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Harnessing artificial intelligence for infectious disease prevention

A new research review to be given at a pre-congress day for this year's European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID 2024) will look at the many ways artificial intelligence can help prevent infectious disease outbreaks including ensuring staff wear personal protective equipment correctly and managing day-to-day hospital activities such as medication prescription and cleaning.

27 Feb 2024

Harnessing artificial intelligence to enhance infectious disease outbreak investigations

A new research review to be given at a pre-congress day for this year's European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID 2024) will highlight the potential artificial intelligence (AI) has to improve the speed and accuracy of investigations into infectious disease outbreaks in hospitals, and potentially provide real time information to stop or prevent them.

27 Feb 2024

Second-line treatment for drug-resistant tuberculosis is as effective as first-line medicines

Patients who have drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) have a similar microbiological response to bedaquiline-based second-line medications as patients with drug-sensitive TB taking first-line regimens, according to researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York and GHESKIO Centers in Haiti.

27 Feb 2024

Newborn T cells found to excel in immune defense

Scientists have long believed that a newborn's immune system was an immature version of an adult's, but new research from Cornell University shows that newborns' T cells – white blood cells that protect from disease – outperform those of adults at fighting off numerous infections.

24 Feb 2024

Understanding the role played by HIV in pulmonary hypertension

Across the globe, more than 39 million people are living with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), the virus that causes AIDS, including more than 1.3 million new HIV diagnoses last year.

23 Feb 2024

Major discovery improves the understanding of brain fog associated with Long COVID

Today, a team of scientists from Trinity College Dublin and investigators from FutureNeuro announced a major discovery that has profound importance for our understanding of brain fog and cognitive decline seen in some patients with Long COVID.

22 Feb 2024

Scripps Research scientists develop an antibody that blocks lethal snake toxins

Scripps Research scientists have developed an antibody that can block the effects of lethal toxins in the venoms of a wide variety of snakes found throughout Africa, Asia and Australia.

21 Feb 2024

New DNA recombination toolbox surpasses CRISPR for genome engineering

Belgian researchers from VIB-KU Leuven Center for Microbiology and VIB-UGent Center for Plant Systems Biology have developed a new toolbox of 16 different short DNA sequences that allow triggering controlled and specific recombination events in any genome.

16 Feb 2024

Maternal mRNA COVID-19 vaccination shields infants for six months

Women who receive an mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccination or booster during pregnancy can provide their infants with strong protection against symptomatic COVID-19 infection for at least six months after birth, according to a study from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health.

15 Feb 2024

Combination therapy shows promise in targeting latent HIV reservoirs

Antiretroviral therapies (ART) stop HIV replication in its tracks, allowing people with HIV to live relatively normal lives.

15 Feb 2024

Researchers develop 20 new recombinant rabies viral vectors for brain circuit mapping

A research team led by the University of California, Irvine has created 20 new recombinant rabies viral vectors for neural circuit mapping that offer a range of significant advantages over existing tools, including the ability to detect microstructural changes in models of aging and Alzheimer's disease brain neurons.

14 Feb 2024

New guideline aims to improve diagnosis and treatment of cryptococcosis

A group of international mycology experts led by Professor Dr Oliver A. Cornely at the University of Cologne has jointly drafted a guideline for the diagnosis and treatment of cryptococcosis, which aims at improving infection management and thus the survival rate of patients.

13 Feb 2024

Home-administered COVID-19 rapid antigen tests show comparable accuracy to clinician-performed tests

In a study involving nearly 1,000 patients seen at the Baltimore Convention Center Field Hospital (BCCFH) during a five-month period in 2022 -; researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine, the University of Maryland School of Medicine and five other collaborators report that a rapid antigen test (RAT) for detecting SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, can be used at home with accuracy comparable to the same test being administered by a health care professional.

13 Feb 2024

Pregnant women show significant immune system changes linked to gut microbiome

How gut microbiota and metabolite changes relate to immune function during pregnancy.

12 Feb 2024

New immunotherapy borrows cancer's tricks to unleash powerful T cells

Immunotherapies using engineered T cells have ushered in a new era in cancer treatment, but they have their limits. They may cause side effects or stop working, and they do not work at all against 90% of cancers.

8 Feb 2024

Wayne State researchers secure $1.4 million DoD grant for prostate cancer study

A team of researchers from Wayne State University was awarded a $1.4 million, three-year grant from the U.S. Department of Defense for the study, "Cytochrome c acetylation drives prostate cancer aggressiveness and Warburg effect."

7 Feb 2024

Mitochondria on the move: New discovery could revolutionize treatment of brain diseases

The human brain is an organ that takes nearly from 20 to 25% of the energy the body needs. This high energy demand for neuronal functions depends on the transport and precise distribution of mitochondria — the energy-generating cell organelles — in each neuron.

7 Feb 2024