Jason Lee

Researchers have found the "Eat, Sleep, Console" (ESC) care approach to be more effective than using the Finnegan Neonatal Abstinence Scoring Tool (FNAST) to assess and manage opioid-exposed newborns, according to a national, randomized controlled clinical trial. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-console-hospital-stay-medication-opioid-exposed.html

Paediatricians from European countries have raised the alarm over a shortage of medicines for children including antibiotics and asthma treatment, warning it was endangering health. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-european-paediatricians-alarm-medicine-shortage.html

Transgender women keep their prostates even after gender-affirming surgery, but the extent to which they remain at risk of prostate cancer has been unclear. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-transgender-women-prostate-cancer.html

For a team of Canadian and French researchers, dark clouds on the horizon are potentially ominous not because they signal an approaching storm—but because they were found in a recent study to carry drug-resistant bacteria over long distances. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-clouds-drug-resistant-bacteria-distances.html

A team of researchers at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard has developed a new approach to next-generation sequencing that detects genetic mutations within single molecules of DNA. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-method-accuracy-dna-sequencing-fold.html

Would it surprise you to learn that short-term motor memories that last less than a minute play a bigger role than long-term ones in relearning movements after you've forgotten them? If so, you're not alone: the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) scientists who discovered this were also amazed at the finding. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-long-held-beliefs-roles-short-term-long-term.html

Metabolic disorders play a central role in many common conditions, including Alzheimer's, depression, diabetes and cancer, which call for reliable as well as non-invasive diagnostic procedures. Until now, radioactive substances have been administered as part of the process of mapping glucose metabolism in the brain. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-mri-imaging-method-captures-brain.html

After a mild winter in the U.S., will there be an uptick in ticks this year? source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-lyme-season-mild-winter.html

The role of sugars in public health continues to be urgently debated among nutrition scientists and health professionals—yet the science behind the effects of various fructose-containing sugars (e.g., sucrose/table sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, fructose/fruit sugar) on overweight and obesity has been unclear. A new comprehensive review, "Important food sources of fructose-containing sugars and adiposity: a systematic review and meta-analysis of controlled feeding trials," recently published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, elevates the importance of focusing on the types of foods and diets consumed, as well as total calories, when associating consumption of sugars with weight gain. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-imply-sources-fructose-containing-sugars.html

Non-Hispanic Black youth between the ages of 5 and 18 years old are more likely to undergo pharmacologic restraint during mental health crises than children of other races and ethnicities. The findings will be presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) 2023 Meeting, held April 27-May 1 in Washington, D.C. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-black-youth-drug-restraints-mental.html

The balance of microbes in the human gut varies substantially from morning to night and even more by season—with profound fluctuations completely transforming the microbiome from summer to winter, according to a study to be presented at Digestive Disease Week (DDW) 2023. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-gut-microbiome-fluctuates-day-seasons.html

The thyroid is a gland located at the base of the neck. It makes thyroid hormones, which control the way the body uses energy. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-scan-thyroid-nodules.html

A study has found what many patients and doctors are already discovering: There is no single treatment for long COVID, and many different patients are having many different symptoms. source https://www.webmd.com/covid/news/20230420/long-covid-treatment-not-one-size-fits-all?src=RSS_PUBLIC

A new study by researchers at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University and others shows how bringing together coalitions of individuals from government, public health, health care, public education, and other arenas to address a public health issue can result in better policies, systems, and environments for change. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-team-approach-early-childhood-obesity.html

Amid rising evidence that additives designed to improve plastics also disrupt sex hormones, a Rutgers laboratory trial shows that plastic itself can do likewise when inhaled at moderate levels. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-plastic-particles-chemical-additives-sex.html

The results of a promising surgical treatment for hemorrhagic strokes, led by researchers at Emory University School of Medicine since 2017, were announced Saturday in a late-breaking clinical trial presentation at the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) meeting in Los Angeles. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-positive-surgical-trial-deadliest.html

