Health /today/ en New bio-imaging device holds potential for eye and heart condition detection /today/2025/08/15/new-bio-imaging-device-holds-potential-eye-and-heart-condition-detection <span>New bio-imaging device holds potential for eye and heart condition detection</span> <span><span>Megan Maneval</span></span> <span><time datetime="2025-08-15T11:50:25-06:00" title="Friday, August 15, 2025 - 11:50">Fri, 08/15/2025 - 11:50</time> </span> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle focal_image_wide"> <img loading="lazy" src="/today/sites/default/files/styles/focal_image_wide/public/2025-08/AdobeStock_340691971.jpeg?h=a3faa0ba&amp;itok=YZL1BTFA" width="1200" height="800" alt="person with blue eyes"> </div> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-categories" itemprop="about"> <span class="visually-hidden">Categories:</span> <div class="ucb-article-category-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-folder-open"></i> </div> <a href="/today/taxonomy/term/14"> Health </a> <a href="/today/taxonomy/term/6"> Science &amp; Technology </a> </div> <span>College of Engineering and Applied Science</span> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="ucb-article-text" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><p>Researchers at CU Boulder have developed a new bio-imaging device that can operate with significantly lower power and in an entirely non-mechanical way. It could one day improve detecting eye and even heart conditions.</p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div>Researchers at CU Boulder have developed a new bio-imaging device that can operate with significantly lower power and in an entirely non-mechanical way. It could one day improve detecting eye and even heart conditions.</div> <script> window.location.href = `/ecee/new-bioimaging-device-holds-potential-eye-heart-condition-detection`; </script> <h2> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--ucb-related-articles-block paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div>Related Articles</div> </div> </h2> <div>Traditional</div> <div>0</div> <div>On</div> <div>White</div> Fri, 15 Aug 2025 17:50:25 +0000 Megan Maneval 55085 at /today Raised with pets? Your immune system remembers /today/2025/08/15/raised-pets-your-immune-system-remembers <span>Raised with pets? Your immune system remembers</span> <span><span>Megan Maneval</span></span> <span><time datetime="2025-08-15T06:13:49-06:00" title="Friday, August 15, 2025 - 06:13">Fri, 08/15/2025 - 06:13</time> </span> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle focal_image_wide"> <img loading="lazy" src="/today/sites/default/files/styles/focal_image_wide/public/2025-08/dog%20and%20cat.jpg?h=c3878e91&amp;itok=eyHY92_l" width="1200" height="800" alt="dog and cat lying in grass together"> </div> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-categories" itemprop="about"> <span class="visually-hidden">Categories:</span> <div class="ucb-article-category-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-folder-open"></i> </div> <a href="/today/taxonomy/term/14"> Health </a> </div> <span>Colorado Arts and Sciences Magazine</span> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="ucb-article-text" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><p>CU Boulder researchers, with an international team of colleagues, find that childhood pets are linked to healthier stress responses.&nbsp;</p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div>CU Boulder researchers, with an international team of colleagues, find that childhood pets are linked to healthier stress responses. </div> <script> window.location.href = `/asmagazine/2025/08/12/raised-pets-your-immune-system-remembers`; </script> <h2> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--ucb-related-articles-block paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div>Related Articles</div> </div> </h2> <div>Traditional</div> <div>0</div> <div>On</div> <div>White</div> Fri, 15 Aug 2025 12:13:49 +0000 Megan Maneval 55077 at /today Youth violence prevention program shown to reduce arrests by up to 75% /today/2025/08/12/youth-violence-prevention-program-shown-reduce-arrests-75 <span>Youth violence prevention program shown to reduce arrests by up to 75%</span> <span><span>Lisa Marshall</span></span> <span><time datetime="2025-08-12T10:10:25-06:00" title="Tuesday, August 12, 2025 - 10:10">Tue, 08/12/2025 - 10:10</time> </span> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle focal_image_wide"> <img loading="lazy" src="/today/sites/default/files/styles/focal_image_wide/public/2025-08/Game%20Changers%20Group%20Shot.jpg?h=a1e1a043&amp;itok=3I0-0x5h" width="1200" height="800" alt="Members of the Youth Violence Prevent Center Game Changers pose for a group shot"> </div> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-categories" itemprop="about"> <span class="visually-hidden">Categories:</span> <div class="ucb-article-category-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-folder-open"></i> </div> <a href="/today/taxonomy/term/14"> Health </a> </div> <a href="/today/lisa-marshall">Lisa Marshall</a> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="ucb-article-text" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><p>A CU Boulder-led initiative to reduce youth violence in hard-hit Denver neighborhoods was associated with a 75% decline in arrests for murder, assault, robbery and other youth crimes in recent years, <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12103-025-09811-0" rel="nofollow">new research shows</a>.</p><p>“We now have concrete data to show that when communities come together and mobilize, we can prevent youth violence, even in urban settings with a very high burden,” said senior author Beverly Kingston, director of CU’s Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence (CSPV).</p><p>The study, published in the American Journal of Criminal Justice, assesses the efficacy of the Youth Violence Prevention Center - Denver (YVPC-Denver), one of five <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/youth-violence/php/yvpcs/index.html" rel="nofollow">university-community partnerships</a> established by the Centers for Disease Control after the 1999 Columbine High School shooting.</p> <div class="align-right image_style-medium_750px_50_display_size_"> <div class="imageMediaStyle medium_750px_50_display_size_"> <img loading="lazy" src="/today/sites/default/files/styles/medium_750px_50_display_size_/public/2025-08/IMG_9203.JPEG?itok=rxkFYQYs" width="750" height="563" alt="Two Game Changers working on a film"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p>Documentary filmmaker Antoinette "Ajay" June films Game Changer Janaya Frilot in Denver.