For nearly a year, nursing homes and assisted living centers have been mostly closed to visitors. Now, it's time for them to open back up and relieve residents of crushing isolation, according to a growing chorus of long-term care experts, caregivers, consumer groups and physicians.

4 Mar 2021

Intrapericardial injection provides a less invasive means of treating cardiac injury

Injecting hydrogels containing stem cell or exosome therapeutics directly into the pericardial cavity could be a less invasive, less costly, and more effective means of treating cardiac injury, according to new research from North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

4 Mar 2021

Researchers identify the trigger of key cellular change in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Scientists at the Francis Crick Institute and UCL have identified the trigger of a key cellular change in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a type of motor neurons disease.

4 Mar 2021

Results from phase 2 trial of Novavax recombinant nanoparticle SARS-CoV-2 vaccine

Novavax, Inc., the American vaccine development company, has been developing a recombinant protein nanoparticle COVID-19 vaccine currently termed NVX-CoV2373. The full-length spike protein of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is created in a baculovirus vector, which is then inserted into a lipid nanoparticle around 50 nm in diameter.

3 Mar 2021

Study reveals how racial discrimination in home-renting affects environmental inequality

Economists and urban planners generally agree that local pollution sources disproportionally impact racial minorities in the U.S. The reasons for this are largely unclear, but a University of Illinois study provides new insights into the issue.

3 Mar 2021

MDI Biological Laboratory receives grant to improve access to safe drinking water

The MDI Biological Laboratory will collaborate with the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, an office of the state Department of Health and Human Services, on a five-year grant from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to improve access to safe drinking water in Maine.

3 Mar 2021

New substance suppresses the growth of harmful bacteria that cause periodontitis

Targeted, efficient and with few side effects: A new method for combating periodontitis could render the use of broad-spectrum antibiotics superfluous.

3 Mar 2021

Genomic surveillance can help identify how SARS-CoV-2 spreads in care homes

Care homes are at high risk of experiencing outbreaks of COVID-19, the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2. Older people and those affected by heart disease, respiratory disease and type 2 diabetes - all of which increase with age - are at greatest risk of severe disease and even death, making the care home population especially vulnerable.

3 Mar 2021

Accelerated accumulation of abdominal fat during menopause linked to heart disease risk

Women who experience an accelerated accumulation of abdominal fat during menopause are at greater risk of heart disease, even if their weight stays steady, according to a University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health-led analysis published today in the journal Menopause.

3 Mar 2021

Muscle strength associated with reduced COVID-19 hospitalization in older adults

Exercising more than once a week after 50 years of age is linked to a 60% lower risk of COVID-19 hospitalization. An international team of researchers has found that physical activity involving muscle training can be protective against severe infection.

3 Mar 2021

Researchers develop shape memory polymer to understand the development of heart disease

Cardiovascular disease remains the number one cause of death globally. Unfortunately, the heart cannot regenerate new tissue, because the cardiomyocytes, or heart muscle cells, do not divide after birth.

3 Mar 2021

Study suggests a new way to detect heart disease through non-invasive tool

In a new study from Shiley Eye Institute at UC San Diego Health, researchers have identified a potential new marker that shows cardiovascular disease may be present in a patient using an optical coherence tomography (OCT) scan -- a non-invasive diagnostic tool commonly used in ophthalmology and optometry clinics to create images of the retina.

3 Mar 2021

COVID-19 disrupts heart muscle contraction, may lead to heart failure

Since early in the pandemic, COVID-19 has been associated with heart problems, including reduced ability to pump blood and abnormal heart rhythms.

3 Mar 2021

Children with MIS-C have highly activated immune systems, study finds

Taking the first deep dive into how the immune system is behaving in patients with multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), researchers at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have found that children with this condition have highly activated immune systems that, in many ways, are more similar to those of adults with severe COVID-19.

2 Mar 2021

Ethnic minorities have less access to COVID-19 vaccines, finds study

A new study discusses the results of a survey including well over 1.3 million participants in the UK and the USA. During the initial part of the vaccination campaign – that is, the phase including February 1, 2021 – the researchers found significantly more hesitancy towards the vaccine among Black, Asian, and Hispanic communities, as well as greater difficulty in accessing vaccines among them.

2 Mar 2021

New injectable hydrogel could heal cardiac tissue after heart attack

Researchers at CÚRAM, the SFI Research Centre for Medical Devices based at National University of Ireland Galway, and BIOFORGE Lab, at the University of Valladolid in Spain, have developed an injectable hydrogel that could help repair and prevent further damage to the heart muscle after a heart attack.

2 Mar 2021