News • Neurology

Unlocking the blood-brain barrier

Study reveals the surprising role of omega-3 fatty acids in keeping the blood-brain barrier closed

News • Pediatrics

Watching movies can replace anaesthesia for children in radiotherapy

Children with cancer could be spared dozens of doses of general anaesthesia by projecting a video directly on to the inside of a radiotherapy machine during treatment, according to research presented at the ESTRO 36 conference.

News • Negative test

Symptoms of cystitis caused by bacterial infection?

The majority of women suffering with pain when urinating, or needing to urinate often or urgently probably do have a bacterial infection, even when nothing is detected by standard urine testing.

News • Imaging technology

Visiopharm engages in major initiative for Deep Learning

Visiopharm A/S announces the first result of their multifaceted strategy to apply Deep Learning technologies to its leading image analysis solution for cancer research and diagnostics. Visiopharm considers Deep Learning an important technological breakthrough for tissue pathology that offers the potential to make a real difference in the assessment of tissue structures, which is probably one of…

News • Scientific event

Record-breaking number of visitors for the SCIEX LC-MS/MS Symposium

SCIEX, a global leader in life science analytical technologies, hosted the 7th Berliner LC-MS/ MS Symposium, which took place from 13th-15th March 2017 at the Estrel Hotel in Berlin. The Symposium included a diverse programme of talks from internationally respected researchers and analytical scientists. These covered the latest mass spectrometry developments in pharmaceutical, omics, precision…

News • Study

Blood group may affect heart attack risk

Researchers have found that people with A, B, and AB blood types may be at greater risk of cardiovascular events - particularly heart attack - than individuals with O blood types.

Sponsored • Microscopy

Olympus’ CX3 series: Get comfortable in your routine

Ideal for high-throughput, regular use, Olympus’ ergonomic CX43 and CX33 microscopes deliver superior comfort and reduce fatigue during long periods of routine microscopy.

News • Ophthalmology

New eye test detects earliest signs of glaucoma

A simple eye test could help solve the biggest global cause of irreversible blindness, glaucoma. In clinical trials, the pioneering diagnostic test - developed by researchers at UCL Institute of Ophthalmology and the Western Eye Hospital - allowed doctors to see individual nerve cell death in the back of the eye.

Gene test could extend lives of women at risk of hereditary breast cancer

Value in Health, the official journal of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR), has announced the publication of new research indicating that testing for variants in 7 cancer-associated genes (versus the usual process of testing in just 2 genes) followed by risk-reduction management could cost-effectively improve life expectancy for women at risk of…

News • Going Viral

An unusual 'friend' to help fight ovarian cancer

In some cases, the Lassa virus starts with a fever and general weakness, moving toward headache, muscle pain, possible facial swelling, deafness, and worse. About 15 percent of patients hospitalized with severe cases die. Lassa fever is contagious, endemic in West Africa, and Dr. Anthony van den Pol thinks he can use it to cure ovarian cancer.

Article • Infection control

Global warming: Science can only react to emerging diseases

The ‘Transmission, Prevention, and Reporting of Emerging Infectious Diseases’ program for the International Conference IMED 2016 in Vienna, this November, reflected events in the field of emerging diseases that have occurred over the last two years. Therefore, key congress topics included the Zika virus, the effects of global warming and the unusually high number of hospital-acquired…

Article • Perception

Do football fans of rival teams see the same game differently?

When on the 26th of April, FC Bayern München and Borussia Dortmund confront each other, a great many football enthusiasts will watch the semi-final of the DFB (German Football Association) cup together. Experience shows that after such a game, fans will remember it differently - that is, in favor of their own team. At what point does this distortion actually begin?

Article • Fertility

Social freezing on demand in the future

Since 2006 around 100 centres that offer fertility preservation for cancer and non-cancer patients in Austria, Germany and Switzerland have joined forces to form the FertiPROTEKT network.

News • Bacteria’s DNA fingerprint

Does C. difficile spread around Europe via food distribution?

Foods should be investigated as a potential source of spread of Clostridium difficile, according to research presented at the 27th ECCMID [1].

News • ECCMID 2017

The cost of Clostridium difficile infections

Repeated infection with the bacterium Clostridium difficile (C. difficile), which causes stomach upsets and diarrhoea, is linked to higher death rates, as well as having a significant impact on health services in terms of cost and hospital beds occupied. This issue will be adressed in two presentations at the 27th European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID),…

Article • Pandemic planning

The world is underprepared for infectious diseases

A team of international experts has highlighted how the world remains ‘grossly underprepared’ for infectious disease outbreaks, which are likely to become more frequent in future decades.

Article • Antimicrobial resistance

Prudence is the cornerstone of prevention

Following a top level EU report showing antimicrobial resistance (AMR) remains high, Professor Mike Catchpole, Chief Scientist at the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), has warned that stricter use of antibiotics is critical.

Article • Study

Hepatitis control must be accelerated

Last year the WHO launched a global strategy on viral hepatitis aiming to eliminate hepatitis B (HBV) and C (HCV) as public health threats by 2030.

Interview • Infection control

Virologists are today’s universal necessities

Globalisation has been a defining term in this 21st century: with almost anybody able to visit any place at any time, diseases, viruses and bacteria can be travel companions. Thus virology is gaining increased attention. Professor Barbara Gärtner, President of the German Association of Virology, talks about the issues and challenges arising from this development.

News • Breast Cancer

Biomarker Identified for Likely Aggressive, Early Stage Breast Cancer

The one-size-fits-all approach to early stage breast cancer creates a paradox: Millions of dollars are spent on unnecessary surgeries and radiation to treat women with low-risk ‘in situ’ lesions, an estimated 85% of which would never progress to invasive cancers. Meanwhile, the standard conservative treatment is insufficient for many early-stage tumors that have progressed past the in situ…

News • Kidney Transplants

White Blood Cells Control Virus Replication

Certain white blood cells play an important role in bringing a harmful virus under control after kidney transplantations. The results of a research group at the Department of Biomedicine at the University of Basel and University Hospital Basel could contribute to improving control of immunosuppression, avoiding transplant rejection and developing relevant vaccines.

News • Investigating deaths

Wide variability in coroner decision-making

Coroners in England and Wales don’t seem able to agree on what caused a person’s death or whether the death merits an inquest or not - despite being faced with identical case information - reveals a small study published online in the Journal of Clinical Pathology.

Article • Immunoassay

CLIA: Advancement and market dynamic

With the combination of the basic principle of radioimmunoassay, high sensitive chemiluminescence and high specific immunoassay, the year 1977 saw the emergence of a new technology-Chemiluminescence Immunoassay (CLIA) which provided one of the best solutions for the quantification of specimens from a complex mixture with the non-radioactive nature, making it an advantage to replace RIA in…

News • Previously unidentifiable

Gene-based blood tests identify more skin cancers

Genetic testing of tumor and blood fluid samples from people with and without one of the most aggressive forms of skin cancer has shown that two new blood tests can reliably detect previously unidentifiable forms of the disease.

News • Psychological consequences

Cortisol excess hits natural DNA process hard

High concentrations of the stress hormone, Cortisol, in the body affect important DNA processes and increase the risk of long-term psychological consequences. These relationships are evident in a study from the Sahlgrenska Academy on patients with Cushing’s Syndrome, but the findings also open the door for new treatment strategies for other stress-related conditions such as anxiety, depression…