https://phys.org/ en-us Latest news from University of Louisville Have you ever wondered why some people who drink alcohol develop serious liver problems while others don't? A study by University of Louisville researchers published in Toxicological Sciences suggests that the answer might be hidden in everyday sources such as drinking water, food packaging or even non-stick cookware. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-08-combined-exposure-alcohol-chemicals-liver.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 04 Aug 2025 16:35:05 EDT news673544101 A new online tool developed by researchers at the University of Louisville promises to speed up the discovery of treatments for brain and nerve tumors, especially rare ones that have had limited research attention. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-07-largest-database-brain-tumor-gene.html Genetics Mon, 21 Jul 2025 10:30:08 EDT news672310943 The University of Louisville's Green Heart Louisville Project has found that people living in neighborhoods where the number of trees and shrubs was more than doubled showed lower levels of a blood marker of inflammation than those living outside the planted areas. General inflammation is an important risk indicator for heart disease and other chronic diseases. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-08-inflammation-residents-adding-trees-neighborhoods.html Health Tue, 27 Aug 2024 10:00:01 EDT news643966381 With the start of a new year, smokers and vapers may have resolved to quit or cut back on the habit to improve their health. They may want to use caution, however, if their strategy involves switching from cigarettes to e-cigarettes, considered by some to be a less harmful alternative. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-01-pod-based-cigarettes-higher-nicotine.html Cardiology Fri, 05 Jan 2024 12:10:09 EST news623679002 A new study from University of Louisville researchers in the Christina Lee Brown Envirome Institute has found that exposure to e-cigarette aerosols can cause heart arrhythmias in animal models—both in the form of premature and skipped heart beats. The study findings, published Oct. 25 in Nature Communications, suggest exposure to specific chemicals within e-cigarette liquids (e-liquids) promote arrhythmias and cardiac electrical dysfunction. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-10-e-cigarettes-cardiac-arrhythmias.html Cardiology Tue, 25 Oct 2022 11:00:04 EDT news585912954 When Keith Smith recently got a new tablet, it wasn't for watching videos or scanning social media. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-04-home-epidural-people-spinal-cord.html Neuroscience Fri, 01 Apr 2022 08:41:55 EDT news568021309 Researchers at the University of Louisville analyzed data for heart transplants from 1987 to 2019 to better understand equity in access to heart transplant for adult Black and white patients and those of other races, comparing percentages of patients who were placed on the transplant list and those actually transplanted over time. They found that access to transplants for Black patients has improved significantly over the study period, both in the percentage of patients listed for transplant and the percentage of transplants performed. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-02-heart-transplant-access-outcomes-black.html Cardiology Wed, 23 Feb 2022 13:11:01 EST news564844257 Researchers from the University of Louisville School of Dentistry and their colleagues have discovered details of how proteins produced by oral epithelial cells protect humans against viruses entering the body through the mouth. They also found that oral bacteria can suppress the activity of these cells, increasing vulnerability to infection. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-01-reveal-oral-bacteria-suppress-viral.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 05 Jan 2022 10:10:00 EST news560599796 Bubonic plague may not seem like a significant problem in the world today. While it killed millions of people in Europe in the Middle Ages and was known as the "black death," it mostly has faded from public concern. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-11-bacterium-bubonic-plague-yields-clues.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Tue, 02 Nov 2021 09:53:47 EDT news555065624 A cardiothoracic surgical team with UofL Health—Jewish Hospital and the University of Louisville has performed the world's first Aeson bioprosthetic total artificial heart implantation in a female patient. The investigational device, currently intended as a bridge to heart transplant, is part of an Early Feasibility Study (EFS) sponsored by CARMAT, a French medical device company, in partnership with UofL, UofL Health—Jewish Hospital and the UofL Health—Trager Transplant Center. