Association of changes in seasonal respiratory virus activity, antibiotic prescriptions with COVID-19 pandemic

In counties with already high COVID-19 infection rates, birthday bashes may have fueled infection spread during the peak months of the pandemic, according to a new analysis led by researchers at Harvard Medical School and the RAND Corporation. The report, published June 21 in JAMA Internal Medicine, shows that in counties with high rates of COVID-19, households with recent birthdays were 30 percent more likely to have a COVID-19 diagnosis, compared with households with no birthdays. The analysis is based on data from health insurance claims. The researchers ...

A computerized brain implant effectively relieves short-term and chronic pain in rodents, a new study finds. The experiments, conducted by investigators at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, offer what the researchers call a "blueprint" for the development of brain implants to treat pain syndromes and other brain-based disorders, such as anxiety, depression, and panic attacks. Publishing June 21 in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering, the study showed that device-implanted rats withdrew their paws 40 percent more slowly from sudden pain compared with times when their device was turned off. According to the study authors, this suggests that the device reduced ...

Engineers at Tufts University have developed new methods to more efficiently fabricate materials that behave in unusual ways when interacting with microwave energy, with potential implications for telecommunications, GPS, radar, mobile devices, and medical devices. Known as metamaterials, they are sometimes referred to as "impossible materials" because they could, in theory, bend energy around objects to make them appear invisible, concentrate the transmission of energy into focused beams, or have chameleon like abilities to reconfigure their absorption or transmission of different frequency ranges. The innovation, described today in Nature Electronics, constructs the metamaterials using ...

CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Every year, about 400,000 people receive silicone breast implants in the United States. According to data from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, a majority of those implants needs to be replaced within 10 years due to the buildup of scar tissue and other complications. A team led by MIT researchers has now systematically analyzed how the varying surface architecture found in these implants influences the development of adverse effects, which in rare cases can include an unusual type of lymphoma. "The surface topography of an implant can drastically affect how the immune response perceives it, and this has important ramifications for the [implants'] design," says Omid Veiseh, a former MIT postdoc. "We ...

Researchers at the University of Bristol have discovered a method which will allow for faster communication systems and better energy saving electronics. The breakthrough was made by establishing how to remotely measure the electric field inside a semiconductor device for the first time. A semiconductor is a material, such as Silicon, which can be used in electronic devices to control electric current. Now, in this new study, published today in Nature Electronics, scientists outline how to precisely quantify this electric field, meaning next generation power and radio frequency electronic devices can be developed which have the potential to be faster, and more reliable, as well as more energy ...

A process using a light-sensitive chemical can drastically reduce cost and energy consumption to produce gamma-cyclodextrin, a compound that is widely used in manufacturing, according to a Dartmouth study. The research, published in Chem, demonstrates how a hydrazone template can replace energy-intensive distillation to produce and isolate gamma-cyclodextrin--a water-soluble chemical that attracts other molecules and is used to enhance food, pharmaceuticals, and a wide range of consumer products. "These compounds are biodegradable, biocompatible, benign and commonly used," said Ivan Aprahamian, a professor of chemistry at Dartmouth. "We are making ...

By the time people with Alzheimer's disease start exhibiting difficulty remembering and thinking, the disease has been developing in their brains for two decades or more, and their brain tissue already has sustained damage. As the disease progresses, the damage accumulates, and their symptoms worsen. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found that high levels of a normal protein associated with reduced heart disease also protect against Alzheimer's-like brain damage - at least in mice. The findings, published June 21 in Neuron, suggest that raising levels ...

An investigational Alzheimer's drug reduced molecular markers of disease and curbed neurodegeneration in the brain, without demonstrating evidence of cognitive benefit, in a phase 2/3 clinical trial led by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis through its Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer Network-Trials Unit (DIAN-TU). These results led the trial leaders to offer the drug, known as gantenerumab, to participants as part of an exploratory open-label extension. The researchers continue to monitor changes in measures of Alzheimer's disease in those participants who are receiving the drug. The DIAN-TU study (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01760005), published June 21 in Nature Medicine, evaluated the effects of two investigational drugs - ...

In the mid-2030s, multiple United States coastal regions may see rapid increases in the number of high-tide flooding (HTF) days, according to a study led by the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa and published today in Nature Climate Change. The combined effects of sea-level rise (SLR) and natural fluctuations in tidal range are anticipated to cause tipping points in the frequency of HTF. Coastal locations around the U.S., particularly along the Atlantic coast, are experiencing recurrent flooding at high tide. The impact of HTF accumulates over numerous seemingly minor occurrences, which can exceed the impact of rare extremes over time. These impacts are subtle--for example, the loss of revenue due to recurrent road and business closures--compared with the physical damage of property ...

Scientists studying a common childhood cancer have made a major breakthrough which could lead to a cure for some youngsters who would not have survived the condition. An international study, involving Newcastle University, UK, has for the first time found a genetic marker in tumours from patients with high-risk neuroblastoma. Research, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, has identified that alterations in the neuroblastoma's ALK (anaplastic lymphoma kinase) gene are associated with a significantly poorer prognosis for children with high-risk disease. Experts ...