</p> </span> </div> <p>The centers have remained one of the only long-term federally funded efforts to address what the agency has termed the “serious public health issue” of youth violence.</p><p>Homicide is the third leading cause of death for youth ages 10 to 24 and the leading cause of death among Black youth, according to the CDC.</p><p>Now, p<a href="https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/trump-cdc-funding-freeze-79e7090f?st=s9zhEU&amp;reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink" rel="nofollow">roposed cuts to the CDC budget</a> threaten to shutter the Denver center, housed at the CSPV, as early as next month.</p><p>“Thanks to this funding, we have been able to bring violence down in Denver while a lot of communities around the country have not,” said Dave Bechhoefer, project director for the YVPC-Denver. “To have it go away just when it is starting to get traction could have a huge impact.”</p><h2>A ‘violence prevention infrastructure’</h2><p>In 2011, YVPC-Denver began working with community organizations in Montbello and Park Hill to get at the root cause of youth violence plaguing the neighborhoods and come up with and implement solutions. They used a framework called Communities That Care, which hinges on two things: science-backed interventions and community involvement.</p><p>“It’s all about building a violence prevention infrastructure,” said Kingston. “Just like we have roads and bridges that we put money toward, we need to build an infrastructure that supports violence prevention throughout the life-course.”</p> <div class="align-right image_style-small_500px_25_display_size_"> <div class="imageMediaStyle small_500px_25_display_size_"> <img loading="lazy" src="/today/sites/default/files/styles/small_500px_25_display_size_/public/2025-08/IMG_6646_0.JPEG?itok=dcd0aWnV" width="375" height="500" alt="Partner coordinator Troy Grimes, left, helps Game Changer Quavon Mosley with his new, donated tuxedo to attend a documentary screening."> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p>Partner coordinator Troy Grimes, left, helps Game Changer Quavon Mosley with his new, donated tuxedo before a documentary screening.</p> </span> </div> <p>In partnership with elementary schools, after-school programs, and faith and sports organizations, the program provided more than 3,000 youth ages 6 to 18 with training on how to handle anger and peacefully resolve conflict.&nbsp;</p><p>The initiative also worked with pediatricians to develop screenings for kids and get them help if they seemed at high risk of committing violence and provided mini grants to local groups matching positive adult role models with teens.</p><p>Perhaps the most visible outgrowth of the program has been the Power of One campaign, a sweeping youth-led effort in which dozens of youth, known as the Game Changers, use social media, podcasts, neighborhood block parties and more to send a message that violence is not normal.</p><p>One group of <a href="/today/2024/04/24/teen-game-changers-confronting-youth-violence-crisis-head" rel="nofollow">Game Changers</a>, known as VIBEE (Violence Intervention Building Education and Empowerment) produced a film “Breaking the Cycle: Stories of Strength and<span>&nbsp;</span>Survival of Gun Violence,” which will screen in Denver this week and at CU Boulder this fall.</p><p>Others recently rolled out <a href="/today/2024/09/18/denver-youth-help-struggling-peers-without-involving-law-enforcement" rel="nofollow">an app</a> that connects youth with peers for help handling food insecurity, mental health issues or gang violence.</p><p>“Sometimes the people who are causing the violence are just youth having trouble at home and having a hard time getting the help they need,” said Game Changer Annecya Lawson, who joined the program after a friend was fatally shot her sophomore year in high school. “When these kids see somebody their age, who looks like them, doing stuff for the community, it can have a big impact. They’re more likely to think before they act.”</p><h2>Crunching the numbers</h2><p>For the study, CU Boulder researchers analyzed arrest data from the Denver Police Department for the five years prior (2012–16) and five years after (2017–21) Communities that Care was implemented in Park Hill.</p><p>They found that arrests fell 75%—from 1,086 per 100,000 people in 2016 to 276 per 100,000 in 2021.&nbsp;</p> <div class="align-right image_style-medium_750px_50_display_size_"> <div class="imageMediaStyle medium_750px_50_display_size_"> <img loading="lazy" src="/today/sites/default/files/styles/medium_750px_50_display_size_/public/2025-08/216A3149_0.jpg?itok=1RwkFuXn" width="750" height="500" alt="The Game Changers stand with community members at a sip and paint gathering."> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p>The Game Changers stand with community members at the Expressions of Hope Art Therapy event in Denver in April.</p> </span> </div> <p>The authors acknowledge that other pandemic-related factors, gentrification or violence prevention efforts could have contributed some to the declines. But rigorous statistical analysis suggests that program is "the most plausible explanation for the sharp decrease."&nbsp;</p><p>On average, across 74 Denver neighborhoods, youth arrests fell 18% between 2016 and 2021.&nbsp;</p><p>Montbello, which had implemented Communities that Care several years before Park Hill, had already established lower violence rates and maintained them throughout the study period even as they climbed sharply elsewhere amid the COVID-19 pandemic.</p><p>This suggests the violence prevention infrastructure had lasting impacts.</p><p><span>“In the 15 years we have been working in these communities we have seen many times, anecdotally, what can happen when communities come together to prevent violence. But to be able to have the data behind it now is incredibly exciting,” said Kingston.</span></p><p><span>Kingston recently got word that the final year of funding for the center's current five-year grant cycle is at significant risk of being revoked. Loss of the $1.2 million would jeopardize the existence of the Game Changers and make it impossible for the YVPC – Denver to continue.</span></p><p><span>“Losing this funding would be devastating,” said Kingston. “Not just for Denver but for communities nationwide looking to replicate this success.”