Author: Healthcare Propulsion Staff

ATLANTA (AP) — Federal health officials have identified lettuce from Mexico served at Taco Bell locations across five U.S. states as a source of the widespread outbreak of diarrhea-causing parasite cyclospora.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention late Thursday warned consumers not to eat shredded iceberg lettuce from Taco Bell restaurants in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia. A record number of cyclospora cases have been reported in more than 30 states, and experts have said not every recent U.S. illness might be caused by a single source.A Food and Drug Administration investigation identified a single supplier of the…

Islamabad, Pakistan – At least 130 people, most of them children, have tested HIV-positive in connection with an outbreak at a government-run hospital in Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city, with officials adding that the number has risen sharply in recent weeks.Sindh Labour Minister Saeed Ghani said earlier this week that more than 10,500 people were screened in and around Kulsum Bai Valika (KBV) Hospital, a Sindh Employees’ Social Security Institution (SESSI) run facility, where 120 tested positive.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of listA separate screening drive at another SESSI facility in Karachi’s Landhi area identified 10 additional cases.SESSI is an…

Nearly all the men had intermediate or high-risk prostate cancer – but 10 years after treatment only two had died from the disease.These outcomes are as good as surgery or radiotherapy, but with less than half the risk of side effects such as urine leakage or loss of sexual function.Joint senior author Prof Hashim Ahmed, consultant urologist at Imperial College London and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, said the findings demonstrated that “focal therapy delivers excellent long-term cancer control across a broad range of patients”.”It makes a compelling case for more centres to offer this treatment,” he added.Focal therapy was…

Tomas Ince, senior clinical transformation manager at OneLondon (Credit: OneLondon) All patients registered with a London GP practice can now create their Universal Care Plan (UCP) through the NHS App. The UCP is a shared digital record that allows patients to record their care preferences, wishes and other information that can be accessed by authorised health and care professionals. Londoners have been able to view their UCP via the NHS App and login service since January 2024. Since 13 May 2026, millions of Londoners have had “direct control of their health and care wishes and preferences for the first time,…

It was long thought that fat in the brain played no role in neurodegenerative diseases, but Purdue University researchers are challenging that assumption. The research findings, published in Immunity, show that excess fat in the brain’s resident immune cells, called microglia, impairs their ability to combat disease. This insight opens a path to lipid biology-based neuroimmune therapies that could treat diseases like Alzheimer’s by enhancing microglial function and neuronal health. This work was led by Gaurav Chopra, the James Tarpo Jr. and Margaret Tarpo Professor of Chemistry and (by courtesy) of Computer Science at Purdue. While most Alzheimer’s drug development…

The cause can be hidden or buried, says Dr Itamar Shatz, a lecturer at Cambridge University who is publishing a book on the subject this week.Understanding what procrastinator you are can really help, he says.According to Shatz, people can be any of nine types, external, sometimes simultaneously.Dreamers, for example, fantasise about the future too much, while rebels feel a lack of control and so procrastinate in protest. Hedonists care too much about immediate pleasure, thrill-seekers enjoy a deadline at their own peril and zigzaggers switch too often between tasks.The other types also embody their names – worriers, pessimists, perfectionists and…

A major international clinical trial has found that finerenone can significantly slow the loss of kidney function in people with chronic kidney disease (CKD) who do not have diabetes. The findings suggest the drug could become an important new treatment option for a large group of patients who have historically had limited therapies beyond standard care. The research was led by clinical pharmacologist Hiddo Lambers Heerspink of the University Medical Center Groningen and published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Large International Trial Evaluates Finerenone The FIND-CKD study enrolled 1,584 adults with chronic kidney disease and followed them for…

Researchers at Oregon State University have developed a promising experimental strategy for treating glioblastoma, the most aggressive form of brain cancer. Fewer than 30% of patients survive for two years after diagnosis. The work, led by Oleh Taratula, Olena Taratula and Yoon Tae Goo of the OSU College of Pharmacy, focuses on two major problems that have long limited glioblastoma treatment. First, therapies must cross the blood-brain barrier, a tightly controlled network of cells that protects the central nervous system from substances circulating in the bloodstream. Second, the treatment must reach tumor cells without affecting healthy tissue. Sugar-Coated Nanoparticles Target…

Most vaccines — and boosters — are injected directly into muscle tissue, usually in the upper arm, to kickstart the body’s immune system in the fight against disease. But for respiratory diseases like COVID-19, it can be important to have protection right where the virus enters: the respiratory tract. In a new study, Yale researchers found that nasal vaccine boosters can trigger strong immune defenses in the respiratory tract, even without the help of immune-boosting ingredients known as adjuvants. The findings, researchers suggest, may offer critical insights into developing safer, more effective nasal vaccines in the future. “Our study shows…

Researchers at King’s College London have identified a promising new strategy for tackling Alzheimer’s disease by targeting several of the disease’s earliest biological changes at the same time. Their study found that KCL-286, an experimental drug originally developed for spinal cord injury that has already passed Phase 1 safety trials, reduced multiple hallmarks of Alzheimer’s in a mouse model. “KCL-286 is a first-in-class, orally bioavailable small molecule that has already successfully cleared Phase 1 human safety and tolerability trials. This will dramatically cut down the traditional multi-year timeline required for new drug development,” commented Professor Jonathan Corcoran, Professor of Neuroscience…