence, a technology that has taken the world by storm. Learn how it is used in fields like agriculture, drug discovery, and outer space. Elsewhere, get to grips with semi-conductor manufacturing, quantum computing, and biotechnology. Technology Articles Explore artificial intelligence, a technology that has taken the world by storm. Learn how it is used in fields like agriculture, drug discovery, and outer space. Elsewhere, get to grips with semi-conductor manufacturing, quantum computing, and biotechnology. You may also like: Maths , Physics , Engineering Fake science websites Ways fake science websites misinform and misguide readers The evolution of artificial intelligence And its greater role in natural language processor technologies Medical biotechnology Technology in the medical sciences Quantum computing What are its applications? Improving agriculture Revolutionising sustainable agriculture through AI AI in drug discovery Using this technology in drug research Digital disinformation With the use of IT cells Digital innovation in rural farming What are the benefits? AI in space What is artificial intelligence used for in outer space? Radiation therapy to treat cancer Revolutionising patient setup in cancer treatment AI: the good, the bad, and the future A Scientia News Biology group collaboration Photonic integration In semiconductor manufacturing Nanomedicine Tiny solutions for big health problems NHS clinical computer scientist Exploring the day-to-day routine in this new field in healthcare Semi-conductor laser technology The recent advancements Code to cure How bioinformatics and technology helped to develop a vaccine for COVID-19 Virtual reality in healthcare Its potential Mauritius's rise as African leader of mobile networks An in-depth look at the rollout of 5G on the island, and the factors enabling this

Dive into the latest biological research! Explore the profound impact of negligent exercise on well-being, discover breakthroughs in organoid and iPSC research, and gain insights into how biomarkers are enabling disease diagnosis and prevention- along with public health news. Biology Articles Dive into the latest biological research! Explore the profound impact of negligent exercise on well-being, discover breakthroughs in organoid and iPSC research, and gain insights into how biomarkers are enabling disease diagnosis and prevention- along with public health news. You may also like: Cancer , Ecology , Genetics , Immunology , Neuroscience , Zoology , and Medicine Can a human brain be uploaded to a computer? Uncovering the possibilities of transferring information from your brain to a computer Impacts of negligent exercise on physiology How to avoid negligent personal training as it can harm the individual Key historical events in public health A timeline of discoveries in the history of public health Influence of different environmental factors on exercise How different environmental factors can affect exercise Why bacteria are essential to human survival The benefits of bacteria Will diabetes mellitus become an epidemic? Diabetes mellitus is when the body is unable to produce enough insulin or becomes resistant to it Correlation between a country's HDI and COVID-19 mortality rate HDI stands for Human Development Index, i.e. how much a country is developed considering various factors such as wealth Rising food prices Food deserts and malnutrition Organoids in drug discovery What organoids are, their applications in drug discovery and more The genesis of life What came first: the chicken or the egg? Challenges in endometriosis From underreporting to under-research iPSCs and organoids iPSC stands for induced pluripotent stem cells PCOS and endometriosis These two diseases are very similar, but how are they different? Neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) A biomarker for renal damage Childhood stunting Its issue in developing countries Innovations in the biosciences The biggest ones currently Various health models Understanding health through different stances Medicinal Manuka The benefits of using Manuka honey as medicine The dual role of mitochondria A mechanism for survival, or death? Next

Elements, compounds, and mixtures make up the building blocks of materials that shape our world. Read on to uncover how atoms, molecules, and reactions are fundamental to life on Earth. Chemistry Articles Elements, compounds, and mixtures make up the building blocks of materials that shape our world. Read on to uncover how atoms, molecules, and reactions are fundamental to life on Earth. You may also like: Medicine , Pharmacology The role of chemistry in medicine Medicinal chemistry and its uses Metal organic frameworks And their potential use in cancer drug delivery The biochemistry of cancer And how integrins can be desirable targets Metal compounds In anti-cancer drugs Female Nobel prize winners What were their contributions? Drug chirality Why is it important? Green chemistry And sustainability for the future Chemistry in space exploration What is its role? Environmental impact of electrical vehicles A chemical perspective From botulism to beauty Botulinum toxins Chemistry of an atomic bomb What is the key process behind these explosions? Vitamins Discussing their importance in the body The story of pigments and dyes The chemistry in an artist's palette Zinc fingers Transcription factors regulating gene expression Emotional chemistry On a molecular basis Nuclear safety The silent protectors Modern-day chemistry And its related challenges The story of the atom The history of the atomic model Nanoparticles A probable treatment for diabetes Exploring food at the molecular level Gastronomy Next

