News by Subject Medicine & Health

Twice as many people as previously believed are dying of sepsis worldwide, according to an analysis published today in The Lancet and announced at the Critical Care Reviews annual meeting in Belfast. Among them are a disproportionately high number of children in poor areas. Led by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh and University of Washington schools of medicine, the study revealed 48.9 million global cases of sepsis in 2017 and 11 million deaths, representing 1 in 5 deaths worldwide.

Taenia solium -- also called pork tapeworm -- is a parasite which causes disease around the world, particularly in very poor communities with deficient sanitation and where pigs roam free. Researchers have now analyzed the efficacy and adverse effects of three chemotherapeutics against T. solium and report their results in a review published in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases.

Environmental factors, such as the diets of pregnant women, have been shown to have an effect on the extent and severity of developmental malformations in babies associated with Zika virus (ZIKV) congenital infection.

A new large study of Chinese adults, published by the scientific journal Addiction, has found that eight percent of men in China are problem drinkers, and that problem drinking is more prevalent among men of lower socioeconomic status and in rural areas. Problem drinking is associated with significantly increased risk of physical and mental health problems and premature death.

When newborn babies with low birth weight are held close to their mother's bodies throughout the day, their chance of survival increases substantially.

Scientists have developed a new way to understand complex genetic diseases and have identified a gene that modifies the severity of inherited kidney disease, paving the way for personalized treatments.

University of Texas at Dallas researchers have demonstrated a technique in the lab for fabricating tiny strands of collagen called fibrils to facilitate further research on the eye's repair process. The method was detailed in a new study published in the December issue of the journal Biomedical Microdevices. The study was funded in part by a $1.8 million, five-year National Institutes of Health grant.