Very young children who have common ear and upper respiratory problems appear to have an increased risk of being diagnosis of autism or showed high levels of autism traits, according to a new study. source https://www.webmd.com/brain/autism/news/20230426/ear-nose-and-throat-problems-linked-with-autism?src=RSS_PUBLIC

The EU on Wednesday unveiled a long-awaited proposed reform of legislation governing pharmaceutical drugs to make them cheaper, prevent shortages and boost new antibiotic production. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-eu-unveils-reforms-cheaper-drugs.html

Scientists are unraveling the complex mystery underlying how the immune system mounts a potent defense against one of the world's most relentless killers—the deadly parasites that cause the worst form of malaria. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-job-natural-killer-cells-tackle.html

Pancreatic cancers are deadly and hard to treat, in part because they are so often detected at an advanced stage; overall five-year survival rates are about 11%. Two separate labs at Boston Children's Hospital took out-of-the-box approaches to this difficult cancer, and both uncovered some very promising leads. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-tumor-microenvironment-pancreatic-cancer-growth.html

British pharmaceutical giant GSK said on Tuesday that the EU's drug watchdog will study a new treatment for a common type of womb cancer for potential approval in the European market. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-drugmaker-gsk-eu-womb-cancer.html

Even while we are asleep, the brain does not rest completely. Surprisingly, the blood flow in a sleeping brain can be greater than when it is in a wakeful state. This allows the brain to remove waste metabolites, which is important to prevent the development and progression of neurological dysfunctions such as dementia. However, the exact mechanism of how the sleeping brain increases blood flow has not been known. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-brain-blood.html

The Nobel prize winning physicist Niels Bohr once said, "An expert is a (person) that has made all the mistakes that can be made in a narrow field." This idea, that to master a skill we must learn from our mistakes and avoid making them in future, has long been recognized; however, the brain mechanisms and pathways that control this ability have been poorly understood. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-reveals-brain-pathway-future-decision-making.html

A research team led by Professor Leung Wai-keung from Department of Medicine, School of Clinical Medicine, LKS Faculty of Medicine, the University of Hong Kong (HKUMed) and the Baylor College of Medicine of the United States found that Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection around the world has been steadily declining over the past four decades, thus offering a comprehensive, updated epidemiology of H. pylori infection. The study has been published in The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-global-prevalence-pylori-infection-steadily.html

A group of researchers led by the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, has illustrated the mechanistic pathway for PTEN-deficient breast cancer and successfully tested a method of countering the downstream effects of immune system evasion by tumors. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-mechanism-pten-deficient-breast-cancer.html

The first in-human-study of a new immunotherapy that blocks a natural enzyme tumors commandeer for their protection was well tolerated by children with relapsed brain tumors and enabled many to have unexpected months of a more normal life, researchers say. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-treatment-regimen-tolerated-beneficial-children.html

The World Health Organization (WHO) currently recommends oral iron taken twice daily as the standard of care in developing nations, but adherence to this treatment is poor. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-landmark-malawi-trial-boosts-iron.html

New research indicates that for patients with advanced skin cancer, it may be important to maintain normal vitamin D levels when receiving immunotherapy medications called immune checkpoint inhibitors. The findings are published by Wiley online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-vitamin-d-benefit-patients-advanced.html

Despite the promise of new medications that promote cancer cell death in people with acute myeloid leukemia, leukemic cells often adopt features that let them evade the drugs' effects within a year. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-drug-combination-ability-treatment-death.html

For children under age 18 years, a single computed tomography (CT) scan is not associated with an increased risk of brain tumours, leukemia or lymphoma, but exposure to 4 or more scans before adulthood more than doubles the risk, according to new research in Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ). source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-ct-scan-kids-cancers-cts.html

Self-fitting, over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aids produce self-reported and clinical outcomes similar to those of audiologist-fitted hearing aids for adults with mild-to-moderate hearing loss, according to a study published online April 13 in JAMA Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-self-fitting-over-the-counter-aids-beneficial.html

