Health & Medicine
The PROgress Study: An electronic solution for improving patient consultation visits in routine HIV care
HIV therapy has been a spectacular success over the past 30 years, transforming a disease that was once considered a life sentence into a manageable, chronic condition. With treatments so effective, clinical focus has now changed to looking at ways of improving patients’ quality of life. Understanding each individual’s unique situation is key yet this presents a challenge for care […]
How can diet influence women’s reproductive health?
The majority of clinical trials focus on male participants. Dr Dequina Nicholas, Assistant Professor at the University of California Irvine in the US, argues that there is an urgent need to focus more on women’s health, especially fertility-related complications. She is exploring the impact of what we eat on metabolism, inflammation, and reproduction, expanding the possibility that dietary manipulation can […]
Conjugation chemistry creates affordable childhood vaccines
The immune system provides a formidable defence against pathogens. However, many bacteria possess a protective sugar polymer coat. In children, the immune system does not respond to these polymers unless they are chemically linked to a carrier. This is the basis of conjugate vaccines, a powerful but expensive means to fight diseases like pneumonia, the leading cause of death in […]
The heart of the matter: Clinical electrophysiology and beyond
Arrythmia – abnormal heart rhythm – can be life-limiting and even life-threatening. In this interview, Research Outreach talks to Professor Benjamin J Scherlag of the University of Oklahoma, USA, about his pioneering research into what was the entirely new field of cardiac electrophysiology. We learn about the ‘His bundle’, ganglionated plexi, and how it is possible to treat the heart […]
Novel immunoassays for detection of faecal calprotectin and neutrophil extracellular traps in the gut
Faecal calprotectin (CP) is a valuable biomarker for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Nevertheless, commercial assays do not display comparable clinical sensitivities and specificities. Dr Magne Fagerhol at the Oslo University Hospital, Norway, explored the structure of faecal CP to understand the sources of variation and developed new monoclonal antibody mixtures and immunoassay procedures that improved the sensitivity. Moreover, Fagerhol demonstrated […]
Using patient datasets to track COVID-19 prevalence
Obtaining an accurate picture of COVID-19 cases has provided a major challenge throughout the pandemic. Changes in testing methods and skewed selection of higher-risk groups may bias the results. Dr Amy Hou, Dr Genevieve Pang, and Dr Lorrin Pang at the Hawaii State Department of Health, Maui District Health Office, US, propose a novel way to estimate local prevalence of […]
Targeting cancer stemness: A new approach to target tumour metastasis in colorectal cancer
At COARE Holdings in the US, Dr Courtney W Houchen and Edwin Bannerman-Menson examine innovative ways to target and treat metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). Their research focuses on the ‘stemness’ of cancer cells – a property by which the cells within a tumour are able to divide and give rise to every cancerous cell within the tumour. When these cancerous […]
Usher syndrome: Recent advances in our understanding of genes and therapeutics
Usher syndrome is a rare disease that affects the sensory systems of vision, hearing, and balance. Recent advances in scientific technologies reveal the genes involved in Usher syndrome, their varying phenotypic outcomes, and avenues for therapeutic development. Dr Aziz El-Amraoui of the Pasteur Institute in Paris, France, and Dr Gwenaelle Géléoc of Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in […]
Month of birth, ultraviolet radiation exposure, and the development of major mental illnesses
Major mental illnesses (MMIs) are a significant global health burden. Recent data confirms that MMI is associated with an individual’s month of birth (MOB). Levels of ultraviolet radiation (UVR) vary during the calendar year, and over cyclic periods UVR intensity peaks. UVR can cause cellular mutations and affect epigenetic processes, therefore exposure at conception or during early gestation potentially has […]
Making strides in veterinary pathology: A dedicated career
Mast cell tumours and pancreatic diseases are common in dogs but also present to a lesser degree in other veterinary species, including cats and horses. For these and many other diseases of veterinary species, diagnostic methods and criteria were not well characterised and made determination of prognosis difficult. Changing this, with decades of research into the pathology of veterinary diseases, […]