</span></p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div>A CU Boulder-led effort to help high-risk communities build a “violence prevention infrastructure” contributed to sharp declines in arrests for murder, assault and other youth crimes in Denver, new research shows. The program is now poised to lose its federal funding.</div> <h2> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--ucb-related-articles-block paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div>Related Articles</div> </div> </h2> <div>Traditional</div> <div>0</div> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/today/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-08/Game%20Changers%20Group%20Shot.jpg?itok=ra_vBr3j" width="1500" height="1000" alt="Members of the Youth Violence Prevent Center Game Changers pose for a group shot"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p>The Game Changers, a group of young people working to curb youth violence in Denver, pose for a photo. Credit: Miss Money Shot Productions</p> </span> </div> <div>On</div> <div>White</div> <div>The Game Changers, a group of young people working to curb youth violence in Denver, pose for a photo. Credits: Miss Money Shot Productions</div> Tue, 12 Aug 2025 16:10:25 +0000 Lisa Marshall 55057 at /today Study: Using cannabis and psilocybin together may increase dependence /today/2025/08/11/study-using-cannabis-and-psilocybin-together-may-increase-dependence <span>Study: Using cannabis and psilocybin together may increase dependence</span> <span><span>Megan Maneval</span></span> <span><time datetime="2025-08-11T13:00:07-06:00" title="Monday, August 11, 2025 - 13:00">Mon, 08/11/2025 - 13:00</time> </span> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle focal_image_wide"> <img loading="lazy" src="/today/sites/default/files/styles/focal_image_wide/public/2025-08/psilocybin%20cannabis%20header.jpg?h=7f294760&amp;itok=5x30wuQH" width="1200" height="800" alt="cannabis leaves and psilocybin mushrooms"> </div> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-categories" itemprop="about"> <span class="visually-hidden">Categories:</span> <div class="ucb-article-category-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-folder-open"></i> </div> <a href="/today/taxonomy/term/14"> Health </a> </div> <span>Colorado Arts and Sciences Magazine</span> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="ucb-article-text" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><p>CU Boulder researchers studied cannabis-psilocybin users and cannabis-only users to look for similarities and differences between the two groups, including drug use motivations.</p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div>CU Boulder researchers studied cannabis-psilocybin users and cannabis-only users to look for similarities and differences between the two groups, including drug use motivations.</div> <script> window.location.href = `/asmagazine/2025/08/07/study-using-cannabis-and-psilocybin-together-may-increase-dependence`; </script> <h2> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--ucb-related-articles-block paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div>Related Articles</div> </div> </h2> <div>Traditional</div> <div>0</div> <div>On</div> <div>White</div> Mon, 11 Aug 2025 19:00:07 +0000 Megan Maneval 55045 at /today Medical issues and neighborhood opportunity can affect infant development /today/2025/08/07/medical-issues-and-neighborhood-opportunity-can-affect-infant-development <span>Medical issues and neighborhood opportunity can affect infant development</span> <span><span>Megan Maneval</span></span> <span><time datetime="2025-08-07T08:57:23-06:00" title="Thursday, August 7, 2025 - 08:57">Thu, 08/07/2025 - 08:57</time> </span> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle focal_image_wide"> <img loading="lazy" src="/today/sites/default/files/styles/focal_image_wide/public/2025-08/infant%20in%20striped%20onesie.jpg?h=4362216e&amp;itok=dWf-Cxdu" width="1200" height="800" alt="infant lying on a bed"> </div> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-categories" itemprop="about"> <span class="visually-hidden">Categories:</span> <div class="ucb-article-category-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-folder-open"></i> </div> <a href="/today/taxonomy/term/14"> Health </a> </div> <span>Colorado Arts and Sciences Magazine</span> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="ucb-article-text" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><p>CU Boulder researcher Emily Yeo finds that some babies may benefit from more support and resources so they can grow up to lead long, happy and healthy lives.</p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div>CU Boulder researcher Emily Yeo finds that some babies may benefit from more support and resources so they can grow up to lead long, happy and healthy lives.</div> <script> window.location.href = `/asmagazine/2025/08/04/medical-issues-and-neighborhood-opportunity-can-affect-infant-development`; </script> <h2> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--ucb-related-articles-block paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div>Related Articles</div> </div> </h2> <div>Traditional</div> <div>0</div> <div>On</div> <div>White</div> Thu, 07 Aug 2025 14:57:23 +0000 Megan Maneval 55032 at /today Black Death offers clues into how childhood malnutrition shapes adult health /today/2025/07/30/black-death-offers-clues-how-childhood-malnutrition-shapes-adult-health <span>Black Death offers clues into how childhood malnutrition shapes adult health</span> <span><span>Daniel William…</span></span> <span><time datetime="2025-07-30T11:33:52-06:00" title="Wednesday, July 30, 2025 - 11:33">Wed, 07/30/2025 - 11:33</time> </span> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle focal_image_wide"> <img loading="lazy" src="/today/sites/default/files/styles/focal_image_wide/public/2025-07/Tournai.png?h=c77b5440&amp;itok=hHZdwMGK" width="1200" height="800" alt="Medieval illustration depicting people carrying and burying coffins"> </div> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-categories" itemprop="about"> <span class="visually-hidden">Categories:</span> <div class="ucb-article-category-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-folder-open"></i> </div> <a href="/today/taxonomy/term/14"> Health </a> </div> <a href="/today/daniel-strain">Daniel Strain</a> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="ucb-article-text" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><p>The Black Death arrived on the shores of England in May 1348 and, in less than two years, spread throughout the country, killing an estimated 2 million people. The death toll from the disease, which was caused by the bacterium <em>Yersinia pestis</em>, got so high that officials in London and other cities opened new cemeteries where hundreds of bodies were interred every day.