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Clean cooking with LPG could avert 28,000 premature deaths, reduce global temperatures

A new study, published in Environmental Health Perspectives, has found that clean cooking with liquified petroleum gas could avert 28,000 premature deaths and reduce global temperatures through successful implementation of a new national household energy strategy in Cameroon.

2 Apr 2020

Scientists find important clues to vaccine in SARS-CoV-2 genome

A new research paper published by scientists at the University of Bristol who sequenced the genome of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which is causing the worldwide COVID-19 illness, reveals some significant findings that could help researchers working on rolling out vaccines to stop the relentless march of the virus. The study was published online on the preprint site bioRxiv in April 2020.

2 Apr 2020

Study investigates if the body's immune response to infections changes with seasons

Ground breaking new research is underway at the University of Surrey in collaboration with Columbia University to investigate if the body's immune response to infectious diseases and viruses, such as COVID-19, is altered by different seasons.

2 Apr 2020

COVID-19 by the numbers

Numerical data sometimes reveal facts that are otherwise concealed within an onslaught of information from an overwhelming number of sources.

2 Apr 2020

Public health interventions will drive economic recovery from COVID-19

A major new study titled “Pandemics Depress the Economy, Public Health Interventions Do Not: Evidence from the 1918 Flu,” by MIT economist Emil Verner and others, and published as a working paper in the Social Science Research Network, puts the role of public health measures and financial welfare during public health crises into perspective.

2 Apr 2020

Excess cardiac myosin worsens damage to heart tissue during a heart attack

A prevalent heart protein known as cardiac myosin, which is released into the body when a person suffers a heart attack, can cause blood to thicken or clot--worsening damage to heart tissue, a new study shows.

2 Apr 2020

COVID-19: What the illness looks like

With increasing information about COVID-19 disease gathered first-hand, a more accurate picture of the clinical features is coming together.

2 Apr 2020

Mediterranean diet best for lowering LDL cholesterol

A new study published in The BMJ in April 2020 suggests that almost any remedial diet can result in a certain amount of weight loss and a better cardiovascular risk profile over the next six months, compared with the usual diet. However, at the 12-month mark, the dieter has mostly gained back the weight, while most cardiovascular risk factors are back at their original levels.

2 Apr 2020

Promising vaccine patch candidate for COVID-19

In a breath of fresh air, scientists from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine reported that they had developed a potential new vaccine against the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which is causing the current COVID-19 pandemic. The vaccine has been tested in mice. When administered through a small patch only the size of a fingertip, the vaccine was found to generate protective neutralizing antibodies against the virus, in adequate quantities.

2 Apr 2020

Magnetic stimulation of rectal nerves could help treat fecal incontinence

An ongoing study by the Medical College of Georgia on the role of magnetic stimulation of the rectal nerves to achieve better bowel control in patients with fecal incontinence is showing early promise. The technique is called translumbosacral neuromodulation therapy, or TNT.

2 Apr 2020

Starving pancreatic cancer cells of cysteine may induce tumor ferroptosis

A new study from Columbia University Irving Medical Center and the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center suggests a compound in development for a rare kidney stone disease may have potential against pancreatic cancer.

2 Apr 2020

AI to predict risk of an individual patient's need for ventilator

As coronavirus patients are hospitalized, it is difficult for doctors to predict which of them will require intensive care and a respirator. Many different factors come into play, some yet to be fully understood by doctors.

2 Apr 2020

Studies shed light on the link between obesity and use of prescription opioids

Two new studies from the Boston University School of Public Health shed light on the relationship between obesity and the use of prescription opioids in the United States.

2 Apr 2020

IMDEA Networks researcher launches study to estimate the actual incidence of pandemic

Antonio Fernández Anta, Research Professor at IMDEA Networks, has launched a study to estimate the actual incidence of the pandemic in eleven countries.

2 Apr 2020

New study offers clues to why autism is more common in boys than in girls

A new study in Neuron offers clues to why autism spectrum disorder is more common in boys than in girls. National Institutes of Health scientists found that a single amino acid change in the NLGN4 gene, which has been linked to autism symptoms, may drive this difference in some cases.

2 Apr 2020

Variations in skin-related genes influence how efficient we make vitamin D

Genetic variations in the skin can create a natural sunscreen, according to University of Queensland researchers investigating the genes linked with vitamin D.

2 Apr 2020

Light physical activity linked to better daily function for stroke survivors

Researchers used accelerometers to measure daily physical activity in 30 stroke survivors for a week, assessing how much the participants moved and how well they performed routine physical tasks.

2 Apr 2020

Psychoactive ingredient in marijuana may impair ability to produce viable embryos

Female eggs exposed to THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, have an impaired ability to produce viable embryos, and are significantly less likely to result in a viable pregnancy, according to an animal study accepted for presentation at ENDO 2020, the Endocrine Society's annual meeting.

2 Apr 2020

Study shows efficacy of parent-based treatment for childhood anxiety

A study in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, published by Elsevier, reports that an entirely parent-based treatment, SPACE (Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions), is as efficacious as individual cognitive-behavioral therapy for the treatment of childhood and adolescent anxiety disorders.

2 Apr 2020

Badges that help locate nurses repurposed to monitor patient mobility

By repurposing badges originally designed to locate nurses and other hospital staff, Johns Hopkins Medicine scientists say they can precisely monitor how patients in the hospital are walking outside of their rooms, a well-known indicator and contributor to recovery after surgery.

2 Apr 2020