Health

Michael McQuarrie, Arizona State University More than 75,000 Kaiser Permanente health care workers began a three-day strike in Virginia, California, Colorado, Washington state, Oregon and Washington, D.C., on Oct. 4, 2023, after company executives and eight unions representing aides, techs, support staff and other employees failed to agree on the terms of new contracts. This is the largest U.S. health care strike on record. In a statement it released when the walkout started, Kaiser asserted that it wanted to reach a deal soon with the striking workers. Although hospitals and emergency rooms are still open during the strike, and Kaiser

Adrian Hill, University of Oxford The World Health Organization has approved a new vaccine that scientists argue will be a game-changer in the fight against malaria, which kills half a million people in Africa every year. Trials have shown that the R21/Matrix vaccine, developed by Oxford University together with the Serum Institute of India, reduces malaria by up to 75%. It can be manufactured cheaply and on a mass scale. The Conversation Weekly spoke to chief investigator Adrian Hill, who is also director of the Jenner Institute at the University of Oxford, about this revolutionary vaccine. Below are edited excerpts

Oluwafemi Atanda Adeagbo, University of Iowa; Engelbert Bain Luchuo, University of Johannesburg, and Oluwaseun Abdulganiyu Badru, University of Iowa HIV self-test kits were developed to make it easier for people to access HIV testing. However, our research team has found that many people who use self-test kits do not go on to receive needed HIV treatment or start preexposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, to prevent future infection. In 2016, the World Health Organization recommended HIV self-test kits as a way for people to confidentially test for HIV in their homes or other private places. Each kit contains detailed instructions on how

Jennifer DeBruyn, University of Tennessee Each human body contains a complex community of trillions of microorganisms that are important for your health while you’re alive. These microbial symbionts help you digest food, produce essential vitamins, protect you from infection and serve many other critical functions. In turn, the microbes, which are mostly concentrated in your gut, get to live in a relatively stable, warm environment with a steady supply of food. But what happens to these symbiotic allies after you die? As an environmental microbiologist who studies the necrobiome – the microbes that live in, on and around a decomposing

Brian Ho, University of Florida and Ronald Cohen, University of Florida People in the oldest stage of life who regularly engage in aerobic activities and strength training exercises perform better on cognitive tests than those who are either sedentary or participate only in aerobic exercise. That is the key finding of our new study, published in the journal GeroScience. We assessed 184 cognitively healthy people ranging in age from 85 to 99. Each participant reported their exercise habits and underwent a comprehensive battery of neuropsychological tests that were designed to evaluate various dimensions of cognitive function. We found that those

Bill Sullivan, Indiana University Flesh-eating bacteria sounds like the premise of a bad horror movie, but it’s a growing – and potentially fatal – threat to people. In September 2023, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a health advisory alerting doctors and public health officials of an increase in flesh-eating bacteria cases that can cause serious wound infections. I’m a professor at the Indiana University School of Medicine, where my laboratory studies microbiology and infectious disease. Here’s why the CDC is so concerned about this deadly infection – and ways to avoid contracting it. What does ‘flesh-eating’ mean?

Kayla B. Rowe, University of Pittsburgh; Lucas Berenbrok, University of Pittsburgh, and Philip Empey, University of Pittsburgh Have you ever wondered why certain medications don’t seem to work as well for you as they do for others? This variability in drug response is what pharmacogenomic testing hopes to explain by looking at the genes within your DNA. Pharmacogenomics, or PGx, is the study of how genes affect your response to medications. Genes are segments of DNA that serve as an instruction manual for cells to make proteins. Some of these proteins break down or transport certain medications through the body.

Christopher Rozell, Georgia Institute of Technology and Sankaraleengam Alagapan, Georgia Institute of Technology It can be challenging to create a treatment plan for depression. This is especially true for patients who aren’t responding to conventional treatments and are undergoing experimental therapies such as deep brain stimulation. For most medical conditions, doctors can directly measure the part of the body that is being treated, such as blood pressure for cardiovascular disease. These measurable changes serve as an objective biomarker of recovery that provides valuable information about how to care for these patients. On the other hand, for depression and other psychiatric

Fred C. Tenover, University of Dayton and Nubwa Medugu, Nile University of Nigeria Antimicrobial resistance – the ability of microorganisms to resist drugs that have been developed to control them – is a severe problem in African countries. The continent has the highest global burden of antimicrobial-resistant infections, with 114.8 deaths per 100,000 people. One of the causes of resistance is inappropriate use of antibiotics. Using the wrong antibiotic to treat an infection enables resistant bacteria to flourish and spread. It’s challenging to address the resistance problem when there are gaps in three areas: It’s essential to identify the type