A discovery about gene variants of an inflammation 'brake' brings scientists a step closer to personalised treatment for patients at risk of kidney disease and kidney failure. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-inflammation-gene-reveal-outcomes-kidney.html

Repairing or replacing injured tendons or similar load-bearing tissues represents one of the major challenges in clinical medicine. Natural tendons are water-rich tissues exhibiting outstanding mechanical strength and durability. Their mechanical properties originate from sophisticated microscale structures involving stiff collagen fibrils aligned in parallel and interlaced with soft water-retaining biopolymers. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-team-multifunctional-tendon-mimetic-hydrogels.html

Scientists have uncovered a new understanding of how COVID-19 causes severe multi-organ injury in some patients and the pathways to stopping the cytokine storms behind them, according to new research published today in the Journal of Clinical Investigation Insight. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-unveils-paths-cytokine-storms-covid-.html

Suspected suicide attempts by poisoning in 10- to 19-year-olds that were reported to poison centers increased by 30% in 2021. source https://www.webmd.com/children/news/20230421/rate-of-us-kids-attempting-suicide-by-overdose-rose-during-pandemic?src=RSS_PUBLIC

Group homes are therapeutic environments that are critical to the care of patients with severe mental illness (SMI) and/or intellectual or developmental disabilities. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-year-covid-pandemic-negative-health.html

A new UNICEF report reveals a significant decline in the public's faith in the importance of childhood vaccines. source https://www.webmd.com/children/vaccines/news/20230421/pandemic-saw-rise-in-mistrust-of-childhood-vaccines-worldwide?src=RSS_PUBLIC

For patients with some types of cancer, diagnosis can happen at an advanced stage. While a tumor grows unnoticed, it accumulates hundreds to thousands of mutations, making it difficult for scientists studying late-stage cancers to figure out which ones contributed to tumor growth at the earlier stages of cancer. Knowing more about the genetic events that take place during the progression to cancer can help scientists engineer more realistic cell and animal models of the disease and even develop better ways to detect and treat it early. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-scientists-genetics-tumor.html

The US Supreme Court was poised to wade into the divisive battle over the abortion drug mifepristone with a ruling due Friday on lower court-ordered restrictions on the widely used pill. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-supreme-court-abortion-pill-access.html

An international team of 79 researchers have collaborated on a study published in Nature Medicine to delve into perivascular spaces (PVS), a poorly understood artifact seen in magnetic resonance imaging of cerebral small vessel disease, a leading cause of stroke and dementia. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-bioinformatic-exploration-perivascular-space-genomic.html

From treatment to remission, symptoms to support, here’s what a doctor who treats it every day wants you to know about ulcerative colitis. source https://www.webmd.com/ibd-crohns-disease/ulcerative-colitis/features/uc-doctor-know?src=RSS_PUBLIC

Africa's first mRNA vaccine hub was ceremonially launched on Thursday to acclaim from the UN's global health chief, who hailed it as a historic shift to help poor countries gain access to life-saving jabs. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-hails-africa-mrna-vaccine-hub.html

The agency said that people at higher risk — such as the immunocompromised and those over age 65 — could choose to get a second booster shot before this fall. source https://www.webmd.com/covid/news/20230420/cdc-backs-call-for-second-covid-booster?src=RSS_PUBLIC

Some 67 million children partially or fully missed routine vaccines globally between 2019 and 2021 because of lockdowns and health care disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the United Nations said Wednesday. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-million-children-vaccines-covid-unicef.html

Researchers from the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), belonging to the Valencian Institute of Artificial Intelligence (VRAIN), have developed a new prototype of a small desktop robot for older adults that can monitor their physical and mental state and recommend different exercises to contribute to their well-being. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-small-desktop-robot-older-adults.html

Using data collected from the National Health and Aging Trends Study, Harvard Medical School researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital explored the various communication patterns that adults age 65 and older reported having with friends, family, and health care providers during the COVID-19 pandemic. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-link-tech-anxiety-depression-older.html

