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Duke engineers awarded NSF grant to adapt fast, low-cost diagnostic tool for COVID-19

Biomedical engineers at Duke University are adapting a rapid testing platform originally designed to detect Ebola to see whether it could be of use in detecting antigens to SARS-Cov-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

27 Apr 2020

Gut microbiota could predict severity of COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic is spreading to every corner of the world. But not everyone is falling sick at the same rate. A new study published on the preprint server medRxiv in April 2020 suggests that the composition of the gut microbiome could partially explain the difference in susceptibility. This adds a new dimension to what is currently known about the disease.

27 Apr 2020

Researchers report promising new therapy for recurrent pediatric brain cancers

Two pediatric brain cancers that are challenging to treat if they recur, medulloblastoma and ependymoma, are the target of a clinical trial using a new type of therapy.

27 Apr 2020

Consumer beware: Coronavirus antibody tests are still a work in progress

After hearing for months about serious access issues involving tests that diagnose COVID-19 based on swabs from the nose or throat, Americans are being inundated with reports about promising new tests that look for signs of infection in the blood.

27 Apr 2020

New light-activated drug delivery method helps confine arthritis treatments to the joints

Although today's rheumatoid arthritis treatments can reduce symptoms, they often come with serious side effects. Results from a new mouse study suggest that a new light-activated drug delivery method helps confine treatments to the joints, which could reduce whole-body side effects.

27 Apr 2020

Excess weight may cause mental fatigue, research suggests

Obesity has been shown to place physical stress on the body, but new research suggests that excess weight may also cause mental fatigue.

27 Apr 2020

Lactating mothers' nicotine exposure may put babies at risk for skull defects

Lactating mothers who use e-cigarettes or nicotine replacement therapies may be putting their breastfed babies at risk for skull defects, a new study in animals suggests.

27 Apr 2020

Simple blood test offers early warning of chemotherapy-related cardiac dysfunction

Scientists have identified a collection of biomarkers that together signal that a person's cancer treatment may be harming their heart.

27 Apr 2020

Study can lead the way to new treatment methods for hepatitis C in infants

Only about five per cent of the babies born to mothers with hepatitis C are themselves infected by the disease.

27 Apr 2020

Investigational drug may hold benefit for patients with lung and ovarian cancers

In a first-time disclosure of IPN60090, a small-molecule inhibitor of the metabolic enzyme glutaminase (GLS1), researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center's Therapeutics Discovery division and Ipsen Biopharmaceuticals reported the preclinical discovery and early-stage clinical development of this novel drug. IPN60090, now under investigation in a Phase I trial, may hold benefit for certain patients with lung and ovarian cancers.

27 Apr 2020

New potential treatment candidate identified for early type 2 diabetic retinopathy

Diabetic retinopathy is one of the main vascular complications of type 2 diabetes, and the most common cause of visual deterioration in adults.

27 Apr 2020

Study: Combination of melanoma drugs prevents cancer from growing or spreading

A first-of-its-kind randomized clinical trial offers strong and perhaps surprising evidence that a combination of two targeted melanoma drugs when given continuously keeps patients' cancer from growing or spreading longer when compared with intermittent treatment, according to study results to be presented at the 2020 virtual annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research.

27 Apr 2020

The 'true' infection fatality rate of the earliest Italian COVID-19 outbreak

In the chaotic healthcare situation caused by the novel coronavirus disease COVID-19, it has been challenging to estimate the actual severity of the disease. However, it is a crucial bit of information for those who form healthcare and economic policies.

26 Apr 2020

Mapping complex peripheral immune response to severe COVID-19

In a recent article publicly available at medRxiv, researchers from Stanford have presented a single-cell atlas of the peripheral immune response to coronavirus disease (COVID-19), highlighting pertinent immunological features associated with the severe forms of the disease.

26 Apr 2020

Early Heparin therapy improves hypoxia in COVID-19 patients

The systemic use of heparin for treating severe coronavirus disease (COVID-19) showed significant improvements in oxygen exchange and overall clinical presentation of patients, as reported by a study from Brazil available on a preprint server medRxiv.

26 Apr 2020

Developing a low-cost tool to improve the speed and accuracy of crime investigations

Engineers at UC Riverside's Marlan and Rosemary Bourns College of Engineering have received a $600,000 grant from the National Institute of Justice to develop a test kit that can rapidly identify body fluids at crime scenes.

25 Apr 2020

UCLA scientists receive awards to pursue treatments and vaccines for COVID-19

Three researchers at the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA have received awards to pursue treatments and vaccines for COVID-19 from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the state's stem cell agency.

25 Apr 2020