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Researchers identify biological mechanism in depressed individuals

University of Illinois at Chicago researchers report that in depressed individuals there are increased amounts of an unmodified structural protein, called tubulin, in lipid rafts - fatty sections of a cell membrane - compared with non-depressed individuals.

22 Apr 2020

Nicaragua records sharp decline in intimate partner violence

The percentage of women and girls in Nicaragua's second-largest city who reported experiencing physical violence by their partners during their lifetimes decreased from 55% in 1995 to 28% in 2016, according to a new study published in the journal BMJ Global Health.

22 Apr 2020

New findings could make immunotherapy treatments effective for more cancer patients

Scientists have developed a new way to map the molecules on tumour cells that flag their presence to the immune system, according to a study published today in eLife.

22 Apr 2020

Is hydroxychloroquine effective against COVID-19?

Following the emergence of a novel coronavirus in Wuhan, China, in the last month of 2019, it has spread globally to produce the first pandemic of the 21st century. The virus, called severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has already affected over 2.5 million and killed more than 177,000 people as of April 22, 2020.

22 Apr 2020

Researchers are exploring potential therapy for controlling infectious diseases

The engineering of specific virus-targeting receptors onto a patient's own immune cells is now being explored by scientists from Duke-NUS Medical School (Duke-NUS), as a potential therapy for controlling infectious diseases, including the COVID-19-causing virus, SARS-CoV-2.

22 Apr 2020

Urban expansion is creating “new ecological niches” for spread of infectious diseases

An interdisciplinary team of researchers from the University of Lincoln, UK, and York University, Canada, investigated how the global trend towards urbanization has contributed to the rise in the total number of disease outbreaks per decade since the 1980s.

22 Apr 2020

P-BEST: Fast efficient COVID-19 virus testing before symptoms appear

A highly promising new study published on the preprint server medRxiv in April 2020 reports an efficient new method to conduct high-throughput testing of blood samples for the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) which is causing the rapidly spreading pandemic of COVID-19 disease throughout the world. The method could revolutionize the diagnosis of new cases before they become symptomatic.

22 Apr 2020

Making long-term research project a translational success

The Digital Health Accelerator (DHA) of the Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) is helping the scientists to make the long-term research project a translational success.

22 Apr 2020

Using community memory to figure out the incubation period for COVID-19

The COVID-19 epidemic that began at the end of 2019 in China’s Wuhan city has now spread to over 185 countries and territories, taking over 177,000 lives out of approximately 2.5 million reported cases. Without either a vaccine or a reliable cure at hand, public health authorities are stretched to contain the virus spread.

22 Apr 2020

Online searches predict daily incidence, deaths due to COVID-19 in US

The pandemic COVID-19 has affected more than 825,000 people in the US, but the daily number of new cases and deaths is not precise. A new study published on the preprint server medRxiv in April 2020 reports that Internet search interest could be used as a means to predict the daily incidence of cases in the US, as was proved in China.

21 Apr 2020

Raw-type dog food contains high levels of multidrug-resistant bacteria

Microorganisms that infect animals, such as dogs, have the potential to jump to humans and cause illness. Zoonosis is a disease that can spread from animals to humans. These diseases pose health risks, mainly that some types can become life-threatening. Now, a study warns that raw-type dog food contains high levels of multidrug-resistant bacteria, which has the potential of transmitting the bacteria between dogs and humans.

21 Apr 2020

Pets have a low risk of transmitting multi-drug resistant bugs to owners, study finds

Zoonoses are diseases that are transmitted from animals to humans. About 75 percent of emerging infectious diseases are zoonoses, just like the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) that’s caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Domesticated animals such as pets can carry parasites and other pathogens to people. However, a new study suggests that pets are not a significant source of transmission to humans.

21 Apr 2020

PiCoVacc vaccine candidate for COVID-19 effective in animal trials

In a new study available on the bioRxiv preprint server, a group of researchers from China report on the pilot-scale production of a purified inactivated severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus vaccine candidate (PiCoVacc), shown to induce virus-specific neutralizing antibodies in rats, mice, and non-human primates.

21 Apr 2020

The influence of crowding on COVID-19 transmission dynamics

Researchers in the United States have analyzed the effects that geographic factors have on the spread of COVID-19 disease. They found that the epidemic intensity is significantly influenced by crowding, with epidemics in densely-populated cities lasting longer and having a more significant overall incidence.

21 Apr 2020

Media literacy can have a positive impact on kids' nutrition, family relationships

During this pandemic when few parents can limit screen time, a new study shows that building critical media skills as a family can have a positive impact on kids' nutrition without restricting their access to TV and computers.

21 Apr 2020

Study: LGBTQ military service members face elevated risk of sexual victimization

A recent study found that LGBTQ service members face an elevated risk of sexual victimization including harassment, assault and stalking while in the military than their non-LGBTQ counterparts.

21 Apr 2020

Study highlights true impact of heavy drinking on people's decision making

A new study from psychologists at the University of Bath highlights the true impact of heavy drinking on our ability to plan, set goals and make decisions the following day. Published in the Journal of Clinical Medicine, the study provides new evidence as to why hangovers cost the wider economy so much.

21 Apr 2020