United States
Measles worldwide uptick
Falling vaccination rates have brought a 20% spike in measles with 10.3 million known cases in 2023 and more expected when 2024 figures come in. According to WHO and the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, “inadequate immunization coverage globally is driving the surge”. They report that 22 million children did not even receive the first of the needed two doses of the measles vaccine. As 90% of people close to an infected person can catch this highly contagious disease if they are immune, health officials recommend at least 95% vaccination coverage to prevent outbreaks.
Source: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, CDC
Canada
Older adults and anxiety disorder
A new study shows that 6% of older adults in Canada reported an anxiety disorder diagnosis. Women were more likely than men and prevalence was also higher among Indigenous people. Older adults in lower income households had higher odds of experiencing anxiety.
Source: Statistics Canada
United Kingdom
Tele-cognitive rehab for MS patients
A pilot is showing promise for individuals living with MS who are experiencing memory challenges. Tele-self-gen created by New York University department of Occupational Therapy and with a visiting scientist from the Kessler foundation, found that self-generated learning using personal connections with everyday tasks could enhance memory retention and recall. Using tele-rehab also helped overcome traditional barriers to access and allowed for more individuals to participate.
Canada
Reducing heart conditions in pregnancy
A project led by Rohan D’Suza from McMaster’s Dept of Obstetrics and Gynecology focused on creating a better understanding of risk factors for heart conditions during pregnancy has been awarded a $5 million dollar grant. A large network of clinicians, researchers, social scientists and economists along with persons with lived experience from across Canada will work towards reducing heart related deaths and serious illness both during and after pregnancy.
Source: McMaster University
Switzerland
Tuberculosis drug resistance
One of the world’s biggest infectious disease killers is, once again, spreading between patients after becoming multi-drug resistant in some parts of the world. Looking at genomes of approx. 90,000 TB strains from around the global researchers from Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute found that 514 strains in 27 countries that were resistant to MDR-TB – the treatment recommend by the WHO. 25% of those resulted from patient-to-patient transmission. With new drugs in the pipeline there is hope but findings suggest more robust diagnostics and better surveillance systems.
Source: New England Journal of Medicine
Germany
Stopping mini-tumors
Progress has been made recreating mini tumors cells that survive therapy and circulate in the blood of breast cancer patients for the first time. While cells are individual to each patient, German researchers say their goal is to adapt existing therapies or develop customized therapies in clinical trials before use on breast cancer patients.
Source: Heidelberg Stem Cell Institute
United Kingdom
Lab grown human spine
Scientists at London’s Francis Crick Institute have finally been able to grow a simple notochord in their lab. These are the tissues that act as GPS for the developing embryo. The hope is to gain insight into spine related birth defects and other intervertebral discs.
Source: Journal of Nature
Germany
Deep sleep and memory
Researchers from Charite—Universitatsmedizin Berlin have new evidence showing sleep’s critical role in brain health and memory consolidation particularly when it comes to preventive strategies for dementia. According to Franz Xaver Mittermaier from the scientific staff team, “It is fair to argue that the organ that needs sleep the most is the brain. Sleep disconnects the brain from the outside world. The stream of sensory information is stopped. This allows for the replay of past experiences without “outside interference” which is necessary to consolidate the memories of those experiences and move them to long term memory”.
Source: Nature Communications
Canada
Please speak my language
When care is linguistically discordant in care homes, there a higher odd of psychosis medication being wrongly prescribed according to a late 2024 study from the University of Ottawa. With suggestions to have preferred languages on health cards, multilingual staff and translators and better French language training, experts call for systematic efforts to improve resident health by mitigating the effects of language barriers
Source: BMC Geriatrics
