Many parents of children with chronic illnesses felt hospitals were unsafe during the COVID-19 pandemic and took to social media to find information relevant to them, a Southampton-led study suggests.
New genome-wide association study almost triples discovery sample size
A team of researchers from the University of Oxford, Simon Fraser University and Genomics PLC, has conducted a genome-wide association study using the 2020 UK Biobank data release, using almost triple the discovery sample size of previous efforts. In their paper published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, the group describes using the UK Biobank to …
Pregnant women’s brains show troubling signs of stress, but feeling strong social support can break those patterns
Even before the pandemic, there was plenty for expectant mothers to worry about. Pregnant women must withstand a barrage of arguably well-intentioned, but often hyperbolic, warnings about their health and what’s to come, including concerns about everything from what to eat, to what to wear, to how to feel. Health professionals know that mothers-to-be experience …
Targeting radiation resistance: Why some tumors are so stubborn
Radiation therapy has been—and will be—a cornerstone of cancer treatment for good reason: It works.
Designer alterations to brain cells reduce anxiety in monkeys, hold promise for humans
Using a technique that could point to a new way to help people with severe anxiety and other treatment-resistant psychiatric illnesses, researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison successfully dialed down anxious monkeys’ overactive response to a potential threat by installing a custom chemical switch in their brain cells.
Neuroimaging discovers alterations in brain circuits that contribute to alcohol addiction
A novel neuroimaging study provides the first evidence that a small region of the brain, called the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, has gender-based network structural connectivity differences in early abstinence from alcohol. Through the brain-imaging technique Diffusion Tensor Imaging, the researchers used 3D modeling to identify the structural nerve tract connections of the …
Gene therapy restores immune function in children with rare immunodeficiency
An investigational gene therapy can safely restore the immune systems of infants and children who have a rare, life-threatening inherited immunodeficiency disorder, according to research supported in part by the National Institutes of Health. The researchers found that 48 of 50 children who received the gene therapy retained their replenished immune system function two to …
Use of TNF alpha inhibitors in Crohn’s disease associated with higher risk of MS
Dr. Jay Avasarala, professor of neurology and director of the University of Kentucky’s Multiple Sclerosis Clinic, and co-authors, conducted a retrospective study in which they evaluated approximately 96.5 million enrollees in a database. More than 200,000 of the enrollees had inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The research focused on looking at the effect of TNF-alpha inhibitors, …
A safe space: Medical researchers use virtual reality to reach youth
For years, Dr. Asher Marks, an assistant professor of pediatrics at Yale School of Medicine and director of the Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) Cancer Program at Yale New Haven Hospital, has urged his young patients to attend support groups. Meeting with other patients is well known to improve survival chances and alleviate depression.
Make harm reduction federal health policy now, urge experts
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic over a year ago, alcohol and substance use has surged in the United States, along with overdoses from opioids. To save lives, using practical strategies to reduce the negative effects of substance use, or harm reduction strategies should become federal health policy now, urges experts Kimberly Sue, MD, …