Study: Political systems influenced how countries initially responded to COVID-19

An international study led by Keele University’s Emeritus Professor Michael Rigby has assessed the factors that influenced how different countries’ responses affected early control of COVID-19. A new study, published in PLOS ONE, found that healthcare resources and spending had little impact on how well countries dealt with the pandemic. Instead, it was the countries […]

US health systems must adopt unified vision to succeed, according to a new survey

In order for the United States to achieve full functionality and innovation of health information technologies, it must put forward a well-articulated, futuristic collective plan at the national level. Disparities across health systems around digital orientation point to the need of a national digital mission and strategy, which is currently missing. In a new study published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, University of Colorado Denver (CU Denver) Business School researchers, Jiban Khuntia, Ph.D., […]

Study shows mother’s diet may boost immune systems of premature infants

Medical researchers have long understood that a pregnant mother’s diet has a profound impact on her developing fetus’s immune system and that babies—especially those born prematurely—who are fed breast milk have a more robust ability to fight disease, suggesting that even after childbirth, a mother’s diet matters. However, the biological mechanisms underlying these connections have […]

Training our immune systems: Why we should insist on a high-quality COVID-19 vaccine

Athletes understand that there are two very different approaches that can be taken when training their bodies. For example, lifting heavy weights is a great way to achieve maximum strength. In contrast, low-load high-repetition training is ideal for developing the stamina required for endurance sports. Remarkably, our immune system can be trained in a somewhat […]

Many ventilation systems may increase risk of COVID-19 exposure, study suggests

Ventilation systems in many modern office buildings, which are designed to keep temperatures comfortable and increase energy efficiency, may increase the risk of exposure to the coronavirus, particularly during the coming winter, according to research published in the Journal of Fluid Mechanics. A team from the University of Cambridge found that widely-used ‘mixing ventilation’ systems, […]

Study shows nervous and immune systems ‘need to talk’ for bone repair

In a December 2019 study, a team of Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers demonstrated in mice that repair of bone fractures requires the generation, growth and spread of nerve cells, or neurons, throughout the injured area. This, they showed, partly relies on a protein known as nerve growth factor (NGF). Now, the researchers have dug deeper […]

Microbiome rewilding: Biodiverse urban green spaces strengthen human immune systems

A research team led by the University of Adelaide has found that revegetation of green spaces within cities can improve soil microbiota diversity towards a more natural, biodiverse state, which has been linked to human health benefits. In the study, published in the journal Restoration Ecology, researchers compared the composition of a variety of urban […]

SARS-CoV-2 may be exploiting our immune system’s ‘first responder’ cells

The new coronavirus, known as SARS-CoV-2, may be using part of the human body’s own immune response against us, a new study suggests. The novel coronavirus is known to use a keyhole called the ACE2 receptor to “unlock” a cell and get inside, where it replicates and wreaks havoc. Now, researchers have found that the […]