France risks shortages of abortion pills as US states build up stocks during an intensifying legal and political battle over reproductive rights, the country's gender equality authority has warned. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-france-abortion-pill-shortage-stocks.html

A Michigan Medicine study finds that Black and socioeconomically disadvantaged patients with a common vascular disease have more severe symptoms before bypass surgery—and are at greater risk for amputation and other complications after the procedure. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-black-socioeconomically-disadvantaged-patients-vascular.html

Individuals who were diagnosed with depression during pregnancy were more likely to be diagnosed with cardiovascular disease within two years after giving birth than individuals without depression, according to new research published today in the Journal of the American Heart Association. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-prenatal-depression-linked-cardiovascular-disease.html

A team of researchers at Huntsman Cancer Institute and the University of Utah (the U) found that human papillomavirus-related cancer diagnoses are more common in adolescent and young adults (AYAs) who have previously had cancer. The team is led by Anne Kirchhoff, Ph.D., MPH, investigator in the Cancer Control and Population Sciences Research Program and associate professor of pediatrics at the U. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-young-adults-cancer-greater-hpv-related.html

RIKEN researchers have discovered how a species of gut microbe exacerbates obesity in mice fed a high-fat diet. Now published in Cell Metabolism, this finding could help scientists develop new ways of treating obesity via the microbiome. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-gut-microbe-exacerbate-obesity.html

For many kids, the period between childhood and early adolescence can be difficult. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-good-key-pre-teen-mental-health.html

Salmonella infections cause about a million deaths a year worldwide, and there is an urgent need for better vaccines for both typhoid fever and non-typhoidal Salmonella disease. New work from researchers at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine shows how memory T cells, crucial for a vaccine that induces a powerful immune response, can be recruited into the liver in a mouse model of Salmonella. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-resident-t-cells-key-salmonella-immunity.html

Italy's competition authority said Tuesday it was investigating British American Tobacco's Italian division and online giant Amazon for alleged misleading advertising of a heated tobacco product. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-italy-probes-amazon-tobacco-ad.html

A score based on four readily available clinical and imaging parameters identifies the heart failure patients who benefit most from atrial fibrillation ablation, according to late breaking science presented at EHRA 2023, a scientific congress of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-score-heart-failure-atrial-fibrillation.html

An innovative three-step ablation approach including ethanol infusion of the vein of Marshall improves freedom from arrhythmias in patients with persistent atrial fibrillation compared to pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) alone, according to late breaking science presented at EHRA 2023. Preliminary results at 10 months are presented, with follow up ongoing until 12 months. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-ablation-strategy-freedom-arrhythmias-atrial.html

A study of breast cancer survivors with genitourinary syndrome of menopause, or GSM, found that vaginal laser "rejuvenation" therapy didn’t help with sexual function. source https://www.webmd.com/breast-cancer/news/20230417/false-promise-of-vaginal-laser-therapy?src=RSS_PUBLIC

The number of diagnosed cases of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have increased significantly among adults in the United States within the past decade, which could be due to many factors, including overdiagnosis. A recent JAMA study found that diagnoses of ADHD in adults are growing four times faster than in children. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-effort-underway-guidelines-adhd-adults.html

A KAIST research team led by Professor Keon Jae Lee from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and the College of Medicine of the Catholic University of Korea has developed a highly sensitive, wearable piezoelectric blood pressure sensor. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-highly-sensitive-wearable-piezoelectric-blood.html

Increasing treatment access and reducing undiagnosed infections is vital for combatting HIV, UNSW researchers have shown. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-treatment-hiv-infections-nsw-victoria.html

Discovery of a gene in multiple mammalian species could pave the way for a highly effective, reversible and non-hormonal male contraceptive for humans and animals. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-genetic-male-contraception.html

For many teens, that first formal job as a fast-food cashier, barista or lifeguard is a rite of passage. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-teen-jobs-parents-cautious-negative.html

