EurekAlert! News by Subject: Medicine & Health - News by Subject: Medicine & Health

Medicine & Health

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 23-Dec-2025 22:11 ET (24-Dec-2025 03:11 GMT/UTC)

2-Jul-2025

Financing innovation: proposal for novel adaptive platform trial fund offers new model for ALS drug development

MIT Sloan School of Management
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers have introduced a new approach to funding clinical trials for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) therapies. The study “Financing Drug Development via Adaptive Platform Trials,” published today in PLOS One, outlines a financing model that merges the efficiencies of adaptive platform trials — lower costs and shorter durations — with an innovative royalty-based investment structure designed to accelerate therapeutic development for ALS and other serious diseases.

Journal: PLOS One

2-Jul-2025

Air pollution is linked to adverse birth outcomes in India

PLOS
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Prenatal exposure to ambient fine particulate matter and climatic factors, such as temperature and rainfall, are associated with adverse birth outcomes in India, according to a study published July 2nd, 2025, in the open-access journal PLOS Global Public Health by Mary Abed Al Ahad from the University of St Andrews, U.K.

Journal: PLOS Global Public Health

2-Jul-2025

Using viral load tests to help predict mpox severity when skin lesions first appear

Nagoya University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

In August 2024, the World Health Organization declared a second “Public Health Emergency of International Concern” for mpox. The current outbreak in Africa is driven mainly by the clade I variant, with multiple countries reporting their first-ever mpox cases of this more severe strain. Nagoya University researchers and their collaborators have found that measuring the amount of virus in the blood when skin lesions first appear can help predict whether patients will experience mild or severe progression of the disease. The study analyzes viral loads during early infection to predict how sick patients will get, potentially improving treatment strategies for future outbreaks.

Journal: Science Translational Medicine
Funder: Japan Science and Technology Agency, Japan Science and Technology Agency

2-Jul-2025

Individual merit, not solidarity, prioritized by early childhood education policies

PLOS
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Do we climb the social ladder alone or with help from our communities? Early childhood education (ECE) policies are betting on the former, according to a study published July 2, 2025, in the open-access journal PLOS One by Katarzyna Bobrowicz from the University of Luxembourg and University of Liège in Belgium, and colleagues. A 53-country survey of global ECE policies indicates favoritism of competition over cooperation, individualism over solidarity and talent over luck.

Journal: PLOS One

2-Jul-2025

Researchers find immune pathway in joint tissue involved in early rheumatoid arthritis

University of Colorado Anschutz
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A study by scientists at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus reveals that joint tissue from patients with early-stage rheumatoid arthritis often have high levels of a protein called granzyme used by the immune system to attack pathogens.

Journal: Immune Network

2-Jul-2025

Study advances understanding of immune system’s crucial role in phage therapy

University of Maryland
Peer-Reviewed Publication

New research published in Nature Communications assessed the effectiveness of phage therapy in treating pneumonia. What researchers discovered about the mechanisms behind phage therapy could inform treatments in clinical settings to help patients facing similarly stubborn infections.

Journal: Nature Communications
Funder: NIH/National Institutes of Health, Conseil Régional Ile de France Chaire Blaise Pascal, Agence Nationale de la Recherche

2-Jul-2025

Preventive heart screenings plunged for disabled adults in pandemic years

University of Delaware
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Drawing on national health data from 150,000 adults, a new study shows how the pandemic disrupted preventive care for people with disabilities — especially those with cognitive and physical impairments. The findings spotlight urgent needs for inclusive healthcare reform.

Journal: American Journal of Preventive Medicine