Medicine, Health, and Nursing

The world is at the brink of polio eradication. However, the World Health Organization (WHO) is concerned about the use of vaccine strains that are currently in use. There have been cases where the virus has been able to survive in the guts of people with a compromised immune system and has been shed by them through feces. Hence, the WHO plans to stop using it post the eradication of the disease in favor of vaccines that use inactivated virus. However, researchers from the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control in Potters Bar, UK, have developed an attenuated strain which according to them is safer than an inactivated strain. Read more about their research here.

Researchers from Umeå University in Sweden collaborated with researchers from the Netherlands and the US to discover a new method of detecting and classifying cancer at an early stage through blood test. They took blood samples from 283 individuals of which 228 people had some form of cancer and 55 showed no evidence of cancer. Read more about their research here.

Cuba has become the first country to be certified by the World Health Organization (WHO) for eliminating mother-to-child transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. Read on to learn more about this.

Researchers from The Australian National University (ANU) found that there is an exponential increase in the sale of infant and baby formula, which is concerning because of the impact it can have on the health of babies. Read more about their research here.

Sucralose is the choice of no-calorie sweetener for those who wish to keep their weight in check. However, many people have raised questions about how safe it is to consume sucralose and whether it is carcinogenic. To understand the impact of sucralose on the human body, researchers at the University of London reviewed existing studies that assessed sucralose carcinogenicity potential. Read more about their study here. 

Premature babies suffer from several health problems such as apnea, respiratory distress syndrome, or anemia. Even while being kept in incubators and hooked to ventilators, premature babies face many challenges. However, there may be hope as researchers have now created an artificial womb to help extremely premature babies survive amidst a less harsh environment.

Invasive surgeries involve tools that are rigid and there’s a high risk of accidentally puncturing or tearing tissue. Identifying the need for minimally invasive surgical tools, a team of Harvard scientists have designed a device that functions as a highly intelligent robotic arm.

People suffering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome experience debilitating exhaustion that lasts for large periods of time. Now new research findings explain the primary drivers of the disease.   

Every year, people with compromised organs such as hearts, livers, and kidneys are saved by organs donated by deceased people. But there are far too many people in need of organs and the organ transplant waitlist is ever-growing. Several patients die while waiting for a match. Many attempts have been made to look for alternatives but now there’s hope because of gene editing. 

Most parents have an ongoing struggle with regard to an early bedtime. Now scientific research provides evidence that there may be some wisdom in the age-old early bedtime rule for children.