Virtual reality platform helps UWF nursing students step into real-life scenarios

University of West Florida Usha Kundu, MD College of Health School of Nursing students graduating this semester will be among the first who had practice stepping into real-life scenarios during their entire academic career. In Fall 2021, UWF's School of Nursing started the process of acquiring UbiSim with funding provided by a high-impact grant......Read More

Experimental anti-obesity drug may control appetite without surgery or nausea

Imagine getting the benefits of gastric bypass surgery without going under the knife -; a new class of compounds could do just that. In lab animals, these potential treatments reduce weight dramatically and lower blood glucose. The injectable compounds also avoid the side effects of nausea and vomiting that are common with current weight-loss and diabetes drugs. Now, scientists report that the new treatment not only reduces eating but also boosts calorie burn......Read More

A review of respiratory viruses monitored in wastewater samples

In a recent study posted to the medRxiv* preprint server, researchers determine the nucleic acid content of several types of viruses in samples collected from wastewater treatment plants in an attempt to correlate this information with clinical data on disease occurrence in the community.......Read More

The relationship between metabolic disease and alternations in lipid homeostasis

Lipids play an essential role in the proper functioning of the human body. In the past two decades, the understanding of the role of lipids has greatly evolved from an energy storage component to a crucial element in maintaining cell homeostasis. Hence, recent studies have focused on lipids as important compounds influencing human health......Read More

Flexible assemblies of nerve cells appear to be key to successful episodic memory

For the first time, scientists have recorded human nerve cells firing together in flexible assemblies, a process that appears necessary to successfully encode long-term memories, a study led by UT Southwestern researchers reports. The findings, published in Nature Communications, could lead to new ways to slow, prevent, or even improve memory loss caused by Alzheimer's disease and other types of dementia......Read More

Amyloid-PET scanning has misled the FDA into granting approval for Aduhelm

Last year, the FDA gave accelerated approval of the antibody aducanumab (marketed as Aduhelm by Biogen) for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. The approval was based solely on a presumed reduction in the amount of the protein "amyloid" in the brain as assessed by amyloid-PET scans and without evidence of significant clinical effect.....Read More

Study could help recommend the best treatment for women with early-stage mucinous ovarian cancer

A global study into mucinous ovarian cancer could help oncologists recommend the best treatment for women who are diagnosed early with the condition. By looking down a microscope for two different 'patterns of invasion' – the way that cancer cells invade ovarian tissue – oncologists can better predict which patients may have better or worse prognoses and can target treatment accordingly.......Read More

Rheumatoid arthritis drug can reduce the risk of deterioration in myasthenia gravis

Early intervention with rituximab, a drug used in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), can reduce the risk of deterioration in myasthenia gravis, an autoimmune disease that causes loss of muscle control. This is according to a randomized clinical study led by researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and published in the journal JAMA Neurology.....Read More

Study compares the benefits of taking antihypertensive medication in the morning or evening

A pragmatic randomised trial in more than 21,000 patients with high blood pressure followed for over five years has concluded that protection against heart attack, stroke and vascular death is not affected by whether antihypertensive medications are taken in the morning or evening.......Read More

Thrombectomy could give better opportunity to more patients for successful recovery after stroke

New research presented today at the Society of NeuroInterventional Surgery's (SNIS) 19th Annual Meeting shows that thrombectomy, a minimally invasive procedure typically reserved for treating a severe type of stroke known as large vessel occlusions (LVO), achieves positive outcomes for individuals experiencing other types of .....Read More

Mathematical model helps predict anal cancer risk in persons with HIV infection

Both cervical and anal cancer are caused by human papillomavirus. Both diseases also share a common precursor: abnormal cells known as high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions. n cervical neoplasia, treatment of HSILs has been shown to reduce progression to cervical cancer. Recent published research suggests that the same holds true with anal cancer: HSIL treatment reduced the risk .......Read More

The severity of COVID-19 compared to seasonal influenza

In a recent study under review at the Archives of Virology journal and currently posted to the Research Square* preprint server, investigators in Israel assessed the disparities and similarities between seasonal influenza and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections.......Read More

Epigenetic markers associated with different risks of developing complications in type 2 diabetes

A new study by researchers at Lund University supports the notion that patients with type 2 diabetes patient should be divided into subgroups and given individualized treatment. The study demonstrates that there are distinct epigenetic differences between different groups of patients with type 2 diabetes. The epigenetic markers are also associated with different risks of developing common complications......Read More

Study explores SARS-CoV-2 RNA genome's functional interactions with host cell

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the causative virus of the current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Numerous vaccines in Phase III clinical trials were given emergency authorization one year after SARS-CoV-2 was discovered. Most of these vaccinations are intended to induce immune responses to the viral spike protein......Read More

