Healthcare News and Research

Latest Healthcare News and Research

Surge in enrollment as Californians avoid penalty, receive state aid

Hundreds of thousands of new enrollees signed up for 2020 coverage through Covered California, driven by new carrot-and-stick state policies that provide financial aid to help some people afford their premiums while penalizing those who don't have coverage, state health officials announced Tuesday.

18 Feb 2020

Study provides insight into link between cancer driver gene and alternative splicing changes

A multi-institutional group of researchers led by Children's Hospital of Philadelphia has linked a strong cancer driver gene to changes in proteins that regulate alternative splicing.

17 Feb 2020

Guideline-recommended diuretic linked to more side effects than similar antihypertensive drug

Chlorthalidone, the guideline-recommended diuretic for lowering blood pressure, causes more serious side effects than hydrochlorothiazide, a similarly effective diuretic, according to a new study led by researchers at Columbia University Irving Medical Center.

17 Feb 2020

Simple blood test measures the body's immune response to improve ovarian cancer diagnosis

Researchers have developed a simple blood test that measures the body's own immune response to improve diagnosis of ovarian cancer.

17 Feb 2020

New wearable device to diagnose Alzheimer's disease

With tens of millions of people the world over being affected by dementia, and almost 80% of them suffering from Alzheimer's disease (AD), the Early Detection of Neurodegenerative diseases (Edon) is looking into a novel device to test for AD early in the process, using wearable technology. This will play a crucial role in intervening and preventing the progression of this disease, the prevalence of which has increased by almost 90% since 2000.

16 Feb 2020

Coronavirus outbreak deaths near 1,700

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, which started in Wuhan, in Hubei province in China, now has nearly 1,700 deaths and more than 69,000 infections. The majority of the infections and deaths are in mainland China but has started to spread across 25 countries. Are these numbers alarming?

16 Feb 2020

China could be just the "tip of the iceberg" - Coronavirus

The coronavirus disease outbreak has rapidly spread in China and across the globe, with more than 1,400 deaths and 69,288 confirmed infections in seven weeks. Now, medical experts project that if the virus can not be contained, it can infect 60 percent of the population and kill 45 million people.

16 Feb 2020

Out-of-network primary care linked to rising ACO costs, study finds

Accountable Care Organizations -- or ACOs -- formed for the first time in 2011, designed to combat rising medical costs and provide more coordinated care to Medicare patients. But the savings have been inconsistent nationwide.

16 Feb 2020

New set of recommendations for managing liver failure in the ICU

For critical care specialists, hepatic failure poses complex challenges unlike those of other critical illnesses.

16 Feb 2020

Study shows link between fast food intake and weight gain in preschoolers

There is a strong link between the amount of fast food that pre-school age children consume and their likelihood of becoming overweight or obese, according to a new Dartmouth-led study, published in the journal Pediatric Obesity.

14 Feb 2020

New smart jumpsuit accurately measures spontaneous and voluntary movement of infants

A new innovation makes it possible, for the first time, to quantitatively assess children's spontaneous movement in the natural environment.

14 Feb 2020

Study examines validity of measures used to assess quality of kidney-related care in the U.S.

New research examines the validity of measures used to assess the quality of kidney-related care in the United States.

14 Feb 2020

AI used to instantly and accurately measure blood flow

Artificial intelligence has been used for the first time to instantly and accurately measure blood flow, in a study led by UCL and Barts Health NHS Trust.

14 Feb 2020

Text messaging helps improve access to prenatal health information, study finds

Pregnant urban African American and immigrant Afro-Caribbean women are more likely to receive the prenatal health information they need if they are given access to mhealth apps like Text4baby.

14 Feb 2020

Universal 'One-Size-Fits-All' Cancer Treatment

Andrew Sewell speaks to News-Medical about his breakthrough research, in which he has discovered a new T-Cell that could treat most cancers.

14 Feb 2020

Experimental antiviral prevents MERS-CoV in rhesus macaques

The experimental antiviral remdesivir successfully prevented disease in rhesus macaques infected with Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), according to a new study from National Institutes of Health scientists.

13 Feb 2020

'Quit vaping' internet searches increased during EVALI outbreak

E-cigarettes have been sold for more than a decade, seemingly without incident, but in the summer of 2019 serious lung injuries began appearing among some e-cigarette users -- especially adolescents and young adults.

13 Feb 2020

Trinity bioengineers take crucial step towards mending a broken heart

Bioengineers from Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, have developed a prototype patch that does the same job as crucial aspects of heart tissue.

13 Feb 2020

Chronic kidney disease killing millions worldwide

A new study published in February 2020 in the journal The Lancet shows that over the last 20 years, there has been an increase in the number of people who have severe chronic kidney disease (CKD) requiring dialysis by over 40%. However, in many places around the world, the accessibility of dialysis is extremely limited, say the researchers.

13 Feb 2020

Digital solution for a smart pregnancy

Wouldn't it be handy if you were able to record your baby's heartbeat or even take an ultrasound scan just using a smartphone app at home, without having to make an appointment to visit your obstetrician or go to the hospital, with all the additional travel and waiting time that entails? Technology is currently being developed which ought to make this possible in the near future.

13 Feb 2020