Blog list

Data casts doubt on case for allowing release from isolation after five days with negative lateral flow test

Researchers have used sound waves to turn stem cells into bone cells, in a tissue engineering advance that could one day help patients regrow bone lost to cancer or degenerative disease.

Aerosolization is a traumatic process for most microorganisms. Their survival in the airborne state is determined by many factors; for example the method of culture, the composition of the suspending fluid, the mechanism of aerosolization and the climate into which they are launched (Anderson & Cox, 1967).

The female genital tract is naturally colonized by mixed communities of bacteria, known as the vaginal microbiome. When these communities are dominated by species such as Lactobacillus crispatus, they provide important protective functions in genital health. But overgrowth of certain other bacterial species is linked to a condition known as bacterial vaginosis (BV). BV affects nearly 30% of women around the world, carrying increased risk for sexually transmitted diseases, HIV, and—in pregnant individuals—premature birth. Unfortunately, current antibiotic-based treatments for BV are poorly effective with high rates of recurrence.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden report that a recently discovered inflammatory mediator, interleukin-26, appears to have an important role in pneumonia and contributes to the killing of bacteria. The study is published in the scientific journal Frontiers in Immunology.

The Netherlands and Ireland joint the list of countries that have temporarily stopped using the AstraZeneca-Oxford COVID-19 vaccine, as World Health Organization (WHO) experts review the findings.

To describe the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated practice shifts on consultation and referral patterns of an intimate partner violence (IPV) program at a large, urban children’s hospital.

Three doses of the Moderna mRNA COVID-19 vaccine were more effective against infection with the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant than against Omicron but were highly protective against hospitalization with either subtype, according to a study yesterday in Nature Medicine. A team led by Kaiser Permanente Southern California researchers conducted a test-negative case-control study among 26,683 COVID-19 cases caused by the Delta or Omicron variants in December 2021. Of all cases, 16% were Delta, and 84% were Omicron. The incidence of Omicron infections in Southern California increased from 1.2% to 94.1% from Dec 6 to 31.