**Note: the release below is from the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID 2023, Copenhagen, 15-18 April). Please credit the conference if you use this story** Measures introduced to reduce transmission of COVID-19 infections during 2020-2021 suppressed transmission of group A streptococcal (GAS) infections, particularly in children. Following the lifting of public health restrictions in the UK in Feb-2022, Group A Streptococcus presentations – including scarlet fever and invasive Group A Strep – rose significantly in England, although iGAS still remained very ...

**Note: the release below is from the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID 2023, Copenhagen, 15-18 April). Please credit the conference if you use this story** During the 2022-2023 winter season Denmark experienced a surge in infections caused by group A streptococci (GAS), including the more dangerous, invasive types of infections (iGAS). Incidence of iGAS is highest among the elderly, but the largest relative increase from previous seasons was seen among children. The study is being presented to the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID 2023, Copenhagen, ...

**Note: the release below is from the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID 2023, Copenhagen, 15-18 April). Please credit the conference if you use this story** New research from France shows that infections cause by Group A Streptococcus (GAS) fell by 80% as the first COVID lockdown took effect in March 2020 and stayed at low levels until March 2022, from which point they increased by 18% a month to rise well above pre-COVID levels. The study is being presented at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases in Copenhagen, Denmark (15-18 ...

**Note: the release below is from the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID 2023, Copenhagen, 15-18 April). Please credit the conference if you use this story** Antibiotics help to fight bacterial infections, but they can also harm the helpful microbes living in the gut, which can have long-lasting health consequences. Now new research being presented at this year’s European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) in Copenhagen, Denmark (15-18 April) has identified ...

*Note: this is a joint press release from the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) and The Lancet Respiratory Medicine.  Please credit both the congress and the journal in your stories* A major UK study has discovered that the disturbed sleep patterns in patients hospitalised with COVID-19 was likely to be a driver of breathlessness. The study of patients in 38 institutions across the UK was led by University of Manchester and Leicester, presented at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (Copenhagen, 15-18 April) and published in The Lancet ...

About The Study: Among adults with laboratory-confirmed Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) with one or more prior CDI episodes in the last six months and those with primary CDI at high risk for recurrence, high-dose VE303 (a novel oral microbiome-directed therapy composed of nonpathogenic, nontoxigenic, commensal strains of Clostridia) prevented recurrent CDI compared with placebo. A larger, phase 3 study is needed to confirm these findings.  Authors: Jeffrey L. Silber, M.D., of Vedanta Biosciences Inc., in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is the corresponding author. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jama.2023.4314) Editor’s ...

Plastic debris particles smaller than 5 mm in size, known as microplastics (MPs), are a serious environmental concern. Formed by the breaking down of plastic waste due to wear and tear and sunlight or produced by fiber waste in laundry wastewater and as microbeads in beauty products, they adsorb and introduce harmful chemicals that pollute the environment. By 2050, MPs might outnumber the fish in the oceans. Under these circumstances, the collection and removal of MPs from water are crucial. Conventionally, MPs are collected by filtering water through meshes. ...

Barcelona, Spain – 15 April 2023:  An international consensus statement on the safest and most effective way to implant a pacing system that mimics the heart’s normal function is published today in EP Europace,1 a journal of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). The document is being launched at the EHRA Conduction System Pacing (CSP) Summit2 and will be discussed during EHRA 2023, a scientific congress of the ESC.3   “It is estimated that 1.4 million patients worldwide will receive a pacemaker in 2023,” said first author ...

**Note: the release below is from the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID 2023, Copenhagen, 15-18 April). Please credit the conference if you use this story** Examination tables, scales and other surfaces in small animal veterinary practices are frequently contaminated with multidrug-resistant “superbugs”, the results of a Portuguese study suggest. The research, which is being presented at this year’s European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) ...

**Note: the release below is from the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID 2023, Copenhagen, 15-18 April). Please credit the conference if you use this story** Multidrug-resistant E. coli were found in 40% of supermarket meat samples tested in a Spanish study. E. coli strains capable of causing severe infections in people were also highly prevalent, this year's European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID 2023, Copenhagen, 15-18 April) will hear. Antibiotic resistance is reaching dangerously high levels around the world. Drug-resistant infections kill ...

**Note: the release below is from the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID 2023, Copenhagen, 15-18 April). Please credit the conference if you use this story** A genetic study analysing the microbiome (bacteria in the gut) of a large nationally representative sample of the Finnish population finds that geographic, demographic, diet, and lifestyle factors are driving the spread of antibiotic resistance in the general population. The most comprehensive study of its kind by Dr Katariina Pärnänen ...

**Note: the release below is from the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID 2023, Copenhagen, 15-18 April). Please credit the conference if you use this story** Evidence that multidrug-resistant bacteria are being passed between pet cats and dogs and their owners will be presented at this year’s European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) in Copenhagen, Denmark (15-18 April). Six pets in Portugal and one in the UK were carrying antibiotic-resistant bacteria similar to those found in their owners, a Portuguese study found. The finding underlines the importance ...

Strokes cause numerous changes in gene activity in affected small blood vessels in the brain, and these changes are potentially targetable with existing or future drugs to mitigate brain injury or improve stroke recovery, according to a study led by Weill Cornell Medicine scientists. In the study, which appears Apr. 14 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers performed a comprehensive survey, in a preclinical model, of gene activity changes in small blood vessels in the brain following stroke. Comparing these changes to those that have been recorded in stroke patients, they catalogued hundreds ...

