Off-label drugs prescribed for breathlessness may do more harm than good, warn scientists

Credit: Puwadon Sang-ngern from Pexels A new study from King’s College London shows that off-label prescriptions of a common antidepressant doesn’t help breathlessness in patients with respiratory disease—and may cause…

Autoimmune disease researchers find immune cells escape therapy due to ‘exhausted’ state

by Frederike Buhse, Exzellenzcluster Präzisionsmedizin für chronische Entzündungserkrankungen Graphical abstract. Credit: Immunity (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.immuni.2024.08.005 In autoimmune diseases, the immune system mistakenly attacks the body’s own structures. A research team…

Children are at high risk—health expert explains why

A one-month-old baby at an mpox isolation unit in South Kivu province, DRC. Credit: UNICEF The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that children, pregnant women and people with weak…

Analysis shows how unproven therapeutics were portrayed in the media during the early phase of COVID-19 pandemic

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain A new study from researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine is shedding light on how scientific evidence and the uncertainty surrounding three unproven therapeutics…

Misconceptions about dyslexia among professionals risk children being misdiagnosed

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain Misconceptions about dyslexia are held by professionals who assess children for the learning difficulty, according to a new study which calls for evidence-based standardized assessment procedures.…

How stigma affects Asian Americans living with hepatitis B

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Asian Americans comprise just 6% of the U.S. population, but they represent over 60% of Americans with hepatitis B. Hepatitis B (HBV) is a virus that…

The next pandemic? How a familiar virus exploits new hosts

Influenza A boasts a wide range of natural hosts, with different strains established in different species. This wide network gives it an extra evolutionary advantage, turning it into a perennial…

This year’s new COVID shot has been approved by FDA

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain This year’s newly formulated COVID vaccines are expected to start shipping in the next few days after the FDA on August 22 officially approved and authorized…

Men infected with high-risk types of HPV could struggle with fertility

Electron micrograph of a negatively stained human papilloma virus (HPV) which occurs in human warts. Credit: public domain Cervical cancer, the fourth most common cancer type in women, causes approximately…

Mpox disease presents hard-to-weigh risks

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain As fears mount globally about mpox, apparently simple questions such as the danger it poses and differences between variants do not have clear and simple answers.…