An international consensus statement on the safest and most effective way to implant a pacing system that mimics the heart's normal function is published today in EP Europace, a journal of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). The document is being launched at the EHRA Conduction System Pacing (CSP) Summit and will be discussed during EHRA 2023, a scientific congress of the ESC. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-guidance-natural-pacemaker-method-published.html

Nurses in Britain are prepared to strike until Christmas if they cannot reach a deal with the government on pay, the leader of the country's main nursing union said on Sunday. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-uk-nurses-christmas-union-leader.html

A major UK study has discovered that the disturbed sleep patterns in patients hospitalized with COVID-19 was likely to be a driver of breathlessness. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-disturbed-partially-covid-breathlessness.html

A certain protein builds up in the brains of most Parkinson's patients, a study confirmed on Thursday using a new technique hailed as a potential "game-changer" that could point towards a way to test for the debilitating disease. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-potential-game-changer-parkinson-disease.html

Long periods of immobility can put people at risk of dangerous blood clots — yet hibernating bears lie around for months without any problem. Now scientists think they've figured out why. source https://www.webmd.com/stroke/news/20230414/some-bear-facts-that-could-help-prevent-human-strokes?src=RSS_PUBLIC

Chronic conditions such as type 2 diabetes, asthma, HIV infection, and mental illness may be greatly undertreated in the U.S. jail and prison population, suggests a new study from researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-chronic-health-conditions-incarcerated-people.html

Fuchs' endothelial corneal dystrophy, a degenerative eye disease, causes progressive vision loss that can induce blindness. It is the leading cause of corneal transplantation, but the scarcity of grafts hinders its treatment. A research team from Université Laval and Université de Montréal has identified a way to slow the disease and even avoid transplantation if diagnosed at an early stage. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-corneal-cells-death-mitochondria.html

Gastric cancer is one of the most common cancers worldwide. A new invention by researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) could help improve the treatment of this cancer by enhancing the precision of radiotherapy, which is commonly used in combination with treatment options such as surgery, chemotherapy or immunotherapy. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-ingestible-capsule-x-ray-dosimeter-real-time.html

Certain immune cells possess a homing property that directs them to the skin at birth to protect the baby, researchers from The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UT Health San Antonio) discovered. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-cells-home-skin-missiles-birth.html

Antibody treatments exist for many diseases, but require injections or IV infusions, which are painful, inconvenient and carry risks. Now, a team of researchers at the University of Connecticut has created a way to deliver multiple doses of antibodies over a period of weeks using a small, biodegradable skin patch instead. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-painful-convenient-antibody-treatments.html

Investigators discovered the spike protein from the virus in brain tissue of animals and people after death. The finding suggests these virus fragments build up, stick around, and trigger inflammation that causes long COVID symptoms. source https://www.webmd.com/covid/news/20230413/part-of-coronavirus-may-stick-around-the-brain?src=RSS_PUBLIC

The biomechanics of how cancer cells escape from the bloodstream to invade other organs has been described for the first time by researchers from UCL, MIT and their collaborators. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-cancer-cells-muscle.html

MIT neuroscientists have found a way to reverse neurodegeneration and other symptoms of Alzheimer's disease by interfering with an enzyme that is typically overactive in the brains of Alzheimer's patients. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-peptide-potential-alzheimer-treatment.html

Test source https://www.webmd.com/news/20230413/release-test-news?src=RSS_PUBLIC

A malaria vaccine developed by Britain's Oxford University is to be used in Ghana, the first time it has received regulatory clearance anywhere in the world. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-malaria-vaccine-green-ghana.html

Approximately 7 million adults in the U.S. are living with opioid use disorder (OUD). Yet a new Northwestern Medicine study that measured residential treatment use among Medicaid enrollees across nine states found only 7% of enrollees with OUD received residential treatment, an integral part of the recovery process for many. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-millions-opioid-addiction-dont-residential.html

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI), the transition period before dementia, have shown a tendency to go hand-in-hand with type 2 diabetes (T2D); about 45% of individuals with T2D also have MCI. Tai chi chuan is an increasingly popular multimodal mind-body exercise consisting of slow, deliberate physical movements combined with meditative practices. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-tai-chi-chuan-effective-cognitive.html

