Viruses in the gut may warn of a deadly disease in preterm infants
Immediately after birth, human infants begin to develop a complex, interwoven fabric of microbes in their gut. Known collectively as the gut microbiome, this diverse ecosystem consists of bacteria, archaea, viruses and fungi, numbering in the billions. All have important roles to play in health and disease and researchers are racing to better understand their […]
Solution to world’s largest waste stream: Make sand
After water, sand is the most exploited natural resource on the planet. However, its extraction from seas, rivers, beaches and quarries has an impact on the environment and surrounding communities. A new study by researchers from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) and the University of Queensland’s Sustainable Minerals Institute (SMI) has found that a step-change […]
Opinion | A BA.2 Surge Could Wreak Unequal Havoc
Weeks after political leaders and media elites put the U.S. on a course to “return to normalcy,” the country finds itself again contending with an uptick in cases fueled by the highly transmissible BA.2 Omicron subvariant and the ending of public health measures. Some regions and cities, like Washington, D.C. and New York, are seeing […]
Persistent Brain Fog After Mild COVID Infection Tied to CSF Markers
People with persistent cognitive changes after mild COVID had elevated levels of immune activation and immunovascular markers in their cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) 10 months after acute SARS-CoV-2 infection, a small study showed. In a late-breaking abstract presented at the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) annual meeting, Joanna Hellmuth, MD, MHS, of the University of California […]
Astronomers closer to unlocking origin of mysterious fast radio bursts: New study by international team of scientists identifies polarization as key trait that may reveal the origin of the powerful millisecond-long cosmic radio explosions
Nearly 15 years after the discovery of fast radio bursts (FRBs), the origin of the millisecond-long, deep-space cosmic explosions remains a mystery. That may soon change, thanks to the work of an international team of scientists — including UNLV astrophysicist Bing Zhang — which tracked hundreds of the bursts from five different sources and found […]
Bell’s Palsy, Other Rare Events Not Linked With COVID-19 Vaccines
Immune-mediated neurologic events did not increase after COVID-19 vaccination, electronic health record data in the U.K. and Spain showed. No safety signal was found between COVID-19 vaccines and Bell’s palsy, encephalomyelitis, Guillain-Barré syndrome, or transverse myelitis, reported Daniel Prieto-Alhambra, MD, PhD, of the University of Oxford in England, and co-authors. However, rates of Bell’s palsy, […]
Video game-based therapy helps stroke patients
After a stroke, patients may lose feeling in an arm or experience weakness and reduced movement that limits their ability to complete basic daily activities. Traditional rehabilitation therapy is very intensive, time-consuming and can be both expensive and inconvenient, especially for rural patients travelling long distances to in-person therapy appointments. That’s why a team of […]
6 Months of U.S. Data Support Safety of mRNA COVID Vaccines
Nearly all local and systemic adverse events (AEs) reported after Pfizer or Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccines were mild and transient, and only a fraction of individuals reported seeking medical care, according to data from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) and CDC’s v-safe tracker. Out of almost 300 million mRNA vaccine doses administered in the […]
Public Health Experts Pitch Their Own Path to the ‘Next’ Normal
Less than a week after the White House released its updated COVID-19 preparedness plan, a group of 24 public health experts issued a white paper with their own ideas for moving the nation into what they call the “next” normal. While there’s quite a bit of overlap between the two plans, the 132-page document by […]
Honing the Indications for Adjuvant CDK4/6 Inhibition in Breast Cancer
MIAMI BEACH — After a bumpy start, CDK4/6 inhibitors have started to gain traction in early hormone receptor (HR)-positive/HER2-negative breast cancer, according to recent data. Two negative phase III trials of palbociclib (Ibrance) questioned whether the transformative impact of CDK4/6 inhibition in advanced HR+/HER2- breast cancer would carry over into early disease. More recently, the […]