There’s some good news related to an Ebola crisis that has offered very little up until now. The World Health Organization now predicts there are adequate supplies of an experimental Ebola vaccine to control the outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. “I believe we will have enough vaccine to stop this outbreak unless something very dramatic changes,” Dr. Peter Salama, WHO’s deputy director-general of emergency preparedness and response, told STAT.

Study finds stool transplants from some donors are far more effective than others

As more states legalize cannabis consumption, many more people will likely use medical marijuana as a supplement to or substitution for prescription drugs, says a University of Michigan researcher. A new study by Daniel Kruger of the U-M Institute for Social Research found that 44 percent of medical cannabis users stopped taking a pharmaceutical drug, or used less of one, or both, in favor of cannabis.

Despite the common association of human lice with abandoned or neglected people, no procedure to assess pediculosis, aimed to detect signs of neglect, exists. Investigating the two most common forms of head louse infestation, regular and severe, we define lice-markers of neglect and develop a protocol and survey form to record and assess pediculosis. The study of head lice from a deceased victim of neglect helped unravel time-length since death, frequency of exposure to neglect and the cause and circumstances related to the death. Nit-clusters are markers of neglect, indicating length and frequency of neglect episodes.

Researchers have discovered that Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a calcium ion channel impairment condition and are working on a diagnostic blood test for the disease.

More than half of people who take medical cannabis for chronic pain say they’ve driven under the influence of cannabis within two hours of using it, at least once in the last six months, according to a new study. One in five of them said they’d driven while ‘very high’ in the past six months, researchers from the University of Michigan Addiction Center report in the journal Drug & Alcohol Dependence .

While current immune checkpoint inhibitor therapies are largely ineffective against pancreatic cancer, scientists in the U.S. have now identified an immune checkpoint molecule that could represent a promising immunotherapeutic target for this tumor type. The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center-led team found that V-domain immunoglobulin suppressor of T cell activation (VISTA) is preferentially expressed at high levels in pancreatic cancer, when compared with melanoma tumors.

The anti-vaccination movement made the list of the World Health Organization's top threats to global health in 2019. The organization said some people's reluctance or refusal to vaccinate threatens to reverse progress made against a host of preventable diseases. "Vaccination is one of the most cost-effective ways of avoiding disease — it currently prevents 2-3 million deaths a year, and a further 1.5 million could be avoided if global coverage of vaccinations improved," WHO said in a statement.

Most people have heard about antibiotic-resistant germs. But how about antibiotic-resistant dust? A new Northwestern University study has found that an antimicrobial chemical called triclosan is abundant in dust — and linked to changes in its genetic makeup. The result is dust with organisms that could cause an antibiotic-resistant infection.

In a small study of infrequent cannabis users, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers have shown that, compared with smoking cannabis, vaping it increased the rate of short-term anxiety, paranoia, memory loss and distraction when doses were the same.

If you’re in the US and it feels like you’ve been seeing more drug ads recently, it’s because you have. According to a study published Tuesday (Jan. 8) by researchers at Dartmouth College, total spending on marketing for condition awareness, health services, lab testing, and drugs ballooned from $17.7 billion annually in 1997 to almost $30 billion in 2016. The vast majority was spent by pharmaceutical companies on marketing prescription drugs—and the investment worked.

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They fight viruses and bacteria in our skin, brain, lungs and gut. Now Australian scientists have also discovered that these special immune cells have the power to put melanoma tumours ‘‘to sleep’’, potentially paving the way for new treatments. It has previously been known that tissue-resident memory T cells help fight cancer, but until now researchers have not understood how they do so.

For those men who suffer from it, erectile dysfunction can cause exceptional mental angst, can ruin relationships, and can also be a red flag that indicates other serious underlying health conditions such as circulation or blood pressure problems. Our new study published in the American Journal of Human Genetics has shown that erectile dysfunction (ED) has a genetic component. We found strong evidence for a link between a particular part of our DNA and the capacity to develop and maintain an erection.

Researchers studied poop samples from 1,800 people and might finally have some answers as how to diagnose IBS and IBD and explain what causes them.

Researchers have developed an artificial intelligence system that can automatically differentiate between different types of cancer cells and their sensitivity to radiotherapy. A team of researchers in Japan have devised an artificial intelligence (AI) system that can identify different types of cancer cells using microscopy images. Their method can also be used to determine whether the cancer cells are sensitive to radiotherapy. The researchers reported their findings in the journal Cancer Research.

Many transgenic mouse models exist that mimic a range of Alzheimer’s disease (AD)—related pathologies. They play a key role in both basic research and preclinical testing of potential therapeutics for AD. Although they have contributed greatly to the pathophysiology of β-amyloid toxicity, none fully replicates the human disease.