An individual may be restricted to a certain range of physical activities which they can participate in. Individuals are usually reliant on the surrounding environment and the maintenance of facilities. If they are not kept well maintained, individuals are usually discouraged. Go back Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link Influence of different environmental factors on exercise Last updated: 25/02/26 Published: 10/02/23 The characteristics of environmental factors: - Chemical safety - Air pollution - Climate change and natural disasters - Diseases caused by microbes - Lack of access to health care - Infrastructure issues - Poor water quality - Global environmental issues What are the impacts of these environmental influences on physical activity? An individual may be restricted to a certain range of physical activities which they can participate in. Individuals are usually reliant on the surrounding environment and the maintenance of facilities. If they are not kept well maintained, individuals are usually discouraged. The physiological effect on training: Climate change will disproportionately affect the most vulnerable in our populations, including the very young, the very old, and those with pre-existing health conditions. Training adjustments to compensate for the influence of environmental factors on training: - Treatments for heat stress- stop exercising / move to a shaded or air-conditioned area / remove excess clothing or equipment / drink cold beverages / sit in front of a fan / put a cool piece of cloth around neck / place entire body in cool water e.g. cool bath or shower - Treatments for cold stress- move to a warm environment / remove cold and wet clothes / find access to warm air such as heaters, or fireplace / use electric or non-electric blankets / drink warm beverages There is also the concept of blue and green exercise. This refers to physical activity performed in natural environments, specifically in areas with vegetation (green) or water (blue). Combining both, such as running along a coastal path, maximises benefits, reducing stress, anxiety, and depression while improving mood, self-esteem and cognitive function. Written by Kushwant Nathoo Related articles: Impacts of negligent exercise on physiology / Physical and mental health / Environmental impact of EVs

When deciding on the treatment of diseases, experts must gain as much relevant information as they can about that disease, before acting on an informed decision. When cancer is suspected, it might be that the decision for future treatment and prognosis be heavily weighted on the results of biopsies Go back Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link Cancer biomarker and evolution Last updated: 27/02/25 Published: 30/01/23 Development of Novel Biomarkers by Studying Cancer Evolution What does cancer evolution mean to cancer diagnosis and prognosis? How does studying it provide a better outlook on cancer precision medicine? =================== When deciding on the treatment of diseases, experts must gain as much relevant information as they can about that disease, before acting on an informed decision. When cancer is suspected, it might be that the decision for future treatment and prognosis be heavily weighted on the results of biopsies. After all, this is the standard for diagnosing many cancers. It takes one needle to take “information” that is used to predict patients’ outcomes and their respective treatment options, in other words, a test that might just predict their future. Cancer is an evolving disease. There have been many studies over the decades that demonstrate solid cancers’ singular-cell origins. Other studies show how cancer may evolve from a single cell to a mass of cells through Darwinian or branched evolution. This also implies that many things that apply to other evolutionary phenomena also apply to evolving cancer lines: mutation, genetic drift, selection and their selection pressures. In the end, what originated from one cell turns out to be a tumour with a unique genetic landscape, made up of numerous cancer subpopulations, each with its own unique genotypic and phenotypic profile and each of these subpopulations of cancerous cells evolving on its own. This phenomenon is more commonly referred to as intratumor heterogeneity (ITH). What all of this means to biopsies, is that when a single-site needle biopsy is done, it might not give an accurate representation of the whole tumour. The tumour itself, depending on its stage of development may be quite uniform with minimal ITH, however, it may also, in the eyes of a geneticist, look like a mosaic with multiple different “populations” of cancerous cells. Say, for example, the biopsy is aimed to target certain biomarkers (e.g. single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs)) or other “landmarks” such as satellites, the biopsy will only view whatever the needle so happened to have sampled. In other words, sampling could have made it look like a mosaic is red, even though the majority of the mosaic at the time is blue, but it seemed red for we only found red during the biopsy. Additionally, this mosaic is changing, new colours may emerge just like new lines arise within the same tumour. ITH introduces what is known as sampling bias, where samples taken from biopsies only provide an overview or snapshot of the tumour at its state and only pick up on one piece of the actively evolving puzzle, potentially missing many details, in this case, biomarkers from other tumour subpopulations. To solve the issues of ITH, scientists participating in the