Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

Breathing in wildfire pollution may make it harder for people with lung cancer to survive, according to a new study from UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers.

In the early months of 2020, a curious thing happened. Around the globe, a new kind of number began appearing in government briefings and newspaper headlines. These weren’t just case counts or hospital admissions. They were predictions—curves plotted weeks into the future, graphs that told us when the COVID-19 wave would crest, how many ICU beds we’d need, and how soon we’d be safe again. The models had arrived.

Millions of people are affected by chronic dry mouth, or xerostomia, an agonizing side effect of damaged salivary glands. While chemotherapy and radiation treatment for head and neck cancer are the most common causes of this, aging, certain medications and other factors, including diabetes, stroke, Alzheimer’s disease and HIV/AIDS, can also cause chronic dry mouth. Currently, there is no cure for it.

Viral infectious diseases pose significant challenges due to the rapid evolution of viruses through mutations. This was particularly evident during the COVID-19 pandemic, when emerging variants of SARS-CoV-2 sparked new waves of infection. These variants often carry mutations that make them more transmissible, allowing them to spread rapidly across populations.

Exposure to higher rates of violence in the larger social context may spill over to family violence, including caregivers’ use of physical child abuse, according to a new University of Michigan study published in the journal Child Abuse & Neglect.

Inflammation in the female reproductive tract may make it difficult to conceive a child, but replenishing a key hormone could keep inflammation in check, according to researchers from the University of Missouri School of Medicine.

A decade ago, a clinical trial in the U.K. famously showed that children who were exposed to peanuts in the early months of life had reduced risk of developing a peanut allergy compared with children who avoided peanuts.

More than 75% of new infectious diseases affecting humans originally come from animals. Bats, in particular, are natural hosts to some of the world’s most dangerous viruses, including those responsible for COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2), MERS-CoV, influenza A, and hantavirus outbreaks. Yet, despite their importance, scientists have long struggled to study how these viruses behave inside bats, simply because the right biological tools didn’t exist.

A new study that is the first to compare inflammation and brain stress responses in long COVID-19 patients with individuals who have fully recovered shows that those with continued brain fog and other cognitive issues have a lower ability to adapt to stress and higher levels of inflammation in their brains.

In a clinical report published in the May issue of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Pediatrics presents updated guidance on the evaluation and treatment of patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) in preterm infants.