Gut microbiome translates stress into sickle cell crises
A new study shows how chronic psychological stress leads to painful vessel-clogging episodes—the most common complication of sickle-cell disease (SCD) and a frequent cause of hospitalizations. The findings, made in mice, show that the gut microbiome plays a key role…
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UK scientists immunize hundreds with coronavirus vaccine
Scientists at Imperial College London say they are immunizing hundreds of people with an experimental coronavirus vaccine in an early trial after seeing no worrying safety problems in a small number vaccinated so far. Dr. Robin Shattock, a professor at…
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School Closings in March Likely Reduced Coronavirus Cases by 1 Million and Saved 40,000 Lives
Closing schools across most of the U.S. in March, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, likely reduced infections by 1 million and saved more than 40,000 people from dying due to the virus, a new study found. Early in…
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Investment, health policy changes are key for new Alzheimer’s treatments
The first disease-modifying Alzheimer’s disease treatments are on the horizon, but health systems in the United States and Europe would have to take a number of steps to ensure they are ready to provide those treatments to the millions of…
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Investigational breast cancer vaccine plus immune therapy work well in tandem
A vaccine for HER2-positive breast cancers that is being tested in a clinical trial at Duke Cancer Institute is part of an effective, two-drug strategy for enlisting the immune system to fight tumors, according to a Duke-led study in Clinical…
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New motion capture screening technology could slow progression of arthritis
Most people don’t think about their thumbs very often. But for people living with advancing arthritis, the simplest thumb movements—from grasping a cup to sending a text message—can be painful and incredibly challenging. That’s why Michigan State University researchers set…
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Study highlights mental health risks facing healthcare workers during pandemic
A new study finds that healthcare workers in the United States are struggling with a suite of mental-health challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study found that healthcare workers are at greater risk than the general public of experiencing health…
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New signal extraction technique helps breast cancer screening
Mammograms are commonly used to screen for breast cancer. In spite of easy access, conventional mammograms cannot find every tumor due to the limited image contrast mechanism. The measurement of X-ray beam refraction in breast tissues has the potential to be the next…
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Physician practices with more female doctors have smallest gender pay gaps
In medicine, men generally earn more than women for similar work, but a new study published July 30 in BMJ finds that the income gap between genders shrinks substantially in practices with more equal gender distributions of staff physicians. The…
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Alzheimer’s risk factors may be measurable in adolescents and young adults
Risk factors for Alzheimer’s dementia may be apparent as early as our teens and 20s, according to new research reported at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC) 2020. These risk factors, many of which are disproportionately apparent in African Americans,…
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