News • Genetic
App analyses Covid-19 genome on a smartphone
A new mobile app has made it possible to analyse the genome of the SARS-CoV-2 virus on a smartphone in less than half an hour.
Research
News • Improving mobility after hip or knee replacement surgery
Wearable device research: "GaitSmart" to help orthopaedic patients
Patients who have hip or knee replacements are set to get more support with their recovery following the launch of a new research study that uses wearable technology to monitor walking patterns. The Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital (NNUH) has joined forces with Dynamic Metrics Ltd (DML) to develop and test a system to study mobility and improve a patient’s gait after a joint replacement.
News • Comfy, but risky
Why many ventilation systems may increase risk of COVID-19 exposure
Ventilation systems in many modern office buildings, which are designed to keep temperatures comfortable and increase energy efficiency, may increase the risk of exposure to the coronavirus, particularly during the coming winter, according to new research.
Video • Cell coordination explored
Why wound-healing comes in waves
How do cells in our bodies ask for directions? Without any maps to guide them, they still know where to go to heal wounds and renew our bodies. Edouard Hannezo and his group at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (IST Austria) together with Tsuyoshi Hirashima and his group at Kyoto University just published a new study in Nature Physics that shows how mechanical and chemical waves…
News • Lipids, lysosomes, and autophagy
Researchers find the keys to preventing kidney injury
Human cells need to work like well-oiled machines to keep our bodies running as they should. Waste products such as misfolded proteins, damaged cellular components, and carbohydrates get in the way and must be quickly disposed of. Dealing with this cellular “trash” are spherical, membrane-bound organelles called lysosomes filled with a mixture of potent enzymes. In a process called autophagy,…
News • Insufficient protective properties
Covid-19: Experts warn of KN95 masks quality issues
An analysis by ECRI, the U.S.’s largest patient safety organization, shows that up to 70 percent of KN95 masks it tested do not meet its standards for effectiveness, raising risks of contracting Covid-19 for care providers and patients at hospitals and other healthcare organizations that imported masks from China.
News • Reduced complications, death
COVID-19: The benefits of vitamin D
Adequate levels of vitamin D reduces complications and deaths among COVID-19 patients, reveals new research performed at the Boston University School of Medicine. Hospitalized COVID-19 patients who were vitamin D sufficient, with a blood level of 25-hydroxyvitamin D of at least 30 ng/mL (a measure of vitamin D status), had a significant decreased risk for adverse clinical outcomes including…
News • Artificial neurons
Nanodevices identify mutations in viruses
Scientists from Texas A&M University, Hewlett Packard Labs and Stanford University have developed a new nanodevice that acts almost identically to a brain cell.
News • Tumor growth
New insights into colorectal cancer
Researchers have found a surprising effect of the stem cell-regulating growth factor R-spondin in intestinal cancer.
News • Basis for a passive vaccination
Researchers identify highly effective antibodies against SARS-CoV-2
Researchers at the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) and Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin have identified highly effective antibodies against the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 and are now pursuing the development of a passive vaccination. In this process, they have also discovered that some SARS-CoV-2 antibodies bind to tissue samples from various organs, which could potentially…
Article • Nitrogen dioxide levels
Air pollution linked to higher COVID-19 mortality
Scientists have unearthed a possible link between the severity of COVID-19 and air quality. The preliminary study – looking at whether areas with higher levels of air pollutants in England are associated with a larger number of cases/deaths from COVID-19 – was conducted by a team from the University of Cambridge. Aware of the effects that air pollutants have on human health – and that…
Article • Covid-19 disinfection
New insights into SARS-CoV-2 surface stability and temperature susceptibility
Surface disinfection has proved an effective method to control Covid-19 infection, as virologists from the Ruhr University Bochum (RUB) have shown. However, an effective disinfection strategy against Coronavirus must consider various factors, says Professor Eike Steinmann, head of the Department of Molecular and Medical Virology at the RUB.