TRACERx research consortium are employing unique methods to sample tumours in an approach to cancer evolution. The research involved using multiregional sampling and RNA sequencing to sample tumours from patients with non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLC) at different timestamps, i.e. during the various stages of cancer development, metastasis and relapse. By using this approach, the team managed to document better how cancer evolves and how the genomic landscape and tumour architecture changes over time. Furthermore, they succeeded in honing genes that are uniformly conserved and expressed throughout the tumour, even after the effects of ITH. The research looked over 20,000 expressed genes and found 1,080 genes that despite cancer evolution and ITH, are relatively conserved and clonally expressed, relatively unaffected by sampling bias. Furthermore, using machine learning, 23 genes (from the 1,080) were found to be predictive of patient outcomes. Meaning, this novel set of genes or “biomarkers” may be used as a basis for prognosis and to predict mortality in NSCLC. This novel biomarker is named ORACLE or Outcome Risk Associated Clonal Lung Expression signature and scientists are hopeful that it may be used to determine the relative aggressiveness of lung cancers, whilst maintaining a robust function unaffected by ITH. By targeting ORACLE, it mattered less where the biopsy needle is placed on the tumour, as these genes are found clonally. In terms of its effectiveness, a trial shows that having high scores of ORACLE signatures is associated with an increased risk of death within five years of diagnosis. In addition, other trials show that by targeting ORACLE, scientists were able to identify patients with a substantial risk of poor clinical outcomes. Overall, research on the application of ORACLE has shown satisfactory results in predicting patient outcomes and is found to be relatively resistant to the confounding effects of ITH. In summary, we have seen what cancer evolution may cause, and how it shadows the effectiveness of conventional biopsies and biomarkers due to sampling bias in ITH. We also find the research by the TRACERx Consortium and how they aim to study the effects of cancer evolution and ITH, finding a set of genes that are found and expressed throughout the tumour, yet still provide a favourable measure to patient outcomes. Whilst these topics are still under active research, it is clear, how studying cancer evolution and changing the approach to biopsies and biomarker designs can improve the overall quality of diagnosis and cancer prognosis. After all, finding what is wrong is as important as fixing the problem. We hope that similar biomarkers may be developed in the future, applicable to many other types of cancers. Written by Stephanus Steven Related articles: Thyroid cancer / Arginine and tumour growth / NGAL- a marker for kidney damage REFERENCES Biswas, D. et al. (2019) “A clonal expression biomarker associates with lung cancer mortality,” Nature Medicine, 25(10), pp. 1540–1548. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-019-0595-z. Header image: Lung cancer cells. Anne Weston, Francis Crick Institute. Attribution-Non-Commercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Have you perform the wrong exercises – You must keep revising your exercises and keep upgrading your knowledge about the proper use of equipment, and everything else related to fitness so that you don’t make any mistake in giving your clients the wrong exercises Go back Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link Examples of negligence in personal training on the impact of physiology Last updated: 25/02/26 Published: 26/01/23 Negligence in personal training is a failure to look after clients to avoid them getting injured while training. There are many ways this can happen, below are some examples of negligence in personal training. Making use of equipment that is defective – Using a defective equipment can easily lead to injury or at least poor exercising form. Trainers should be able to differentiate between effective and defective equipment if they want to avoid negligence in training their clients. In that scenario, the best thing a personal trainer can do is to repair the equipment or replace it with new ones instead of putting a ‘defect’ or ‘out of order’ sign on it. An example is the case Stewart v. Fitness First (2024). Telling you to lift too much weight – You can’t just tell your clients to lift too much weight without even knowing their capacity, their way of eating and experience from past training. This is irrational and unprofessional, thus neglecting your clients directly which can lead to causing them injuries like muscle tears, muscle strains and even worse, a wrong death. Have you perform the wrong exercises – You must keep revising your exercises and keep upgrading your knowledge about the proper use of equipment, and everything else related to fitness so that you don’t make any mistake in giving your clients the wrong exercises to do that can lead to stopping them from achieving their desired physiques, and fitness goals. Muscle imbalances will occur as well if not done properly. Make you exercise for too long – Exercising for too long can cause excess fatigue and can lead to muscle strains and sprains. Coaches must not let their clients push themselves too far. It may sound cool but it is not really healthy. Everything we do must be done in an appropriate manner to avoid consequences that will harm us. Written by Kushwant Nathoo Related articles: A perspective on well-being / Gentrification in the context of health