No more 'garbage in, garbage out': Health data repository released for AI researchers

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease that affects millions worldwide and can have a devastating impact on patients' lives. Yet, about one in three patients respond poorly to existing treatments.

Using longitudinal qualitative methods, the study looked at the care pathways for women who are dependent on drugs perinatally. The paper focuses on women's experiences of care prenatally, and highlights their anxiety concerning social work referrals and the potential loss of their babies to the care system.

Small, preclinical studies on breast tissue suggest the pill mifepristone shows promise for reducing the risk of breast cancer, however the use of mifepristone for medical abortion has created barriers for developing it for other purposes. This finding is highlighted in a Viewpoint published in The Lancet Obstetrics, Gynecology, & Women's Health.

A first of its kind study, led by researchers at Imperial College London, UCL and the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), looked at suicide trends in England from 2002 to 2022 combined with the influence of local socio-environmental factors on risk.

When I was landing at the Aspen airport a few weeks ago for a panel, the wing outside my window looked like it was going to fly off the plane. One of the reasons I knew it wouldn't is because the aerospace industry de-risks aircraft designs using digital twins, which are highly accurate virtual copies of physical objects. They let engineers simulate thousands of what-if scenarios and spot potential problems far in advance.

Preterm babies with very low birth weight who received a probiotic alongside antibiotics had fewer multidrug resistant bacteria and a more typical gut microbiome, a new study shows.

Neurons in the gut produce a molecule that plays a pivotal role in shaping the gut's immune response during and after inflammation, according to a new study by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators. The findings suggest that targeting these neurons and the molecules they produce could open the door to new treatments for inflammatory bowel disease and other disorders driven by gut inflammation.

University of Manchester scientists have mapped the mutations in the tiny protein chains that cause a subtype of muscular dystrophy. Published in the journal Nature Communications, the study provides a major insight into the muscular dystrophy subtype known collectively as Collagen VI-related dystrophy—or COL6-RD for short.

Patients in a Phase I/II clinical trial conducted by UMass Chan Medical School of a dual vector gene therapy for GM2 gangliosidosis, which includes Tay-Sachs and Sandhoff diseases, exhibited a biochemical correction of the disease with minimal adverse reactions.

A fading sense of smell can be one of the earliest signs of Alzheimer's disease even before cognitive impairments manifest. Research by scientists at DZNE and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU) sheds new light on this phenomenon, pointing to a significant role for the brain's immune response, which seems to fatally attack neuronal fibers crucial for the perception of odors.

A Medical University of South Carolina team reports in Frontiers in Immunology that it has engineered a new type of genetically modified immune cell that can precisely target and neutralize antibody-producing cells complicit in organ rejection.

New research from the Charles Perkins Center at the University of Sydney has uncovered a new biological pathway that may help explain why people with type 2 diabetes are more prone to developing dangerous blood clots, potentially paving the way for future treatments that reduce their cardiovascular risk.

Researchers at Columbia Engineering have built a cancer therapy that makes bacteria and viruses work as a team. In a study published in Nature Biomedical Engineering, the Synthetic Biological Systems Lab shows how their system hides a virus inside a tumor-seeking bacterium, smuggles it past the immune system, and unleashes it inside cancerous tumors.

Hospital Clínico San Carlos in Madrid-led research reports that intermittent theta-burst transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) paired with language therapy over six months was associated with positive outcomes in primary progressive aphasia (PPA). Improvements included less decline in regional brain metabolism and improvements in language abilities, functional independence, and neuropsychiatric symptoms.

America's youth mental health crisis has escalated to the point that thousands of children primarily suffering from suicide-related behaviors and depression are stuck in hospital emergency rooms for three days or more, according to new research from Oregon Health & Science University.

A new study from Karolinska Institutet, published in Cell Reports Medicine, shows that follicular lymphoma (FL), a common type of blood cancer, is not one single disease but consists of three genetically distinct subtypes. The findings may help doctors diagnose and treat patients more accurately in the future.

Marijuana has been a hot topic for years, but one often clouded by misperceptions. Many turn to it as a perceived panacea, hoping it will address health issues or enhance their well-being if other options have fallen short. But what scientists are learning about weed's health effects might come as a surprise.

Laboratory mice are often considered the scientific equivalent of identical twins—genetically identical and expected to look and behave the same. But new research from the Faculty of Science, Charles University, shows that this assumption doesn't always hold true. The team discovered that the composition of the gut microbiota can dramatically influence the structure and function of the immune system—even in genetically identical animals.