A camel cannot go through the eye of a needle. But researchers at ETH Zurich have now achieved something that—figuratively speaking—comes quite close. They have developed a new approach to minimally invasive surgical instruments, allowing large objects to be brought into the body through a narrow catheter. Their demonstration study has been published in the journal Nature Communications. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-self-folding-surgical-tools-catheter-minimally.html

While pregnant women are at greater risk of getting sick from COVID-19, little was known about how the immune system responds to the infection during pregnancy. New research from the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity (Doherty Institute) has found that pregnant women display a strong immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection, comparable to that of non-pregnant women. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-pregnant-women-robust-variable-immunity.html

The past few years have seen numerous advances in the understanding of how type 1 diabetes develops and how to manage it, yet the global disease burden remains high, according to a review article published April 5 in The Lancet. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-global-diabetes-burden-high-advances.html

A team from the Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine in Japan has uncovered new information about how microglia, the resident immune cells in the brain, colonize the brain during the embryonic stage of development. Although erythromyeloid progenitors (EMPs) were previously thought to divide into either microglia or macrophages, the group found that macrophages that enter the brain primordium—the brain in its earliest recognizable stage of development—can become microglia at later stages of development. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-approach-fetal-brain-dysfunction.html

A new study shows promise for reducing risky drinking among Army National Guard members over the long term, potentially improving their health and readiness to serve. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-peer-binge-drinking-national-members.html

Brains are like puzzles, requiring many nested and co-dependent pieces to function well. The brain is divided into areas, each containing many millions of neurons connected across thousands of synapses. These synapses, which enable communication between neurons, depend on even smaller structures: message-sending boutons (swollen bulbs at the branch-like tips of neurons), message-receiving dendrites (complementary branch-like structures for receiving bouton messages), and power-generating mitochondria. To create a cohesive brain, all these pieces must be accounted for. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-mitochondria-power-failure-age-related-cognitive.html

Five medical organizations say it is essential that hospitals establish antimicrobial stewardship programs to prevent Clostridioides difficile (C. difficile) infections. These infections, linked to antibiotic use, cause difficult-to-treat diarrhea, longer hospital stays, and higher costs. C. difficile infections are fatal for more than 12,000 people in the United States each year. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-guidance-antimicrobial-stewardship-essential-difficile.html

Experts have found that at the start of the COVID-19 outbreak in early 2020, Americans chose not to become pregnant as they grappled with stay-at-home restrictions, anxiety, and economic hardship. Now, a new study led by researchers at NYU Grossman School of Medicine shows that some states actually experienced steeper decreases in fertility than others. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-impact-coronavirus-states-fertility-tracked.html

Chinese calligraphic handwriting (CCH) is an ancient, expressive art of writing Chinese characters that has been deemed as an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-neural-interactions-characterized-chinese-calligraphic.html

Second only to the notorious TP53 gene, the genes for assemblages known as mSWI/SNF protein complexes are the most frequently mutated entities in cancer cells. Made up of 10 to 15 subunits, the complexes are built from the activity of 29 individual genes. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-gene-signatures-loss-function-master.html

A team has revealed the key mechanism of the loss of membrane protrusions on intratumoral natural killer (NK) cells, which impairs their ability to recognize and kill tumor cells, providing a new strategy for NK cell-based immunotherapy. This work was published in Nature Immunology. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-reveal-key-mechanism-natural-killer.html

A growing percentage of gunshot wound victims in the United States are dying before they reach the hospital, a study by researchers at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle has found. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-gunshot-victims-dying-hospital.html

Mutations in our genes can lead to severe problems, like colon or liver cancer. But cancer is very complex. Mutations in the same genes can lead to different subtypes of tumors in different people. Currently, scientists don't have a good way to produce such tumor subtypes for study in the lab. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-cancer-genes-multiple-personalities.html