</p><p>According to a new study, those who died around the time of the Black Death may help scientists answer a decidedly modern question: How can malnutrition early in life shape the health of humans far into adulthood?</p> <div class="align-right image_style-medium_750px_50_display_size_"> <div class="imageMediaStyle medium_750px_50_display_size_"> <img loading="lazy" src="/today/sites/default/files/styles/medium_750px_50_display_size_/public/2025-07/Tournai.png?itok=dvp0oP0l" width="750" height="451" alt="Medieval illustration depicting people carrying and burying coffins"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text">Illustration in the medieval manuscript <em>Tractatus quartus bu Gilles li Muisit </em>depicting people burying victims of the Black Death. (Credit: Public domain image via Wikimedia Commons)</p> </span> </div> <p>The answer may be more complicated than scientists once suspected, said Sharon DeWitte, lead author of the study and a professor in the <a href="https://ibs.colorado.edu/" rel="nofollow">Institute of Behavioral Science</a> and <a href="/anthropology" rel="nofollow">Department of Anthropology</a> at the .</p><p>In the new research, DeWitte and her colleagues examined chemical clues hidden in the teeth of nearly 275 people buried in English cemeteries before, during and after the Black Death. The team discovered something surprising: People who experienced malnutrition early in their lives may have survived threats to their health, like plague, at greater rates than their peers up until young adulthood, or roughly before the age of 30. &nbsp;</p><p>Those survival advantages, however, could have dropped significantly when the same individuals entered their middle and late adult years.</p><p>“What this might indicate is that if people experienced a period of starvation early in their childhoods or adolescence but survived, that could have shaped their development in ways that were beneficial in the short term but led to poor outcomes once they got older,” DeWitte said.</p><p>She and her colleagues <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adw7076" rel="nofollow">published their findings July 30</a> in the journal <em>Science Advances</em>.</p><p>The research is part of DeWitte’s <a href="/coloradan/2024/03/04/secrets-grave" rel="nofollow">ongoing effort to understand the past</a> to help humans living today.</p><p>“Mortality varied during a catastrophe 700 years ago in ways that might have been preventable,” she said. “My hope is that we can absorb that lesson and think about how human health can vary across different social categories today, and figure out the points of intervention where we can do something to reduce that burden.”</p><h2>Childhood health</h2><p>How experiences early in life shape our health long into the future is far from clear cut.</p><p>Some studies of modern humans, for example, have linked low birth weights in infants to health problems later in life. Babies born small, a possible sign of nutritional stress, seem to be more prone to illnesses like cardiovascular disease and diabetes in adulthood than the population at large.</p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-large"><div class="ucb-callout-content"> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/today/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-07/ThorntonAbbey.png?itok=pcwH7nA4" width="1500" height="1125" alt="Ruins of a large stone building"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text">The remnants of Thornton Abbey in Lincolnshire, United Kingdom, the site of a cemetery where victims of the Black Death were buried en masse. (Credit: CC photo by David Wright via Wikimedia Commons)</p> </span> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/today/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-07/Dewitte_headshot.png?itok=zmvIt0hT" width="1500" height="1500" alt="Sharon DeWitte headshot"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text">Sharon DeWitte</p> </span> </div></div><p>The Black Death, sometimes known as the second pandemic of plague, might be an ideal laboratory for studying these questions, DeWitte noted. In part, that’s because the death toll around Europe varied drastically—in some parts of England, for example, about 30% of the population died, while mortality rates reached 75% in Florence, Italy.</p><p>“It raises questions about why mortality was higher in some populations than others,” she said.</p><p>To pursue those questions, DeWitte and her colleagues turned to teeth.</p><h2>Environment matters</h2><p>She explained that what humans eat as infants and children leaves a mark in the development of our adult teeth—subtly shifting the types, or “isotopes,” of carbon and nitrogen atoms present in the dentine. In particular, when people experience extreme nutritional stress, their bodies will begin to break down their own fat stores and muscle, which have a different signature of isotopes than food that is eaten.</p><p>In the current study, DeWitte’s team examined the isotopes present in the teeth of hundreds of people buried in English cemeteries between 1100 to 1540 AD. They included the East Smithfield Black Death Cemetery, which opened in London in 1348 and where the bodies of hundreds of plague victims were stacked in a mass burial trenches.</p><p>DeWitte emphasizes that the team’s results are far from definitive—in many cases, the researchers don’t have any records about the humans they studied, so it’s hard to know for sure how they died or how healthy they were in life.</p><p>But the findings carry hints that malnutrition early in life may shape the health of adults in ways that aren’t necessarily good or bad—it all depends on context.</p><p>When infants or children don’t have enough to eat, DeWitte said, their bodies may develop in ways that prime them for hardship later in life. They may have altered metabolism, for example, so that they use calories, which may be scarce, more efficiently.</p><p>Those changes can be beneficial—that is, until the environment changes and food becomes more plentiful. Some evidence, for example, suggests that in the wake of the Black Death, conditions for survivors in England improved as laborers demanded higher wages.