Dr. Baliga's 'Podkasts for Curious Docs'

Dr. Baliga's 'Podkasts for Curious Docs'

🏃‍♀️ Exercise is not lifestyle advice—it’s cancer biology.   A landmark analysis of 443,768 adults from the UK Biobank and NHANES shows that regular aerobic physical activity (≈117–500 min/week) is associated with: • 21% lower risk of inflammation-related cancers • 34% lower all-cancer mortality   Mechanistically, exercise: 🔬 Reduces chronic low-grade inflammation 🧬 Reverses immunosenescence (↓ Mki67⁺ immune cells) 🛡️ Expands functional innate and adaptive immunity   Strikingly, the mortality benefit rivals—or exceeds—that of many modern...

Dr. Baliga's 'Podkasts for Curious Docs'

🫀 Europe puts the heart first.   The EU Safe Hearts Plan is a bold, evidence-based roadmap to tackle Europe’s leading cause of death—cardiovascular disease—through prevention 🛡️, early detection 🔍, better treatment 🏥, smart digital tools 🤖, and a relentless focus on equity ⚖️.   With clear targets (including a 25% reduction in premature cardiovascular mortality by 2035 🎯), this plan signals a shift from reactive care to lifelong, personalized, and data-driven heart health—for every citizen, in every region.   Strong hearts. Smarter systems. A...

Dr. Baliga's 'Podkasts for Curious Docs'

🧠🦠 Why does abdominal pain affect women more? Science offers a cellular answer.   A new Science study uncovers an estrogen-tuned gut pain circuit in which peptide YY–secreting enteroendocrine cells activate serotonin-releasing cells, sensitizing gut sensory nerves—especially in females. Hormones, microbes, and diet converge locally in the colon to amplify visceral pain, offering a biologically grounded explanation for menstrual-cycle variability and female-predominant disorders like irritable bowel syndrome.   📖 Venkataraman et al., Science (Dec 2025) Precision medicine...

Dr. Baliga's 'Podkasts for Curious Docs'

📚🇩🇰 Søren Kierkegaard (1813–1855): the philosopher of choice, anxiety, and becoming Kierkegaard argued that the highest human task isn’t just knowing the good—it’s embodying it: becoming a self through commitment, responsibility, and inwardness. His framing of “existence” as the lived work of becoming helped spark what we now call existentialism. 🧭✨    In health care, his lens feels especially modern: moral distress, burnout, and “decision-fatigue” often intensify when we drift into autopilot—or when we outsource conscience to the “crowd.”...

Dr. Baliga's 'Podkasts for Curious Docs'

🧬 When immunity saves—and harms—at the same time   A striking NEJM correspondence reveals that patients receiving immune checkpoint inhibitors often sustain molecularly detectable multiorgan damage—weeks to months before symptoms appear. Using cell-free DNA methylation mapping, investigators show that immune-related adverse events are systemic, not isolated organ toxicities—the visible clinic finding is just the tip of the iceberg 🧊🧬   This work reframes irAEs as a global loss of immune tolerance and opens the door to early, molecular surveillance—particularly...

Dr. Baliga's 'Podkasts for Curious Docs'

🍷⏳ Why Hangovers Get Worse as We Age — Science, Not Sentiment   Ever wondered why the same drink that once sparkled now punishes? A Well Informed piece from The Economist explains how aging physiology—less body water, slower metabolism, disrupted sleep, and toxic metabolites—turns modest indulgence into a morning reckoning. 🧠💤☠️   The takeaway is not abstinence, but wisdom: sip slowly, hydrate deliberately, respect sleep, and never underestimate biology. Aging, like good scholarship, rewards those who read the fine print. 📖🍸

Dr. Baliga's 'Podkasts for Curious Docs'

🧬✨ Can we make the ageing immune system young again? A fascinating Nature study shows that a three-part mRNA cocktail (DFI) can temporarily rejuvenate T cells in aged mice, improving responses to vaccines and cancer immunotherapy—without breaking immune tolerance. By turning the liver into a short-term factory for key immune signals (DLL1, FLT3L, IL-7), the authors demonstrate that immune ageing is modifiable, not fixed. This elegant work—covered by Heidi Ledford in —opens provocative questions about immune resilience, ageing biology, and the future of mRNA beyond vaccines....

Dr. Baliga's 'Podkasts for Curious Docs'

🧬 Protein Restriction, Aging, and Longevity ⏳   A remarkable new study in Cell shows that moderate protein restriction—especially when started in midlife—can reprogram aging biology across 41 organs, improving metabolic and cardiovascular health. 🫀⚙️   Using deep multi-organ proteomics in mice and human plasma validation, the authors demonstrate benefits mediated through ↓ IGF-1, ↓ mTOR, ↑ AMPK, and activation of brown adipose tissue. Importantly, the data also caution that extreme protein restriction may provoke inflammation, underscoring that moderation...

Dr. Baliga's 'Podkasts for Curious Docs'

🧬 Rethinking Neutrophils: From Lone Cells to Living Systems 🧠⚔️   For over a century, neutrophils were seen as short-lived foot soldiers of immunity. This new Cell review reframes them as something far more interesting: a coordinated, adaptive collective.   ✨ Key ideas: • Short-lived cells, long-term memory • Two compartments: granulopoietic + mature • Plastic, circadian, tissue-adaptive behavior • Major implications for inflammation, cancer, and immunotherapy   A powerful example of how systems thinking can transform classical immunology.   📖 Worth a...

Dr. Baliga's 'Podkasts for Curious Docs'

⏰🫀 Does the heart care about the time of day? Yes—profoundly.   A new study in the reveals a circadian checkpoint in neutrophils that determines how much damage occurs after myocardial infarction. Morning ischemia triggers more injury, while nighttime CXCL12–CXCR4 signaling reprograms neutrophils, relocating them into the infarct core and sparing healthy myocardium—without impairing antimicrobial defense. 🌙🧬   This work reframes infarct biology from how much ischemia to when it happens and opens the door to chronotherapy for cardiovascular disease. Timing, it seems,...