Study evaluates humoral and cellular immune memory induced by different COVID-19 vaccines

In a recent study posted to the bioRxiv* pre-print server, researchers evaluated the humoral and cellular immune memory induced by four coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines representing three different vaccine platforms.Notably, the BNT162b2 and messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA)-1273 vaccines use mRNA-based platforms, the Ad26.COV2.S is a viral vector-based vaccine......Read More

UK funding will support CEPI’s drive to accelerate vaccine development

The UK will pledge £160 million to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) to speed up vaccine development, as the Foreign Secretary and Health and Social Care Secretary urge international partners to step up and support this vital work. COVID-19 has shown vaccines are the way out of pandemics, saving millions of lives and restoring cherished freedoms. ........Read More

New technique combines bioprinting with cryopreservation to construct frozen structures

A new technique takes bioprinting -; in which an ink of cells is printed, layer by layer, to form a structure -; to a whole new, and icy level. Investigators from the Zhang lab at Brigham and Women's Hospital have developed a technology that they term "cryobioprinting," a method that uses a bioink embedded with cells to print frozen, complex structures that can be easily stored for later use.....Read More

Long term vaccine response following Pfizer COVID-19 vaccination in hemodialysis patients

In a recent study published on the preprint server medRxiv*, researchers discuss the long-term humoral immune responses in hemodialysis patients after being vaccinated with the severe acute respiratory syndrome 2 (SARS-CoV-2) BNT162b2 messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) vaccine ..........Read More

UK's leading health charities team up to encourage vulnerable people to get COVID-19 vaccines

Some of the UK's leading health charities including the British Heart Foundation, Diabetes UK and Cancer Research UK are joining forces with the government and the NHS to encourage vulnerable people to get their COVID-19 vaccines. The coalition brings together 16 charities who will work to encourage their members to get their first, second and booster doses as soon as they can,.........Read More

VR can provide a valuable treatment modality for adolescents' psychological distress

A new systemic review found that all studies reported benefits when using virtual reality (VR) to manage psychological distress in adolescents. These benefits occurred across a range of treatment scenarios, Adolescents face unique life challenges relating to puberty, schooling, self-identity, intimate relationships......Read More

Tissue-specific genetic interactions drive different types of cancer development

Why do alterations of certain genes cause cancer only in specific organs of the human body? Scientists at the German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), the Technical University of Munich (TUM), and the University Medical Center Göttingen have now demonstrated that cells originating from different organs are differentially susceptible....Read More

Commonly-prescribed drug for IBD blunts COVID-19 vaccine response

People who take a commonly-prescribed drug for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) should not assume they are protected after a first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, after a large-scale study found many had poor antibody responses. The research measured antibody responses after vaccination with the Pfizer/BioNTech or the Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine in 865 people treated with infliximab, ......Read More

COVID-19 pandemic has caused additional burden for parents of children with cancer

The COVID-19 pandemic has heaped additional financial strains, childcare complications and other problems on already-burdened caregivers of children diagnosed with cancer, according to a study from researchers at Duke Health and other institutions.......Read More

Aspiring Doctors and Professionalism in Medicine

PREMEDICAL STUDENTS will likely encounter the term "professionalism" as they go through the medical school application process. On secondary applications and in interviews, medical schools may ask applicants to describe professionalism or explain what the concept means.......Read More

US health officials: No need to ban flights from UK even as it battles new coronavirus variant

U.S. health officials say they do not yet see a need to halt flights from the United Kingdom, even as a growing number of other countries ban British travelers amid the rapid spread of a new variant of coronavirus in London and elsewhere.  Political leaders in New York have called on the Trump administration to halt flights from the U.K. to the U.S. in an effort to limit or block the new variant from spreading here. ....Reaf More

Covid-19 vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech is strongly effective, early data from large trial indicate

Pfizer and partner BioNTech said Monday that their vaccine against Covid-19 was strongly effective, exceeding expectations with results that are likely to be met with cautious excitement — and relief — in the face of the global pandemic.The vaccine is the first to be tested in the United States to generate late-stage data........Read More

Discipline against bad doctors plummets amid COVID-19 – and more medical errors may slip through cracks

As hospitals filled with COVID-19 patients and the coronavirus infected physicians and nurses, state medical boards took a hands-off approach to doctor discipline: Emergency actions against doctors' licenses dropped 59% from April through June of this year compared with the same period last year. .....Read More

Doctor warns there could be 100,000 more American COVID-19 deaths by Labor Day, but models vary widely

Infectious disease experts from the Emory University School of Medicine are warning that given the current rate of deaths per day, it is possible the U.S. death toll from the novel coronavirus could double by September as restrictions are lifted throughout the summer, and Americans begin to congregate again.....Read More