Article • COVID-19
Dexamethasone reduces risk of death
Researchers in the UK have shown that a widely available drug reduces death in hospitalised patients with severe respiratory complications of COVID-19.
Research
News • Immune system
Tuberculosis vaccine also makes less susceptible to other infections
A tuberculosis vaccine developed 100 years ago also makes vaccinated persons less susceptible to other infections. While this effect has been recognized for a long time, it is not known what causes it. Together with colleagues from Australia and Denmark, researchers from Radboud university medical center the universities of Nijmegen and Bonn have now presented a possible answer to this question.
News • Organic lungs, synthetic muscles
Biohybrid model re-creates respiration mechanics
Benchtop tools for studying the respiratory system misrepresent the interdependence between the diaphragm, abdomen and lungs. Meanwhile, computational models often hide the mechanisms in a black box computation, without a clear picture of what transpires in the process. This means students form a poor understanding of respiratory mechanisms and makes it hard to train clinicians for real scenarios…
News • Innovative textiles
Researchers develop face mask that takes out SARS-CoV-2
Researchers from Freie Universität Berlin at the Institute for Animal and Environmental Hygiene and the Institut für Textiltechnik (ITA) of RWTH Aachen University are collaborating on the topic of alternative personal protection equipment. The testing was conducted in the context of the EIT Health Project ViruShield, supported by the European Union, with the objective to discover alternative…
News • Protective equipment
Face masks could shrink the 'R' number and prevent a second COVID-19 wave
Population-wide use of facemasks keeps the coronavirus ‘reproduction number’ under 1.0, and prevents further waves of the virus when combined with lockdowns, a modelling study led by the University of Cambridge suggests. The research suggests that lockdowns alone will not stop the resurgence of SARS-CoV-2, and that even homemade masks with limited effectiveness can dramatically reduce…
News • Algorithmic enhancement
Improved MRI scans could aid in development of arthritis treatments
An algorithm that analyses MRI images and automatically detects small changes in knee joints over time could be used in the development of new treatments for arthritis. A team of engineers, radiologists and physicians, led by the University of Cambridge, developed the algorithm, which builds a three-dimensional model of an individual’s knee joint in order to map where arthritis is affecting the…
News • Neurodegeneration
Alzheimer research: Noise-inducing neurons shut down memories
Neurons that are responsible for new experiences interfere with the signals of neurons that contain memories and thereby disturb the recall of memories – at least in mice. The research group of Martin Fuhrmann of the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) reports this phenomenon in the scientific journal “Nature Neuroscience“. The results of this study potentially shed new…
News • New mechanism discovered
UPR: Stress raises cancer cells' chemo resistance
Resistance of cancer cells against therapeutic agents is a major cause of treatment failure, especially in recurrent diseases. An international team around the biochemists Robert Ahrends from the University of Vienna and Jan Medenbach from the University of Regensburg identified a novel mechanism of chemoresistance which has now been published in "Nature Communications". It is driven by…
News • Bone cement research
Developing self-healing bone replacements
Our body is able to treat many injuries and wounds all by itself. Self-healing powers repair skin abrasions and enable bones to grow back together. However, doctors often have to lend a helping hand to repair bones after a fracture or due to a defect. Increasingly, bone replacement materials are being used, which partially or completely restore the form and function of the bone at the site of the…
News • Inspired by insects
Improving the efficiency of antibacterial surfaces
Resistance to antibiotics has become a serious public health problem. Hospital infections, prostheses or surgical implants that become infected and do not respond to treatment are a real challenge to the research community, which has been seeking alternatives for effectively eliminating these bacteria for years. In 2012 the researchers from the Department of Chemical Engineering of the…
News • Viral oncology
Kaposi Sarcoma: Answers to a longstanding enigma
The oncogenic herpesvirus (HHV8 or KSHV) causes a cancer known as Kaposi’s Sarcoma. An international team of scientists led by the University of Helsinki has discovered key factors that control the genome maintenance and replication of a virus responsible for lymphatic vascular cancer. Kaposi Sarcoma (KS) is the most common cancer among Aids patients and it is often seen in sub Saharan and…
News • BTK inhibitor vs. respiratory distress
Off-label cancer drug shows promise against severe COVID-19
Early data from a clinical study suggest that blocking the Bruton tyrosine kinase (BTK) protein provided clinical benefit to a small group of patients with severe COVID-19. Researchers observed that the off-label use of the cancer drug acalabrutinib, a BTK inhibitor that is approved to treat several blood cancers, was associated with reduced respiratory distress and a reduction in the overactive…
News • Increased risk for severe infections
Up in smoke: Smoking increases SARS-CoV-2 receptors in the lung
New research suggests that cigarette smoke spurs the lungs to make more ACE2 (angiotensin-converting enzyme 2), the protein that the coronavirus responsible for COVID-19 grabs and uses to enter human cells. The findings, reported in the journal Developmental Cell, may explain why smokers appear to be particularly vulnerable to severe infections. The analysis also indicates that the change is…