Non-biological factors and social determinants of health are important to include in CVD risk assessment for women, particularly for women of diverse races and ethnicities other than white, according to a new American Heart Association scientific statement published today in Circulation, the Association's flagship, peer-reviewed journal. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-non-biological-factors-social-health-important.html

Targeted testing for HIV in emergency departments has great potential for increasing diagnoses, this year's European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) in Copenhagen, Denmark, (15-18 April), will hear. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-hiv-hospital-emergency-departments-great.html

An analysis that was the basis of a highly criticized recommendation from Florida's surgeon general cautioning young men against getting the COVID-19 vaccine omitted information that showed catching the virus could increase the risk of a cardiac-related death much more than getting the mRNA shot, according to drafts of the analysis obtained by the Tampa Bay Times. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-florida-key-vaccine.html

Chinese health officials defended their search for the source of the COVID-19 virus and lashed out Saturday at the World Health Organization after its leader said Beijing should have shared genetic information earlier. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-china-health-lash-defend-virus.html

Messenger Ribonucleic Acid (mRNA) as a therapeutic approach is gaining momentum due to its ability to be rapidly manufactured and its promising outcomes. mRNA-based vaccines, for instance, played a crucial role in the fight against COVID-19 in many parts of the world. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-mrna-degradation-vaccine-stability.html

Access to the most commonly used method of abortion in the U.S. plunged into uncertainty Friday following conflicting court rulings over the legality of the abortion medication mifepristone that has been widely available for more than 20 years. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-halts-fda-abortion-pill-mifepristone.html

WebMD article on 11 possible symptoms of heart problems that you may not be aware of, such as dizziness, fatigue, and nausea. source https://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/features/never-ignore-symptoms?src=RSS_PUBLIC

A new chip that holds different cell types in tiny, interconnected chambers could allow scientists to better understand the physiological and disease interactions between organs. The integrated-gut-liver-on-a-chip (iGLC) platform was designed by scientists at Kyoto University's Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences (iCeMS), to improve understanding of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). The researchers, together with colleagues in Japan, published their findings in the journal Communications Biology. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-two-organ-chip-fatty-liver.html

After helping to develop and test new mRNA technologies for COVID-19 vaccines, University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) researchers and scientists are turning their attention to utilizing this innovative technology to ward off other infectious diseases like malaria and influenza. Last month, UMSOM faculty in the Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health (CVD) launched a new clinical trial to investigate the use of mRNA technologies to create a vaccine against malaria. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-path-mrna-vaccines-infections-covid-.html

Much of the research on new cancer treatments in the last two decades has focused on genetic targets that allow cancers to grow and spread by altering cell signaling or shutting off tumor suppressors. There is a growing body of evidence that unique features of cancer cell metabolism, though, could provide new opportunities for developing treatments that impact tumors in a direct way while leaving healthy cells relatively untouched. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-unique-metabolic-pathway-starve-pancreatic.html

The oral antibiotic doxycycline prevented the acquisition of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) when tested among men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender women who took the medication within 72 hours of having condomless sex, according to findings published today in the New England Journal of Medicine. Specifically, the post-exposure approach, termed doxy-PEP, resulted in a two-thirds reduction in the incidence of syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia among the study participants, all of whom reported having an STI within the previous year. However, the research also revealed a slight increase in antibacterial resistance that requires further exploration, the authors found. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-doxycycline-sexually-transmitted-infections-two-thirds.html

All prominent migrant groups in the Netherlands are suffering more from long-COVID than the native Dutch population, research from Amsterdam UMC has found. The study, published today, in The Lancet Regional Health—Europe, shows that in some groups the rates of long-COVID are up to 50% higher than in the Dutch population. This results in many migrant groups "suffering in silence," in the words of senior author Professor Charles Agyemang. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-covid-greater-burden-migrant-groups.html

A team from the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light (MPL) in Erlangen has created a new, fast and precise method for clinicians to analyze cells in tissue samples from cancer patients without the need for a trained pathologist. They use artificial intelligence to evaluate the data their method produces. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-artificial-pathologist.html

