Patients in Scotland who are being assessed for weight loss surgery are older and have a higher weight than the international average, according to a new study funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). The study—part of the SurgiCal Obesity Treatment Study (SCOTS) of people undergoing bariatric surgery—found […]
Severe COVID-19 symptoms in the elderly are consistent with a weaker immune system
Age is the primary risk factor for many infectious diseases including COVID-19. A team of researchers led by CiRA Prof. Yoko Hamazaki shows in a new study that changes in the quantity and quality of killer T cells with age is consistent with older populations showing more severe COVID-19 symptoms. […]
How to predict severe influenza in hospitalized patients
Published today in Nature Communications, the team from the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity (Doherty Institute), Alfred Health and Monash University sought to understand which patients would recover quickly from influenza and which would become severely ill. The four-year project took samples from patients hospitalized with influenza at […]
Living in a majority-black neighborhood linked to severe maternal morbidity
Residents in majority-Black neighborhoods experience higher rates of severe pregnancy-related health problems than those living in predominantly-white areas, according to a new study of pregnancies at a Philadelphia-based health system, which was led by researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. The findings, published today […]
Supplements may protect those with low vitamin D levels from severe COVID-19
Patients with low vitamin D levels who are hospitalized for COVID-19 may have a lower risk of dying or requiring mechanical ventilation if they receive vitamin D supplementation of at least 1,000 units weekly, according to a study presented virtually at ENDO 2021, the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting. “Given how […]
Most European countries ignore patients with severe mental illness in COVID-19 vaccine strategy
A survey by Europe’s main psychiatric and mental health patient organizations shows that only 4 out of 20 European countries prioritize COVID vaccinations for individuals with severe mental disorders (such as psychosis and mood problems), despite a wealth of scientific evidence showing that these patients are amongst the most at […]
Increased risk of dying from COVID for people with severe mental disorders
People with severe mental disorders have a significantly increased risk of dying from COVID-19. This has been shown in a new study from Umeå University and Karolinska Institutet in Sweden. Among the elderly, the proportion of deaths due to COVID-19 was almost fourfold for those with severe mental disorders compared […]
Halved risk for severe retinal disease in extremely premature infants
Risk for a severe form of retinopathy of prematurity, which can cause blindness in extremely premature babies, was halved when the newborns were given a new supplement combining various fatty acids. This was shown in a Swedish study led from the University of Gothenburg. The study, now published in JAMA […]
Scientists pinpoint molecular cause for severe disorder in children
Damien D’Amours and his team at the Ottawa Institute of Systems Biology needed three years to discover the molecular defects associated with the LIC syndrome, a serious genetic disorder that affects young children and result in acute respiratory distress, immune deficiency and abnormal chromosomes. Onset of symptoms occurs in the […]