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Special issue delves into global polio eradication efforts and modeling

Launched in 1988, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) stands out as one of the largest, internationally coordinated global public health major projects conducted to date, with cumulative spending of over $16.5 billion for 1988-2018, according to the World Health Organization.

16 Feb 2021

Akkure Genomics raises €1.2 million to accelerate roll-out of its next-generation clinical trials platform

Akkure Genomics, an Irish digital health scaleup which is developing a disruptive MedTech platform for the global clinical trials industry, has raised just over €1.2 million in a crowdfunding campaign from 318 investors.

13 Feb 2021

Humans may perceive thickness based on image characteristics

The research team led by Masakazu Ohara, graduate student of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Toyohashi University of Technology (student in the Leading Program doctoral program); Associate Professor Kowa Koida of the Electronics-Inspired Interdisciplinary Research Institute; and Associate Professor Juno Kim of the University of New South Wales (Australia) discovered that when people judge the thickness of an object, objects with glass-like transparent optical properties are perceived to be flatter than they actually are.

11 Feb 2021

Cultural concerns influence willingness to share personal data to reduce COVID-19 spread

Culture, civic-mindedness and privacy concerns influence how willing people are to share personal location information to help stem the transmission of COVID-19 in their communities, a new study finds.

28 Jan 2021

Study examines association between gut mycobiome and Parkinson’s disease

The bacterial gut microbiome is strongly associated with Parkinson's disease (PD), but no studies had previously investigated he role of fungi in the gut.

21 Jan 2021

Large study provides new understanding of genome diversity in Ukrainian population

Today, the largest study of genetic diversity in Ukraine was published in the open science journal GigaScience.

13 Jan 2021

Researchers develop a technique to predict epileptic seizures

A third of epilepsy sufferers are resistant to treatment for this neurological disease that affects 1% of the population.

18 Dec 2020

Scientists show a sort of signature in the brains of lonely people

This holiday season will be a lonely one for many people as social distancing due to COVID-19 continues, and it is important to understand how isolation affects our health.

15 Dec 2020

Measuring a tau fragment in plasma can help predict future cognitive decline in elderly people

Today, a clinician can order a blood test to check a patient's cholesterol or hemoglobin A1c levels -- biomarkers that help predict an individual's risk of cardiovascular disease or diabetes, respectively. But despite decades of advances in the understanding of Alzheimer's disease (AD), a blood test for predicting its risk remains elusive.

9 Dec 2020

FASLG gene may drive cytokine-linked adverse COVID-19 outcomes with age

A new study published on the preprint server bioRxiv in December 2020 reveals the role played by certain genetic factors in this group, in particular the FASLG gene belonging to the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) family.

8 Dec 2020

Study provides reassurance that patients and providers can use pharmacogenetic testing

A person's genetic make-up can influence whether they might experience side effects from certain medications.

3 Dec 2020

New research project to develop and test novel intervention for individuals with HIV/AIDS

Tulsa CARES is partnering with researchers at the Hudson College of Public Health at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center and the OU-TU School of Community Medicine at the University of Oklahoma to develop and test a novel "food as medicine" intervention for individuals affected by HIV/AIDS.

2 Dec 2020

Politicians and public officials fail to harness young people’s perspectives on COVID-19 recovery

Decision-makers are failing to harness young people's potential to help shape pandemic responses, according to a major study that features the views of young people from around the world.

30 Nov 2020

Are SARS-CoV-2 protease inhibitors effective antivirals in treating COVID-19?

Many antiviral development studies have focused on the possibility of inhibiting the main viral protease (Mpro), and papain-like protease (PLpro), given their central role in viral replication. A new study draws attention to the high odds that these may not have anti-infective activity because of the redundant pathways present in human host cells.

30 Nov 2020

HIV alters SARS-CoV-2 immune response without affecting COVID-19 symptoms or outcomes

In a preprint paper published on the medRxiv server, a team of researchers from various institutions in South Africa, the UK, and Europe discuss how they determined the impact of HIV on the COVID-19 immune response in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, which is an area with very high HIV prevalence.

26 Nov 2020

Psychological flexibility may be the key to happy romantic and familial relationships

"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way," Leo Tolstoy wrote famously in 1878 in the opening lines of Anna Karenina. Turns out the Russian author was onto something.

26 Nov 2020

Researchers review key elements of crisis decision making during public health emergencies

In mid-March, public health officials across the San Francisco area issued the first U.S. regional shelter-in-place order in response to the emerging COVID-19 pandemic.

25 Nov 2020

Disproportionate COVID-19 mortality in England linked to non-white ethnicity and poverty

In a paper published on the preprint server medRxiv, researchers from various departments of Imperial College London, UK, discuss how they analyzed mortality data of individuals 40 years and above in local communities in England to determine local variations in increased mortality during the first wave of the pandemic – between 1 March and 31 May 2020 - and to identify the community factors associated with these mortality patterns.

24 Nov 2020

Patient-physician racial, ethnic concordance linked to maximum patient experience scores

Patients who shared the same racial or ethnic background as their physician were more likely to give the maximum patient rating score, according to a new analysis of 117,589 patient surveys from 2014 to 2017.

9 Nov 2020

Earwax sampling could be a cheap, effective way to measure stress hormone

A novel method to sample earwax could be a cheap and effective way to measure the hormone cortisol, according to a study led by researchers at UCL and King's College London.

3 Nov 2020