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Sweet-taste perception changes from childhood to adulthood

Compared with adults, children and adolescents are less sensitive to the sweet taste and need 40% more sucrose in a solution for them to detect the taste of sugar, a new study found.

3 Aug 2020

Study evaluates how travel bans help reduce the spread of COVID-19

With the reopening of flights during the summer holiday season in Europe, many countries have started to see an increase in COVID-19 infections.

3 Aug 2020

Majority of trainee GPs willing to use mindfulness to reduce burnout, study shows

Mindfulness could help trainee GPs to build their resilience and reduce burnout, helping to reduce the number of newly qualified GPs leaving the profession, according to University of Warwick researchers.

3 Aug 2020

Cannabinoids may alter the effects of some prescription drugs

Cannabinoid-containing products may alter the effects of some prescription drugs, according to Penn State College of Medicine researchers.

3 Aug 2020

Routine health checkups at 18 months can effectively predict autism spectrum disorder

An early diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder, a type of developmental disorder was found to be effective from routine health checkups of infants at 18 months of age.

3 Aug 2020

Cloth face masks have potential to reduce the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 viruses

A literature review coordinated by Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and McMaster University in Canada demonstrates that cloth face masks provide clinically useful levels of filtration, which has the potential to reduce the spread of viruses such as SARS-CoV-2.

3 Aug 2020

Children exposed to trauma show biological signs of aging faster

Children who suffer trauma from abuse or violence early in life show biological signs of aging faster than children who have never experienced adversity, according to research published by the American Psychological Association.

3 Aug 2020

Maternal vaccination could protect infants against RSV illness

Immunizing pregnant women with a potential vaccine against RSV could prevent the most common cause of pneumonia in their babies.

3 Aug 2020

Researchers identify transferrin as potential contributor to COVID-19 severity

SARS-CoV-2 is the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. It is currently not known why some individuals develop only mild or no symptoms when infected, whilst others experience severe, life-threatening forms of the disease.

3 Aug 2020

Immune system's oldest branches may underpin COVID severity

One of the immune system's oldest branches, called complement, may be influencing the severity of COVID disease, according to a new study from researchers at Columbia University Irving Medical Center.

3 Aug 2020

American baby boomers have lower cognition scores than earlier generations

In a reversal of trends, American baby boomers scored lower on a test of cognitive functioning than did members of previous generations, according to a new nationwide study.

3 Aug 2020

Smartphone alert can aid laypersons in opioid overdose reversal

Without timely reversal, opioid overdose causes respiratory depression that may deteriorate into apnea, leading to brain injury and even death.

3 Aug 2020

Screening for pancreatic cancer using artificial intelligence

Dr. Ananya Malhotra speaks to News-Medical about her research into how pancreatic cancer prognosis could be improved by using artificial intelligence.

3 Aug 2020

Meningitis case at Children's National Hospital raises concerns about antibiotic resistance

A recent meningitis case at Children's National Hospital raises serious concerns about antibiotic resistance in the common bacterium that caused it, researchers from the hospital write in a case report.

3 Aug 2020

Stabilized prefusion spike vaccine candidate induces powerful immune response

A new research paper by scientists at Janssen Vaccines & Prevention BV, in the Netherlands and published on the preprint server bioRxiv* is based on the assumption that an effective vaccine against these infections will induce neutralizing antibodies and an immune response favoring Th1 immunity.

3 Aug 2020

Dexamethasone should be a standard drug in severe COVID-19

Many scientists have explored the use of new as well as already approved drugs for this condition, and one of the very few promising leads is dexamethasone. Dexamethasone is a corticosteroid, which has been reported in some earlier studies to reduce mortality in these patients by 18% and 36% in COVID-19 patients who are on oxygen and ventilators, respectively.

3 Aug 2020

SARS-CoV-2 spike protein recognized by innate immune receptors in a glycan-dependent way

The spread of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) depends on its ability to infect new host cells following its replication and release from infected cells. This pivots on its ability to bind to cell surface receptors like the ACE2 enzyme.

3 Aug 2020

Severe fatigue common in COVID-19, independent of disease severity

Patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection often complain of fatigue, but now a new study shows that it also causes severe and frequent fatigue in those who recover after mild illness too.

2 Aug 2020

The race to a coronavirus vaccine

As the number of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases skyrocket to a staggering 18 million, the race to attain vaccine approval is on. More than a hundred candidate vaccines are being developed and tested to prevent infection with the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Now, many vaccine candidates are undergoing human stage 2 and 3 trials to prove their efficacy and safety.

2 Aug 2020

Long stretches of repeating DNA associated with susceptibility to systemic sclerosis

Researchers from the University of Tsukuba show that long stretches of repeat DNA sequences in the gene FLI1 are associated with susceptibility to systemic sclerosis.

2 Aug 2020