New results from an Alliance Foundation Trials (AFT) study reveal that a simple weekly electronic symptom check-in with care team, significantly improves the quality of life for individuals undergoing treatment for advanced cancer. The study found that the biggest improvements were seen among patient groups that have historically faced the greatest barriers to care, including Black patients and individuals with less formal education. The findings, published in JCO Oncology Practice, show that using remote check-ins help bridge communication gaps between patients and their treatment teams, offering a powerful way to make cancer care more effective.

Molecular complexity can be built in fewer steps using some surprisingly simple tools: off-the-shelf blue LED lights and a commercially available chemical building block familiar to sophomore organic chemistry students. 

Newly developed microparticles can infiltrate stubborn bacterial matrices and release tiny oxygen bubbles to clean surfaces and wounds more efficiently than hydrogen peroxide or other cleaning agents alone, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign report. In two papers they demonstrated the bubble-generating particles’ ability to clean tenacious biofilms from surgical instruments and, when embedded within bandages, to clean infected wounds and speed healing.