Category: News & Discoveries

Health Authorities Investigate Monkeypox Outbreak

Health authorities in Europe, North America, and Australia have begun to investigate an outbreak of monkeypox, raising concerns that a broader outbreak of the viral infection could be underway in the West. As of writing, monkeypox has been reported in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States….


Experts Discover New Combination Therapy to Combat Superbugs

A preclinical study led by researchers from Monash University has discovered that a combination of phage and antibiotic therapy may be the most effective to combat antibiotic-resistant bacteria. “We have been able to confirm that, even in complex living systems, treatment with our characterised phages can reliably steer bacteria towards a phage-resistant variant that is…


COVID-19 Vaccines Far Less Effective in People With Severe Obesity: Study

Severe obesity may weaken the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines among individuals who have never been infected with the virus, according to a small study published this month. A study conducted by Professor Volkan Demirhan Yumuk from Istanbul University in Turkey found that adults aged 18 or older with severe obesity have a much weaker immune response…


Scientists Find Age-Related Vision Impairment Not Indicative of Cognitive Impairment

A study conducted by the University of South Australia has gone against the common literature relating poor eyesight to brain decline, finding that cognitive tests can misdiagnose older people with age-related vision decline with cognitive decline by up to 25 percent. “A mistaken score in cognitive tests could have devastating ramifications, leading to unnecessary changes…


10 More States Report Mysterious Hepatitis Outbreaks in Children

At least 10 more states across the United States are reporting similar cases of severe acute hepatitis—liver disease of unknown origin—after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a national health alert regarding a mysterious cluster of the virus on April 21. The cases involve previously healthy children between the ages of 1 month to 16 years…


COVID-19 Vaccine Can Trigger Acute Hepatitis: Case Report

A recent case report about a man who received an mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine suggests that taking the vaccine “may trigger immune-mediated hepatitis,” researchers wrote. The case report does not indicate how common such a case would be, although researchers said that such a scenario is recognized as a “rare adverse event not identified in early trials.”…


Australian Researchers Make Orthopaedic Implants Antimicrobial

Australian researchers from three universities, Flinders, Swinbourne, and RMIT, have developed a way to give medical devices or implant surfaces antimicrobial powers to protect against infection. The team engineered a new surface coating by combining gallium liquid with hydroxyapetite to create a novel compound with long-term antibacterial properties. According to a Flinders University release on…


Italian Surgeon Accused of Assaulting Patients Through Pioneering Windpipe Transplants Goes on Trial

The trial of a former Italian surgeon accused of assaulting patients by carrying out pioneering yet experimental windpipe transplants began in Sweden on April 27. Dr. Paolo Macchiarini, a stem cell scientist, is charged with aggravated assault against three of his patients for performing the procedure in which he created the world’s first windpipe partially made from a…


Hidden No Longer, Eyes Reveal Rare Mental Condition

Australian researchers have made a breakthrough in a rare mental condition, aphantasia, that makes people unable to visualise images. Previously thought to be difficult to diagnose, researchers from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) have discovered a method for proving and diagnosing the rare mental condition via a person’s eyes’ responsiveness to light. Those who…


More UK Schoolchildren Depressed During Pandemic, Says Study

The COVID-19 pandemic and the introduction of lockdowns in Britain led to an extra 60,000 secondary school children in England tipping over into clinical depression, according to researchers from University College London (UCL). The report said children reporting depressive symptoms such as low mood, loss of pleasure, and poor concentration rose by six percent after…