January 18, 2022
SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy may cause inflammatory immune responses in the fetus, even if the virus does not infect the placenta, according to a small National Institutes of Health study. Researchers describe unique maternal, fetal, and placental immune responses among pregnant women with COVID-19 in a study led by NIH’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). The findings detail changes in antibodies, immune cell types and inflammatory markers in maternal blood, umbilical cord blood and placental tissues. The study is published in the journal Nature Communications.
SARS-CoV-2 may cause fetal inflammation even in the absence of placental infection
January 18, 2022
Researchers recruited 100 women, 73 of whom they followed from the start of the third trimester to three months postpartum. They analyzed subjective and objective measures of sleep, biological rhythms, melatonin levels, and light exposure using a variety of tools, including questionnaires, actigraphs (wearable sleep monitors), laboratory assays, and other methods.
January 18, 2022
A look at antibodies in patients soon after they were infected with the virus that causes COVID-19 showed key differences between those whose cases remained mild and those who later developed severe symptoms.
Antibodies in blood soon after COVID-19 onset may predict severity, study finds
January 18, 2022
A single blood sample from a critically ill COVID-19 patient can be analyzed by a machine learning model which uses blood plasma proteins to predict survival, weeks before the outcome, according to a new study.
Machine learning model uses blood tests to predict COVID-19 survival
January 18, 2022
Health care professionals often encourage women with obesity to lose weight prior to trying to conceive or start infertility treatments. But a new nationwide study found that women with obesity and unexplained infertility who lost weight prior to starting infertility treatments did not have a greater chance of having a healthy baby than those who did not lose weight prior to starting therapy.
Weight loss before fertility treatment may not increase births for obese women
January 18, 2022
Expanding rapid testing stands out as an affordable way to help mitigate risks associated with COVID-19 and emerging variants. Infectious disease researchers have developed a new model that tailors testing recommendations to new variants and likely immunity levels in a community, offering a new strategy as public health leaders seek a way out of a pandemic that has so far thwarted the best efforts to end its spread.
January 18, 2022
Researchers have developed devices to automate blood smears. Their devices, called autohaem smear and smear+, can consistently create high-quality smears equivalent to those created by human experts, automating the smearing process so every smear is correct and consistent. A key goal of the project was to make the devices accessible to as many people as possible, so the researchers designed their devices to be easy to build, using readily available or 3D-printed components.
January 18, 2022
It is important that multiple sclerosis (MS) is diagnosed and treated as early as possible in order to delay progression of the disease. The technique of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) plays a key role in this process. A new MRI technique could pave the way to quicker assessment of disease activity in MS.
New MRI technique could improve diagnosis and treatment of multiple sclerosis
January 18, 2022
In its Fall 2020 edition the Journal of Economic Perspectives featured articles on income and wealth inequality. There is ample evidence that in the United States and in Europe inequality has increased over the last 40-50 years. While the factors underlying increasing inequality are complex, there is also concern that high levels of inequality are themselves harmful, possibly contributing to worse population health (e.g., lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality, and more mental illness).
Inequalities in the Distribution of National Institutes of Health Research Project Grant Funding
January 18, 2022
A new study revealed a pathological brain activity that precedes the onset of Alzheimer's first symptoms by many years: increased activity in the hippocampus during anesthesia and sleep, resulting from failure in the mechanism that stabilizes the neural network. The researchers believe that the discovery of this abnormal activity during specific brain states may enable early diagnosis of Alzheimer's, eventually leading to a more effective treatment of a disease that still lacks effective therapies.
