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News • Donor organ analysis

New laser technique could improve liver transplant process

Handheld laser devices that help surgeons quickly spot liver damage could transform transplant procedures, research suggests. The non-invasive technique could provide medical staff with instant data on the health of donor livers and help them to identify which organs are suitable for transplant. If widely adopted, the light-based tool could allow more livers to be transplanted safely and…

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News • Public health strategy

Covid-19: Delay in second vaccine dose may prevent deaths under certain conditions

Delaying the second dose of Covid-19 vaccines, at least for people aged under 65, could result in up to 20% lower mortality, but only under certain conditions, finds a US study published by The BMJ. These conditions include a one dose vaccine effectiveness (efficacy) of 80% or higher and vaccination rates of 0.1% to 0.3% of the population per day. If these conditions apply, the researchers say…

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News • Intensive care support

AI predicts daily ICU trajectory for critical Covid-19 patients

Researchers used AI to identify which daily changing clinical parameters best predict intervention responses in critically ill Covid-19 patients. The investigators used machine learning to predict which patients might get worse and not respond positively to being turned onto their front in intensive care units (ICUs) - a technique known as proning that is commonly used in this setting to improve…

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News • Prevention, treatment, care and support

Action on stroke: Experts launch joint declaration

An appeal is launched for Health Ministries across Europe to sign the Declaration for Action on the Stroke Action Plan for Europe to tackle one of the leading causes of death and disability. Led by The European Stroke Organisation (ESO) and Stroke Alliance for Europe (SAFE), the initiative aims to encourage European countries to show their commitment to improving stroke prevention, treatment,…

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News • Covid-19 prevention side effects

Rare blood clots after Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine: study sheds more light

A large study from Denmark and Norway published by The BMJ sheds more light on the risk of rare blood clots in adults receiving their first dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine. The findings show slightly increased rates of vein blood clots including clots in the veins of the brain, compared with expected rates in the general population. However, the researchers stress that the risk of…

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News • Headache

Chronic migraine: potential novel treatment discovered

By discovering a potential new cellular mechanism for migraines, researchers may have also found a new way to treat chronic migraine. Amynah Pradhan, associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Illinois Chicago, is the senior author of the study, whose goal was to identify a new mechanism of chronic migraine, and propose a cellular pathway for migraine therapies. The study, “Neuronal…

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News • Aggressive brain tumour

Glioblastoma can be tricked into 'repairing' itself

Scientists at the University College London (UCL) have made a ‘surprising’ discovery that glioblastoma, an aggressive brain cancer, mimics normal brain repair in white matter, which leads to the tumour becoming less malignant. In the study on mice, funded by Cancer Research UK and published in Nature Communications, researchers used these novel findings to identify drugs which could be used,…

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News • Intervention premiere

First robotic PCI performed in Belgium

Medical robotics company Robocath announces the successful completion of first five robotic coronary angioplasties in Belgium. The Percutaneous Coronary Interventions (PCI) were performed on April 8 and 13 by Prof. Stefan Verheye, a recognized and highly experienced interventional cardiologist at ZNA Middelheim hospital in Antwerp, and his team. Robotic-assisted PCI has never been done before in…

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News • Chemotherapeutic delivery

Bowel cancer: Nanotechnology offers new hope

Bowel cancer survival rates could be improved if chemotherapy drugs were delivered via tiny nanoparticles to the diseased organs rather than oral treatment. That’s the finding from Indian and Australian scientists who have undertaken the first study, using nanoparticles to target bowel cancer, the third most common cancer in the world and the second most deadliest.

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News • More targeted treatment

AI could improve outcomes for bowel cancer patients

A test which uses artificial intelligence (AI) to measure proteins present in some patients with advanced bowel cancer could hold the key to more targeted treatment, according to new research. A team at the University of Leeds collaborated with researchers at Roche Diagnostics to develop the technique, which will help doctors and patients to decide on the best treatment options.

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News • Esophagitis

Lung cancer: Tailoring radiation therapy to reduce complications

For many patients with localized lung cancer (non-small-cell lung carcinoma and small cell lung carcinoma), high-dose radiation with concurrent chemotherapy is a potential cure. Yet this treatment can cause severe, acute inflammation of the esophagus (esophagitis) in about one in five patients, requiring hospitalization and placement of a feeding tube. A team of radiation oncologists at Mass…

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News • After vaccination

Covid-19: Clinicians uncover rare blood clotting syndrome

A team led by a clinical academic at University College London (UCL) has outlined the mechanism behind rare cases of blood clots and low platelets seen in patients who have had the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine. The new study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, highlights the importance of rapidly spotting this new syndrome, known as vaccine-induced thrombosis and thrombocytopenia…

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Video • Safety study

Covid-19: Investigating the infection risk from ventilated patients

What happens when patients can no longer breathe on their own and need to be supported by machines? How far does infected air spread throughout a room? And what safety precautions do medical and nursing staff need to take? Respiratory specialists Dr. Dominic Dellweg and Dr. Jens Kerl together with Dr.-Ing. Conrad Völker, Amayu Wakoya Gena, and Dr. Hayder Alsaad from the Department of Building…

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News • Spread of drug-resistance

WHO reports global shortage of innovative antibiotics

The world is still failing to develop desperately needed antibacterial treatments, despite growing awareness of the urgent threat of antibiotic resistance, according to a new report by the World Health Organization. WHO reveals that none of the 43 antibiotics that are currently in clinical development sufficiently address the problem of drug resistance in the world’s most dangerous bacteria.…

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News • Cancer research

'Gene ferry' improves immune therapies

Genetically enhancing a patient's immune cells by adding therapeutic genes to them outside the body is regarded as a promising new treatment approach in oncology. However, the production of these therapeutic cells using viruses is not only expensive but time-consuming. Researchers at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) have developed an innovative non-viral vector that can efficiently…

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News • CVT risk evaluation

Thrombosis risk after Covid vaccination: actual infection far more dangerous, say experts

Researchers at the University of Oxford report that the risk of the rare blood clotting known as cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) following Covid-19 infection is around 100 times greater than normal, several times higher than it is post-vaccination or following influenza. The study authors, led by Professor Paul Harrison and Dr Maxime Taquet from Oxford University’s Department of Psychiatry and…

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News • Outcome prediction

Deep learning to maximize lifespan after liver transplant

Researchers from the Canadian University Healh Network (UHN) have developed and validated a deep learning model to predict a patient's long-term outcome after receiving a liver transplant. First of its kind in the field of Transplantation, this model is the result of a collaboration between the Ajmera Transplant Centre and Peter Munk Cardiac Centre (PMCC). The study, published in Lancet Digital…

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Article • Surgical robotics

Elevating outcomes of surgery

What’s in a name? In the case of Asensus Surgical, Inc., previously known as TransEnterix, Inc., the recent rebranding doubles as a mission statement for the manufacturer of surgical robotics systems: The initial ‘A’ stands for artificial intelligence and augmented surgery, reflecting the company’s emphasis on new technologies designed to enhance the operator’s cognition (‘sensus’…

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News • Role of end-of-life support

Covid-19: a 'stress-test' for palliative care

A new report shows how palliative and end of life care in the UK was compromised by shortages of PPE, essential medicines, and equipment, because these services were not seen as ‘frontline NHS’ in the pandemic. Better End of Life – a collaboration between Marie Curie, Hull York Medical School, University of Hull, King’s College London Cicely Saunders Institute, and the University of…

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