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Financial distress negatively impacts well-being, satisfaction of breast cancer patients

CHICAGO (December 11, 2020): Financial toxicity among breast cancer patients is independently associated with worse psychological well-being following a mastectomy or lumpectomy operation. However, even small improvements in financial pressure associated with treatment-related costs can lead to better mental well-being and higher patient satisfaction with breast reconstruction, according to an “article in press” published on…

New online COVID-19 mortality risk calculator could help determine who should get vaccines first

A new online calculator for estimating individual and community-level risk of dying from COVID-19 has been developed by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The researchers who developed the calculator expect it to be useful to public health authorities for assessing mortality risks in different communities, and for prioritizing certain groups…

MGB study finds majority of COVID-19 patients died in hospital

There have been over 280,000 deaths in the United States due to COVID-19, with the infectious nature of the disease preventing many patients from receiving end-of-life care at home. Researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and collaborators found that 95.5 percent of individuals who died with a diagnosis of COVID-19 in the Mass General Brigham…

How AI could make therapeutic decision-making for breast cancer more accurate, affordable

Breast cancer affects 1/8 women in the USA, and rates of breast cancer are increasing. Humans are good at spotting cancer by looking at patterns in cells. But a new AI tool, ReceptorNet, can supplement human theragnosis by identifying the subtle differences in those patterns to inform better treatment decisions. ReceptorNet was developed in collaboration…

A saliva-based smartphone platform could rapidly expand COVID-19 testing

Offering an ultrasensitive yet accessible approach to COVID-19 testing, a portable saliva-based smartphone platform provides results within 15 minutes without the resource-intensive laboratory tests the current gold standard requires, according to a new study. The approach was tested in 12 people infected with COVID-19 and 6 healthy controls. Bo Ning and colleagues demonstrate that this…

Political partisanship has had outsized influence on individual social mobility during COVID-19 pand

In the United States, political partisanship has played a much stronger role in individuals’ decisions to limit their social mobility during the COVID-19 pandemic than the local incidence of the disease in their own communities, according to a new survey-based study of 1,135,638 million responses collected between April 4 and September 10, 2020 via Survey…

New insights about age-related macular degeneration could spur better treatments

BOSTON – “Wet” age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is one of the most common causes of irreversible vision loss in the elderly, and it occurs when abnormal and leaky blood vessels form in the retina, in part due to inflammation. New research by investigators at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) reveals insights into potential drivers of the…

Texas Biomed to test CBD/THC against HIV-induced neurological disorder

San Antonio, Texas (December 11, 2020) – The National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded Professor Mahesh Mohan, D.V.M., Ph.D., and collaborators more than $3.5 million over five years to investigate the effects of cannabinoids on Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) associated neurocognitive disorder (HAND). This research project aims to evaluate whether delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and Cannabidiol (CBD)…

Access to nature important for mental health during Covid lockdowns

People in European countries with the strictest COVID-19 lockdown policies were more likely to show symptoms of depression and anxiety, according to an international study investigating the impact of disconnecting from nature. Led by the Basque technology center AZTI, and involving the University of Exeter, the study built on pre COVID-19 evidence that access to…

New drug moves closer to becoming first treatment for Fragile X Syndrome

BUFFALO, N.Y. – A new drug discovered through a research collaboration between the University at Buffalo and Tetra Therapeutics took a major step toward becoming a first-in-class treatment for Fragile X Syndrome, a leading genetic cause of autism. The drug, BPN14770, achieved positive topline results in a phase 2 clinical study. The innovative treatment improved…