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Yale researchers develop new mouse model to study SARS-CoV-2 infection

Researchers at Yale University School of Medicine have developed a new mouse model to study SARS-CoV-2 infection and disease and to accelerate testing of novel treatments and vaccines against the novel coronavirus.

4 Aug 2020

Trial to examine if new psychological therapy can help tackle problem drinking

A psychological therapy found to be effective in helping people achieve and maintain weight loss is being trialled to see if it can support patients with chronic liver disease to stop drinking.

4 Aug 2020

Researcher is exploring safer and more effective treatment for leukemia

A potentially safer, more effective chemotherapy treatment for patients with blood-related cancers, such as leukemia, who need a particular bone marrow transplant procedure is under study at the University of Arizona Health Sciences.

4 Aug 2020

Researchers use zeolite nanocrystals to deliver oxygen to brain tumors

Glioblastoma, the most widespread and lethal primary brain tumor in adults, is notoriously difficult to treat due to the surrounding lack of oxygen essential to the effectiveness of current treatment.

4 Aug 2020

Heart cell treatment can benefit patients, shows study

More than three years after a clinical trial was prematurely ended for failing to show progress in healing heart attack scars, a prominent peer-reviewed journal is publishing some surprising results showing that the heart cell treatment does benefit patients.

4 Aug 2020

Normal DNA repair process can lead to mutations in cancer

Hypermutation is an unusual occurence that can lead to many nearby mutations at once, severely damaging our genetic material and potentially causing cancer.

4 Aug 2020

Applying "temporal pressure" to the skin can help deliver more drugs

Scientists from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) have showed that applying "temporal pressure" to the skin of mice can create a new way to deliver drugs.

4 Aug 2020

Severe vitamin D deficiency in UK South Asian population can lead to health problems

20 percent of the middle-aged UK South Asian population may have a very severe vitamin D deficiency, a new study in the British Journal of Nutrition reports. Such deficiency can lead to health problems such as osteomalacia (softening of the bones) and other chronic diseases.

4 Aug 2020

Research reveals potential early indicator of Fragile X-associated tremor/ataxia syndrome

A new paper in the journal NeuroImage: Clinical from researchers at the University of Kansas reveals a possible early indicator of Fragile X-associated tremor/ataxia syndrome, or FXTAS.

4 Aug 2020

Researchers to test the effectiveness of intervention that addresses barriers to breastfeeding

A mother's own breast milk has infection-fighting factors and nutrients to help fuel growth and development in babies and may be easier to digest than formula.

4 Aug 2020

Estrogen modestly protective against COVID-19?

Almost from the beginning, scientists have been struck by the disproportionately higher numbers of men and older adults who have developed severe COVID-19 disease compared to younger individuals and women. Prior research has shown that in 37 of the 38 countries from which sex-stratified data was available, males were at a higher risk of death. Also, post-menopausal women are at increased risk of severe COVID-19. However, the biological underpinnings of this have been less visible.

4 Aug 2020

New peptide molecule offers hope for emphysema

Emphysema is a progressive, debilitating lung disease in which the lung's breathing sacs, or alveoli, enlarge, get thinner, and eventually are destroyed as the cells die off. It can be fatal, and there is currently no cure.

4 Aug 2020

Researchers initiate multiple studies to identify coronavirus-related heart problems

COVID-19 is shown to impact the heart and, in some cases, have long-lasting cardiac effects. To discover the extent to which COVID-19 affects the heart, cardiologists and researchers with the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine have begun multiple studies.

4 Aug 2020

Penis microbiome is reservoir for bacterial vaginosis-associated bacteria

Previous studies have pointed out that the reproductive microbiomes of partners might be exchanged in bacterial vaginosis (BV). Now, a team of researchers at the University of Illinois in Chicago compared the microbiota of couples before and after the development of BV.

4 Aug 2020

Broad range of therapeutics are being evaluated for Parkinson's disease

A review of currently registered clinical trials of agents targeting Parkinson's disease (PD) reveals that there is a broad pipeline of both symptomatic and potentially disease-modifying therapies currently being evaluated.

4 Aug 2020

ALKBH5 enzyme shows promising target for cancer immunotherapy

Cancer immunotherapy - a treatment that better enables a patient's own immune system to attack tumors - has shown great potential against some cancers. Yet immunotherapy doesn't work against all tumor types, and many patients who initially respond later develop resistance and relapse.

4 Aug 2020

Targeting LDL cholesterol to reduce heart disease risk now questioned

For many years, health experts have warned that high levels of bad cholesterol or low-density lipoprotein (LDL) are critical drivers for the development of cardiovascular disease. Now, a new study claims that decades of research have failed to show benefit of targeting the bad cholesterol to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.

4 Aug 2020

How COVID-19 lockdown affected the heart

A new study published on the preprint server medRxiv in August 2020 shows that heart rate variability assessments, used to evaluate the health of the heart and blood vessels, are useful in identifying changes in health and well being throughout lockdown related to COVID-19.

4 Aug 2020

Five alternative methods of SARS-CoV-2 suppression

The current pandemic has proved to be challenging to control without stringent and comprehensive non-pharmacological interventions (NPIs), relying mostly on isolation and contact tracing of cases, along with social distancing. However, strategies like these have a huge human cost in terms of restriction of social interactions, resulting in depressive tendencies, disruption of economic activity, and loss of educational resources.

3 Aug 2020

Zika virus mutation responsible for quick spread, birth defects uncovered

A multidisciplinary team from The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston has uncovered a Zika virus mutation that may be responsible for the explosive viral transmission in 2015/2016 and for the cause of microcephaly (babies with small heads) born to infected pregnant women.

3 Aug 2020