July 30, 2020–(BRONX, NY)–A new study shows how chronic psychological stress leads to painful vessel-clogging episodes–the most common complication of sickle-cell disease (SCD) and a frequent cause of hospitalizations. The findings, made in mice, show that the gut microbiome plays a key role in triggering those episodes and reveals possible ways to prevent them. The…
Older Americans may be receiving cancer screenings not recommended by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, according to Penn State College of Medicine researchers. The task force recommends routine screening for colorectal, cervical and breast cancers. These recommendations end for people at upper ages or who develop a condition that decreases their life expectancy. A…
New Orleans, LA – A team of LSU Health New Orleans pathologists published what is believed to be the first case report on pathologic findings of vasculitis of the small vessels of the heart, which likely represents multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS). The report was published online in the Annals of Internal Medicine, available here. The…
Researchers who generated a strain of SARS-CoV-2 that can infect mice used it to produce a new mouse model of infection that may help facilitate testing of COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics. Notably, they used their mouse model to test and confirm the protective efficacy of a COVID-19 vaccine candidate. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has prioritized…
Behavioral and nicotine replacement therapies offered together can help people who are incarcerated quit smoking, according to Rutgers researchers. The study published in the American Journal of Men’s Health, found that the combination of group-based tobacco dependence treatment and nicotine replacement therapy was an effective and feasible option to reduce tobacco dependence among men who…
Major Depressive Episodes Far More Common than Previously Believed, New Study Finds The number of adults in the United States who suffer from major depressive episodes at some point in their life is far higher than previously believed, a new study by the Yale School of Public Health finds. National survey data currently shows that…
HOUSTON — According to researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, the implementation of social distancing policies corresponded with significant reductions in transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and reduced community mobility, both in the U.S. and globally, providing evidence that social distancing is a useful tool in preventing further spread of COVID-19.…
Despite efforts throughout the United States last spring to suppress the spread of the novel coronavirus, states across the country have experienced spikes in the past several weeks. The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the nation has climbed to more than 3.5 million since the start of the pandemic. Public officials in many states,…
W. Ian Lipkin, MD, director of the Center for Infection and Immunity (CII) at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, is developing the health protocols for the August 17-20 Democratic National Convention, which will combine a scaled-back convention in Milwaukee and remote programming, in consideration of COVID-19 risks. In June, the Democratic National Convention…
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, officials across the country have had to make decisions about opening and closing schools, businesses and community facilities. They have relied in large part on information about the pandemic — from hospitalization statistics to test results — to inform these decisions. But different facts and figures about COVID-19 can paint…