Strategic Communications and Marketing News Bureau

Health and Medicine

Health and medicine The researchers standing with a scale.

Eating craved foods with meals lessens cravings, boosts weight loss

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Food cravings are the downfall of many dieters, who feel locked in an eternal battle with their willpower to resist the tempting sweets, snacks and other foods they love. However, researchers in food science and human nutrition at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign say in a new study that eating dessert may […]

Business Mehmet Eren Ahsen, a professor of business administration at Illinois

Paper: AI-human task-sharing could cut mammography screening costs by up to 30%

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The most effective way to harness the power of artificial intelligence when screening for breast cancer may be through collaboration with human radiologists — not by wholesale replacing them, says new research co-written by a University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign expert in the intersection of health care and technology. The study finds that […]

Health and medicine Photo portrait of Catharine Fairbairn in an office

Review: Social drinking also a well-worn path to alcohol use disorder

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — When picturing a “typical” alcoholic, people tend to imagine a person drinking at home alone. But that focus overlooks the social origins of many serious alcohol problems, say the authors of a new review paper in the journal Current Directions in Psychological Science. “Evidence for the centrality of social motives in problem […]

Engineering Researchers positioned behind a microscope used in the research and in from of a projected image of model cancer cell.

DNA origami guides new possibilities in the fight against pancreatic cancer

One of the challenges of fighting pancreatic cancer is finding ways to penetrate the organ’s dense tissue to define the margins between malignant and normal tissue. A new study uses DNA origami structures to selectively deliver fluorescent imaging agents to pancreatic cancer cells without affecting normal cells. The study, led by University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign mechanical science and engineering professor Bumsoo Han and professor Jong Hyun Choi at Purdue University, found that specially engineered DNA origami structures carrying imaging dye packets can specifically target human KRAS mutant cancer cells, which are present in 95% of pancreatic cancer cases.

Business Photo of Ujjal Kumar Mukherjee, a professor of business administration at Illinois.

New analytics-driven framework aims to improve care of chronic disease

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — An analytics-driven “decision framework” that accounts for the socioeconomic and demographic factors of patients can promote more equitable health care delivery and potentially improve chronic disease care outcomes, according to new research co-written by a University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign business scholar who studies technology adoption in health care. A data-informed approach to […]

Health and medicine Portrait of Nicholas Burd standing in front of a weight rack.

Omnivorous? Vegan? Makes no difference to muscle building after weight training, study finds

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — A new study asked three questions about muscle protein synthesis in response to a nine-day diet and weight training regimen: First, does the source of protein — plant or animal-based — make any difference to muscle gain? Second, does it matter if total daily protein intake is evenly distributed throughout the day? […]

Engineering Health and Medicine Life Sciences Science and Technology Graduate student Jonathan Cerna monitors heart data from a “smart shirt” that tracks electrical activity as graduate student Laila Shaaban exercises and rests.

Wearable technology continuously monitors heart-rate recovery to predict risk

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. —  The time it takes the heart to return to its baseline rhythm after exercise can predict a host of cardiovascular or metabolic disorders. In a new study, scientists at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign used a “smart shirt” equipped with an electrocardiogram to track participants’ heart-rate recovery after exercise and developed a […]

Expert viewpoints A man in a lab coat and gloves holds a culture dish next to a fume hood in a lab.

How does what lives in your gut affect your health?

The hordes of microorganisms living in our digestive tracts are important to digestion and our immune systems, but what we eat can affect them, too, says Illinois pathobiology professor Chris Gaulke in a video interview.

Engineering A portrait of a man standing in an atrium

Drug-delivering aptamers target leukemia stem cells for one-two knockout punch

Drug-carrying DNA aptamers can deliver a one-two punch to leukemia by precisely targeting the elusive cancer stem cells that seed cancer relapses.

Health and medicine Portrait of Csaba Varga in his office.

Team finds regional, age-related trends in exposure to drug-resistant pathogen

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Campylobacter infections are the most common foodborne illnesses in the U.S., sickening an estimated 1.5 million people each year. A new study examined records of Campylobacter jejuni infections from 10 states, plotting regional, age-related, and drug-resistance trends from 2013 to 2019. The study found that drug-resistant C. jejuni infections were highest in […]

Health and Medicine Life Sciences Science and Technology A close-uup of a microfluidic device, showing its winding fluid channels, backlit in blue light

To overcome antibiotic resistance, new research says to let it flow

When it comes to screening antibiotics against resistant infections, Illinois research says: Let it flow.

Announcements The Alma Mater statue wearing a Carle Illinois College of Medicine white coat

Carle Illinois College of Medicine receives LCME accreditation

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The Carle Illinois College of Medicine at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the world’s first engineering-based medical school, has received full accreditation from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education. The college, which launched in 2017 and graduated its first class in 2022, operated under provisional accreditation until the LCME’s full review could be completed. […]

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