The number of immune cells in and around kidney tumors, the amount of dead cancer tissue, and mutations to a tumor suppressor gene called PBRM1 form a biomarker signature that can predict—before treatment begins—how well patients with kidney cancer will respond to immunotherapy, according to new research directed by investigators at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center and its Bloomberg~Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-id-biomarkers-response-immunotherapy-kidney.html

A new study from UCLA researchers finds sex-specific brain signals that appear to confirm that different drivers lead men and women to develop obesity. The study, appearing in the journal Brain Communications, combined data from several modes of MRI with patients' clinical features and personal histories to identify sex-specific mechanisms in the brain underlying obesity. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-men-women-obesity-drivers-tailored.html

Itch is a protective signal that animals use to prevent parasites from introducing potentially hazardous pathogens into the body. If a mosquito lands on a person's arm, they sense its presence on their skin and quickly scratch the spot to remove it. Itchiness due to something like a crawling insect is known as "mechanical" and is distinct from "chemical" itchiness generated by an irritant such as the mosquito's saliva if it were to bite the person's arm. While both scenarios cause the same response (scratching), recent research by Salk Institute scientists has revealed that, in mice, a dedicated brain pathway drives the mechanical sensation and is distinct from the neural pathway that encodes the chemical sensation. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-brain.html

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a potentially dangerous condition. During sleep, the throat muscles of people with OSA relax and block the airflow into the lungs, so that they repeatedly stop breathing. Common symptoms of OSA include restless sleep, loud snoring, daytime sleepiness, and prolonged headaches in the morning—highly debilitating for patients and their partners. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-obstructive-apnea-early-cognitive-decline.html

Our addiction to smartphone apps could be affecting our health negatively, leading to issues like sleep deprivation, says a UNSW Business School technology expert. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-app-solutely-addicted-screen-impacting-health.html

Hereditary angioedema (HAE) is a disease that, due to its rare nature, can pose difficulties for both patients and medical professionals. A new survey of allergists/immunologists from the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI) shows that diagnosing, treating and managing this condition can be challenging for patients and healthcare providers—including patients in rural areas. An article about the survey is published in Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-survey-allergistsimmunologists-reveals-hereditary-angioedema.html

People exposed to higher levels of air pollution before the pandemic had lower antibody responses to COVID-19 vaccines, according to a study led by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), in collaboration with the Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute (IGTP). In particular, exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5), nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and blank carbon (BC) was associated with about a 10% decrease in IgM and IgG antibody responses in people without prior infection. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-air-pollution-linked-covid-vaccine.html

Telehealth programs for parents can improve the behavioral problems of children with developmental delay, according to new research. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-telehealth-behavior-problems-young-children.html

New research reveals that math can help people identify the bonds of friendship. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-math-people-bonds-friendship.html

In a new study published in The FASEB Journal, investigators demonstrated the potential of a molecule that may help overcome some of the devastating symptoms of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), the most common life-limiting congenital neuromuscular disorder. The agent promotes the activity of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), an important fuel-sensing enzyme that is present in all mammalian cells. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-small-molecule-reverse-effects-duchenne.html

Medical researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, have found a way to maintain donor lung viability for transplantation. The method was even shown to return viability to transplant tissues that would otherwise have been deemed too damaged to use. The technique could substantially increase the ratio of donor-to-recipient transplants, saving lives and speeding access to treatment. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-pig-blood-cobra-venom-human.html

New research being presented at this year's European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) in Copenhagen, Denmark (15–18 April), finds that people living with HIV (PWH) performed worse on cognitive tests in the first four months following SARS-CoV-2 infection compared to people without HIV, but these differences appear to be attributable to HIV and not to COVID-19. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-cognitive-impairment-people-hiv-worse.html

Improving communication among death investigators, health care professionals and family members after a relative's sudden cardiac death may help relatives understand the cause of death and influence their decision to seek follow-up screening for inherited heart conditions, according to new research published today in í. source https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-communication-family-members-decisions-sudden.html