</p><p>“People who experienced nutritional stress as children may have had a mismatch with their environments later in life,” DeWitte said. “If there’s now a resource abundance, but their bodies were shaped for an environment of scarcity, they may have poor health outcomes, like packing too many fat stores, which can lead to cardiovascular disease.”</p><p>For DeWitte, the study is another example of what humans living today can learn from people who died hundreds of years ago:</p><p>“For a very long time, I've been interested in this question of why some people experience good health and others living in the exact same society don’t.”</p><hr><p><em>Co-authors of the new research include Julia Beaumont and Jacqueline Towers at the University of Bradford in the United Kingdom; Brittany Walter of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency; and Emily Brennan at the University of South Carolina.</em></p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div>Experiencing malnutrition in childhood or adolescence may not necessarily harm the health of humans into adulthood—although the relationship is complicated, a new study finds.</div> <h2> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--ucb-related-articles-block paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div>Related Articles</div> </div> </h2> <div>Traditional</div> <div>0</div> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/today/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-07/Yersiniapestis.png?itok=axiwMb5S" width="1500" height="1500" alt="Bacterial cells glowing green under a microscope"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text"><em>Yersinia pestis</em> bacteria seen through fluorescent imagine. (Credit: CDC)</p> </span> </div> <div>On</div> <div>White</div> <div>The Black Death was caused by Yersinia pestis bacteria, seen here through fluorescent imaging, and largely spread through fleas. (Credit: CDC)</div> Wed, 30 Jul 2025 17:33:52 +0000 Daniel William Strain 55009 at /today In microbial wars, bacteria suit up with a protein linked to Alzheimer’s /today/2025/07/29/microbial-wars-bacteria-suit-protein-linked-alzheimers <span>In microbial wars, bacteria suit up with a protein linked to Alzheimer’s</span> <span><span>Yvaine Ye</span></span> <span><time datetime="2025-07-29T10:30:39-06:00" title="Tuesday, July 29, 2025 - 10:30">Tue, 07/29/2025 - 10:30</time> </span> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle focal_image_wide"> <img loading="lazy" src="/today/sites/default/files/styles/focal_image_wide/public/2025-07/AdobeStock_271898271.jpeg?h=3d43c187&amp;itok=zY_Hf8vd" width="1200" height="800" alt="Escherichia Coli bacteria under microscope"> </div> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-categories" itemprop="about"> <span class="visually-hidden">Categories:</span> <div class="ucb-article-category-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-folder-open"></i> </div> <a href="/today/taxonomy/term/14"> Health </a> </div> <a href="/today/lisa-marshall">Lisa Marshall</a> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="ucb-article-text" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><p>Amyloids are perhaps best known as a key driver of Alzheimer’s disease.</p><p>The amorphous proteins, found throughout the human body, stick to nerve cells like plaque, choking off their function and contributing to a host of neurodegenerative diseases.</p><p>According to new research <a href="/lab/aaron-whiteley/2025/07/02/functional-amyloid-proteins-confer-defence-against-predatory-bacteria" rel="nofollow">published this month in the journal Nature</a>, these oft-maligned proteins also serve a critical role for bacteria in our environment, enabling them to fight off other “predatory bacteria.”</p><p>“We discovered that bacteria all around us are using amyloids as a molecular suit of armor,” said senior author Aaron Whiteley, assistant professor in the Department of Biochemistry.</p><p>By better understanding how bacteria defend themselves against threats, scientists could ultimately develop new tools to kill microbes growing out of control in places like hospitals and food processing facilities, he said. Such research can also offer new insight into how the human immune system works.</p><p>“A lot of the cellular machinery that makes up our own immune system actually originated in bacteria a billion-plus years ago,” said Whiteley. “If we can understand how bacteria are using those genes, we can better understand how humans use them too and possibly turn that knowledge into new therapies.”</p> <div class="align-right image_style-medium_750px_50_display_size_"> <div class="imageMediaStyle medium_750px_50_display_size_"> <img loading="lazy" src="/today/sites/default/files/styles/medium_750px_50_display_size_/public/2025-07/image004.png?itok=Mr5EmnUk" width="750" height="571" alt="Transmission electron micrograph of E. coli against the predatory bacterium Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus."> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p><span>E. Coli bacteria in green and their molecular suit of armor made of amyloid in purple. (Credit: Aaron Whiteley)</span></p> </span> </div> <h2>War between bugs</h2><p>In recent years, the scientific community has grown increasingly interested in how bacteria fight off viruses, or phages. Such research led to the Nobel Prize -winning gene splicer, CRISPR.</p><p>Less attention has been paid to how bacteria fight off their own “predatory bacteria.”</p><p>For the new study, Whiteley and postdoctoral fellow Hannah Ledvina zeroed in on one particularly ruthless predatory bacterium called <em>Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus.&nbsp;</em>Beter known as “Bdello” (pronounced Dell-O), the microbial cannibal worms its way inside of other bacterial species, leaching out their nutrients until they starve to death— and then swims off to destroy again.</p><p>Bdello are everywhere from your shower to your neighborhood creek to your mouth.</p><p>“They are generally harmless to humans, but they are deadly to the bacteria that make us sick,” said Whiteley. “Even <em>E. coli</em> has to worry about catching one of these predatory bacteria.”</p><p>Conventional wisdom has held that Bdello are, essentially, invincible, with other bacteria fairly powerless to fight them off. (This has made Bdello a favorite candidate for emerging efforts to fight problem bacteria with bacteria.)