EurekAlert! News by Subject: Medicine & Health - News by Subject: Medicine & Health

Medicine & Health

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 7-Oct-2025 04:11 ET (7-Oct-2025 08:11 GMT/UTC)

Multiresistant intestinal bacteria: Displacement through food competition

Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research
Peer-Reviewed Publication

If an intestinal inhabitant such as the bacterium Escherichia coli (E. coli) becomes resistant to many antibiotics, it can cause serious health problems if it enters the bloodstream. How can such potentially dangerous multi-resistant bacteria be effectively removed from the gut? Researchers from the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI), in collaboration with researchers from Hannover Medical School (MHH), explored this question in their latest study. Their strategy: food competition. Out of more than 430 different E. coli strains isolated from stool samples of donors, they identified some that successfully displaced the multidrug-resistant strains. Their findings give the scientists hope that their approach could help slow the spread of multidrug-resistant intestinal bacteria and prevent dangerous infections in the future. The study was published in the journal Nature Communications and was supported financially by the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF).

Journal: Nature Communications

A Chinese Neurosurgical Journal study compares surgery techniques for a challenging type of pituitary tumor

Chinese Neurosurgical Journal
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Pituitary neuroendocrine tumors (PitNETs) are usually removed by endoscopic endonasal surgery (EES). However, surgical management of giant and irregular pituitary neuroendocrine tumors (GIPitNETs) with EES is often challenging, due to their large size and irregular shape. An alternative approach is combined endoscopic endonasal and transcranial surgery (CECS). Now, researchers compare the efficacy and outcome of both surgical techniques for treating GIPitNETs and found that CECS is safe and effective with comparable complication rates.

Journal: Chinese Neurosurgical Journal

Queen Mary scientists developing world’s first clinical test for selecting personalized rheumatoid arthritis treatments

Queen Mary University of London
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The method uses AI to help doctors prescribe personalised medicine.

Journal: Nature
Funder: Versus Arthritis

KAIST uses AI to discover optimal new material for removing radioactive iodine contamination

The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Managing radioactive waste is one of the core challenges in the use of nuclear energy. In particular, radioactive iodine poses serious environmental and health risks due to its long half-life (15.7 million years in the case of I-129), high mobility, and toxicity to living organisms. A Korean research team has successfully used artificial intelligence to discover a new material that can remove iodine for nuclear environmental remediation. The team plans to push forward with commercialization through various industry-academia collaborations, from iodine-adsorbing powders to contaminated water treatment filters.

Journal: Journal of Hazardous Materials

HKUMed develops combined therapy integrating Chinese herb astragalus and methotrexate to overcome drug resistance in autoimmune diseases

The University of Hong Kong
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers at the School of Chinese Medicine, LKS Faculty of Medicine, the University of Hong Kong (HKUMed), have made a breakthrough in the treatment of autoimmune diseases. Their study reveals that combining the active ingredient extracted from the traditional Chinese medicine Astragalus membranaceus (huang qi) with the widely used Western drug methotrexate (MTX) can effectively reduce chronic inflammation in autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus and Sjögren’s disease. This study provides a new solution to address the drug resistance and the side effects caused by long-term medication. The research findings were published in two leading international journals, Acta Pharmacologica Sinica and Journal of Leukocyte Biology, where they were featured as cover stories.

Journal: Acta Pharmacologica Sinica

New breakthrough uncovers how to kill ‘zombie’ TB cells resistant to antibiotics

University of Surrey
Peer-Reviewed Publication

New drugs that target 'zombie' tuberculosis (TB) cells are now a step closer, thanks to a new study led by the University of Surrey, published in Scientific Reports.

Journal: Scientific Reports

Virtual forest bathing alleviates stress

Max Planck Institute for Human Development
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A team of researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Human Development (MPIB) and the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) has demonstrated in a recent pilot study that virtual forest bathing can improve emotional well-being – especially if the virtual natural environment appeals to multiple senses, such as hearing, sight and smell, at once. The results have now been published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology.

Journal: Journal of Environmental Psychology