In the Press

A team of researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Rush Medical College and Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School has found a link between the use of antibiotics by middle-aged women and cognitive decline later in life. The group has published a paper describing their work on the open-access site PLOS ONE.

A team of scientists at the Yale Schools of Medicine and Public Health has identified a remdesivir-resistant variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, in an immunocompromised patient who was being treated with the widely used antiviral agent.

Using data from 2020, we measure the public health impact of allowing fans into sports stadiums during the COVID-19 pandemic; these results may inform future policy decisions regarding large outdoor gatherings during public health crises.

The global tuberculosis burden remains substantial, with more than 10 million people newly ill per year. Nevertheless, tuberculosis incidence has slowly declined over the past decade, and mortality has decreased by almost a third in tandem.

Tuberculosis (TB) remains a leading cause of death worldwide.1 TB care, which already existed in fragile and overextended healthcare systems, has been negatively impacted by the diversion of human resources and laboratory capacity for COVID-19, resulting in the number of specimens submitted for TB diagnosis plummeting from 7.1 million in 2019 to 5.8 million in 2020.2 41% of the 10 million people estimated to develop TB globally each year remain undiagnosed, and TB deaths have risen for the first time in a decade.1

Researchers from North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have developed an implantable biotechnology that produces and releases CAR-T cells for attacking cancerous tumors. In a proof-of-concept study involving lymphoma in mice, the researchers found that treatment with the implants was faster and more effective than conventional CAR-T cell cancer treatment.

In a follow-up on the Pseudomonas aeruginosa outbreak in hospitals in Norway, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) reports the bacterium was detected in one package with pre-moistened disposable washcloths that are often used for intensive care patients in hospitals.

Proning—lying on the stomach—has been useful for treating intubated, sedated COVID-19 patients, but a new study designed to tease out possible benefits for awake patients found that the method is difficult to use.

For many, having a baby during the pandemic era may have been a more isolating experience than usual. Masks during delivery. Birthing without a partner in the room. Skipping traditional baby showers. Fewer visits from family and friends.

Three commonly prescribed statins are best placed to lower all the "bad" types of cholesterol and prevent cardiovascular disease in people with diabetes, according to a statistical combination of the results of 42 clinical trials. The study was carried out by University of Manchester, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT) and Keele University scientists, and funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR).