Healthcare News and Research

Latest Healthcare News and Research

A $200 debit card won’t do much for seniors’ drug costs

If they've been listening to President Donald Trump, seniors may be expecting a $200 debit card in the mail any day now to help them pay for prescription drugs.

30 Oct 2020

Why state mask stockpiling orders are hurting nursing homes, small providers

Nursing homes, small physician offices and rural clinics are being left behind in the rush for N95 masks and other protective gear, exposing some of the country's most vulnerable populations and their caregivers to COVID-19 while larger, wealthier health care facilities build equipment stockpiles.

30 Oct 2020

New project to develop surgical technologies for COVID-19 receives €2.4 million funding

Irish medical tech firm Palliare leads EU H2020 research project with UCD using innovative optical technology for new safer surgery solution.

30 Oct 2020

Researchers develop new, improved human-skin equivalent

Researchers at the RIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research (BDR) have developed an improved human-skin equivalent that reproduces traction-force balance in the lateral direction, a property that controls the structure and physiological function of skin.

30 Oct 2020

Hospital floors create route of transfer of potentially dangerous organisms to patients

The floors of hospital rooms are quickly and frequently contaminated with antibiotic-resistant bacteria within hours of patient admission, creating a route of transfer of potentially dangerous organisms to patients, according to a study published today as part of the proceedings from Decennial 2020: The Sixth International Conference on Healthcare-Associated Infections.

30 Oct 2020

RNI researchers to study the impact of excessive speeds on the human brain, body

Before the first Virgin Hyperloop ride takes off, the brains behind pioneering neuroscience research at West Virginia University will help ensure the health and well-being of its passengers and operators.

30 Oct 2020

Massey Cancer Center and VCUarts win Hamilton International Arts in Health Award

Last year, 12 patients in the Supportive Care Clinic at VCU Massey Cancer Center stepped inside a conference room, donned motion sensors and engaged in a facilitated life review, acting out various parts of their lives through a virtual avatar displayed on a projection screen.

30 Oct 2020

A2B-COVID: Rapid identification of SARS-CoV-2 transmission

A new study published on the preprint server medRxiv in October 2020 reports a method to assess transmission potential for any event in the current pandemic, using what is known about the virus's spread, data on the mobility of individuals, and new ways of processing genomic sequencing data. The outcome is to determine whether cases are linked or not so as to take action to prevent further spread.

29 Oct 2020

New mouth spray could help treat patients with rare genetic skin condition

A new spray for treating severely painful blisters, mouth ulceration and oral scarring in patients with a rare genetic skin condition is being developed by researchers at the University of Birmingham.

29 Oct 2020

Mental health challenges associated with COVID-19 lockdown in spring 2020

This brief is a summary of the policy brief prepared in the context of the Swiss national COVID-19 science task force (https://ncs-tf.ch/en/).

29 Oct 2020

Study suggests a role for the hypothalamus in genetic susceptibility to IBD

Using sophisticated 3D genomic mapping and integrating with public data resulting from genome-wide association studies, researchers at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia have found significant genetic correlations between inflammatory bowel disease and stress and depression.

29 Oct 2020

The Trump Medicaid record: Big goals, yet few successes

President Donald Trump entered office seeking a massive overhaul of the Medicaid program, which had just experienced the biggest growth spurt in its 50-year history.

29 Oct 2020

Researchers test effectiveness of different fabric masks at filtering particles

A team of researchers have tested everything from t-shirts and socks to jeans and vacuum bags to determine what type of mask material is most effective at trapping the ultrafine particles which may contain viruses such as SARS-CoV-2, the virus which causes COVID-19.

29 Oct 2020

Researchers discuss emerging applications of AI in preclinical and clinical medicine

Announcing a new article publication for BIO Integration journal. In this review article the authors Chenxi Liu, Dian Jiao and Zhe Liu, from Tianjin University, Tianjin, China consider artificial intelligence (AI) aided disease prediction.

29 Oct 2020

Researchers estimate prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies among adults in orange county

Testing a representative sample of Orange County residents for a wide range of coronavirus antibodies, University of California, Irvine researchers found that 11.5 percent of them have antibodies for COVID-19, in contrast to previous estimates of less than 2 percent.

29 Oct 2020

Travel surges before lockdown undermine the SARS-CoV-2 containment effort

Recently, researchers from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston; the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign; and the University of California, USA, assessed the impact of the announcement and implementation of restrictions such as lockdowns on mobility patterns of humans.

28 Oct 2020

REACT study shows 26% decline in SARS CoV-2 seroprevalence over 2-3 months

Their study titled, "Declining prevalence of antibody positivity to SARS-CoV-2: a community study of 365,000 adults," was released online as a pre-print on the medRxiv* server. This large study was funded by the Department of Health and Social Care in England.

28 Oct 2020

COVID-19 mortality rate declines significantly in Sweden

A new observational study by Swedish researchers shows a significant decline in death rates among hospitalized patients infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Their study titled, "Decline in mortality among hospitalized covid-19 patients in Sweden: a nationwide observational study," was released online as a preprint on the medRxiv* server.

28 Oct 2020

Genome-wide CRISPR screens reveal resistance and sensitization mechanisms of drugs used in COVID-19

By leveraging nucleotide triphosphate analog-induced cell death, Chinese researchers unveiled genes that affect the import, export, and metabolism of pervasively used antiviral drugs in the treatment of coronavirus disease (COVID-19). This exciting study is currently available on the bioRxiv* preprint server.

28 Oct 2020

Study: Nearly 17% of recovered COVID-19 patients could still carry the virus

A new study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, published by Elsevier, presents new data that address important questions pertaining to the containment of the coronavirus pandemic: When should COVID-19 quarantine really end and which continuing symptoms may be more indicative of a positive test in recovered patients?

28 Oct 2020