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Discovery of Tr1 cells as a barrier to cancer immunotherapy offers new hope for treatment

Immunobiologists Robert Schreiber, PhD, (left) and Hussein Sultan, PhD, of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, found that a subset of immune cells that normally puts the brakes on the immune system to prevent it from attacking the body's healthy cells inadvertently also dampens cancer immunotherapy.

7 Aug 2024

Social media bans could deny teenagers mental health help

Social media's effects on the mental health of young people are not well understood. That hasn't stopped Congress, state legislatures, and the U.S. surgeon general from moving ahead with age bans and warning labels for YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram.

7 Aug 2024

Small-town patients face big hurdles as rural hospitals cut cancer care

The night before her chemotherapy, Herlinda Sanchez sets out her clothes and checks that she has everything she needs: a blanket, medications, an iPad and chargers, a small Bible and rosary, fuzzy socks, and snacks for the road.

7 Aug 2024

Hospital discharges linked to higher MRSA risk for family members

Family members of patients recently discharged from the hospital may have a higher risk of getting an antibiotic-resistant infection, often called a superbug, even if the patient was not diagnosed with the same infection, suggesting hospitals play a role in the community spread of resistant bacteria, according to study in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America.

7 Aug 2024

The evolving nature of infant-caregiver communication

Compared to other mammals, human children are dependent on their caregivers for a remarkably long time. Throughout the ages, they have developed "psychological tactics" to endear themselves to adults and thus enhance their chances of survival. This prolonged dependency is believed to have driven the evolution of complex signaling mechanisms to help infants attract and maintain adult attention.

7 Aug 2024

Understanding the age gap in leukemia survival rates

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) affects both children and adults, but children have better chances to be cured, with long-term survival rates over 85% compared to 50-75% in adults. Scientists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital conducted a comprehensive study to understand the biological causes driving this difference. The work, published today in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, provides a blueprint for understanding B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL), the most common form of the disease.

7 Aug 2024

Study highlights the need for language services in cancer trials

Underrepresentation of racial and ethnic minority populations in cancer clinical trials persists partly because translation and interpretation services and resources are unavailable or inadequate in the United States, according to a Children's Oncology Group (COG) study led by Columbia University School of Nursing. The updated study was published online in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute Cancer Spectrum on July 25, 2024, and will appear in the August 2024 journal issue.

7 Aug 2024

Study advances understanding of complex neurological disorder

To effectively treat a disease or disorder, doctors must first know the root cause. Such is the case for developmental and epileptic encephalopathies (DEEs), whose root causes can be hugely complex and heterogeneous. Scientists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital demonstrated the value of DNA methylation patterns for identifying the root cause of DEEs, showing specific gene methylation and genome-wide methylation "episignatures" can help identify the genes that cause DEE. The findings were published today in Nature Communications.

7 Aug 2024

Ending child poverty key to improving child health

Renewed efforts to reduce child poverty in England between now and 2033, such as removing the 2-child limit on child benefit, would significantly boost several aspects of child health and narrow health inequalities across the country, finds research published online in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health.

7 Aug 2024

Study reveals impact of climate change on enterovirus outbreaks

Outbreaks of hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD), which causes fever and rash in young children, typically occur in the summer months.

6 Aug 2024

FDA approves vorasidenib for Grade 2 gliomas with IDH mutations

Vorasidenib has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for patients with Grade 2 gliomas with IDH1 or IDH2 mutations.

6 Aug 2024

Study explores interpersonal effects of discrimination on parents and their adolescent children

Black Americans experience racial discrimination on a regular basis, and it is a cause of chronic and pervasive stress.

6 Aug 2024

Brain chemical orexin plays key role in choosing exercise over treats

Should I go and exercise, or would I rather go to the café and enjoy a delectable strawberry milkshake? Until now, what exactly happens in our brain when we make this decision has been a mystery to science, but researchers at ETH Zurich have found the solution.

6 Aug 2024

Increasing wildfire smoke exposure linked to higher surgical risks

Nearly 100 wildfires are currently raging throughout the country, burning more than 2 million acres.

6 Aug 2024

Epilepsy and pregnancy: Evaluating increased risks and outcomes in a large Nordic dataset

But exactly how big the risks have been less clear. Randomized clinical trials are ruled out for ethical reasons and observational studies need a very large population base to quantify the relatively rare events.

6 Aug 2024

Inside project 2025: Former Trump official outlines hard right turn against abortion

From his perch in the Trump administration's Department of Health and Human Services, Roger Severino made a controversial name for himself, working to shield health workers who declined to perform medical procedures including abortion on religious grounds.

6 Aug 2024

'My phone sometimes makes me anxious': Study investigates associations between problematic smartphone usage and anxiety, sleep, and depression

Researchers determined the relationships between problematic smartphone usage (PSU) and anxiety, depression, and insomnia among UK adolescents.

6 Aug 2024

Child Mind Institute leads effort to enhance fMRI

The Child Mind Institute has released a paper detailing their pioneering study in the journal Nature Human Behaviour titled, "Moving Beyond Processing and Analysis-Related Variation in Resting State Functional Brain Imaging." The research identifies significant challenges in the reproducibility and standardization of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) used to understand brain function and behavior - and proposes concrete solutions to move the field towards results that translate into real world impact.

6 Aug 2024

Upper respiratory microbiome shows age, sex, and lifestyle impacts, study finds

A Dutch study analyzed the upper respiratory tract microbiome across various age groups, finding significant associations between microbial composition, age, sex, and lifestyle factors like smoking and antibiotic use.

5 Aug 2024

Sugar-sweetened beverage taxes reduce child and adolescent BMI

Study reveals that city-level sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) taxes significantly reduce body mass index (BMI) percentiles in children and adolescents. The findings support SSB taxation as a viable strategy to combat childhood obesity.

5 Aug 2024