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-09-woman-artificial-heart.html Cardiology Tue, 21 Sep 2021 10:46:06 EDT news551439961 Evidence is growing that living in areas of high greenness, surrounded by trees, shrubs and other vegetation, has beneficial effects on human health. Researchers at the University of Louisville's Christina Lee Brown Envirome Institute and other colleagues recently published two studies showing positive effects of greenness: one on cancer survival and the other on depressive symptoms. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-08-health-benefits-greener-environment.html Health Tue, 31 Aug 2021 10:05:37 EDT news549623131 Historically, most large-scale immunogenomic studies—those exploring the association between genes and disease—were conducted with a bias toward individuals of European ancestry. Corey T. Watson, Ph.D., assistant professor in the University of Louisville Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, is leading a call to actively diversify the genetic resources he and fellow immunogenomics researchers use in their work to advance genomic medicine more equitably. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-06-genetic-diversity-immunogenomics.html Genetics Tue, 29 Jun 2021 10:20:15 EDT news544180811 A clinical trial conducted at the University of Louisville has shown for the first time that heart failure treatments using cells derived from the patient's own bone marrow and heart resulted in improved quality of life and reduced major adverse cardiac events for patients after one year. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-06-clinical-trial-cell-therapy-outcomes.html Cardiology Mon, 14 Jun 2021 14:25:16 EDT news542899513 When a new drug is being developed, the first question is, "Does it work?" The second question is, "Does it do harm?" No matter how effective a therapy is, if it harms the patient in the process, it has little value. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-04-biologists-method-culture-cells-drug.html Medical research Thu, 08 Apr 2021 10:20:09 EDT news537096006 The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has caused tremendous upheaval, leading to more than 2.3 million deaths worldwide and 465,000 in the United States. Understanding the impact of seasonal temperature changes on transmission of the virus is an important factor in reducing the virus's spread in the years to come. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-02-daily-temperatures-higher-transmission-covid-.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Fri, 19 Feb 2021 13:28:38 EST news532963710 Researchers at the University of Louisville have shown that living near an abundance of green vegetation can offset the negative effects of air pollution on blood vessel health. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-01-trees-vascular-pollution.html Cardiology Mon, 25 Jan 2021 08:40:55 EST news530786452 University of Louisville researchers have found a less toxic way to deliver medicines by using the natural lipids in plants, particularly grapefruit and ginger. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-11-fruit-toxic-drug-delivery.html Medical research Mon, 30 Nov 2020 03:35:45 EST news525929740 Modern humans arrived in the westernmost part of Europe 41,000—38,000 years ago, about 5,000 years earlier than previously known, according to Jonathan Haws, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of Anthropology at the University of Louisville, and an international team of researchers. The team has revealed the discovery of stone tools used by modern humans dated to the earlier time period in a report published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. https://phys.org/news/2020-09-modern-humans-westernmost-europe-years.html Archaeology Mon, 28 Sep 2020 15:00:02 EDT news520497890 Fatty acid binding proteins (FABPs) serve as a type of chaperone, coordinating the transport of fatty acids and other molecules between cells. Bing Li, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Louisville and a leading researcher in understanding the role of FABPs, has created a "SnapShot" of the functions of these proteins published in the journal Cell, a highly regarded scientific journal covering cell biology. https://phys.org/news/2020-08-immunologists-functions-protein-family-scientific.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 20 Aug 2020 11:00:01 EDT news517127251 The COVID-19 pandemic has led to the expansion of telemedicine, and as part of that expansion, faculty at the University of Louisville are piloting new smart glasses for advanced delivery of health care. