EurekAlert! News by Subject: Medicine & Health

A new study offers a solution to infections with the pathogenic fungus Candida auris by taking a new precision diagnostic approach that for the first time enables fast and accurate quantification of C. auris strains from easily obtained swab samples, as well as the quantification of AMR-causing mutations in fungal populations with mixed antifungal susceptibility. The next-generation test builds on previous diagnostic accomplishments of the groups of Wyss Institute Core Faculty members David Walt, Ph.D. and James Collins, Ph.D., who led the effort, and was greatly facilitated by the team’s collaboration with the Wadsworth Center Mycology Lab at New York State Department of Health, which provided a first cohort of patient samples (surveillance swabs) for the team’s initial technology validation.

Journal: Nature Biomedical Engineering

14-Jan-2026

Infant gut bacteria may be the key to preventing asthma and allergies

Technical University of Denmark
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers from DTU have patented an invention that uses naturally produced substances from gut bacteria of the bifidobacteria type to reduce the risk of allergies and asthma.

Journal: Nature Microbiology
Funder: the Swedish Research Council, Swedish Research Council for Working Life and Social Research, German Research Foundation, Symbiopharm Herborn, German Ministry of Nutrition and Agriculture and Joint Programming Initiative A healthy diet for a healthy life (JPI HDHL) Joint Action Intestinal Microbiomics, German Research Foundation, Bundesanstalt für Landwirtschaft und Ernährung Förderkennzeichen, Independent Research Fund Denmark, Innovation Fund Denmark, FII institute for the FII institute Research Chair at DTU in Immune-based Prediction of Disease

14-Jan-2026

In patients’ homes, medical students learn what textbooks miss - new study

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new study shows that year-long home visits with older adults help first-year medical students build stronger communication skills, rethink assumptions about aging, and understand patient care beyond the clinic.

Journal: Medical Education Online

14-Jan-2026

New research highlights deforestation and economic traps created by flue-cured tobacco in Zimbabwe

University of Bath
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The University of Bath’s Tobacco Control Research Group publishes research into the impacts of flue-cured Virginia tobacco (FCV) in Zimbabwe

The production method makes tobacco products more addictive and causes deforestation of 60,000 hectares of woodland in Zimbabwe each year

Authors call for restrictions to the use of FCV in tobacco products, and for farmers to be supported in diversifying into growing alternative crops

Researchers analysed tobacco industry documents and conducted fieldwork with tobacco industry and forestry key informants as well as smallholding farmers in Zimbabwe to understand its economic and environmental effects

Journal: Tobacco Control
Funder: Bloomberg Philanthropies

14-Jan-2026

Screening tool helps identify brain-related comorbidities in individuals with Duchenne muscular dystrophy

Wiley
Peer-Reviewed Publication

In research published in Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology, investigators developed a brief, reliable, and valid screening tool to help identify individuals with Duchenne muscular dystrophy who are at increased risk of brain-related comorbidities.

Journal: Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology

14-Jan-2026

How do the active ingredients of monkfruit affect health?

Wiley
Peer-Reviewed Publication

New research published in the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture provides insights into the active compounds of monkfruit and their health-promoting properties.

Journal: Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture