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Gender bias may be decreasing in evaluating surgical residency faculty members

In the male-dominated field of surgery, female faculty of training programs tend to receive lower scores than male faculty on their teaching evaluations, which are important for career advancement, past research has found.

12 Jul 2020

MUSC chosen to build prototype for increasing ICU surge capacity during COVID-19

To prepare for current and future waves of COVID-19, the U.S. Army's Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center asked teams from across the country to compete to build a telehealth prototype that would provide adequate ICU capacity when cases surge.

12 Jul 2020

Commentary: Children infrequently transmit Covid-19 to each other

A commentary published in the journal Pediatrics, the official peer-reviewed journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, concludes that children infrequently transmit Covid-19 to each other or to adults and that many schools, provided they follow appropriate social distancing guidelines and take into account rates of transmission in their community, can and should reopen in the fal

10 Jul 2020

Senators Cassidy and Carper urge CMS to update restrictive coverage policies on obesity drugs and IBT

U.S. Senators Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Thomas Carper (D-Del.) are calling on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to lift regulations that deny insurance coverage for obesity drugs and that limit coverage of Intensive Behavioral Therapy amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

10 Jul 2020

Health care providers should increase access to nature, indicates study

While access to nature is an established social determinant of health with clear benefits to physical, mental, and social health, it does not receive as must attention by health care providers or health systems as other social concerns, according to a new piece by a Penn Medicine physician published today in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

9 Jul 2020

People with arthritis report worsening symptoms during Covid-19 lockdown

People with arthritis experienced a ‘roller coaster’ of emotions and saw their symptoms worsen during the Covid-19 lockdown – according to research from the University of East Anglia.

9 Jul 2020

New research shows promise for treating neuropsychiatric diseases

When trying to complete a task we are constantly bombarded by distracting stimuli. How does the brain filter out these distractions and enable us to focus on the task at hand?

9 Jul 2020

Researchers propose novel approach to limit life-threatening complications related to COVID-19

Patients with severe COVID-19 frequently experience a life-threatening immune reaction, sometimes called a cytokine storm, which can lead to respiratory failure, organ damage and potentially death.

8 Jul 2020

Lung physiology and immune function could spare children from severe COVID-19

Differences in lung physiology and immune function in children could be why they are more often spared from severe illness associated with COVID-19 than adults, according to pediatric and adult physicians at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and Baylor College of Medicine, who teamed up to investigate the disparity.

8 Jul 2020

A biomaterial vaccine for SARS-CoV-2 - quick and scalable

A recent 'tour-de-force' research endeavor, led by scientists from Harvard University, explored the propensity of a biomaterial vaccine based on mesoporous silica rods to spawn highly protective humoral responses against relevant antigens of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

8 Jul 2020

Study aims to more accurately define methods for measuring delirium severity

In a study published in the journal Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorder, researchers reported on their effort to improve and validate tools used to assess the severity of a condition called delirium, an acute confusional state often experienced by older hospitalized patients.

8 Jul 2020

Brigham experts develop reusable N95 mask alternative

With N95 masks in short supply, a team of bioengineers and clinical experts from Brigham and Women's Hospital and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has been developing a new, sustainable solution for health care workers to provide protection during the pandemic.

8 Jul 2020

Research shows probiotics can help combat anxiety and depression

Previous research has tied mental health issues and developmental disorders to gut health. Now, a team of British scientists has shown that foods that broaden the profile of helpful bacteria in the gut, which are collectively known as probiotics, can help ease anxiety and depression.

7 Jul 2020

Risk of severe COVID-19 in ~50 kb genomic segment inherited from Neanderthals

Researchers have found that a small fragment of the genetic code that has been inherited by modern humans from Neanderthals could carry the secret of why some people succumb to a severe form of COVID-19 requiring hospitalization, while others recover.

7 Jul 2020

Surgical delay linked to increased risk in gastrointestinal malignancies, study finds

Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, widespread cancellations of electively-scheduled or "non-emergency" operations were implemented to free up hospital beds and conserve protective equipment for health care workers.

7 Jul 2020

New technique evaluates connectivity of brain networks in COVID-19 patients

Many patients with severe coronavirus disease in 2019 (COVID-19) remain unresponsive after surviving critical illness.

7 Jul 2020

DNA resection pathways are highly specific, shows study

Our cells are constantly dividing, and as they do, the DNA molecule - our genetic code - sometimes gets broken. DNA has twin strands, and a break in both is considered especially dangerous.

7 Jul 2020

Surgical technique for premature babies with brain hemorrhage reduces long-term disability

Premature babies with serious brain hemorrhage treated with a 'brain washing' technique pioneered by Bristol researchers have shown in a 10-year follow-up study, were twice as likely to survive without severe learning disability when compared with infants given standard treatment.

6 Jul 2020

$5 million gift aims to propel Lyme disease research and education

To the Fairbairns, the symptoms--debilitating fatigue, joint pain, cognitive problems--were as worrisome as they were mystifying. All four members of the family had them.

6 Jul 2020

New vitamin K-based drug eliminates medication-resistant epileptic seizures in mice

In the cover article of the June 11 issue of the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, a team of researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina, led by Sherine Chan, Ph.D., and James Chou, Ph.D., reports that a new vitamin K-based drug has proved effective in mouse models of medication-resistant seizures.

6 Jul 2020