EurekAlert! News by Subject: Medicine & Health

Medicine & Health

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 11-May-2026 16:16 ET (11-May-2026 20:16 GMT/UTC)

10-Dec-2025

SMART launches new research center to develop world’s first wearable ultrasound imaging system for real-time monitoring of chronic conditions

Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART)
Business Announcement

The Wearable Imaging for Transforming Elderly Care (WITEC) project, led by SMART in collaboration with MIT, NTU, NUS and Tan Tock Seng Hospital, is developing the world’s first wearable ultrasound imaging system for continuous, real-time monitoring of chronic conditions such as hypertension and heart failure. Supported by advanced tools like Southeast Asia’s first sub-micrometre 3D printer and cutting-edge ultrasonic imaging technology, WITEC aims to shift healthcare from hospital-based interventions to proactive, home-based care, enabling earlier detection, personalised diagnosis and improved patient outcomes.

10-Dec-2025

Anxiety and insomnia may lower natural killer cell count, potentially repressing immune function

Frontiers
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Anxiety and insomnia have been shown to weaken the immune system and make us more prone to disease. Now, researchers found that this may be because experiencing symptoms of either can reduce the number of natural killer cells, our bodies’ machinery for defense. Their findings showed that in young women who experience insomnia symptoms, the number of total NK cells was lower. If they experienced anxiety symptoms, the number of NK cells that circulate through the body was lower. These findings could inform the development of novel strategies to raise awareness about the physiological consequences of anxiety and insomnia and help in the prevention of immune-related disorders and cancers, the team said.

Journal: Frontiers in Immunology

9-Dec-2025

New method to accelerate vaccine and drug development for norovirus

The University of Osaka
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers from The University of Osaka have developed a novel reverse genetics system to study norovirus, the leading cause of gastroenteritis. This efficient system can generate infectious viral particles by simply injecting viral genetic material into zebrafish embryos. They were able to alter the genetic material to create modified viruses, enabling the evaluation of antiviral drugs and novel vaccine development. The advances provided by this new system will have a significant effect on public health.

Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Funder: Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development, Japan Science and Technology Agency, Secom Science and Technology Foundation

9-Dec-2025

Sedative choice could improve outcomes for breathing tube patients

Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Doctors treating seriously ill patients in an emergency setting may want to give the sedative etomidate, rather than ketamine, while placing a breathing tube, according to a randomized trial published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Journal: New England Journal of Medicine
Funder: Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute

9-Dec-2025

Predicting who is at risk of developing type 1 diabetes, as new drugs now available

University of Exeter
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A test using genetics to predict who is at the highest risk of developing type 1 diabetes could one day be applied to largescale health studies, to identify adults who could benefit from new drugs, new research shows. Known as a genetic risk score, the test uses all genetic information to predict risk of going on to develop type 1 diabetes.

Journal: The Lancet

9-Dec-2025

Nearly 1 in 5 UK emergency department patients cared for in corridors/waiting rooms

BMJ Group
Peer-Reviewed Publication

At any one time, nearly 1 in 5 emergency department patients in the UK is being cared for in corridors, waiting rooms, and other non-standard ‘overflow’ spaces—an approach known as escalation area care—suggest the results of a large observational study, published online in Emergency Medicine Journal.

Journal: Emergency Medicine Journal
Funder: Royal College of Emergency Medicine

9-Dec-2025

Violence against women and children among top health threats: New global study reveals disease burden far larger than previously estimated

Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Sexual violence against children and intimate partner violence against women are two of the most devastating yet persistently underrecognized global health challenges and rank among the top risks for mortality and morbidity worldwide, according to research published in The Lancet today.

Journal: The Lancet
Funder: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

9-Dec-2025

New review reveals how microbial communities accelerate the global spread of antibiotic resistance

Biochar Editorial Office, Shenyang Agricultural University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new scientific review has uncovered how complex microbial communities, including those in the human gut and the natural environment, act as powerful engines that drive the evolution and spread of antimicrobial resistance. The findings highlight urgent risks to global health and call for coordinated action across human, animal, and environmental sectors.

9-Dec-2025

New study reveals widespread PFOS contamination in African soils and food crops

Biochar Editorial Office, Shenyang Agricultural University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new scientific review has found that perfluorooctane sulfonate, a persistent chemical pollutant known as PFOS, is accumulating in soils and agricultural plants across Africa at levels that may pose ecological and public health risks. The study highlights contamination hotspots in Ghana, South Africa, Kenya, and Uganda, and calls for urgent investment in monitoring, regulation, and research capacity across the continent.