Pre-existing flu immunity impacts antibody quality following infection and vaccination

New research by scientists at the University of Chicago suggests a person’s antibody response to influenza viruses is dramatically shaped by their pre-existing immunity, and that the quality of this response differs in individuals who are vaccinated or naturally infected. Their results highlight the importance of receiving the annual flu vaccine to induce the most…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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