As an emergency room physician, Richard Zane often considers how software can help him with patients. The problem is that engineers and doctors are from different worlds. Zane, who's also the chief innovation officer at UCHealth in Colorado, said that most technologists he's met have never seen the inner workings of a hospital and don't have a deep understanding of what doctors want and need.

A higher intake of vitamin C is crucial for metabolic syndrome patients trying to halt a potentially deadly cycle of antioxidant disruption and health-related problems, an Oregon State University researcher says. That’s important news for the estimated 35 percent of the U.S. adult population that suffers from the syndrome.

These are dark days for supplements. Although they are a $30-plus billion market in the United States alone, vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E, selenium, beta-carotene, glucosamine, chondroitin, and fish oil have now flopped in study after study. If there was one supplement that seemed sure to survive the rigorous tests, it was vitamin D. People with low levels of vitamin D in their blood have significantly higher rates of virtually every disease and disorder you can think of: cancer, diabetes, obesity, osteoporosis, heart attack, stroke, depression, cognitive impairment, autoimmune conditions, and more.

Research led by the University of Plymouth and Technische Universität Dresden has identified a new therapeutic target for cancer treatment and tissue regeneration - a protein called Prominin-1. Dr Bing Hu from Plymouth's Institute of Translational and Stratified Medicine (ITSMed) together with Dr Denis Corbeil from the Technische Universität Dresden and a multinational team has shown how Prominin-1 (also known as CD133) plays a significant role in ensuring stem cells respond to extracellular signals.

A new study vastly increases the number of known genes associated with eye development and anatomy. Using data from the International Mouse Phenotyping Consortium (IMPC) researchers found 347 genes with eye related phenotypes, 75% of which were not previously known to be associated with eyesight.

The moment has arrived at last. A woman in a hospital gown steels herself, ready to push. A nearby monitor displays her baby’s heart rate in big, neon numbers. A nurse in crisp scrubs coos in her ear, offering words of encouragement, advice. The scene would resemble any other delivery room if it weren’t for the view outside the window: the soft curvature of the blue Earth against the blackness of space, 250 miles below.

UBC scientists spent decades developing Glybera, the world’s first approved gene therapy. But market forces needed just two years to make the potentially life-saving drug disappear.

A rapidly changing virus and a complex immune response stymie developers. By Jon Cohen.

Although 54 percent of adults in the United States have registered as organ donors, just one in three people die in a way that allows for organ donation. That leaves more than 100,000 people in the United States waiting for a transplant. Many will die waiting. Because demand for organs outpaces supply and probably always will, researchers have looked to xenotransplantation — placing animal organs into human bodies — as an alternative.

A mother who became the first in the world to give birth after having a womb transplant from a dead donor has described the “miracle” of being able to have a healthy baby. Fabiana Amorim de Lima, of Sao Paulo, Brazil, gave birth to a healthy baby girl, Luisa, in the first successful surgical procedure of its kind.

The amount of close and comforting contact between infants and their caregivers can affect children at the molecular level, an effect detectable four years later, according to new research from the University of British Columbia and BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute.

As a 31-year-old mother of two, being told to prepare for life in a wheelchair was not part of Andrea Zorbalas's life plan. But in late 2010, when the words "you have multiple sclerosis" came out of her doctor's mouth, her life changed forever. "It was devastating," Ms Zorbalas said. "I had a young family to look after. "The doctors said that I basically had 10 years before I was in a wheelchair because the MS was so aggressive."

Patients with blood cancers such as leukemia and lymphoma are often treated by irradiating their bone marrow to destroy the diseased cells. After the treatment, patients are vulnerable to infection and fatigue until new blood cells grow back. MIT researchers have now devised a way to help blood cells regenerate faster. Their method involves stimulating a particular type of stem cell to secrete growth factors that help precursor cells differentiate into mature blood cells.

The true history of Syphilis.

Protecting an infant from pain may be a matter of instinct. In a new study, researchers show that gently stroking babies during medical procedures, as parents intuitively do, reduces infants’ feelings of pain about as well as applying a topical anesthetic. The discovery suggests touch and tactile stimulation are effective means to mollify pain in newborns and an alternative to using drugs.

Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) affects up to 24m people, globally, but little is known about its causes. Our latest study unravels some of this mystery. The results suggest that an overactive immune system may trigger this long-term condition. People with chronic fatigue syndrome, also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), experience severe mental and physical tiredness that isn’t alleviated by rest. Some people also experience flu-like symptoms, cognitive impairment and sleep disturbances.

Biologic drugs, often made with the help of living organisms, are especially lucrative because they have scant competition from biosimilars, drugs akin to generics. It's a different story in Europe.