</p><p>But Whiteley wondered: Do some bacteria put up a fight against such predatory bacteria and win?</p><p>And if so, how?</p><h2>Armor made of amyloid</h2><p>To find out, the research team started by amassing a vast collection of exotic <em>E. coli</em> strains from various sources around the globe, including the guts of a lizard, the urinary tract of a patient in Sweden and scat samples from leopards and kangaroos.</p><p>Then they set Bdello loose on these bacteria.</p><p>“We were blown away,” said Whiteley. “We found that about one-third of the strains were actually resistant to Bdello.”</p><p>In subsequent tests using a high-tech microscope, the team could see just how those resistant strains fought back.</p><p>The images showed clearly that the resistant strains completely coated themselves in a type of amyloid protein called curli, which is similar but not identical to the amyloids that cause Alzheimer’s disease.</p><p>In follow-up studies using genetic sequencing, the team found that bacteria used curli to fight back against other predatory bacteria, too.</p><p>“We contend that the same characteristics that make amyloids a problem for humans — the fact that they are durable and hard to break down—make them an ideal suit of armor for bacteria, which they use to defend against a wide range of threats,” said Whiteley.</p><h2>Know thy enemy</h2><p>The study also suggests that bacteria enlist amyloids to develop biofilms—the thin layers of resistant bacteria that persist on hospital instruments, medical implants, industrial machines and other surfaces, breeding infection and corroding parts.</p><p>Today, a common way to get rid of a biofilm is to scrape it off.</p><p>But Whiteley suspects that Bdello and other strains of predatory bacteria may have developed genetic tools or unique enzymes able to disintegrate that rigid shield and break down biofilm.</p><p>“Wherever organisms are fighting, there is biochemical innovation happening,” he said.</p><p>He and his colleagues are now working to determine what those shield-busting tools may be, in hopes that they bould be co-opted to develop new ways of fighting antibiotic resistance or amyloid-fueled diseases like Alzheimer’s.</p><p>As the bacteria in our environment duel it out, he’ll be watching.</p><p>“If we can understand what makes this armor so durable and what some predatory bacteria are doing to circumvent it, it could have all sorts of implications for human health,” he said.</p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div>New research shows that bacteria in the environment use amyloids— proteins best known for contributing to neurodegenerative disease— to shield themselves from predators. The findings could inform new weapons against microbial resistance and human disease.</div> <h2> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--ucb-related-articles-block paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div>Related Articles</div> </div> </h2> <div>Traditional</div> <div>0</div> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/today/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-07/AdobeStock_271898271.jpeg?itok=LHai2Zdt" width="1500" height="1000" alt="Escherichia Coli bacteria under microscope"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p>Escherichia Coli (E. Coli) bacteria under the microscope. (Credit: Adobe Stock)</p> </span> </div> <div>On</div> <div>White</div> <div>Escherichia Coli (E. Coli) bacteria under the microscope. (Credit: Adobe Stock)</div> Tue, 29 Jul 2025 16:30:39 +0000 Yvaine Ye 55010 at /today What rats can tell us about the opioid crisis /today/2025/07/23/what-rats-can-tell-us-about-opioid-crisis <span>What rats can tell us about the opioid crisis</span> <span><span>Megan Maneval</span></span> <span><time datetime="2025-07-23T12:48:47-06:00" title="Wednesday, July 23, 2025 - 12:48">Wed, 07/23/2025 - 12:48</time> </span> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle focal_image_wide"> <img loading="lazy" src="/today/sites/default/files/styles/focal_image_wide/public/2025-07/oxycodone.jpg?h=722a593a&amp;itok=IOPvwyxB" width="1200" height="800" alt="Oxycodone bottles"> </div> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-categories" itemprop="about"> <span class="visually-hidden">Categories:</span> <div class="ucb-article-category-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-folder-open"></i> </div> <a href="/today/taxonomy/term/14"> Health </a> </div> <span>Colorado Arts and Sciences Magazine</span> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="ucb-article-text" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><p>In a recent study, CU Boulder scientists have estimated the heritability of opioid use disorder—an ongoing global health crisis.</p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div>In a recent study, CU Boulder scientists have estimated the heritability of opioid use disorder—an ongoing global health crisis.</div> <script> window.location.href = `/asmagazine/2025/07/14/what-rats-can-tell-us-about-opioid-crisis`; </script> <h2> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--ucb-related-articles-block paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div>Related Articles</div> </div> </h2> <div>Traditional</div> <div>0</div> <div>On</div> <div>White</div> Wed, 23 Jul 2025 18:48:47 +0000 Megan Maneval 54978 at /today New cancer therapy clings to tumors, with inspiration from gecko toes /today/2025/07/21/new-cancer-therapy-clings-tumors-inspiration-gecko-toes <span>New cancer therapy clings to tumors, with inspiration from gecko toes</span> <span><span>Lisa Marshall</span></span> <span><time datetime="2025-07-21T13:59:44-06:00" title="Monday, July 21, 2025 - 13:59">Mon, 07/21/2025 - 13:59</time> </span> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle focal_image_wide"> <img loading="lazy" src="/today/sites/default/files/styles/focal_image_wide/public/2025-07/AdobeStock_389267144.jpeg?h=790be497&amp;itok=1k3pM-wV" width="1200" height="800" alt="A scary looking gecko"> </div> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-categories" itemprop="about"> <span class="visually-hidden">Categories:</span> <div class="ucb-article-category-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-folder-open"></i> </div> <a href="/today/taxonomy/term/14"> Health </a> </div> <a href="/today/lisa-marshall">Lisa Marshall</a> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="ucb-article-text" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><p>For millennia, the gecko has offered inspiration to humans.