A summer wave of COVID-19 is rising. Theres clearly a bump, says William Schaffner, an infectious diseases expert at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville. The medical center has seen a steady increase of hospital admissions for COVID-19 over the past three weeks, Schaffner says. That was entirely expected, Im afraid. Each year, peaks of … Read more
Zero: Thats the number of new HIV infections among young women and adolescent girls who took a twice-yearly preventive medicine. Researchers tested a new formulation of pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, in a clinical trial of HIV-negative cisgender women and teens ages 16 to 25 in South Africa and Uganda. The Phase III trial compared a … Read more
Imagine tiny fists punching their way through your body. For some cancer patients, this may be the reality. Melanoma cells can mechanically tunnel their way through tissue using fleshy membrane protrusions without the need for chemicals that chew up the environment, researchers report June 12 in Developmental Cell. Cells have various modes of movement (SN: … Read more
When bloodstream infections set in, fast treatment is crucial but it can take several days to identify the bacteria responsible. A new, rapid-diagnosis sepsis test could cut down on the wait, reducing testing time from as much as a few days to about 13 hours by cutting out a lengthy blood culturing step, researchers report … Read more
A mind-bending parasite may one day deliver drugs to the brain. Toxoplasma gondii is a single-celled parasite that famously makes mice lose their fear of cats, but also can cause deadly foodborne illnesses (SN: 1/14/20). Now, researchers have engineered the parasite to deliver large therapeutic proteins to the brains of mice and into human brain … Read more
Menstruation can be messy and uncomfortable, often due to leaky pads, tampons and cups. A new alginate-based powder may solve that problem. The material, which solidifies menstrual blood by turning it into a gel mixture, could reduce leakage in period products without compromising capacity, researchers report July 10 in Matter. Our paper is a proof … Read more
People with advanced cancers often feel like their bodies are wasting away. Thats because of cachexia, a condition in which impaired metabolism leads to muscle wasting and drastic weight loss (SN: 4/15/15). A new study in mice hints at a way to reverse the condition. Blocking the activity in the brain of an immune protein … Read more
Alzheimers disease is hard to diagnose. But proteins in the blood might provide clarity. A series of recent findings, presented at the annual Alzheimers Association International Conference in Philadelphia and in research papers, raise the possibility of a simple blood draw to help doctors figure out if a persons cognitive problems are caused by Alzheimers … Read more
An ancient Egyptian mummy, dubbed the Screaming Woman for what appears to be an open-mouthed look of pain or fear, might have had that expression fixed in place by a rare muscle reaction when she died. Sudden muscular stiffening associated with violent deaths under extreme physical and emotional stress, known as cadaveric spasm, could explain … Read more
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tightened rabies regulations for dogs coming into the country. The new regulations, which went into effect August 1, come as the temporary suspension of importing dogs from high-risk rabies areas instituted by the CDC in 2021 is lifted. What it boils down to is that there is … Read more