Patricia McKnight December 16, 2022 A cancer vaccine based on the messenger RNA (mRNA) technology, provided alongside the checkpoint inhibitor pembrolizumab (Keytruda), has shown encouraging results in an open label phase 2b clinical trial. The trial found that the combination regimen reduced the risk of cancer recurrence or death among melanoma patients by 44% compared with pembrolizumab alone, according to the vaccine’s...
Year: <span>2022</span>
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Scientists tie third clinical trial death to experimental Alzheimer’s drug
BY CHARLES PILLER These MRI images show brain swelling in the cerebral cortex—the outer large section of the brain—of a Florida woman who died after receiving the experimental Alzheimer’s drug lecanemab. Before treatment with the antibody, a scan of her cerebral cortex (left) reveals characteristic folds of the temporal lobes. Afterward (right), extreme swelling made...
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Should Older Seniors Risk Major Surgery? New Research Offers Guidance
Judith Graham Nearly 1 in 7 older adults die within a year of undergoing major surgery, according to an important new study that sheds much-needed light on the risks seniors face when having invasive procedures. Especially vulnerable are older patients with probable dementia (33% die within a year) and frailty (28%), as well as those having emergency...
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Rise of ‘Alarming’ Subvariants of COVID ‘Worrisome’ for Winter
Damian McNamara December 16, 2022 It’s a story perhaps more appropriate for Halloween than for the festive holiday season, given its scary implications. Four Omicron subvariants of the virus that causes COVID-19 will be the most common strains going from person to person this winter, new research predicts. Not too dire so far, until you consider what...
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Humans continue to evolve with the emergence of new genes
Researchers have been looking into the evolutions of human genetics. HECTOR RIO/AFP via Getty Images Researchers have been looking into the evolution of human genetics. They say they have discovered that human genes have continued to change after the evolutionary split from primate ancestors. They acknowledge that genetic research is complicated and more study is...
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Scientists say bad breath can be CURED by eating these three things
By MANSUR SHAHEEN DEPUTY HEALTH EDITOR FOR DAILYMAIL.COM Scientists say they have found a cure for bad breath — and it’s in most people’s kitchens. A meta-analysis of existing studies found probiotic bacteria in fermented foods like yoghurt, sourdough bread and miso soup can clear the plaque responsible for bad breath from the teeth and tongue....
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China says no new COVID deaths after changing criteria
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain China said Wednesday that not a single person had died of COVID-19 the previous day, after changing the criteria for recording virus deaths to mean most are no longer counted. Hospitals are struggling, pharmacy shelves are stripped bare and crematoriums are overwhelmed in the wake of the Chinese government’s sudden decision...
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Turning resolutions into habits
by Amy Rosenberg, Tufts University Credit: Shutterstock Ayanna Thomas is an avid gym-goer. She works out multiple times a week, and she doesn’t even really think about it—she goes because going has become automatic for her. It hasn’t always been that way. Thomas, a professor of psychology and the dean of research at Tufts School of...
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What is Perimenopause?
By Michael Greenwood, M.Sc. Reviewed by Danielle Ellis, B.Sc. Perimenopause means “around menopause” and refers to the transition period before menopause and cessation of menstruation, which can last for several years. From when periods begin until perimenopause, the period is termed premenopause, and once menopause is completed, it is known as postmenopause. Image Credit: Jack_the_sparow/Shutterstock.com Perimenopause typically...
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Artificial DNA kills cancer
UNIVERSITY OF TOKYO IMAGE: ONCOLYTIC DNA HAIRPIN PAIRS (OHPS) ARE INTRODUCED TO THE CANCER CELL. WHEN THE OHPS ENCOUNTER THE TUMOR-CAUSING OVEREXPRESSED MICRORNA (MIRNA), THEY UNRAVEL TO CONNECT WITH THE MIRNA AND EACH OTHER TO FORM LONGER DNA STRANDS. THESE ELONGATED STRANDS THEN TRIGGER AN IMMUNE RESPONSE, THE BODY’S BUILT-IN DEFENSE MECHANISM, WHICH INHIBITS FURTHER...