News by Subject Medicine & Health

Post-mortem analysis of brains of people with autism revealed cellular features not previously linked to autism. These cellular characteristics are consistent with an immune response targeting on the brain cells that comprise a protective barrier between brain tissues and cerebral spinal fluid. The findings lend new insight to autism's origins and suggest potential means of improved diagnosis and care of people with autism.

Predicting and controlling disease outbreaks would be easier and more reliable with the wider application of mathematical modelling, according to a new study. The study was conducted by researchers at the University of Waterloo, University of Maryland and Yale's School of Public Health.

The scourge of the influenza virus devastates health and claims many lives worldwide each year. It is especially daunting because vaccines are only protective when they are well matched to the strains circulating in the population. But now, a team led by researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai is getting closer to a universal flu vaccine using a novel approach they've developed called chimeric hemagglutinin (cHA).

There is no effective vaccine currently available to prevent Lyme disease in humans. Experts from academia, government, and industry convened at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory's Banbury Center to tackle this public health challenge. Now, a new paper published in the Oct. 17, 2019 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases highlights the conference discussions, reiterates the need to stop the infection, and defines a strategy for developing effective vaccines.

Scientists have isolated a natural chemical that acts as a potent kryptonite against parasitic worms that burrow through human skin and cause devastating health problems. In a paper publishing October 17, 2019 in the open-access journal PLOS Biology, a research team led by Phillip Newmark at the Morgridge Institute for Research describe the successful characterization of this chemical, which could help in finding new ways to fight the neglected tropical disease schistosomiasis.