Results of research offer hope to older women – but it will be several years at least before technique is approved

• Human eggs ‘rejuvenated’ in an advance that could boost IVF success rates

It is a rollercoaster of emotional extremes that will be familiar to many who have gone through IVF treatment: hope and joy turns to despair and back again. This is especially true for women over 35, the age when IVF success rates decline steeply and for whom the only real way to improve the odds is to keep trying.

While there has been huge progress in IVF in the past decades, including the advent of genetic testing, egg freezing and techniques to overcome male infertility, the primary cause of age-related female infertility – egg quality – has not been directly addressed.

Experts and community trying to untangle mystery of outburst that saw water travel almost 10km overland into a bigger lake

Manoel Dixon had just finished dinner one night last May when a phone dinged nearby with a Facebook message.

Dixon, 26, was at his family’s hunting camp near their northern Quebec home town of Waswanipi. They knew the fellow hunter who was messaging Dixon’s father, but what he wrote didn’t make sense.

Des chercheurs de l’université Stanford ont identifié une protéine unique dont l’inhibition permettrait de restaurer le cartilage dégradé par le vieillissement. Cette découverte, validée sur des modèles murins, ouvre des perspectives thérapeutiques prometteuses pour soulager les millions de personnes souffrant d’arthrose et potentiellement éviter les remplacements articulaires chirurgicaux. La protéine 15-PGDH, déjà largement associée au ... Lire plus

Les crises cardiaques et accidents vasculaires cérébraux ne surviennent pratiquement jamais de façon imprévisible. Une vaste recherche menée auprès de plus de 9 millions d’adultes américains et sud-coréens révèle que presque tous les individus développant une pathologie cardiaque et subissant un événement cardiovasculaire majeur présentent au moins l’un de quatre facteurs prédictifs essentiels. L’hypertension artérielle, ... Lire plus

Experts are urging guideline changes on what health professionals should wear to protect against flu-like illnesses including Covid

Surgical face masks provide inadequate protection against flu-like illnesses including Covid, and should be replaced by respirator-level masks – worn every time doctors and nurses are face to face with a patient, according to a group of experts urging changes to World Health Organization guidelines.

There is “no rational justification remaining for prioritising or using” the surgical masks that are ubiquitous in hospitals and clinics globally, given their “inadequate protection against airborne pathogens”, they said in a letter to WHO chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

The humble hedgehog has been a symbol of superstition and healing in ancient cultures across the world

Auto-brewery syndrome can produce enough alcohol in gut to cause noticeable intoxication and induce liver damage, cognitive impairment, digestive issues and even withdrawal symptoms

The move marks a crucial step in plans to restore vital oyster reefs