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

Medicine & Health

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 14-Nov-2025 08:11 ET (14-Nov-2025 13:11 GMT/UTC)

Evaluating infectious disease immune protection using one drop of fingertip blood

Tsinghua University Press
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers have developed a portable diagnostic system that evaluates an individual’s antibody protection against COVID-19 using just one microliter of fingertip blood. The Tip Optofluidic Immunoassay (TOI) combines high-sensitivity chemiluminescence detection with microfluidic biosensing to assess antibody protection from both pathogen binding and virus inhibition perspectives—all in just 40 minutes. While many platforms measure antibody levels, few capture the functional aspect of immunity: neutralization. TOI incorporates a renovated in vitro inhibition assay (RIVIA), enhanced through rational protein design to achieve high sensitivity and reproducibility. Unlike conventional methods that require large blood volumes and centralized lab facilities, TOI enables comprehensive immune profiling with minimal resources. Validated in over 100 volunteers, the platform shows strong potential for both public health surveillance and personalized immune assessment. This innovation bridges the gap between laboratory diagnostics and real-world healthcare, offering a practical tool for monitoring vaccine effectiveness and tracking immunity against emerging viral variants.

Journal: hLife

Weight stigma—not BMI—has the biggest effect on mental health after weight-loss surgery

University of Utah Health
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Patients who had gone through weight-loss surgery tended to experience much less weight stigma, and that this reduction in weight stigma—but not lower BMI—was associated with healthier eating habits and better mental health. On the other hand, continuing to experience stigma after surgery was associated with higher risks of depression, anxiety, and disordered eating.

Journal: Health Psychology

Seeing the invisible: hyperspectral imaging reveals hidden soil pollutants

Zhejiang University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Microplastic pollution in agricultural soils is an emerging threat to food safety and ecosystem health, yet detecting these tiny particles at low concentrations remains a major challenge.

Journal: Soil & Environmental Health

UChicago receives $21 million to establish visionary center in quantum engineering and health

University of Chicago
Business Announcement

A $21 million gift from philanthropist Thea Berggren to the University of Chicago will establish the Berggren Center for Quantum Biology and Medicine, launching a bold scientific field that merges quantum technology with biology to transform the future of medicine.

“There could be irreversible, long-term damage”

Ruhr-University Bochum
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Wet cough over a period lasting longer than four weeks? We are supposed to believe that this is not unusual for children, nor anything to be worried about. But Dr. Anne Schlegtendal, senior physician at the Universitätskinderklinik Bochum, Germany, says otherwise. Young children suffering from protracted bacterial bronchitis (PBB) have to be treated accordingly, she says. “If they do not receive antibiotics for at least two weeks, there could be long-term pulmonary sequelae. In the worst case, they could develop irreversible, chronic lung damage.” The team in Bochum behind the study reached this conclusion by examining children who had undergone inpatient treatment for protracted bacterial bronchitis in early childhood. The study was published in the journal Pediatric Pulmonology on April 21, 2025.

Journal: Pediatric Pulmonology

Wound dressings made of drug-releasing polymers

The Henryk Niewodniczanski Institute of Nuclear Physics Polish Academy of Sciences
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Electrospinning has been used to produce polymer fibres containing the well-known antibacterial drug metronidazole. The mats formed from them at the Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences could potentially be used as wound dressings, thanks to an appropriately selected polymeric structure capable of releasing the drug into the body in a controlled manner.

Journal: The Journal of Physical Chemistry

Mapping the connections between the brain’s structure and function

Weill Cornell Medicine
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Using an algorithm they call the Krakencoder, researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine are a step closer to unraveling how the brain’s wiring supports the way we think and act. The study, published June 5 in Nature Methods, used imaging data from the Human Connectome Project to align neural activity with its underlying circuitry.

Journal: Nature