Search

The NIH Health Information Portal provides access to reliable, science-based health resources. Find information from across NIH’s institutes and centers. You can browse or search for your health topic of interest. You can also sign up to receive the biweekly health information newsletter.

Being diagnosed with a serious illness is life-changing. Many decisions must be made, with many unknowns. But there are experts who can help you navigate the complicated landscape of a long-term, serious illness. Palliative care specialists focus on comfort care and improving your quality of life during a serious illness. “Palliative care is a holistic approach to medicine and caregiving,”…, [qtip:neurodegenerative diseases|Diseases in which nerve cells stop working or die.] , like dementia and Parkinson’s, and many others. A palliative care team can assist with many aspects of a serious illness. They can help you find ways to cope with physical, psychological, emotional, or spiritual suffering. They can support you with symptom management and assist health care providers in coordinating your care. The palliative team can also help you create an advance care plan. This…, Making a Plan, “The goal of palliative care is to lessen symptoms and enhance quality of life,” says Dr. Lori Wiener, a palliative care expert for children with cancer at NIH. “And there’s good data to support that early palliative care integration improves health-related quality of life.” But what makes a better quality of life can be different for everyone. “The palliative care provider will meet with you…, Gaining a Better Understanding, Planning for a serious illness can be complicated. “Patients and families often remain unaware of how their serious illness may progress,” says DeCamp. “They may not know how long they might be expected to live or how long or what types of symptoms they might have. Physicians, nurses, and other members of the care team are also historically not very good at predicting the course of a disease.”…, Getting the Help You Need , If you’ve been diagnosed with a serious illness, ask your doctor about palliative care. Some providers may not offer it to you early on. Others may not offer it at all. But your provider may be able to refer you to a palliative care specialist. “Earlier NIH research was focused on making sure that primary care clinicians were aware of palliative care,” Bakos explains. Now, NIH is looking at how…

Worms tend to be long, skinny, wiggly creatures. Their simple bodies lack limbs and a backbone. Most have no eyes. It’s hard to imagine a creature more strikingly different from people. Yet studies of worms have given scientists surprising insights into the basic biology of human life and health. A tiny worm called, Caenorhabditis elegans, , or, C. elegan, s, is a favorite among biologists. Unlike worms used for fishing,, C. elegans, are best viewed with a microscope. Scientists have been studying this simple animal for over 70 years. “We’ve seen over and over again that these worms can lead to major findings relevant to human health and disease,” says Dr. Ann Rougvie, an expert in, C. elegans, biology at the University of Minnesota. Research on these common worms helped lay the foundation for at least four Nobel Prizes. One study revealed how genes can control organ development and cell death. This gave insights into Alzheimer’s disease, AIDS, and more. Another study led to a new class of drugs to treat cancer and other disorders., C. elegans, was also the first animal to have all of its DNA sequenced, every cell named and tracked, and all of its nerve cells mapped. Like humans,, C. elegans, has a brain, muscles, digestive system, and more. But the simplicity of worms makes them easier to study. The worm’s entire nervous system, including the brain, is made of just 302 cells. “This is in contrast to the human brain, which has billions and billions of cells,” Rougvie explains. Yet people and worms have many of the same molecules that carry signals in the brain and nervous system. By…, C. elegans, is transparent, so you can see exactly what’s happening inside. “The adult worm always has 959 body cells. With a microscope, you can watch development happen from the fertilized egg to the adult,” Rougvie says. “The cells divide in essentially the same pattern in every, C. elegan, s.” So researchers can predict which cells will become muscle, nerve, or other cells. That, plus the worms’ two-to-three week lifespan, has helped shed light on processes like development and aging. Rougvie manages the NIH-supported, Caenorhabditis, Genetics Center. It houses over 26,000 genetically unique strains of, C. elegans, . Some strains are short and fat. Others can glow. Some age faster than others. Scientists around the world can order specific strains of worms for their own research. And they can contribute new strains to the center. “If everyone gets their worms from us, that means everybody’s using the same strains of worms. And that enhances consistency and reproducibility of research findings,” Rougvie says…, C. elegans, more than 30 years ago led to discovery of a new type of molecule, called microRNAs. “Scientists have since learned that microRNAs are present in all animals. And they’re extremely important to human health and disease,” Rougvie says. “This type of curiosity-driven science helps us learn how life works in general.” The researchers who discovered these molecules received a Nobel Prize last year.

Scientists have found ways to fix faulty genes for some common genetic disorders. These include sickle cell disease, various blood disorders, and a severe skin condition. But treating rarer genetic conditions has been more challenging. A new NIH-funded study used a personalized gene-editing approach in a baby born with a rare, often deadly disorder. The baby had a disease called CPS1 deficiency.…

Do you often find that you’re clenching your jaw or rubbing your teeth together? Do you tend to wake up with a sore jaw, ear pain, or headache? If so, you may have a condition called bruxism. That’s the medical term for clenching your jaw or teeth or grinding your teeth. Mild or occasional tooth grinding or clenching may not cause problems. But frequent or severe bruxism can lead to jaw pain,…

Drinking alcohol in the heat can mean trouble. Heat plus alcohol can raise the risk for sunburn, dehydration, and drowning. Be smart this summer. Think before you drink. Stay safe and stay healthy. Get tips at this NIH website

With each breath in, your lungs take in life-giving oxygen. The oxygen then travels through your blood to every cell in your body. With each breath out, your lungs release carbon dioxide, the waste produced when your cells burn energy. If something goes wrong with your breathing, it can impact your whole body and your daily life. Many different symptoms can signal a lung problem. You may have…, Blocked Air Flow, The most common types of chronic lung problems are called obstructive lung diseases. Asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are the most common of these. In obstructive lung diseases, “air flow is the problem,” explains Dr. Andrew Lipton, medical director of the lung function lab at NIH. “It’s hard for air to come into or go out of the lungs.” In asthma, swelling in the lungs…, Restricted Breathing, Another group of lung diseases are called interstitial lung diseases. In these diseases, lung tissue may become inflamed or stiff, or scarred by damage. This prevents your lungs from fully expanding when you breathe. “These things all reduce the volume of the lungs,” explains Lipton. Treating interstitial lung diseases can be tricky, because the cause can’t always be found, explains Dr. Kevin…

Scientists recently discovered a new disease, called VEXAS, which can appear suddenly in midlife. It’s characterized by repeated attacks of [qtip:inflammation|The heat, swelling and redness caused by the body’s protective response to injury or infection.], often without a clear cause. The inflammation, researchers found, is caused by the body’s disease defense system, or immune system, attacking…

Oral health is important for people of all ages. But the simple routine you learned as a kid—brush your teeth twice a day and floss regularly—can become more of a challenge as you get older. Among adults ages 75 and up, about 1 in 4 has lost all natural teeth, largely because of gum disease and tooth decay. You can take steps to keep your mouth healthy throughout your lifetime. And if you’re a…

Cervical cancer can be easy to miss. It usually has no symptoms. But you can have a screening test for the virus that causes nearly all cases of cervical cancer. The tests detect human papilloma virus, or HPV. Early diagnosis and treatment can prevent cervical cancer and related deaths. Unfortunately, many women have never been screened or are behind in their screening. NIH-supported scientists…