Hearing loss in middle age may accelerate cognitive decline
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Updates every hour. Last Updated: 21-Jun-2025 11:10 ET (21-Jun-2025 15:10 GMT/UTC)
Presented at ESTRO 2025, which gathered a record attendance of 7,908 participants this week in Vienna, Austria, a 10-year study, involving over 4,000 UK patients, confirms that a one-week course of post-surgery radiotherapy is just as safe and effective as the traditional three-week regimen for early-stage breast cancer patients. These long-term results from the FAST-Forward trial, could further reduce the burden on breast cancer patients worldwide, and expand access to life-saving radiotherapy.
For a long time, research on the tumor microenvironment (TME) has focused on the influence of immune cells and bacterial communities. However, in recent years, scientists have discovered that fungi may play a more critical role. A team from the Department of Breast Medicine, Cancer Hospital of China Medical University published a review (Doi: 10.20892/j.issn.2095-3941.2024.0240) in Cancer Biology & Medicine, systematically revealing the interactions between gut fungi and tumor-related fungi, as well as their profound impact on cancer development and treatment responses. This study has pushed fungi to the forefront of tumor research, particularly highlighting their unique role in cancers such as pancreatic cancer, providing theoretical support for new diagnostic and therapeutic strategies.
Parasites are crucial indicators of ecosystem health, and their absence can signal trouble. Once pristine, Florida's Indian River Lagoon (IRL) now faces pollution and algal blooms that have damaged essential habitats like seagrass beds. New research finds parasite levels in the IRL are significantly lower than in comparable ecosystems worldwide – 11% lower overall and 17% lower for larval parasites requiring multiple hosts. This sharp decline suggests a disrupted food web likely caused by pollution and habitat degradation, and a less resilient and more vulnerable ecosystem.