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New-born piglets often die painfully from infection with an intestinal bacterium. A team of researchers from 3 faculties at the University of Bern has now discovered how the bacterium causes fatal intestinal bleeding. They have thus made a breakthrough in veterinary research. Promising prospects for vaccinations and medications for use in humans too have now opened up.
New Rochelle, NY, June 4, 2020--Next-generation sequencing of the COVID-19 virus is providing powerful metagenomic data, which, combined with clinical data, will inform the search for effective treatments, as reported in the peer-reviewed journal Pediatric Allergy, Immunology, and Pulmonology. Click here to read the article now.
Philadelphia, June 4, 2020--Universally screening pediatric patients for COVID-19 before they undergo surgical procedures has allowed hospitals to improve safety by identifying all patients who test positive for the virus, half of whom have no symptoms, according to new research led by Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). The study, which analyzed universal screening procedures at CHOP and two other major children's hospitals, found that screening patients for COVID-19 allowed hospitals to ensure patients and physicians were not exposed to the virus.
FINDINGS
Researchers at the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center analyzed gene-expression patterns in the most aggressive prostate cancer grade group -- known as Gleason grade group 5 -- and found that this grade of cancer can actually be subdivided into four subtypes with distinct differences. The findings may affect how people are treated for the disease.
Nanotechnology has contributed a great deal to the field of medical science. It has enabled researchers to design tools to deliver drugs to specific targets in a living organism. Smart drug delivery vectors, combined with stimuli-based characteristics, are becoming increasingly important. The use of external and internal stimulating factors can have enormous benefits in combination with such drug delivery vectors, as they increase the targeting efficiency of nanotechnology-based platforms. An example of a stimulating factor is the pH of a target cell's surrounding microenvironment.
Netakimab is a humanized anti-interleukin 17A antibody approved for the treatment of moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis. Phase three clinical trial PATERA evaluated the effects of netakimab on signs and symptoms of psoriatic arthritis, including disease activity, skin manifestation and quality of life. It included 194 eligible adult patients with psoriatic arthritis who received either 120 mg of netakimab (97 patients in the first treatment arm) or placebo (97 patients in the second arm) subcutaneously during 24 weeks.
Chronic liver disease affects men and women equally
Cirrhosis affects more than 4 million in U.S.
CHICAGO --- Prior studies have suggested women might have higher mortality of cirrhosis of the liver than men. Women are also less likely to receive liver transplantation.
But the research was unclear. A comprehensive new Northwestern Medicine study shows women are not more likely to die of liver cirrhosis than men, demonstrating that this chronic liver disease affects both men and women similarly.
SAN ANTONIO (June 3, 2020) -- A team of researchers from The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio confirmed the role of a certain protein in the development of high-grade kidney cancer. The researchers also showed that a higher level of the protein can be used as a marker to predict which tumors will develop treatment resistance and progress more rapidly.
New tailored therapies offer exciting prospects for treating acute myeloid leukemia (AML), but taking advantage of them may require waiting a week or more for genetic testing before starting treatment, posing a dilemma for doctors and patients facing this deadly and often fast-moving disease. A new study bolsters the evidence that this approach is safe for most patients under careful clinical oversight.
In the first few weeks of the lockdown of New Zealand in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, residents reported a slight increase in mental distress but higher levels of confidence in the government, science and the police, as well as greater patriotism, according to research published by the American Psychological Association.
Scientists can monitor biomolecular processes in live tissue by noninvasive optical methods, such as fluorescence imaging. However, the fluorescent dyes used for that purpose are often rather unstable, and photobleaching, lack of specificity, and poor pharmacokinetics are recurrent issues. US scientists have developed a molecular shield that stabilizes near-infrared fluorescent dyes and enhances their functionality. Their synthesis and characterization are reported in the journal Angewandte Chemie.
WASHINGTON - (June 4, 2020) - A distinguished panel of medical experts, state and federal health officials, and congenital heart disease parent advocates published recommended updates to the current American Academy of Pediatrics' protocol for detecting critical congenital heart disease (CCHD) in newborn babies using pulse oximetry. The recommendations were released online by the journal Pediatrics. Updates include:
Key algorithm changes to simplify the passing threshold and trigger clinical assessment faster when a child's oxygen saturation is low
Philadelphia, June 4, 2020 - Head injuries that lead to concussions can happen at any age, and children impacted by concussions have different needs and recovery patterns. In a new study, researchers at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) have performed the most comprehensive characterization of elementary school-age concussions to date, revealing an opportunity to improve outcomes for this age group through more consistent visio-vestibular assessments at the initial health care visit. The findings were published today in the Journal of Pediatrics.
A tailored public health approach that accounts for variation in risks across populations, places and time could guide the next phase of Canada's coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) response, argue authors in a commentary in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).