News • Gels for drug delivery systems
'Soft' 3D printing could jump-start creation of tiny medical devices
Researchers at the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a new method of 3D-printing gels and other soft materials. Published in a new paper, it has the potential to create complex structures with nanometer-scale precision. Because many gels are compatible with living cells, the new method could jump-start the production of soft tiny medical devices such as…
News • Lung disease burden
New research doubles estimate for COPD prevalence
Around 550 million people have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), according to two University of Manchester medical students. The figure more than doubles the previous estimate of 251 million people with the illness linked to smoking by the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Burden of Disease Study. The University of Manchester students, Emily Hammond and Charles McDonald, made the…
News • Silent alarm
‘Silent’ COVID-19 patients may still act as a spreader, warn experts
People with ‘silent’ COVID-19 infection have as much coronavirus in their noses and throats as those with symptoms, reveals research published online in the journal Thorax. Given how many of these people there are---a fifth of those infected, the study findings show--they may have a key role in driving the spread of COVID-19, warn the researchers, who go on to suggest that this warrants…
News • Zika and chikungunya
Mosquito-borne viruses could cause stroke
A deadly combination of two mosquito-borne viruses may be a trigger for stroke, new research published in the The Lancet Neurology has found. University of Liverpool researchers and Brazilian collaborators have been investigating the link between neurological disease and infection with the viruses Zika and chikungunya. These viruses, which mostly circulate in the tropics, cause large outbreaks of…
News • Origins of the disease(s) explained
Parkinson's: not one, but two diseases?
Although the name may suggest otherwise, Parkinson's disease is not one but two diseases, starting either in the brain or in the intestines. Which explains why patients with Parkinson’s describe widely differing symptoms, and points towards personalised medicine as the way forward for people with Parkinson's disease. This is the conclusion of a study which has just been published in the leading…
News • Promising approach for eye diseases
Functional human retinas created in a dish
Scientists have generated accurate replications of human retinas in culture that can be used to pinpoint the specific types of cells affected by genetic eye diseases. The culmination of a six-year effort, this achievement will accelerate progress in developing new therapies and was reported in Cell by a team led by Botond Roska at the Institute for Molecular and Clinical Ophthalmology Basel (IOB)…
News • Tiny chip, huge benefits
Researchers develop the world’s smallest ultrasound detector
Researchers at Helmholtz Zentrum München and the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have developed the world’s smallest ultrasound detector. It is based on miniaturized photonic circuits on top of a silicon chip. With a size 100 times smaller than an average human hair, the new detector can visualize features that are much smaller than previously possible, leading to what is known as…
News • The network remembers
Brain-inspired memory abilities to make AI less 'forgetful'
Artificial intelligence (AI) experts at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the Baylor College of Medicine report that they have successfully addressed what they call a “major, long-standing obstacle to increasing AI capabilities” by drawing inspiration from a human brain memory mechanism known as “replay.” First author and postdoctoral researcher Gido van de Ven and principal…
News • Prevalence prediction
COVID-19 will probably become seasonal, but...
Researchers predict that COVID-19 will likely become seasonal, waning in the summer and prevalent in the winter. But, only once herd immunity is achieved through natural infection or vaccinations. Until then, COVID-19 will be here year-round.
News • Taking control
How the coronavirus hijacks cells
Researchers at ETH Zurich and the University of Bern have discovered a mechanism by which the coronavirus manipulates human cells to ensure its own replication. This knowledge will help to develop drugs and vaccines against the coronavirus.
News • Study establishes link
Growth factor IGF-1 increases risk for several cancers
A study of almost 400,000 British participants has identified a new link between raised levels of the growth factor IGF-1 and increased thyroid cancer risk and has confirmed associations with breast, prostate and colorectal cancer. This could lead to new preventative strategies, including diet and lifestyle interventions.
News • Stroke action plan for Europe
Major reduction in new strokes until 2030
European Stroke Organisation (ESO) and Stroke Alliance for Europe (SAFE) initiated the implementation phase of the Stroke Action Plan for Europe 2018-2030, with a virtual meeting of over 80 experts from 52 countries, each involved within their national scientific societies or stroke support organisations.
News • Coronavirus
“Hotspots” of a corona infection in the human body
An infection with the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 can affect multiple organs. With this in mind, researchers of the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) and Cornell University in the US have investigated cellular factors that could be significant for an infection. To this end, they analysed the activity of 28 specific genes in a wide range of human tissues.