MicroRNA, big honor; preparing for (another) hurricane; cardiologists take patient health to heart – Morning Medical Update

This illustration from the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet shows how microRNA regulates development of cells in humans and other organisms.

A cell of a discovery

Research on gene regulation of cell development has led to the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for researchers Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun. They discovered a new class of tiny RNA molecules, or microRNA, that are “fundamentally important for how organisms develop and function.” That includes humans, and there’s more to learn – the human genome codes for more than 1,000 microRNAs. Read all about it in this summary from the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet.

Hurricanes hammer hospitals (and entire communities)

As parts of the Southeast United States are still recovering after Hurricane Helene, another tropical storm – Hurricane Milton – is heading for Florida. Here’s a report on how hospitals and long-term care facilities are preparing. Spoiler alert: Hurricane Milton is forecasted to make landfall tomorrow with potentially life-threatening weather. As for Hurricane Helene recovery in devastated western North Carolina, there is a way to help. Donate to Operation Airdrop, a Texas-based nonprofit that recruits volunteer pilots to fly in supplies to areas where natural disaster makes ground access difficult.

Heading for heartbreak

Physicians want to help patients, but patients don’t always want to help their own health, according to a new national survey of cardiologists. “Patients are their own worst enemy when it comes to their lifestyle,” at times unable or unwilling to follow medical advice of their heart doctors when they counsel about interventions such as weight loss, smoking and alcohol cessation, or lack of exercise. Here’s a report on the survey and the full results.