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Scientists have previously shown that when one animal watches another performing a motor task, such as reaching for food, mirror neurons in the motor cortex of the observer's brain start firing as though the observer were also reaching for food. New Duke research appearing March 29 in the journal Scientific Reports suggests mirroring in monkeys is also influenced by social factors, such as proximity to other animals, social hierarchy and competition for food.

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New data shows that all moderate or vigorous exercise can add up to reduce the risk of disease or death, even if you are exercising only in short bursts throughout the day.

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A 12-week mobile health, or mHealth, program not only kept cardiac rehab patients from losing ground, it appeared to help them maintain and even gain fitness.

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Doctors often cite the high price of a prescription drug as a reason they don't prescribe it, while patients similarly say that cost is a main reason they quit taking a drug. Removing this financial barrier might increase the use of evidence-based therapies, improve patient adherence to those medications, and potentially save lives. That theory was tested in a study of heart attack survivors led by the Duke Clinical Research Institute; findings were presented March 11 at the American College of Cardiology annual scientific sessions meeting in Orlando.

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Doctors evaluating patients for blockages in the heart are aided by having a good roadmap of the vascular terrain before they can insert stents to clear the impasse. Two technologies have been used with equal success, but now a study presented March 10 at the American College of Cardiology annual meeting by Duke cardiologists shows that the newer method carries a much lower cost, potentially saving each patient at least $800.

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About 3 out of 4 Americans agree that smoking cigarettes causes health problems, but public perception of the risks posed by smoking may be declining, according to a Duke Health study published in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence.

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Despite reports in recent years suggesting childhood obesity could be reaching a plateau in some groups, the big picture on obesity rates for children ages 2 to 19 remains unfavorable, according to a new analysis from Duke Health researchers.

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Duke Health has become the first healthcare institution in the U.S. to be awarded the highest honor for analytic capabilities by HIMSS Analytics, a global healthcare IT market intelligence, research and standards organization.

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Treating food allergies might be a simple matter of teaching the immune system a new trick, researchers at Duke Health have found. In a study using mice bred to have peanut allergies, the Duke researchers were able to reprogram the animals' immune systems using a nanoparticle delivery of molecules to the lymph nodes that switched off the life-threatening reactions to peanut exposures.

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A drug used to slow cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease could offer clues on how drugs might one day be able to reverse brain changes that affect learning and memory in teens and young adults who binge drink.

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A research team at the Duke Cancer Institute has found a new way to keep the immune system engaged, and is planning to test the approach in a phase 1 clinical trial.

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A new study from Duke Health has found pregnant women experienced less secondhand smoke exposure since the 2009 passage of the ‘smoking ban’ in North Carolina, which outlawed smoking inside public places such as bars and restaurants.

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Duke Health researchers found baseball players with higher scores on vision and motor tasks completed on large touch-screen machines called Nike Sensory Stations had better on-base percentages, more walks and fewer strikeouts -- collectively referred to as plate discipline -- compared to their peers.

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Compared to younger adults, older people have higher rates of complications from surgery. But many problems can be avoided by intervening with assessments and risk-reduction strategies before, during and after procedures.

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Duke Health researchers, publishing in the Jan. 4 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, found significantly improved survival among patients with a severe form of scleroderma who underwent chemotherapy, whole body radiation and a stem cell transplant. Patients also had less need for immune suppressant drugs after transplant.

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Researchers at the Duke Human Vaccine Institute have led an effort to develop a more accurate way to gauge the incidence of HIV infections in large populations, which will improve research and prevention strategies worldwide.

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Asthma affects almost 1 in 10 children in the U.S. and is a leading cause of emergency room visits and hospitalizations in preschoolers. According to new research from Duke Health and collaborators, symptoms may be worse for children ages 2 to 5 who are overweight.

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Researchers at Duke Health are working to expand the medical toolkit for treating Lyme disease by identifying vulnerable areas of the disease-causing bacterium that could lead to innovative therapies.

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Large national study shows the life-saving potential of coordinating EMS, hospital responses

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Technology that keeps track of how your smartphone is oriented can now give $50,000 ultrasound machines many of the 3-D imaging abilities of their $250,000 counterparts — for the cost of a $10 microchip. Doctors and engineers from Duke and Stanford universities will demonstrate their device Oct. 31 at the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) Research Forum in Washington, D.C.

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An infusion of cells from a child’s own umbilical cord blood appears to improve brain connectivity and motor function in children with spastic cerebral palsy, according to a randomized clinical trial published this week by Stem Cells Translational Medicine.

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About a quarter of adults whose marijuana use is problematic in early adulthood have anxiety disorders in childhood and late adolescence, according to new data from Duke Health researchers.

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Researchers have known for decades that fevers in the first trimester of pregnancy increase risk for some heart defects and facial deformities such as cleft lip or palate. Exactly how this happens is unclear. Duke researchers now have evidence indicating that the fever itself, not its root source, is what interferes with the development of the heart and jaw during the first three to eight weeks of pregnancy.

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An international research effort led by Duke Cancer Institute scientists has been working to better understand the genetic underpinnings of the most prevalent form of this cancer -- diffuse large B cell lymphoma – and how those genes might play a role in patients’ responses to therapies.