News • Reversing incurable cause for blindness
Macular degeneration: Gene therapy restores vision
Macular degeneration is one of the major reasons for visual impairment, round the globe, close to 200 million people are affected. It damages the photoreceptors in the retina, which lose their sensitivity to light. This can lead to impaired vision or even complete blindness. Scientists at the Institute of Molecular and Clinical Ophthalmology Basel (IOB) together with colleagues from the German…
News • Antithrombotic approach
A new way to detect blood clots
Biomedical engineering researchers at Texas A&M University designed a medical device that mimics blood vessels to design and monitor drugs for patients with clotting disorders. This approach could be especially beneficial for pediatric patients. Unlike what a biology textbook may show, blood vessels are not straight cylinders. They are tortuous, meaning they have complex curves, spirals and…
News • Hypertension
High blood pressure increases COVID-19 death risk
Patients with raised blood pressure have a two-fold increased risk of dying from the coronavirus COVID-19 compared to patients without high blood pressure, according to new research published in the European Heart Journal. In addition, the study found that patients with high blood pressure who were not taking medication to control the condition were at even greater risk of dying from COVID-19.
News • Imaging on the road
A mobile MRI that could fit in a van
MRI imaging is one of the best ways of examining different body tissue and obtaining information about injuries and illnesses. However, MRI scanners are typically large, heavy, and very expensive devices that need to be operated by specially trained healthcare personnel. Aalto University has just launched a project that studies and builds new magnetic resonance imaging technology, which enables…
News • Predictive proteins
Biomarkers in COVID-19 patients could predict how ill they become
Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute and Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin have identified 27 protein biomarkers that could be used to predict whether a patient with COVID-19 is likely to become severely ill with the disease. People infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus which causes COVID-19, respond differently. Some do not develop any symptoms, some need to be hospitalised and, for…
News • Cancer research
Lymph node analysis to hunt down metastases
What makes tumor cells turn murderous? The Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine ITEM is investigating the mechanisms of metastasis formation – and searching for approaches for new treatments in the fight against cancer. Among other things, the research team at Fraunhofer ITEM has developed a method that enables them to analyze entire lymph nodes.
News • Teixobactin against superbugs
Researchers find 'resistance resistant' antibiotic
University of Melbourne researchers are finding ways to beat dangerous superbugs with ‘resistance resistant’ antibiotics, and it could help in the fight against coronavirus (COVID-19) complications. As bacteria evolve, they develop strategies that undermine antibiotics and morph into ‘superbugs’ that can resist most available treatments and cause potentially lethal infections. The…
News • Lack of ventilation increases risk
Experts explore COVID-19 airborne transmission
Preventing airborne transmission of COVID-19 should be the next front of the battle against the virus, argue experts from the University of Surrey. In a study published by the City and Environment Interaction journal, scientists from Surrey’s Global Centre for Clean Air Research (GCARE), together with partners from Australia’s Queensland University and Technology, argue that the lack of…
News • Immunology
COVID-19 study reveals universally effective antibodies
The first round of results from an immunological study of 149 people who have recovered from COVID-19 show that although the amount of antibodies they generated varies widely, most individuals had generated at least some that were intrinsically capable of neutralizing the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Antibodies vary widely in their efficacy. While many may latch on to the virus, only some are truly…
News • Immune cell monitoring
AI could predict risk of lung cancer recurrence
Computer scientists working with pathologists have trained an artificial intelligence (AI) tool to determine which patients with lung cancer have a higher risk of their disease coming back after treatment. The AI tool was able to differentiate between immune cells and cancer cells, enabling researchers to build a detailed picture of how lung cancers evolve in response to the immune system in…
News • Microbiome study
Do microscope eyepieces pose an infection risk?
Light microscope for viewing microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi are commonly found in scientific laboratories. A research team from Furtwangen University, the University of Tübingen and Carl Zeiss Vision International GmbH, Aalen, examined more closely their role as potential vectors of infectious pathogens. „Very little was known about this until now," explains the head of the…
News • A 'safety net' for better drug delivery
Ultra-thin fibres to protect nerves after brain surgery
The drug nimodipine could prevent nerve cells from dying after brain surgery. Pharmacists at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU), in cooperation with neurosurgeons at University Hospital Halle (Saale) (UKH), have developed a new method that enables the drug to be administered directly in the brain with fewer side effects. Their findings were published in the European Journal of…
