Healthcare News and Research

Latest Healthcare News and Research

COVID-19 pandemic had major impacts on childhood cancer care, shows survey

The COVID-19 pandemic has had major impacts on childhood cancer care worldwide, according to a survey of more than 300 clinicians from 200 hospitals worldwide published in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health journal.

3 Mar 2021

Low-cost, non-electric ventilator allows non-specialized workers to treat COVID-19 patients

A team of engineers from Loughborough University has designed and built a unique low-cost, non-electric ventilator in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

3 Mar 2021

People diagnosed with alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency more likely to stop smoking, study shows

New research shows that people diagnosed with a genetic condition, called alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (AATD), are far more likely to stop smoking and therefore prevent the development of lung disease.

3 Mar 2021

Researchers to investigate COVID-19's disproportionate impact on long-term care residents and workers

Long-term care facilities have been disproportionately burdened by COVID-19, accounting for about 60% of COVID-19 deaths nationwide, 70% if retirement homes are included.

3 Mar 2021

Genomic surveillance can help identify how SARS-CoV-2 spreads in care homes

Care homes are at high risk of experiencing outbreaks of COVID-19, the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2. Older people and those affected by heart disease, respiratory disease and type 2 diabetes - all of which increase with age - are at greatest risk of severe disease and even death, making the care home population especially vulnerable.

3 Mar 2021

Scientists report new insights into the development of blood cancers

Utah researchers report significant new insights into the development of blood cancers. In work published today in Blood Cancer Discovery, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, scientists describe an analysis of published data from more than 7,000 patients diagnosed with leukemia and other blood disorders.

3 Mar 2021

UK public health authorities review early data on the effectiveness of Pfizer and AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines

A team of UK scientists has recently evaluated the effectiveness of the Pfizer (BNT162b2) and AstraZeneca (ChAdOx1) vaccines against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. The findings reveal that both vaccines are effective in significantly reducing SARS-CoV-2 infection in older adults and providing long-term protection.

3 Mar 2021

Obesity may reduce COVID-19 vaccine efficacy, say researchers

A startling indicates that obesity may reduce the immune response to the current COVID-19 vaccines, along with other factors like age and sex. This could have significant implications for vaccination strategies in obese people.

3 Mar 2021

Combination of therapies may benefit patients with mitochondrial respiratory chain disorders

Researchers from the Mitochondrial Medicine Frontier Program at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) have demonstrated how one combination of therapies may be beneficial for patients with mitochondrial respiratory chain disorders.

3 Mar 2021

COVID-19 disrupts heart muscle contraction, may lead to heart failure

Since early in the pandemic, COVID-19 has been associated with heart problems, including reduced ability to pump blood and abnormal heart rhythms.

3 Mar 2021

Survey reveals impact of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccination in the UK

Researchers at Imperial College London in the UK have reported on round five of the REal-time Assessment of Community Transmission-2 (REACT-2) program – a cross-sectional community survey measuring the prevalence of antibodies against the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) among adults in England.

2 Mar 2021

The benefits and risks of using online health forums and services

The internet provides a major source of exchanging health information through online portals and new media. Internet users can access health sites and online forums to obtain health information.

2 Mar 2021

Children with MIS-C have highly activated immune systems, study finds

Taking the first deep dive into how the immune system is behaving in patients with multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), researchers at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have found that children with this condition have highly activated immune systems that, in many ways, are more similar to those of adults with severe COVID-19.

2 Mar 2021

FAIR Health study highlights the impact of COVID-19 on pediatric mental health

In March and April 2020, mental health claim lines for individuals aged 13-18, as a percentage of all medical claim lines, approximately doubled over the same months in the previous year.

2 Mar 2021

New drug could prevent Alzheimer's by modulating key enzyme involved in amyloid plaque formation

Amyloid plaques are pathological hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease (AD) -- clumps of misfolded proteins that accumulate in the brain, disrupting and killing neurons and resulting in the progressive cognitive impairment that is characteristic of the widespread neurological disorder.

2 Mar 2021

Readers and tweeters dispense timely advice for difficult times

Your body’s immune system has produced antibodies that will kill a few thousand kinds of germs and virus. Since you are alive, the chances are quite high you will survive its producing another. Here is how the system works.

2 Mar 2021

New poll spotlights a major gap in testing for hearing loss in older adults

Eighty percent of Americans over 50 say their primary care doctor hasn't asked about their hearing in the past two years, and nearly as many - 77% -- haven't had their hearing checked by a professional in that same time, according to a new national poll report.

2 Mar 2021

Evonik partners with BioNTech to manufacture lipids for COVID-19 vaccine

Caused by SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues to spread across the globe.

From Evonik 2 Mar 2021

Ethnic minorities have less access to COVID-19 vaccines, finds study

A new study discusses the results of a survey including well over 1.3 million participants in the UK and the USA. During the initial part of the vaccination campaign – that is, the phase including February 1, 2021 – the researchers found significantly more hesitancy towards the vaccine among Black, Asian, and Hispanic communities, as well as greater difficulty in accessing vaccines among them.

2 Mar 2021

Sorting out how politics, policies figure in flap over New York nursing home Covid death rates

The plaudits have faded for New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Once hailed as a paragon of pandemic governing, he's since come under scorching criticism for undercounting the state's covid deaths among nursing home residents by as much as half.

2 Mar 2021