News by Subject Medicine & Health

Researchers at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Australia have applied artificial intelligence (AI) deep learning techniques to develop a more accurate and detailed method for analysing images of the back of the eye to help clinicians better detect and track eye diseases, such as glaucoma and aged-related macular degeneration.

The drugs currently used to treat Chagas disease, a neglected tropical disease, have serious side effects and limited use in those with chronic disease. Now, researchers have reported in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases that memantine, a drug currently used to treat Alzheimer's disease, can diminish the number of parasites in mice with Chagas disease, and increase the survival rate of the animals.

José Enrique Mejía, Inserm researcher at Unit 1043 Center for Pathophysiology of Toulouse Purpan and Cristina Domingo from the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin have recently shown that around half of children initially protected by the yellow fever vaccination at 9 months of age lose that protection within the next 2 to 5 years, due to disappearance of the neutralizing antibodies. This research has been published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.

Nonhuman primates with clinically undetectable Plasmodium relapse infections still harbor parasitic gametocytes that may be infectious to mosquitoes, according to a study published Sept. 19 in the open-access journal PLOS Pathogens by F. Eun-Hyung Lee and Mary R. Galinski of Emory University, Tracey J. Lamb of the University of Utah, and colleagues.

Worldwide, nutrition is insufficiently incorporated into medical education, meaning that medical students lack the confidence, skills and knowledge to provide nutritional care to patients, according to a systematic review of 24 studies published in The Lancet Planetary Health journal.

A molecule once designed to cure the skin disease psoriasis appears to be particularly effective against malaria. The antimalarial properties were revealed thanks to one researcher's inspired hunch when the psoriasis drug discovery program came to a dead end. The candidate drug offers considerable potential for combating this infectious disease.

Researchers have developed a novel way to measure how mechanical fatigue affects biological cells. They also have established the important role of this effect in influencing physical properties of biological cells such as red blood cells (RBCs). This new technique assesses the mechanical integrity and fatigue behavior of RBCs using a general microfluidics method that incorporates amplitude-modulated electro-deformation. This method has important applications for mechanical fatigue studies in conjunction with other microenvironments related to health and materials engineering.

A new needle-free flu vaccine patch revved up the immune system much like a traditional flu shot without any negative side effects. The research represents an important step toward a technology that could replace needle-based vaccination methods that are difficult to deploy in developing countries.