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

Medicine & Health

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 14-Aug-2025 11:11 ET (14-Aug-2025 15:11 GMT/UTC)

Patient- and Community-Level Characteristics Associated With RSV Vaccination

JAMA Network
Peer-Reviewed Publication

About The Study: Knowledge of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) disease and RSV vaccine eligibility was low in this cross-sectional study of hospitalized adults. Older adults and those with certain medical conditions were more likely to have received vaccine, suggesting appropriate prioritization, but sociodemographic differences in vaccine uptake occurred.

Journal: JAMA Network Open

Intersectional Racial and Sex Disparities in Unintentional Overdose Mortality

JAMA Network
Peer-Reviewed Publication

About The Study: In this cross-sectional study of overdose deaths, disparities in overdose mortality were evident, with Black men and Black women experiencing a pronounced and increasing burden of mortality compared with their white counterparts. Addressing these disparities will require a multipronged approach targeting the social, physical, economic, and policy risk environments.

Journal: JAMA Network Open

Driving the CAR to fight acute myeloid leukemia

The University of Osaka
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A multi-institutional team led by The University of Osaka developed a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell-based strategy for specifically targeting AML cells in patients who relapsed following other treatments. The team identified a monoclonal antibody called KG2032 that reacts with a certain variant of the HLA-DRB1 molecule. KG2032 CAR T cells displayed strong anti-AML effects in a mouse model, and CAR natural killer cells showed similar results. Clinical trials are currently being planned.

Journal: Nature Cancer
Funder: Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development, Chemo-Sero-Therapeutic Research Institute, Takeda Science Foundation

Pregnancy may reduce long COVID risk

Weill Cornell Medicine
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Pregnancy may offer some protection from developing Long COVID, found a new study led by Weill Cornell Medicine, University of Rochester Medical Center, University of Utah Health and Louisiana Public Health Institute. Previous research has mostly focused on non-pregnant adults affected by Long COVID— a condition lasting for months after a person recovers from SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Journal: Nature Communications

Scientists urge earlier diagnosis and treatment of psoriatic arthritis to prevent permanent damage

University of Bath
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Main findings

- Early symptoms of psoriatic arthritis (PsA) often persist for some time before the condition is diagnosed and treated.

- As a result of delays in diagnosing and treating psoriatic arthritis, patients with PsA experience worse disease control when examined three months after diagnosis than patients with other types of arthritis.

- The study's authors say that in the UK, where the study was carried out, improved diagnostic systems are essential. These would involve family doctors being supported to recognise the symptoms of PsA faster and diagnostic scans being offered earlier, allowing treatment to start before joint damage occurs.

Journal: Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases
Funder: UCB UK

One of the most widely used fungicides in farming harmful to reproduction in birds

CNRS
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A French team coordinated by a scientist at CNRS highlights the harmful impact on sparrow reproduction of chronic exposure to tebuconazole, one of the most widely used fungicides in agriculture in Europe. These findings, recently published in Environmental Research, reveal a direct link between exposure to this fungicide and slower growth, as well as increased mortality, in sparrow chicks, with a greater impact on females.

Journal: Environmental Research

An immune cell may explain how maternal inflammation causes neurodevelopmental disorder

Nagoya University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A research group led by Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine in Japan has uncovered a potential mechanism linking maternal inflammation to delayed neurodevelopment in infants. The research suggests the role of CD11c-positive microglia—immune cells in the brain crucial for myelination—during infant brain development. Their findings suggest new strategies to mitigate the long-term neurodevelopmental effects of maternal inflammation.

Journal: Communications Biology