Sadness, brain fog, pain during sexual intercourse, loss of memory, bone mass and libido, incontinence, migraines, hot flushes, the risk of heart attack and insomnia. 

These aren’t the potential side effects of an aggressive treatment but rather the symptoms of menopause: a stage that all women go through (and many will spend a third of their lives in) but about which we know very little, both medically and socially. 

According to a review published in the journal Cell, 85% of women going through menopause are not receiving any effective, regulator-approved treatment. Fortunately, this gap, in both resources and care, is beginning to be filled.

Sometimes, all we need to do is change our angle of perspective to realise that what had previously appeared to be splashes of colour, spontaneous shapes and lines that lead nowhere are, in fact, a message.

And that’s the case of this latest CaixaResearch Snapshot. It could be a contemporary work of art with an artificial, abstract, almost random texture. But what you can see here goes beyond art. It’s a scientific image that contains an important discovery, namely confirmation that our brain and gut communicate directly and in both directions. 

To analyse this image from two different but complementary perspectives, we asked Marc Claret,

Ideas are like roots that nourish one another. 

Every discovery is a new shoot. 

Every collaboration, an opportunity in bloom. 

Diversity, connection and community are essential for growth. 

This was the spirit that defined the fourth edition of the Health Research Meeting. On the 2nd and 3rd of  October, science and nature came together to welcome nearly 50 researchers from the 2021 Health Research call at the Cap Roig Gardens. It was two days filled with networking, presentations and open discussions. 

This time, the event was moderated by the writer and science communicator Vivienne Parry,

In 2015, the British National Health Service (NHS) surprised the entire population with the Heart Age Test, a free online calculator that estimates the user’s ‘heart age‘ with just five basic pieces of information: weight, height, blood pressure, cholesterol and family history.

However, for many people the result was a reality check: 80% discovered that their heart was older than their actual age.

Behind this anecdote lies a disturbing trend: a growing number of heart attacks are being detected in young people, even those under 40. What’s happening? Why is the heart starting to fail earlier? And, most importantly, can we prevent it?

To mark World Heart Day,

Tumours have highly sophisticated ways of resisting treatment. Some can metastasise to other organs and tissues, hide from the immune system and influence other cells in the body, even modifying cell behaviour to promote their own growth.

The latter is the case of myeloid cells. Originating in the bone marrow, they play a key role in defending against microbes but they can switch sides when a tumour is present; instead of defending us, they hinder the immune response and help the tumour to grow, promoting the formation of blood vessels that feed it.

But how does this switch take place? The answer is provided in this edition of News From the Lab by Gabriel Rabinovich,