</p><p>As far back as the 4th Century B.C., Aristotle marveled at the nimble reptile’s ability to “run up and down a tree in any way, even with the head downwards.”</p><p>Its grippy toes, able to latch on to even the slipperiest surface with extraordinary force, have inspired everything from super glues to “Superman” climbing suits to sponges for soaking up environmental toxins.</p><p>Now CU Boulder scientists have taken a cue from the remarkable reptile to develop a material able to stick to tumors inside the body, pumping out chemotherapy drugs for days.</p><p>The technology, developed with doctors at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, is described i<a href="https://advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adma.202505231" rel="nofollow">n the journal Advanced Materials</a>.</p><p>“Nature has been at this for millions of years and offers clues for developing better biomaterials,” said senior author Wyatt Shields, Thomas F. Austin assistant professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering at CU Boulder.</p><p>First-author Jin Gyun Lee, a postdoctoral researcher in the Shields Lab, said early results show great promise.<br><br>“We envision that this gecko-inspired technology could ultimately reduce the frequency of clinical treatments, potentially allowing patients to receive fewer but longer-lasting therapies,” Lee said. &nbsp;</p> <div class="align-right image_style-large_image_style"> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/today/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-07/AdobeStock_327554458.jpeg?itok=6TkG0SMw" width="1500" height="1000" alt="A close-up of the bottom of a gecko foot"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p>Millions of hair-like fibers, called setae, on the bottom of gecko toes enable them to stick to slippery surfaces. Credit: Adobe Stock Photo</p> </span> </div> <h2>The power of sticky toes</h2><p>How does a gecko manage to effortlessly ascend a glass wall or glide across a slippery ceiling?</p><p>The secret lies in the millions of microscopic, hair-like fibers, called setae, that line their toes.</p><p>With each step, these hair-like structures — and thousands of even tinier split ends called spatulae — flatten out across a broad surface area, conforming into nooks and crannies.</p><p>When molecules on the spatulae and surfaces interact— through a phenomenon known as Van der Waals forces— their feet stick, and stick hard.</p><p>Yet just a slight movement can break the bond, enabling them to scurry on.</p><p>Scientists have tried for decades to replicate the miracle that is the gecko toe, for use in stronger adhesives, medical and personal care products, and more.</p><p>But those tiny hairs have proven complicated and expensive to fabricate and almost impossible to make at scale.</p><p>Shields, whose lab develops materials for medical applications, faced an additional challenge: He and Lee sought to invent a material that could linger safely in the body, delivering a sustained dose of medicine, before disintegrating.</p><p>They developed a way to turn an already FDA-approved biodegradable polymer, poly lactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA), into small particles displaying branched hair-like nanostructures similar to those on the gecko’s feet.</p><p>They loaded these “soft dendritic particles” with chemotherapy drugs and attached them to cancer cells in a petri dish and bladder tumors in mice.</p><p>The study showed that the particles clung tightly to the cancer for days, even in a slippery environment like the surface of a bladder. The animals tolerated them well and the treatment elicited &nbsp;a favorable immune response. And the particles were also cheap and easy to make, said Lee:</p><p>“We’ve developed a practical, flexible platform for localized cancer therapy that could be easily scaled and translated.”</p><h2>The challenge with bladder cancer</h2><p>The authors stress that more research is necessary, and it could be years before the technology is ready for clinical trials in people.</p><p>Ultimately, they say, it could be a game changer for treating localized tumors (those still confined to one spot), with minimal damage to healthy surrounding tissue.</p><p>The team started with bladder cancer, which is diagnosed in about 85,000 people and kills 18,000 people annually, because it can be uniquely challenging to treat.</p> <div class="align-right image_style-medium_750px_50_display_size_"> <div class="imageMediaStyle medium_750px_50_display_size_"> <img loading="lazy" src="/today/sites/default/files/styles/medium_750px_50_display_size_/public/2025-07/Picture1.jpg?itok=SEeUuXYN" width="750" height="218" alt="An illustration of how a new gecko-inspired cancer treatment works"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p>New gecko-inspired 'soft dendritic particles' (SDPs) could be loaded with chemotherapy drugs and stuck to the surface of bladder tumors for sustained, targeted treatment.</p> </span> </div> <p>“Bladder cancer is common, with most patients presenting with localized disease,” said co-author Thomas Flaig, MD, an oncologist and professor of medicine at CU Anschutz who specializes in bladder cancer. “There is a real need for new and effective therapies to prevent progression to more advanced disease for these patients.”</p><p>To treat localized bladder tumors, doctors typically insert a catheter into the bladder and bathe the whole organ in chemotherapy drugs. Because people urinate about six times a day, the medication washes out fast, necessitating frequent repeat treatments that can be painful. Side effects are common, since the drugs hit the healthy tissue, too. Often, the cancer comes back.</p><p>The researchers envision a day when a gel containing their gecko-inspired particles could be applied directly to the tumor, selectively delivering a sustained, high concentration of cancer-killing medicine until it breaks down and is excreted.</p><p>The technology could also work for other cancers, such as oral, head or neck tumors.</p><p>The team of biomedical and materials engineers, medical oncologists and cancer biologists plan to continue their cross-campus collaboration — and look to nature for inspiration.</p><p>“These are early days in this work, but this is a really promising start,” said Flaig, also vice chancellor for research for the Anschutz Medical Campus. “Often the scientific projects that bring together those with distinct areas of expertise have the best chance to have the biggest impact.”