A new study helps explain why mRNA vaccines have been so successful at preventing severe disease. While breakthrough infections have increased with the emergence of the delta and omicron variants, the vaccines remain quite effective at preventing hospitalizations and deaths. The success of the new technology has led scientists to try to figure out why…

Singapore saw 1,158 dengue cases in the week ending 13 June 2020, the highest number of weekly dengue cases ever recorded since 2014. The dengue virus serotype 3 (DENV3), which is currently circulating in Singapore, can undergo dramatic structural changes that enable it to resist vaccines and therapeutics, reveal findings from a new study. The…

Changing environmental factors as well as changing gene-environment interactions could be to blame for increasing rates of myopia, also known as nearsightedness or shortsightedness, over time, suggests a new study. Previous studies have pointed toward an emerging «epidemic» of myopia, characterized by increased prevalence of myopia accompanied by both a shift toward younger age at…

Legalizing medical marijuana does not reduce the rate of fatal opioid overdoses, according to researchers. The finding contradicts a 2014 study that legal-pot advocates, public officials and even physicians have touted as a reason to legalize marijuana. That study found lower rates of fatal opioid overdoses in the states that had legalized marijuana for medical…

Researchers provides the first evidence that patients with ocular hypertension may exhibit superior antioxidant protection that promotes resistance to the elevated intraocular pressure associated with glaucoma. In general, glaucoma patients are vulnerable to increased intraocular pressure. However, a particular group of patients has no glaucomatous neurodegeneration despite high intraocular pressure — patients with ocular hypertension.…

Many people are confronted with chronic pain that can last for months or even years. How to best treat chronic pain? First, pain must be categorized for the right treatment to be prescribed. However, is that it is very challenging for patients to define their pain, its intensity or even its location using questionnaires. To…

A new study is showing how value choices are recorded in our brains. Researchers found that persistency allows value signals to be most effectively represented, or ‘coded,’ across different areas of the brain, especially in a critical area within the cerebrum known as the retrosplenial cortex. An area within the cerebrum known as the retrosplenial…

Scientists say they have found a new way to kill some multiplying human breast cancer cells by selectively attacking the core of their cell division machinery. A summary of the scientists’ findings are published Sept. 9 in Nature. «Some of the most widely used cancer drugs already kill rapidly dividing cells,» says Andrew Holland, Ph.D.,…

Findings underscore the importance of early, intensive treatment. The study focused on complications of youth-onset type 2 diabetes. Overall, researchers saw a steady decline in blood glucose control over 15 years. Zeitler is the chair of the TODAY study group and is a professor of pediatrics, endocrinology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine…

Robust evidence from a large international study confirms that a difference in blood pressure readings between arms is linked to greater risk of heart attack, stroke and death. Led by the University of Exeter, the global INTERPRESS-IPD Collaboration conducted a meta-analysis of all the available research, then merged data from 24 global studies to create…