Health + Wellness

PORTLAND, Ore. – The U.S. Department of Defense has awarded up to $11.9 million to Oregon State University to invent new drug delivery technologies for protecting members of the military from a range of health threats in combat areas.

Once designed, developed and tested, the technologies could also be applied as needed within the general public, said OSU College of Pharmacy nanomedicine researcher Gaurav Sahay, the project leader.

CORVALLIS, Ore. – The majority of low-income single mothers in Oregon who rely on federal cash assistance around the time of childbirth are in the program for less than a year, suggesting they’re using it as a form of paid family leave, Oregon State University research shows.

The first-of-its-kind study has important implications in the state, which in 2023 established a taxpayer-funded paid family leave program, and throughout the United States as poverty has a particularly high incidence among young children.

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Hiking by yourself deep in a forest and similar episodes of intense solitude are not as likely to restore energy and enhance social connectedness as less complete forms of solitude, such as reading in a café or listening to Spotify while commuting, research by Oregon State University suggests.

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Being lonely is a bigger hurdle to a good night’s sleep for college students than too much time at a computer or other electronic screen, a new study by Oregon State University suggests.

CORVALLIS, Ore. – In low-risk pregnancies, mothers and children are just as safe with a planned home birth as they are with a planned birth center birth, a national study led by Oregon State University researchers has shown.

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Parents seeking help in encouraging toddlers to be physically active may soon need to look no further than an inexpensive robotic buddy for their kids, a new study by Oregon State University suggests.

The findings are important because movement plays a key role in the overall health of children, both in youth and later on in adulthood, the authors note.

CORVALLIS, Ore. – A study of more than 700 counties across multiple U.S. states found a link between childhood leukemia and levels of decaying radon gas, including those lower than the federal guideline for mitigation.

The findings are important because there are few established risk factors for cancer in children and the role of the environment has not been explored much, said Oregon State University’s Matthew Bozigar, who led the research.

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Researchers at Oregon State University are poised to use saliva to make a personalized-medicine breakthrough for people with epilepsy thanks to a four-year, $1.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health.

The OSU team had already demonstrated a sensor system, based on microfluidics, for quickly analyzing the level of anti-seizure medicine in saliva and now will extend its work to create a device, powered by artificial intelligence, that’s designed to optimize dosing.

CORVALLIS, Ore. – An Oregon State University researcher will receive $2.35 million from the Environmental Protection Agency to explore what happens to antibiotics, antibiotic-resistant bacteria and their genes after they reach wastewater systems throughout the United States.

PORTLAND, Ore. – Patients with a prescription for an opioid use disorder medication may have a tough time getting it filled if their pharmacy is in a community that’s racially and economically segregated, according to a new study led by scientists at Oregon State University and Johns Hopkins University.

The findings shed additional light on inequities in health care as the U.S.’s overdose crisis continues to accelerate, with fatality rates rising fastest in Black and Hispanic/Latinx communities.