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Using data science to make blood banks more efficient

The Sanquin blood bank gathers data on every donation. Around 720,000 donations are made every year. 'That generates a mountain of highly valuable data,' says Leiden PhD candidate Marieke Vinkenoog.

11 Sep 2019

Teens with severe opioid use disorder can be treated with medications

Teens who misuse prescription or illicit opioids might benefit from opioid treatment medications, according to a new study led by a Yale researcher.

11 Sep 2019

California hospitals and nursing homes brace for wildfire blackouts

California has seen a relatively slow start to this year's wildfire season, but Wanda Chaney still frets every time it's hot and windy in Chico, a college town about two hours north of Sacramento. She's far less worried about an actual wildfire than the power company shutting off her electricity to prevent one.

11 Sep 2019

HUD-VASH voucher program effectively combats veteran homelessness, research shows

Homelessness is a persistent and significant public policy and public health challenge, disproportionately affecting veterans.

11 Sep 2019

Community healthcare intervention reduces child mortality and closes poverty gap in Ghana

Giving people access to nurses in their own communities is reducing the child mortality rate in Ghana, offsetting the health disadvantage amongst poor and uneducated mothers, according to a study in SSM - Population Health.

11 Sep 2019

New cardiovascular home-monitoring program to detect concerning trends in postpartum women

America has the highest maternal mortality rate in the developed world, and it's getting worse. Since cardiovascular disease is the primary cause, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and the Magee-Womens Research Institute created a blood pressure home-monitoring program to rapidly detect concerning trends in postpartum women before their situation becomes critical.

11 Sep 2019

Caring contacts reduce the odds of suicide attempt

A soldier named Jerome Motto received caring letters from home in World War II. They helped boost his spirits and later led to one of the nation's first successful suicide interventions.

11 Sep 2019

Calcium absorption by breastfeeding babies could be key to treating osteoporosis in the elderly

New research reveals the mechanism that allows breastfeeding babies to absorb large amounts of calcium and build healthy bones--a discovery that could lead to treatment for osteoporosis and other bone diseases later in life.

11 Sep 2019

Study quantifies first lifetime-risk estimates for peripheral artery disease

The lifetime risk of lower-extremity peripheral artery disease (PAD), in which leg arteries narrow abnormally, is about 30 percent for black men and 28 percent for black women, with lower but still-substantial risks for Hispanics and whites, according to a study led by scientists at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

11 Sep 2019

EEG slowing may be a valuable biomarker for delirium severity

An EEG (electroencephalogram) can provide a valuable biomarker for detecting delirium, a serious mental disturbance that is often underrecognized, as well as predicting poor clinical outcomes, researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital have found.

11 Sep 2019

Non-invasive accurate blood test for prostate cancer

For men, one of the most dreaded moments could be hearing, “We’re not yet sure, but your PSA is high; you’ll have to come for further tests.” This could start a chain of events which ends in the diagnosis of prostate cancer - including a prostate biopsy, and ending in a major surgery for prostate removal.

11 Sep 2019

Commonly prescribed antibiotics linked to two types of heart problems

Scientists have shown for the first time a link between two types of heart problems and one of the most commonly prescribed classes of antibiotics.

11 Sep 2019

Existing drug could be used to treat glioblastoma

A research team from the University of Georgia's Regenerative Bioscience Center has found that a compound molecule used for drug delivery of insulin could be used to treat glioblastoma, an aggressive, usually fatal form of brain cancer.

11 Sep 2019

Genetic engineering could open possibilities for patients with Parkinson’s disease

People with Parkinson’s disease experience loss of dopamine-producing brain cells, leading to tremors, rigidity, bradykinesia, and postural instability, the primary symptoms of the disease.

11 Sep 2019

Developing next generation treatment to counteract opioid addiction

There are many moments in the human experience when tragedy elicits not only compassion, but inspiration. When Mike Zhang heard the story of a mother whose son died of an opioid overdose just one month after the teenager's introduction to the drug at a party, the Virginia Tech researcher wanted to help.

11 Sep 2019

UMass Lowell expert aims to improve sleep of night-shift workers

A UMass Lowell expert on sleep is examining strategies to help night-shift workers get more restful shuteye, critical to preventing ill health effects.

11 Sep 2019

NIH partners with Apple and Harvard for long-term study of women's health

The National Institutes of Health, Apple, and the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health announced their research partnership for a major long-term study of women's health.

11 Sep 2019

Two uveitis drugs perform similarly in a head-to-head clinical trial

Methotrexate and the more expensive mycophenolate mofetil performed similarly in a head-to-head clinical trial that compared the two drugs for treating noninfectious uveitis, an eye disease that accounts for up to 15% of blindness in the U. S.

11 Sep 2019

Brain-computer interface: huge potential benefits and formidable challenges

A new Royal Society report called “iHuman: blurring lines between mind and machine” is for the first time systematically exploring whether it is “right” or not to use neural interfaces – machines implanted in or worn over the body to pick up or stimulate nervous activity in the brain or other parts of the nervous system.

11 Sep 2019

Scientists find a link between brain’s emotion circuit and movement

The brain is a powerful organ that controls all the body processes, including movement. In some athletes, however, they usually experience a phenomenon called “choking,” wherein their performance rapidly declines when they’re under a lot of pressure.

11 Sep 2019