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Turning the flu virus into a powerful tool to fight cancer

A recent Views & Comments article published in Engineering highlights advances in repurposing influenza viruses as flexible therapeutic platforms for infectious diseases and cancer, driven by progress in reverse genetics and viral vector engineering.

14 May 2026

The complex peptide mixture that makes ant venom a powerful shield

In addition to serving as biochemical weapons for offense and defense, the venoms produced by ants in the subfamily Formicinae also fulfill additional roles. For example, the ants use it to protect their nests from pathogens. It has long been assumed that the primary constituent of these venoms, formic acid, was responsible for these functions.

14 May 2026

Regular arts and physical activity linked to slower aging

Research shows that leisure activities, including arts engagement and physical exercise, are linked to slower epigenetic aging and improved health outcomes.

14 May 2026

Four-week diet intervention shifts biological aging markers

A short-term shift to whole-food, plant-based diets alters aging biomarkers in older adults, suggesting rapid physiological adaptation rather than age reversal.

14 May 2026

Art history may help doctors better understand obesity stigma

Understanding how obesity has been portrayed in art across the ages can make doctors more empathic and less judgmental, which should lead to their patients achieving better outcomes, new reasearch at this year's European Congress on Obesity (ECO 2026) argues.

14 May 2026

New standards improve quality of donated prosthetic feet worldwide

Researchers have proposed new standards into the decades' old prosthetic donations market, improving the quality of lower limb prosthetic feet by two-thirds – a major quality of life boost for recipients.

14 May 2026

Four OICR-funded studies explore transformative approaches in cancer care

Four new research studies funded by the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) will deliver cutting-edge innovations by maximizing the impact of existing research and making the most out of patient contributions.

13 May 2026

Sequential TACE after SBRT improves outcomes in recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma

Comparative data on sequential transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) after stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) in recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remain limited. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of this combination.

13 May 2026

Qureight to support Mediar Therapeutics' Phase 2 trial of MTX-474 in diffuse cutaneous Systemic Sclerosis

Qureight, an end-to-end imaging CRO that provides enterprise-grade imaging and precision endpoints for clinical trials with a focus on lung and heart disease, and Mediar Therapeutics (Mediar), a clinical-stage biotechnology company advancing first-in-class therapies designed to halt fibrosis, today announced Qureight's AI-powered 3D quantitative imaging analytics platform and services will be used to support Mediar's Phase 2 EncompaSSc clinical trial.

From Qureight 13 May 2026

Gene panel predicts chemotherapy response in triple-negative breast cancer

Researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have characterized cancer cell-specific features in the tumor microenvironment (TME) of early-stage triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) tissues, identifying specific macrophage subtypes associated with chemotherapy response.

13 May 2026

Next-generation cancer therapy shows early promise as treatment candidate for glioblastoma

A next-generation cancer therapy being developed at McMaster University has shown early promise as a treatment candidate for glioblastoma, the most aggressive and most common type of primary brain cancer in adults.

13 May 2026

Air pollution linked to rising kidney disease hospitalization risks

A study supported by FAPESP and published in the journal Scientific Reports showed a strong correlation between the concentration of particulate matter in the air of São Paulo, Brazil – primarily emitted by vehicle fuel combustion – and kidney disease.

13 May 2026

Immune cell discovery reveals new pathway for hepatitis B treatment

Fifteen years ago, doctors in Europe noticed a remarkable thing happening in people with chronic hepatitis B infections. When patients went off their medications, the virus started to come back - and then some of the patients were cured.

13 May 2026

Obesity drugs and surgery linked to greater fat-free mass loss

A new systematic review and meta-analysis of studies presented at this year's European Congress on Obesity in Istanbul, Turkey (12-15 May) shows that diet and exercise interventions result in a lower proportion of fat-free mass loss compared with obesity surgery or obesity drugs among people undergoing a weight loss of 10% or more.

13 May 2026

Adult weight gain strongly linked to higher obesity-related cancer risk

New research presented at this year's European Congress on Obesity (ECO 2026) in Istanbul, Turkey (12-15 May) shows that people who gain the highest amount of weight across adulthood are at greatly increased risk of certain obesity related cancers.

13 May 2026

GLP-1 obesity drugs mainly reduce fat while preserving muscle mass

New research to be presented at the European Congress on Obesity (ECO2026) in Istanbul, Turkey (12–15 May) shows that following treatment with GLP-1 drugs for obesity, most weight loss is fat mass (80–85%) and relative muscle mass is preserved.

13 May 2026

Tranexamic acid modestly reduces bleeding after cesarean delivery in women

Giving tranexamic acid to women with placenta praevia (when the placenta covers the cervical opening) undergoing cesarean birth leads to a significant yet modest reduction in severe bleeding after delivery with no evidence of an increase in serious adverse events, finds a trial from China published by The BMJ today.

13 May 2026

Study reveals hidden struggles faced by unaccompanied child refugees

From relentless cycles of intrusive memories to loneliness and physical pain - a new study form the University of East Anglia reveals the struggles of refugees who entered the UK as unaccompanied minors.

13 May 2026

Brain-controlled hearing aid concept helps solve the cocktail party problem

Researchers developed a real-time brain-controlled hearing system that uses neural signals to identify and amplify the speaker a listener is focusing on in noisy, multi-talker environments. Using intracranial brain recordings, the system improved speech intelligibility, reduced listening effort, tracked attention shifts, and provided a benchmark for future brain-guided hearing aids.

13 May 2026

New trial aims to improve ATTR-CM diagnosis in heart failure

Transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy (ATTR-CM) is an increasingly recognized yet frequently underdiagnosed cause of heart failure, particularly among older adults.

13 May 2026