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Boston, Mass. - In a paper published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, physician-researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) assessed the relative impact of COVID-19 on patients hospitalized with the viral infection in March and April 2020, versus patients hospitalized with influenza during the last five flu seasons at the medical center. Overall, the team demonstrated that COVID-19 cases resulted in significantly more weekly hospitalizations, more use of mechanical ventilation and higher mortality rates than influenza.

COVID-19 vaccines being rolled out in the UK are effective in preventing severe disease, but the extent to which they prevent against infection is still unclear.

Researchers who simulated early stages of the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak in Wuhan, China, conclude that the virus was likely circulating earlier than has been described, possibly even in mid-October 2019. The findings do not reveal whether the virus that first emerged was less "fit" than the virus that spread throughout China, say the authors, but the estimates do further distance the first ("index") case from the outbreak at the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, which has received much attention.

Oncotarget published "Quantitative proteome profiling stratifies fibroepithelial lesions of the breast" which reported that the current grading system remains unreliable in differentiating these tumors due to histological heterogeneity and lack of appropriate markers to monitor the sudden and unpredictable malignant transformation of PTs.

A new study involving UCLA researchers finds that mobile stroke units (MSUs) - state-of-the-art ambulances built to provide stroke patients with emergency neurological diagnosis and treatment prior to hospital arrival -- improve patient outcomes and lessen the chance for disability by delivering care faster than standard stroke care.

George Washington University researchers found low dose aspirin may reduce the need for mechanical ventilation, ICU admission and in-hospital mortality in hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Final results indicating the lung protective effects of aspirin were published today in Anesthesia & Analgesia.

WASHINGTON--Nearly one-third of adults age 65 and older who take thyroid hormone also take medications that are known to interfere with thyroid function tests, according to a study presented virtually at ENDO 2021, the Endocrine Society's annual meeting.

WASHINGTON--Less than one in 10 commercially insured patients in the United States who broke a hip, a major complication of osteoporosis, receive any osteoporosis medical treatment within two calendar quarters of their fracture, according to a study whose results will be presented at ENDO 2021, the Endocrine Society's annual meeting.

Leesburg, VA, March 18, 2021--According to ARRS' American Journal of Roentgenology (AJR), contrast-enhanced mammography (CEM) showed concordance with MRI in women with newly diagnosed breast cancer and breast augmentation.

Noting that CEM has not been investigated in women with breast augmentation, Molly Carnahan and her Mayo Clinic team in Phoenix, AZ, concluded, "the findings suggest a possible role of CEM for staging in women with breast augmentation and contraindication or limited access to MRI."

Research from the University of Kent's School of Biosciences has revealed that a molecule produced by the human immune system can severely diminish the potency of certain antibiotics.

This may explain why antibiotics effective in laboratory settings can be less effective at clearing infections in humans.

What The Study Did: Racial and ethnic disparities in very preterm birth and preterm birth among 8,026 women were similar during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City compared with the same period the year prior in this observational study.

Authors: Teresa Janevic, Ph.D., M.P.H., of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, is the corresponding author.

To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/

Philadelphia, March 17, 2021 - Researchers from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) affiliated with the CHOP Epilepsy Neurogenetics Initiative (ENGIN) have compiled a complete genetic and clinical analysis of more than 400 individuals with SCN2A-related disorder, which has been linked to a variety of neurodevelopmental disorders, including epilepsy and autism. By linking clinical features to genetic abnormalities in a standardized format, the researchers hope their findings lead to improved identification and clinical intervention.

Using artificial intelligence and mobile digital microscopy, researchers hope to create screening tools that can detect precursors to cervical cancer in women in resource-limited settings. A study led by researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden now shows that AI screenings of pap smears carried out with portable scanners were comparable to analyses done by pathologists. The results are published in the journal JAMA Network Open.

Researchers from Skoltech and their colleagues from Hadassah Medical Center have developed hybrid nanostructured particles that can be magnetically guided to the tumor, tracked by their fluorescence and pushed to release the drug on demand by ultrasound. This technology can help make cancer chemotherapy more targeted. The paper was published in the journal Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces.Current treatments for cancer include chemotherapy, immunotherapy, radiation, and surgery, but these are often not selective enough to target just the tumor and not the healthy tissues around it.

A research breakthrough shows that a simple blood test could reduce, or in some cases replace, the need for intrusive surgery when determining the best course of treatment for patients with a specific type of brain tumour.

Researchers at the Brain Tumour Research Centre of Excellence at the University of Plymouth have discovered a biomarker which helps to distinguish whether meningioma - the most common form of adult primary brain tumour - is grade I or grade II.