In a laboratory in New York City, researchers coaxed a key piece of the coronavirus — its infamous outer “spike” — to mutate so that it became invisible to disease-fighting antibodies, according to a new study that has not yet been published in a scientific journal. The provocative finding should not set off alarm bells,…
A newly developed blood test for Alzheimer’s has diagnosed the disease as accurately as methods that are far more expensive or invasive, scientists reported on Tuesday, a significant step toward a longtime goal for patients, doctors and dementia researchers. The test has the potential to make diagnosis simpler, more affordable and widely available. The test…
Here’s what you need to know: ImageA demonstration earlier this month against reopening schools in Florida.Credit…Octavio Jones/Getty Images A national teachers’ union says its members can strike to ensure schools reopen safely. The second-largest teachers’ union in the United States announced on Tuesday that it would support its 1.7 million members if they choose to…
When I first met my patient, three years ago, he was about my age chronologically, but caught in an eternal childhood intellectually. It may have been something he was born with, or an injury at birth that deprived his brain of oxygen for too long — I could never find out. But the man staring…
Eight out of every 10 deaths from the coronavirus pandemic reported in the United States have happened to adults 65 and older, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. So you could be forgiven for concluding this is a lousy time to be over 65. But at age 68, much to my surprise,…
“Learn to resist the urge,” says Tara S. Peris, an associate professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles, where she is co-director of the Child O.C.D., Anxiety and Tic Disorders Program. Psychiatrists consider nail biting a “body focused repetitive behavior,” along with things like hair pulling and skin picking.…
Giving birth in the United States is a radically different experience based on race and income, illustrated most brutally by the Black and Indigenous maternal mortality crisis. Now, a new study from the Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) and the National Partnership for Women & Families finds insurance type itself also plays a…
They are used by 150 million women worldwide and have been around for over 60 years. Oral contraceptives – like birth control pills – are part of many women’s lives, often starting during puberty and early adolescence. Do they have any impact on brain health? A uOttawa team of researchers has been investigating the question.…
A new blood test demonstrated remarkable promise in discriminating between persons with and without Alzheimer’s disease and in persons at known genetic risk may be able to detect the disease as early as 20 years before the onset of cognitive impairment, according to a large international study published today in the Journal of the American…
Using information from a national database, investigators took an evidence-based approach to defining the lower limit of pulmonary vascular resistance This new lower parameter can capture more patients who have pulmonary hypertension and are at risk for death or hospitalization When most people think of high blood pressure, they think of being tested with…