Share on Pinterest Researchers say listening to music or auditory beat stimulation can help ease anxious feelings for some people. Ivan Gener/Stocksy United Ivan Gener/Stocksy United. Two new studies are highlighting the potential benefits of sensory therapy to ease periods of anxiety. One study involved participants listening to music and auditory beat stimulation. The other used a huggable pillow that simulated breathing. Experts say sensory therapies can help ease and reduce transient anxiety. However, they say it’s not known how effective these treatments are for more serious anxiety disorders. Sensory therapy techniques may be beneficial for people experiencing feelings of anxiety. That’s the conclusion of two new studies that explore the benefits of therapies that use the senses to help manage feelings of anxiety. One study involved music, and the other involved a huggable pillow that simulates breathing. “In the realm of psychology, sensory therapy involves the use of visual a

  World TB Day 2022—Invest to End TB. Save Lives March 24, 2022 Statement of Lakshmi Ramachandra, Ph.D., Peter Kim, M.D., and Anthony S. Fauci, M.D. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases National Institutes of Health Today marks the 140th anniversary of the announcement by Dr. Robert Koch that tuberculosis (TB) is caused by the bacterium  Mycobacterium tuberculosis . World TB Day is a reminder that this ancient disease remains a relentless killer. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, affirms its commitment to the 2022 World TB Day theme,  Invest to End TB. Save Lives , by supporting and conducting wide-ranging research aimed at reducing the health and economic impacts of TB. The global burden of TB is profound. The World Health Organization  estimates  that, in 2020, approximately 10 million new TB cases were diagnosed globally, including as many as 500,000 cases of multidrug-resistant (MDR) or ext

 IRP Researchers Aim to Regenerate Damaged Salivary Glands IRP researchers are working on ways to restore natural saliva production in patients whose salivary glands have been damaged by autoimmune illnesses or radiation treatment for cancer. It’s easy to take our saliva for granted. Most people have so much of it that they think nothing of spitting it out into a trash can when they finish chewing a stick of gum. Perhaps only people who have lived without it truly understand the great gift that is a perpetually moist mouth. “Persistent dry mouth causes lots of problems with quality of life, and people forget how important saliva is until they lose it,” says IRP senior investigator  Matthew Hoffman, B.D.S., Ph.D. In honor of World Oral Health Day on March 20, a celebration of scientific efforts to reduce the burden of oral disease, I talked with Dr. Hoffman about his lab’s efforts to understand the biology of salivary gland dysfunction and translate that knowledge into treatments that b

  At a Glance In a randomized clinical trial, overweight adults who increased how much they slept took in fewer calories. The results suggest that improving sleep duration can help boost the success of weight-loss interventions Adequate sleep may help people reduce their calorie intake JuleDesign / Shutterstock Sleep is as important for good health as diet and exercise. Guidelines recommend that adults get a minimum of 7 hours of sleep a night. Children and teens need even more. But sleep deprivation, whether temporary or chronic, is common in the U.S. About a third of American adults report not getting enough sleep. Not getting enough quality sleep raises the risk of many diseases and disorders. And a chronic lack of sleep has been identified as a risk factor for obesity. Laboratory studies have shown that sleep restriction stimulates appetite and increases cravings for high-calorie food. However, the reverse—whether increasing the amount of sleep people get in their daily lives can h

 Skin cells  At a Glance A type of skin cell called a dermal fibroblast can make an antimicrobial compound called cathelicidin in response to infection by acne-causing bacteria. The results suggest approaches that could lead to improved treatments for acne.   Microscopic image of an inflamed pimple with cathelicidin stained red, fat cells stained green and the nuclei of every cell stained blue. Because cathelicidin is produced from fat cells, their staining merges together.  Gallo lab, University of California, San Diego. Acne starts within the skin’s hair follicles. Hair, oil, and dead skin cells can come together to plug the follicle, causing a clogged pore. This creates the right conditions for bacteria that normally live on the skin to thrive. The body’s immune system then attacks the bacteria, causing the pain and swelling of a pimple. A class of drugs called retinoids are effective in treating acne. However, they can cause side effects. These include birth defects if someone beco

 COVID-19 immune response improves for months after vaccination At a Glance Researchers showed that B cells evolve after COVID-19 vaccination to help improve protection against SARS-CoV-2 over time. A better understanding of how the immune system responds to COVID-19 vaccination could lead to more effective and longer-lasting vaccination strategies. Antibodies are the immune system’s first line of defense against viruses like SARS-CoV-2.. Vaccines are the best way to protect yourself against COVID-19. They elicit a strong defense against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the disease. Vaccines activate your body’s disease defense system, called the immune system. The response starts by engaging two kinds of immune cells: B cells, which produce antibodies that fight off the virus, and T cells, which destroy infected cells. After this initial response, levels of antibodies in the bloodstream begin to fall. But some B and T cells stay around to keep a “memory” of the virus and fight off fu