science wire

COVID-19 caused an alarming surge in premature births, but vaccines were key to returning the early birth rate to pre-pandemic levels, according to a new analysis of California birth records. "The effect of maternal COVID infection from the onset of the pandemic into 2023 is large, increasing the risk of preterm births over that time by 1.2 percentage points," says Jenna Nobles, a University of Wisconsin-Madison sociology professor.

News from Collaborative Research Centre (CRC) 1423, "Structural Dynamics of GPCR Activation and Signal Transduction", led by biochemists Professor Annette Beck-Sickinger and Professor Torsten Schöneberg from Leipzig University, has been extended for a second funding period. This was announced today (24 November) by the German Research Foundation (DFG).

Two Radboud researchers are set to receive a Consolidator Grant from the European Research Council (ERC).

Change in clinical practice would have clear benefits for patients undergoing major bowel surgery, according to analysis conducted by researchers from UCL and the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital. The study, published in The British Journal of Surgery , provides evidence that giving iron intravenously before colorectal surgery improves outcomes for patients, reducing the need for blood transfusion by 33%.

Johns Hopkins experts discuss the promise and pitfalls in studying the healing power of psychedelics JHU Congressional Briefing panelists explain how the controlled substances could transform mental

Around seven percent of children in Austria are born prematurely, i.e. before the 37th week of pregnancy.

Because conventional antibiotics are increasingly failing, researchers at the Helmholtz Institute in Würzburg are looking for new solutions.

The world-leading Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (MIPS), located in Parkville, has welcomed representatives from Consular Corps Melbourne, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Vic

UK becomes the first country to approve CRISPR gene therapy treatment for two inherited blood disorders.

A team of Würzburg cancer researcher Hermann Einsele is part of an international consortium funded by the American Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation with a total of 21 million dollars.

An AI tool that can predict 10-year risk of deadly heart attacks, could transform treatment for patients who undergo CT scans to investigate chest pain, according to British Heart Foundation-funded research presented today at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions in Philadelphia.

Antibiotic resistance is a silent pandemic. The main objective of the Swiss Strategy on Antibiotic Resistance (StAR) is to ensure the effectiveness of antibiotics for human and animal health over the long term.

An open-access format for drug discovery is helping design medications against potential viral threats An international crowdsourced campaign to discover an anti-COVID-19 drug has created a blueprint for the accelerated, patent-free development of drugs to treat viral threats to humanity.

A major new trial has been launched which could transform outcomes for patients with bladder cancer by matching treatments to genetic Current standard treatments for patients with cancer of the bladder wall involve chemotherapy, before either surgery to remove the bladder or radiotherapy. Until now, it has not been possible to say how individuals will respond to this treatment.

GP clinics in London and Wales will receive an AI-powered tool as part of a trial to help improve the diagnosis of a deadly heart condition.

Waterloo researcher works to develop web-based tools to bridge the gap between the public and private sectors of TB health-care providers around the world    By Angelica Marie Sanchez University Relat

Thomas Reiberger, a hepatologist at MedUni Vienna's Department of Medicine III, has taken up a professorship (§99/4) at the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, effective November 1, 2023.

According to nephrologist Dr. Amit Garg , for those with advanced chronic kidney disease, the treatment options are stark: continuous dialysis or a kidney transplant to survive. "A kidney transplant not only gives a patient up to a decade of longer life and quality of life, but data also shows that every 100 kidney transplant procedures save the health-care system a staggering $20 million over five years by sidelining dialysis costs.

Surgical removal of parts of the liver remains the only curative approach for patients with liver-specific cancer.

Researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago have received a $3.12 million National Institutes of Health grant to study whether acupuncture can alleviate chest pain caused by stable angina.

Smartbax nominated for Falling Walls Award It all started with basic research: During experiments in the laboratory, a team from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) discovered an active ingredient against multi-resistant bacteria that is fundamentally different from existing antibiotics. The researchers have since founded a start-up for the development of a novel drug.

