A lack of detailed record-keeping in clinics and emergency departments may be getting in the way of reducing the inappropriate use of antibiotics, a pair of new studies suggests. In one of the studies, about 10% of children and 35% of adults who got an antibiotic prescription during an office visit had no specific reason for the antibiotic in their...

The latest findings forecast that global life expectancy will increase by 4.9 years in males and 4.2 years in females between 2022 and 2050. Increases are expected to be largest in countries where life expectancy is lower, contributing to a convergence of increased life expectancy across geographies. The trend is largely driven by public health measures...

The sweet-taste receptor might be the first stop in a metabolic surveillance system for sugar. The receptor is also expressed in certain intestinal cells, where it may facilitate glucose absorption and assimilation, as part of this system. A team found that stimulation and inhibition of the sweet receptor helps regulate glucose metabolism in humans...

In the United States, about 30-40% of donor hearts aren't considered for transplant due to inadequate function in the donor. This leads to a drop in the number of donated hearts that are available to be matched with someone who needs a heart transplant.

In what they believe is a solution to a 30-year biological mystery, neuroscientists say they have used genetically engineered mice to address how one mutation in the gene for the light-sensing protein rhodopsin results in congenital stationary night blindness.

Abnormalities in the shape of the sclera, the white of the eye, can cause various complications and lead to blindness. However, techniques to observe the sclera in detail, such as its fibrous structure, are lacking. Now, researchers have used polarization-sensitive optical computed tomography to accurately visualize the density and orientation of scleral...