Blog

Blood test for schizophrenia coming soon: A blood test for schizophrenia biomarkers, expected to be available later this month, may help psychologists diagnose early-stage disease and choose the best treatment, says Alexander Niculescu, a professor of psychiatry and medical neuroscience and the senior author of a study in Molecular Psychiatry. Niculescu and colleagues monitored patients for more than a decade to identify biomarkers associated with hallucinations, delusions and hospitalizations, and they identified biomarkers that existing drugs target.

13-year-old is the first to be cured of rare brain cancer: A child named Lucas was diagnosed with an incurable brain cancer at the age of 6, which gave him a life expectancy of about a year, but at the age of 13, he has become the first known person to beat the disease through a clinical trial in France. The treatment is showing promise in around 10 other children, but no others have been cured, and researchers have built organoids that are replicas of the patients’ tumors to better understand the factors contributing to Lucas’ response to the treatment.

Family raises rare disease awareness through foundation: Tess Bigelow, a young girl dealing with health issues like autism and epilepsy, found her long-elusive diagnosis of Hao-Fountain Syndrome after her parents connected with a researcher on social media. This led her family to launch the Foundation for Hao-Fountain Syndrome, USP7 Gene, to raise awareness for the disease and allow them to connect with 200 similar families around the world.

Hope arises from scientist’s tragedy: Research scientist Laura Gould’s journey to co-founding the San Diego SUDC Research Project, the SUDC Foundation and the SUDC Registry and Research Collaborative began with the sudden, unexplained death of her daughter at two (2) years old. At the time, the only research Gould could find was on sudden infant death syndrome, and the foundations and research collaborative have started filling the gap, with recent studies finding an association between febrile seizures and sudden unexplained death in childhood.

Birth control linked to reduced injury risk in active women: Active women who use oral contraceptives appear to have a lower risk of sprains and strains compared to those not on birth control, according to a study published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. “This understanding holds promise for informing the development of targeted preventive strategies and interventions aimed at reducing injury risk in women, benefiting both athletic and nonathletic populations,” said lead researcher Luis Rodriguez.

Scientists work to understand, slow aging: Journalist Allison Aubrey took part in a Northwestern University Human Longevity Lab study focused on interventions to slow the rate at which people age. She submitted to a battery of health tests and gained inspiration for a writing project called “How to Thrive As You Age.” “There are going to be ways that we are going to slow down this process and give people a longer health span,” said Potocsnak Longevity Institute Director, Douglas Vaughan.

How AI (Artificial Intelligence) can undermine science without even trying: Journal reviewers rejected a manuscript authored by Lizzie Wolkovich not because they suspected academic or scientific fraud; however, because they decided — erroneously — that Wolkovich had used ChatGPT to write the paper. “Given how much work I put into writing, it was a blow to be accused of being a chatbot,” Wolkovich writes. She submitted GitHub plain-text files tracking the manuscript’s versions, but the reviewers shrugged it off, and the episode shows “how AI could corrupt science without even trying,” Wolkovich writes.

HIV screenings rise after health center deploys analytics tool: The use of a Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set analytics solution led to better efficiency and compliance at the Connecticut Institute for Communities, which implemented the system shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic started. HIV screenings have increased by 11% since the federal qualified health center started using the tool.

Center for Disease Control: CDC urges physician to talk with patients about PFAS: New CDC guidance suggests that physicians consider more patient communication and blood testing for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), or “forever chemicals,” found in many consumer products. Dr. Aaron Bernstein of the National Center for Environmental Health and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry estimates that more than 90% of the nation’s population has been exposed to PFAS, whose potential health risks include higher cholesterol, lower infant birth weight, some cancers, pregnancy complications and elevated liver enzymes.

WHO urges pandemic deal as “zombie virus” threat looms: World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has voiced alarm over the number of countries set to miss a May deadline for committing to a global accord on fighting pandemics, warning that “future generations may not forgive us” for failing to act against global disease threats. Separately, scientists are warning that climate change could release ancient viruses trapped in the Arctic permafrost, a pandemic threat they warn is being overlooked