Scientists have discovered a previously unknown virus in farmed Pacific oysters during a mass die-off in B.C., Canada. Pacific oysters are the most widely farmed oyster species worldwide.

The discovery serves as a reminder that growers should exercise caution when moving young oysters internationally and domestically, to prevent potential spread of pathogens, according to a paper published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

They should be in a hospital bed, getting care to help them recover from a medical emergency. But instead, more and more Americans sick enough to require hospitalization find themselves spending hours or even days in emergency departments until a bed opens up for them, a new study shows.

Long COVID and ME/CFS, both post-infection illnesses, are now being more studied as part of a broader group called post-acute infection syndromes (PAISs). A new Q&A with Dr. Anthony Komaroff highlights research showing shared biological roots and potential treatment paths for these often misunderstood conditions.

The COVID-19 pandemic upended life for individuals and communities worldwide. Social isolation, health mandates, illness, and economic hardships took a toll on the well-being of families and children, but there were also silver linings to people’s experiences. A new study from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign looks at impacts of the pandemic among youth and parents across the U.S. Midwest. Their findings can help provide insights for future policy and public health measures.

In a small trial, Mass General Brigham researchers found a drug designed to treat Celiac disease supported a more rapid return to normal activities for patients following COVID.

 

Researchers at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Montefiore Einstein Comprehensive Cancer Center (MECCC), and Utrecht University have found the first direct evidence that common respiratory infections, including COVID-19 and influenza, can awaken dormant breast cancer cells that have spread to the lungs, setting the stage for new metastatic tumors. The findings published today in Nature, obtained in mice, were supported by research showing increases in death and in metastatic lung disease among cancer survivors infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

The presence of humans and human infrastructure in U.S. national parks has lasting effects on the behaviours of the large animals that call them home, according to a new study.

Researchers tracked 229 animals from 10 species across 14 national parks and protected areas using GPS collar data from 2019 to 2020, allowing them to study how animals navigated hotspots of human activity in parks before and during the COVID “Anthropause”. Species included grey wolves, mountain lions, black and grizzly bears, moose, mountain goats and bighorn sheep.

While overall, animals tended to avoid infrastructure such as roads, trails, parking lots, buildings and campgrounds, closer analysis showed responses varied across populations, species and individual animals.

About The Study: Among U.S. adolescents, current medical use of prescription stimulants for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) increased between 2005 and 2023, while nonmedical use decreased. Lifetime nonmedical use was more prevalent than medical use in early cohorts but shifted to being less prevalent in recent cohorts. These findings are consistent with declines in peer-to-peer diversion among adolescents following COVID-related school closures and findings from adult studies.