The RECOVERY trial , which discovered four effective treatments for COVID-19, has expanded to investigate treatments for influenza (flu). Globally, seasonal flu epidemics are estimated to kill between 290,000 and 650,000 people every year. Despite having known about influenza for almost a century and knowing that pandemic influenza remains one of the greatest threats to human health, we still do not have effective drugs for treating people with severe influenza.

A drug candidate, based on pioneering UCL and Moorfields Eye Hospital research and currently under development by SIFI S.p.A., has been found to be highly effective in treating a rare sight-threatening eye infection in a new international clinical trial. The findings, published in  Ophthalmology , describe the efficacy and safety of the first drug candidate for the treatment of Acanthamoeba keratitis (AK), applying a novel and evidence-based treatment protocol.

Four distinguished immunologists have been awarded one of the most generously funded research grants from the EU: the ERC Synergy Grant. They aim to explore new avenues for immunotherapy of liver metastases. A significant proportion of cancer patients do not succumb to the initial tumor but rather to the resulting metastases.

An international team of four distinguished immunologists, including Professor Eric Vivier of the Centre d'immunologie de Marseille-Luminy (CNRS/Inserm/AMU) has been awarded one of the most generously funded research grants from the EU: the ERC Synergy Grant. Leading in their respective fields of research, they aim to combine their expertise to explore new avenues for immunotherapy of liver metastases - a condition that affects approximately half of all cancer patients.

In two publications in the renowned scientific journal Nature Reviews Drug Discovery, Anneliene Jonker (TechMed Centre) highlights the importance of healthcare for rare diseases, and the innovation needed in that.

KU Leuven and the Danish BioInnovation Institute (BII) will jointly look for new therapeutic drugs for the gynecological disorder endometriosis over the next three years.

A course of treatment with existing drugs prior to chemoradiation led to a 35% reduction in the risk of death or return of cancer, in trial results presented by researchers from UCL and UCLH.

A team of researchers at USI has discovered the dimeric structural organisation of certain receptors among the principle drug targets in pharmacology.

Australian researchers have been awarded $AU1 million ($US687,000) from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to develop improved testing methods for dry powder inhalers.

UCLA Dentistry-led team to use $5 million federal grant to develop effective, non-addictive synthetic cannabinoid Health + Behavior UCLA Dentistry-led team to use $5 million federal grant to develop e

A new national trial will aim to determine the most effective breathing support for babies hospitalised with bronchiolitis.

An affordable microneedle skin patch that delivers a controlled dose of medicine directly into the body has been developed by a team led by scientists at Bath.

The University of Illinois Chicago will be the first site in the state to participate in a national study of a clinical test that screens for a shared cancer signal in a sample of patient blood.

The Molecular Oncology research group, led by Prof. Andrea Alimonti at the Institute of Oncology Research (IOR, affiliated to USI and member of Bios+), in close collaboration with the team of Prof. de Bono (Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust and The Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK), has finally provided the first clinical evidence that myeloid inflammation can fuel disease progression and resistance to hormonal therapies in prostate cancer patients.

Swelling of one or more limbs due to lymphedema affects one in five women undergoing breast cancer surgery following the operation.

Published: 12 October 2023 The PancAim project, which aims to use artificial intelligence (AI) to improve Pancreatic Cancer treatment, will soon realise the broad implementation of a novel AI algorithm for earlier detection of the disease on CT.

The charity has awarded £249,992 to Dr Sankari Nagarajan and her team at the University of Manchester to help discover why some triple negative breast cancers spread to other parts of the body and whether existing drugs can be repurposed to stop this from happening. Around 15%* of breast cancers are classed as triple negative and if this form of the disease becomes resistant to chemotherapy, there are few other treatments available.

FACULTY Q&A A majority of older adults in multiple national surveys have reported a willingness to take fewer medications, but a University of Michigan study explores why many would not agree to stop a medication when recommended by their primary care doctor. Study: Factors Important to Older Adults Who Disagree With a Deprescribing Recommendation The contradiction and how doctor-patient communication comes into play is the subject of a study, "Factors Important to Older Adults Who Disagree With a Deprescribing Recommendation,” published online in JAMA Network Open.