Along their eight arms, octopuses have highly sensitive suckers that allow methodical explorations of the seafloor as they search for nourishment in a “taste by touch” approach. Squids, on the other hand, use a much different tactic to find their next meal: patiently hiding until they ambush their prey in swift bursts. In a unique analysis that provides a glimpse into the origin stories of new animal traits, a pair of research studies led by University of California San Diego and Harvard University scientists has traced the evolutionary adaptations of octopus and squid sensing capabilities. The studies, featured on ...

 In tropical regions of the planet, savannas and forests often coexist in the same area and are exposed to the same climate. An example is the Cerrado, a Brazilian biome that includes several types of vegetation, from broad-leaved and sclerophyllous in dense woodland or shrubland (cerrado sensu stricto) to semi-evergreen in closed-canopy forest (cerradão), as well as grassland with scattered shrubs (campo sujo) and even semi-deciduous seasonal forest.  Areas of cerradão develop in the absence of fire, in both poor and moderately fertile soil (dystrophic to mesotrophic). This coexistence intrigues botanists and ecologists ...

DETROIT – A researcher from Wayne State University’s Department of Biological Sciences has received a five-year, $1.95 million grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health to identify mechanisms that regulate inositol synthesis in mammalian cells and determine the cellular consequences of inositol depletion. Inositol is a type of sugar that is essential for the viability of eukaryotic cells. Myo-inositol is the precursor of all inositol compounds, which play pivotal roles in cell signaling and metabolism. Consistent with its importance, a disturbance of inositol homeostasis ...

University of Cincinnati Cancer Center researchers will present more than a dozen abstracts at the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2023, held in Orlando, Florida, April 14-19, including findings that could advance treatments for head and neck and breast cancers. Enzyme shows promise as target to treat HPV negative head and neck cancer  Vinita Takiar’s lab in UC’s Department of Radiation Oncology studies how to improve radiation therapy for head and neck cancer patients.   Julianna Korns, a doctoral student working in Takiar’s lab, and her colleagues study an enzyme called Plk1 that allows healthy cells to divide ...

Wind speed and direction provide clues for forecasting weather patterns. In fact, wind influences cloud formation by bringing water vapor together. Atmospheric scientists have now found a novel way of measuring wind – by developing an algorithm that uses data from water vapor movements. This could help predict extreme events like hurricanes and storms. A study published by University of Arizona researchers in the journal Geophysical Research Letters provides, for the first time, data on the vertical distribution of horizontal winds ...

Long obscured in the shadows of history, the world’s first nomadic empire - the Xiongnu - is at last coming into view thanks to painstaking archaeological excavations and new ancient DNA evidence. Arising on the Mongolian steppe 1,500 years before the Mongols, the Xiongnu empire grew to be one of Iron Age Asia’s most powerful political forces - ultimately stretching its reach and influence from Egypt to Rome to Imperial China. Economically grounded in animal husbandry and dairying, the Xiongnu were famously nomadic, building their empire on the backs of horses. ...

The 2022 eruption of a submarine volcano in Tonga was more powerful than the largest U.S. nuclear explosion, according to a new study led by scientists at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science and the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation.   The 15-megaton volcanic explosion from Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai, one of the largest natural explosions in more than a century, generated a mega-tsunami with waves up to 45-meters high (148 feet) along the coast of Tonga’s Tofua Island and waves up to 17 meters (56 feet) on Tongatapu, ...

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — New research provides insight into how an enzyme that helps regulate aging and other metabolic processes accesses our genetic material to modulate gene expression within the cell. A team led by Penn State researchers have produced images of a sirtuin enzyme bound to a nucleosome—a tightly packed complex of DNA and proteins called histones—showing how the enzyme navigates the nucleosome complex to access both DNA and histone proteins and clarifying how it functions in humans and other animals.  A paper describing the results appears April 14 in the journal ...

Has potential to help geneticists investigate vital issues such as antibacterial resistance Will untangle the genetic components shared due to common ancestry from the ones shared due to evolution The work is result of a four-year international collaboration.     Aston University has worked with international partners to develop a software package to help scientists answer key questions about genetic factors associated with shared characteristics among different species. Called CALANGO (comparative analysis with annotation-based genomic ...

A new analysis of the carbon footprint of products used in the five most common surgical operations carried out in the NHS in England shows that 68% of carbon contributions come from single-use items, such as single-use gowns, patient drapes and instrument table drapes. Published by the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, the analysis highlights significant carbon contributors were the production of single use items and their waste disposal, together with processes for decontaminating reusable products. Researchers ...

ROCKVILLE, Md.—New research shows that several anti-obesity medications could be manufactured and profitability sold worldwide at far lower estimated lower prices compared to their high costs, according to a new study in Obesity, The Obesity Society’s (TOS) flagship journal. “Access to medicine is a fundamental element of the human right to health. While the obesity pandemic grows, especially amongst low-income communities, effective medical treatments remain inaccessible for millions in need. Our study highlights the inequality in pricing that exists for effective anti-obesity medications, ...

BOSTON – New research from Boston Medical Center concluded that offering medications to treat opioid addiction in jails and prisons leads to a decrease in overdose deaths. Published in JAMA Network Open, the study also found that treating opioid addiction during incarceration is cost-effective in terms of healthcare costs, incarceration costs, and deaths avoided. Overdoses kill more than 100,000 people per year in America and this number continues to increase every year. People with addiction are more likely to be incarcerated than treated, with those from communities of color who use drugs more likely to be incarcerated than ...