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-05-health-lens-smart-glasses.html Health Mon, 04 May 2020 12:55:54 EDT news507815748 Innovation at the University of Louisville involving multiple departments at the university has led to a promising solution for the shortage of swabs in COVID-19 test kits. In response to a request from the Commonwealth of Kentucky, UofL's Additive Manufacturing Institute of Science & Technology (AMIST), along with faculty and students in the Schools of Dentistry, Engineering and Medicine have created a 3-D printed swab made of a pliable resin material. https://techxplore.com/news/2020-04-d-printed-swabs-gap-covid-kits.html Engineering Thu, 16 Apr 2020 14:19:42 EDT news506265578 It is widely accepted that higher levels of body fat increase the risk of developing breast cancer, as well as other cancers. Based on his ongoing research, Bing Li, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology and UofL Health—James Graham Brown Cancer Center at the University of Louisville, has published an article which proposes a unique theory that a protein secreted by fat cells drives the development of breast cancer. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-04-mechanism-link-obesity-breast-cancer.html Oncology & Cancer Mon, 13 Apr 2020 03:22:32 EDT news505966935 The novel coronavirus may have K-12 students in Kentucky's school districts learning at home, but researchers at the University of Louisville are using the computing power of thousands of computers in classrooms across the state to identify drugs to treat COVID-19. The desktop computers are part of the DataseamGrid, a network of computers housed in classrooms of 48 Kentucky school districts as part of a partnership designed to support research, education and workforce development. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-04-drugs-coronavirus-schools-kentucky.html Medical research Thu, 09 Apr 2020 12:01:02 EDT news505652457 Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is a common hereditary eye disorder that leads to the gradual deterioration of rod cells causing reduced peripheral vision and night vision. Subsequent loss of cone photoreceptors cause the loss of high-resolution daylight and color vision. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2019-07-disruption-glucose-rods-cones-shown.html Medical research Tue, 30 Jul 2019 13:40:28 EDT news483712819 Researchers at the University of Louisville have developed an easily reproducible system that enables them to keep slices of human hearts alive for a longer period of time, allowing more extensive testing of new drugs and gene therapies. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2019-07-method-enables-extensive-preclinical-heart.html Cardiology Thu, 25 Jul 2019 15:09:28 EDT news483286158 A research team at the University of Louisville has discovered that an immune checkpoint molecule they developed for cancer immunotherapy, also protects against future development of multiple types of cancer when administered by itself. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2019-02-immune-molecule-shown-cancer.html Oncology & Cancer Fri, 15 Feb 2019 01:04:21 EST news469415047 Scientists at the University of Louisville have shown that a microbial metabolite, Urolithin A, derived from a compound found in berries and pomegranates, can reduce and protect against inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Millions of people worldwide suffer from IBD in the form of either ulcerative colitis or Crohn's disease, and few effective long-term treatments are available. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2019-01-metabolite-gut-microbiota-pomegranates-inflammatory.html Inflammatory disorders Wed, 09 Jan 2019 12:08:00 EST news466258070 Of four research participants living with traumatic, motor complete spinal cord injury, two are able to walk over ground with epidural stimulation following epidural stimulation paired with daily locomotor training. In addition, all four participants achieved independent standing and trunk stability when using the stimulation and maintaining their mental focus. The study was conducted at the Kentucky Spinal Cord Injury Research Center at the University of Louisville (UofL) and is published in this week's New England Journal of Medicine. The study was funded by the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust, University of Louisville Hospital and Medtronic plc. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2018-09-technology-therapy-individuals-chronic-spinal.html Neuroscience Mon, 24 Sep 2018 11:33:09 EDT news457007582 For the first time since 2009, Stefanie Putnam is able to prepare—and eat—meals for herself, put the vest on her service dog, Kaz, and drive herself to activities with her horse without losing consciousness or gasping for breath. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2018-09-recovery-cardiovascular-function-spinal-cord-injured-people.html Neuroscience Mon, 17 Sep 2018 14:39:36 EDT news456413965 Brief cognitive behavioral therapy significantly improved the mental health of women overwhelmed by caring for children with severe chronic health conditions, researchers at the University of Louisville have found. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2018-09-psychotherapy-benefits-women-children-severe.html Psychology & Psychiatry Fri, 14 Sep 2018 13:23:22 EDT news456150194