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A new observational study being presented at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) and published in The Lancet Global Health, suggests that the Beta variant of SARS-CoV-2, first detected in South Africa, is linked with an increased risk of hospitalisation and death from COVID-19.

A new study (the ATOMIC2 trial), presented at this year's European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) and published simultaneously in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, shows the antimicrobial drug azithromycin - already approved for use in multiple infections - does not prevent mild COVID-19 cases progressing to hospitalisation or death.

New research from Switzerland presented at this year's European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID), held online this year, shows that people living in poorer neighbourhoods were less likely to be tested for COVID-19 but more likely to test positive, be hospitalised, or die, compared with those in more wealthy areas.

A presentation at this year's European Congress on Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID), held online this year, will discuss how failure to clear SARS-CoV-2 infection in a patient with advanced HIV creates conditions that can lead to evolution of dangerous mutations in SARS-CoV-2.

New research presented at this year's European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) shows the importance of receiving the second dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and also the need to constantly review and update vaccines to deal with new variants of concern.

New research presented at this year's European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) taking place online (9-12 July), suggests that three commonly prescribed classes of drugs that are not themselves antibiotics--proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), beta-blockers and antimetabolites--could lead to antibiotic resistant infections .

Outpatient antibiotic prescribing fell by almost 4% a year between 2011 and 2018, according to a study of prescribing patterns in the largest integrated health care system in the USA, being presented at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) held online this year.

Growth impairment, a common complication of Crohn's disease in children, occurs more often in males than females, but the reasons are unclear. Now, a physician-scientist from Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian and colleagues at eight other centers have found that factors associated with statural growth differ by sex.

In the United States, nearly every pediatric doctor's visit begins with three measurements: weight, height and head circumference. Compared to average growth charts of children across the country, established in the 1970s, a child's numbers can confirm typical development or provide a diagnostic baseline to assess deviations from the curve. Yet, the brain, of vital importance to the child's development, is merely hinted at in these measurements.

Sea otters are the smallest marine mammal. As cold-water dwellers, staying warm is a top priority, but their dense fur only goes so far. We have long known that high metabolism generates the heat they need to survive, but we didn't know how they were producing the heat -- until now

Orthopedic surgeons know that knee surgeries that require revisions have inferior outcomes compared with primary surgeries but until now, the reason for this was unknown. Today a team of orthopedic physicians reports that opting for a transtibial surgical approach and choosing an inference screw for femoral and tibial fixation will improve the patient's odds of having a significantly better six-year clinical outcome.

An analysis of MRI images of the tissue grafts used for patients who underwent surgery to repair the anterior cruciate knee ligament suggests grafts used from the quadriceps may be superior to tissue grafts from the hamstring. The research was presented today at the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine - Arthroscopy Association of North America Combined 2021 Annual Meeting.

Why do some Europeans discriminate against Muslim immigrants, and how can it be reduced? The School of Arts & Sciences' Nicholas Sambanis conducted innovative studies at train stations across Germany involving willing participants, unknowing bystanders and, most recently, bags of lemons. His newest study finds evidence of significant discrimination against Muslim women, but it is eliminated when they show they share progressive gender attitudes.

The authors of a new UW-led study write that because law enforcement directly interacts with a large number of people, "policing may be a conspicuous yet not-well understood driver of population health."

Trust in science - but not trust in politicians or the media - significantly raises support across US racial groups for COVID-19 social distancing.

A survey offered to transgender and nonbinary people across six continents and in thirteen languages shows that during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic, many faced reduced access to gender-affirming resources, and this reduction was linked to poorer mental health. Brooke Jarrett of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, and colleagues present the findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on July 9, 2021.

Two factors that play a key role in climate change - increased climate warming and elevated ozone levels - appear to have detrimental effects on soybean plant roots, their relationship with symbiotic microorganisms in the soil and the ways the plants sequester carbon.

In a new study, published in Science Advances, researchers combined close-up observations of Jupiter's environment by NASA's satellite Juno, which is currently orbiting the planet, with simultaneous X-ray measurements from the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton observatory (which is in Earth's own orbit).

Plant researchers have a potent new tool at disposal: In the journal Science Advances, a research team from Würzburg shows how to close the stomata of leaves using light pulses.

Changing climate patterns have left millions of people vulnerable to weather extremes. As temperature fluctuations become more commonplace around the world, conventional power-guzzling cooling and heating systems need a more innovative, energy-efficient alternative, and in turn, lessen the burden on already struggling power grids.