Posts in category: Uncategorized

Long before COVID-19, washing and sterilizing hands were known to help prevent the spread of infections such as influenza, and hand hygiene practices were especially important in high-risk areas, such as hospitals. So it was something of a public health boon that COVID-19 abruptly increased hand hygiene awareness. A new study also found that media coverage of the pandemic had a knock-on effect.

Preliminary stages of cervical cancer occur mainly in women between 25 and 35 years of age. The main risk factor for developing cervical cancer is the human papillomavirus (HPV). Surgery is the treatment of choice. However, such an operation is problematic for pregnant women: since a piece of the uterus is removed, the risk of bleeding and premature birth increases because the cervix shortens and is no longer stable enough. For this reason, affected women have so far had to come for check-ups several times during pregnancy.

A new software tool developed by Texas Biomedical Research Institute and collaborators can help scientists and vaccine developers quickly edit genetic blueprints of pathogens to make them less harmful.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency has announced new limits on the toxic “forever chemicals”—perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)—in drinking water.

Do you ever wake up some days and think, “When I was younger, I could survive on just four hours of sleep, but now it seems like I need 10”? Or have you ever walked out of the gym and “felt” your knees?

For patients with recalcitrant alopecia areata totalis or universalis, methotrexate combined with prednisone yields complete hair regrowth in about 31 percent of patients, according to a study published online March 8 in JAMA Dermatology.

Acute gastroenteritis afflicts adults of all ages, causing significant suffering and inflicting significant costs on the American healthcare system. A new study encompassing nearly 40,000 hospital visits from a geographically diverse healthcare database shows that sampling a single stool, using multiple polymerase chain reaction (PCR) panels, can identify more pathogens, notably diarrhea-causing E. coli and enteric viruses, and do so more rapidly than a conventional workup.

Sleep disruption is associated with reduced health-related quality of life (HRQOL) for children, according to a study published online March 15 in JAMA Network Open.

A conservative federal judge in Texas heard arguments Wednesday from a Christian group seeking to overturn the Food and Drug Administration’s more than 2-decade-old approval of an abortion medication, in a case that could threaten the most common form of abortion in the U.S.

The sex hormone estrogen has a negative impact on heartbeat regulation, according to an experimental study from Linköping University, Sweden, published in Science Advances. Estrogen impact seems to interact with hereditary changes causing a heart disease disturbing the heart’s rhythm, while other endogenous substances may have a protecting effect.