West coast wildfires, COVID a double whammy to lung health

(HealthDay)—Even as wildfires rage across California, Oregon and Washington, another danger lurks in the eerie orange haze that has enveloped U.S. cities, towns and neighborhoods this week: an increased risk of catching COVID-19. Wildfire smoke can irritate the lungs and harm the immune system, explained Dr. Cheryl Pirozzi, a pulmonologist at University of Utah Health. […]

Loss of a pet can potentially trigger mental health issues in children

The death of a family pet can trigger a sense of grief in children that is profound and prolonged, and can potentially lead to subsequent mental health issues, according to a new study by researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). In a paper appearing in European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, the team found that the […]

Gut microbiome data may be helpful in routine screening of cardiovascular disease

Using artificial intelligence to analyze the bacteria in a person’s gut microbiome shows promise as a new screening method for cardiovascular disease (CVD), according to preliminary research to be presented Sept. 10-13, 2020, at the virtual American Heart Association’s Hypertension 2020 Scientific Sessions. The full study published simultaneously today in Hypertension, an American Heart Association […]

Safety-net clinicians’ caseloads received reduced merit-based incentive payment scores

A team of researchers led by Kenton Johnston, Ph.D., an associate professor of health management and policy at Saint Louis University’s College for Public Health and Social Justice, conducted a study to investigate how outpatient clinicians that treated disproportionately high caseloads of socially at-risk Medicare patients (safety-net clinicians) performed under Medicare’s new mandatory Merit-Based Incentive […]

Research sheds light on earliest stages of Angelman syndrome

New research from North Carolina State University provides insights into the earliest stages of Angelman syndrome. The work also demonstrates how human cerebral organoids can be used to shed light on genetic disorders that affect human development. Angelman syndrome is a genetic disorder associated with delayed development, intellectual disability, speech impairment and problems with movement. […]

Dutch outdoor classes avoid coronavirus ‘digital misery’

A Dutch university is holding open-air classes in parks, public squares and parking lots to limit the number of lectures taking place online because of the coronavirus pandemic. At the foot of a majestic church in the historic centre of the city of Middelburg, science professor Edward Nieuwenhuis demonstrates an experiment on a bench in […]

New organoids facilitate faster study of early lung cancer, potential treatments

New research from Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital, in collaboration with Boston University and the University of California, Los Angeles, provides an accelerated platform for studying early-stage lung cancer and identifying and testing potential treatments: “organoids” created from lung cells. The researchers reported Sept. 4 in Cell Stem Cell that the organoids allowed […]