</p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div>The tiny lizards can climb glass and cling to ceilings thanks to their sticky toes. Now those toes have inspired a new material that could deliver targeted chemotherapy with minimal side effects.</div> <h2> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--ucb-related-articles-block paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div>Related Articles</div> </div> </h2> <div>Traditional</div> <div>0</div> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/today/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-07/AdobeStock_258415692_0.jpeg?itok=SUu-lQsb" width="1500" height="1000" alt="A gecko"> </div> </div> <div>On</div> <div>White</div> <div>The nimble gecko, able to cling to glass and other slippery surfaces, has inspired scientists for centuries.</div> Mon, 21 Jul 2025 19:59:44 +0000 Lisa Marshall 54959 at /today Common sugar substitute shown to impair brain cells, boost stroke risk /today/2025/07/14/common-sugar-substitute-shown-impair-brain-cells-boost-stroke-risk <span>Common sugar substitute shown to impair brain cells, boost stroke risk</span> <span><span>Lisa Marshall</span></span> <span><time datetime="2025-07-14T10:45:17-06:00" title="Monday, July 14, 2025 - 10:45">Mon, 07/14/2025 - 10:45</time> </span> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle focal_image_wide"> <img loading="lazy" src="/today/sites/default/files/styles/focal_image_wide/public/2025-07/pexels-mali-141815_0.jpg?h=790be497&amp;itok=MHqmfpSt" width="1200" height="800" alt="A spoonful of sugar"> </div> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-categories" itemprop="about"> <span class="visually-hidden">Categories:</span> <div class="ucb-article-category-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-folder-open"></i> </div> <a href="/today/taxonomy/term/14"> Health </a> </div> <a href="/today/lisa-marshall">Lisa Marshall</a> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="ucb-article-text" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><p>From low-carb ice cream to keto protein bars to “sugar-free” soda, the decades-old sweetener erythritol is everywhere.</p><p>But new CU Boulder research shows the popular sugar substitute and specialty food additive comes with serious downsides, impacting brain cells in numerous ways that can boost risk of stroke.</p><p>The study was published in the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1152/japplphysiol.00276.2025" rel="nofollow">Journal of Applied Physiology</a>.</p><p>“Our study adds to the evidence suggesting that non-nutritive sweeteners that have generally been purported to be safe, may not come without negative health consequences,” said senior author Christopher DeSouza, professor of integrative physiology and director of the <a href="/iphy/research/integrative-vascular-biology-laboratory" rel="nofollow">Integrative Vascular Biology Lab</a>.</p><p>First approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2001, erythritol is a sugar alcohol, often produced by fermenting corn, and found in hundreds of products made by various brands. It has almost no calories, is about 80% as sweet as table sugar, and has negligible impact on insulin levels, making it a favorite for people trying to lose weight, keep their blood sugar in check or avoid carbohydrates.</p><p>But recent research has begun to shed light on its risks.</p><p>One recent Cleveland Clinc study <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36849732/" rel="nofollow">involving 4,000 people in the U.S. and Europe</a> found that men and women with higher circulating levels of erythritol were significantly more likely to have a heart attack or stroke within the next three years.</p><p>DeSouza and first author Auburn Berry, a graduate student in his lab, set out to understand what might be driving that increased risk.<br><br>To test impacts of erythritol on cells, researchers in the lab treated human cells that line blood vessels in the brain for three hours with about the same amount of erythritol contained in a typical sugar-free beverage.</p><p>They observed that the treated cells were altered in numerous ways:&nbsp;</p><p>They expressed significantly less nitric oxide, a molecule that relaxes and widens blood vessels, and more endothelin-1, a protein that constricts blood vessels. Meanwhile, when challenged with a clot-forming compound called thrombin, cellular production of the natural clot-busting compound t-PA was “markedly blunted.” The erythritol-treated cells also produced more reactive oxygen species (ROS), a.k.a. “free radicals,” metabolic byproducts which can age and damage cells and inflame tissue.</p><p>Previous research has shown that as little as 30g of erythritol—about as much as you’d find in a pint of sugar-free ice cream—can also cause platelets, a component of blood, to clump together, potentially forming clots.</p><p>“Big picture, if your vessels are more constricted and your ability to break down blood clots is lowered, your risk of stroke goes up,” said Berry. “Our research demonstrates not only that, but how erythritol has the potential to increase stroke risk.”</p><p>DeSouza notes that their study used only a serving-size worth of the sugar substitute. For those who consume multiple servings per day, the impact, presumably, could be worse.</p><p>The authors caution that their study was a laboratory study, conducted on cells, and larger studies in people are now needed.</p><p>That said, De Souza encourages consumers to read labels, looking for erythritol or “sugar alcohol” on the label.</p><p>“Given the epidemiological study that inspired our work, and now our cellular findings, we believe it would be prudent for people to monitor their consumption of non-nutrient-sweeteners such as this one,” he said.</p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div>New research shows that the popular sweetener erythritol, often recommended for people with obesity and diabetes, comes with health risks of its own.<br> </div> <h2> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--ucb-related-articles-block paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div>Related Articles</div> </div> </h2> <div>Traditional</div> <div>0</div> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/today/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-07/pexels-mali-141815.jpg?itok=QZ9dMuFP" width="1500" height="1000" alt="A spoonful of sugar"> </div> </div> <div>On</div> <div>White</div> Mon, 14 Jul 2025 16:45:17 +0000 Lisa Marshall 54941 at /today