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States that fully expanded their Medicaid programs under the Affordable Care Act cut their rates of uninsured cancer patients by more than half between 2011 and 2014. Black patients and those living in the highest poverty areas saw the greatest benefit from Medicaid expansion, according to a Duke Cancer Institute analysis.

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An investigational therapy using modified poliovirus to attack cancer tumors appears to unleash the body’s own capacity to fight malignancies by activating an inflammation process that counter’s the ability of cancer cells to evade the immune system.

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Researchers at Duke Cancer Institute have not only untangled an unusual wiring system that cancer cells use for carbohydrate metabolism, but also identified a natural compound that appears to selectively shut down this system in laboratory studies.

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Compared to people who live in predominantly white neighborhoods, those who live in predominantly black areas are much less likely to receive CPR or defibrillation from a bystander when their heart suddenly stops beating while they are at home or out in the community.

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In a large, international study led by the Duke Clinical Research Institute and five coordinating centers around the world, an informational campaign aimed at patients, families and physicians led to a 9-percent absolute increase in the use of anticoagulation therapies. The increased drug adherence was accompanied by a small, but notable reduction in the risk of stroke.

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A third of insured people with cancer end up paying more out-of-pocket than they expected, despite having health coverage, researchers at the Duke Cancer Institute have found.

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The push to develop treatments for Alzheimer’s disease has yielded a greater understanding of the disease, but has failed to generate successful new drugs. To blame are the many undefined subtypes of mild cognitive impairment, a precursor to Alzheimer’s disease. But if scientists grouped people with similar types of cognitive impairment, they could more precisely test the impact of investigational drugs, according to findings in a July 28 article in the journal Scientific Reports, a publication of Nature Research.

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For the subset of women with BRCA mutations who have already had ovarian cancer, risk-reducing mastectomy might not be worth the price tag. New research from the Duke Cancer Institute finds that for many women in this unique group, prophylactic mastectomy does not produce a substantial survival gain versus breast cancer screening alone and is not cost-effective.

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A team of hearing experts at Duke University School of Medicine and the Duke Global Health Institute is calling for a comprehensive, worldwide initiative to combat hearing loss.

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Researchers from Duke University School of Medicine and Tulane National Primate Research Center report findings in monkeys that demonstrates a CMV vaccine approach that appears to be capable of protecting the animal’s fetus from infection.

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Adding an investigational antibody to the chemotherapy rituximab appears to restore its cancer-killing properties in certain leukemia patients with a natural resistance to the drug, according to a small, proof-of-concept study by Duke Cancer Institute researchers.

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Duke University researchers have identified a potential new mechanism for Parkinson's disease in both mice and human endocrine cells that populate the small intestines.

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Building on insights from an HIV vaccine regimen in humans that had partial success during a phase 3 clinical trial in Thailand, a Duke-led research team used a more-is-better approach in monkeys that appeared to improve vaccine protection from an HIV-like virus.

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A phase one study of 11 patients with glioblastoma who received injections of an investigational vaccine therapy and an approved chemotherapy showed the combination to be well tolerated while also resulting in unexpectedly significant survival increases, researchers at the Duke Cancer Institute report.

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The chemical bisphenol A, or BPA, appears to aid the survival of inflammatory breast cancer cells, revealing a potential mechanism for how the disease grows, according to a study led by researchers in the Department of Surgery at Duke University School of Medicine and the Duke Cancer Institute.

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A survey of more than 422,000 college freshmen found that students who identified as transgender were more likely than their cisgender peers to experience negative consequences from drinking, including memory blackouts, academic problems and conflicts such as arguments or physical fights.

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A Duke Health-led research team has described both the pathway of HIV protective antibody development and a synthetic HIV outer envelope mimic that has the potential to induce the antibodies with vaccination.

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More than half of older women with early stage breast cancer received more radiation therapy than what might be medically necessary, adding additional treatment and health care costs, according to a study led by Duke Cancer Institute researchers.

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More than 80 percent of stroke patients with a history of atrial fibrillation either received not enough or no anticoagulation therapy prior to having a stroke, despite the drugs’ proven record of reducing stroke risk, according to a Duke Clinical Research Institute study.

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The Pokémon Go craze that spurred millions of people to collect virtual monsters via a smart phone app might have also had a health benefit by encouraging people to get up and walk.

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It may seem obvious, but the key to confirming whether someone is suffering from a cold or flu virus might lie at the misery’s source -- the inflamed passages of the nose and throat. Duke Health scientists have identified a group of proteins that, when detected in specific quantities in the mucous, are 86 percent accurate in confirming the infection is from a cold or flu virus, according to a small, proof-of-concept trial published online in the journal EBioMedicine.

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Babies born at just 22 to 24 weeks of pregnancy continue to have sobering outlooks -- only about 1 in 3 survive. But according to a new study led by Duke Health and appearing Feb. 16 in the New England Journal of Medicine, those rates are showing small but measurable improvement. Compared to extremely preterm babies born a decade earlier, the study found a larger percentage are developing into toddlers without signs of moderate or severe cognitive and motor delay.

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The loss of motor function and mental acuity associated with Huntington’s disease might be treatable by restoring a cellular quality control process, which Duke Health researchers have identified as a key factor in the degenerative illness.