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Major study of 100 000 black women to probe cancer risks
When the VOICES of Black Women pilot study launched in 2023, its co-principal investigator Lauren McCullough, PhD, MSPH, was the first participant to sign...
UK group to be given malaria for research purposes
To find out more about the long-term effects of malaria, Oxford University scientists are sending perfectly healthy people to the Netherlands to be deliberately...
Global quest to find out how some survivors beat cancer
Doctors from more than 40 countries have begun the first global study of why some people with cancer beat the odds and survive so...
World’s largest protein study to revolutionise cancer, dementia tests
The world’s largest study of proteins circulating the human body will launch in the UK this month, with tens of millions of pounds in...
Global research breakthroughs in 2024
Last year stands out for a slew of important medical advances and research, from groundbreaking new benefits of weight-loss drugs to the impact of...
Milestone as pregnant women included in SA TB drug trial
Pregnant women are typically excluded from clinical trials of new tuberculosis medicines, leading to a lack of solid scientific evidence on how best to...
The power of repurposing old drugs
As Covid-19 evolved from an outbreak to a pandemic, researchers, clinicians, governments, and the public were all desperately seeking solutions – and from this,...
Doctor blames US politics for unpublished puberty blocker study
An influential doctor and advocate of adolescent gender treatments said she had not published a long-awaited study of puberty-blocking drugs because of the charged...
Lupus drug meets main goal of late-stage trial
An experimental lupus treatment has met the main goal of a late-stage trial in patients with the chronic disease, a surprise result after the...
Collaborative study on a quest to find Parkinson’s cure
A three-year research programme will investigate Parkinson’s disease in unprecedented detail, with the aim of discovering a cure for the condition.
The Landmark programme will...
Musk’s second patient gets brain implant chip
Just six months after the first implant, Elon Musk’s Neuralink has successfully implanted a chip into a second paralysed patient’s brain, the procedure having...
Wits professor gets £2m grant for Aids research
A Wits University medical microbiologist/epidemiologist in the School of Pathology was recently awarded one of seven five-year UK National Institute for Health and Care...
Lancet adds to dementia risk factors list
The Lancet Commission on dementia prevention, intervention, and care has increased to 14 the number of modifiable risk factors definitively linked to cognitive loss,...
Gene may be key to treating pancreatic cancer – UK study
Scientists may have pinpointed a gene they suggest could could be key to taming one of the world’s deadliest cancers – giving fresh hope...
NDoH looks to artificial intelligence in quest to combat TB
The National Department of Health is considering the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) to expedite the screening and diagnosis of TB and silicosis, after...
DNA technology may impede MDR-TB progress – SA Health Department
The National Department of Health plans to use DNA technology to test whether the genetic make-up of TB germs has changed in such a...
US launches 30-year study on black women and cancer
A long-term population study – which will track 100 000 women for three decades – has been started by the American Cancer Society (ACS),...
Scientists uncover cause of severe Covid lung disease
A recent study has shed light on the mystery of why, in some severe Covid-19 cases, the lungs undergo extreme damage, resulting in various...
Professor cancer-free after applying own research
An Australian pathologist who was diagnosed with brain cancer a year ago says his latest scans show no sign of his glioblastoma, which he...
Pfizer pauses study after boy’s death in Duchenne trial
A child has died in Pfizer’s phase 2 study of its gene therapy candidate for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, the rare genetic disorder that primarily...
New SAMRC chief aims to ‘restore trust in science’
Professor Ntobeko Ntusi, who takes over the hot seat at the South African Medical Research Council in July, may be soft-spoken but he is unafraid...
Personalised mRNA jab a 'game-changer' for cancer patients
The launch of patient trials involving the world’s first personalised mRNA cancer vaccine for melanoma has been welcomed by experts for its “game-changing” potential...
Blood test could ID unwitting TB carriers – global study
Scientists say they are close to developing a blood test that could identify millions of people who spread tuberculosis unknowingly, after discovering a group...
Afro-European partnership in quest to tackle AMR
Two major research partnerships convened in Johannesburg this week to present findings of antibiotic research and strengthen the global response to antimicrobial resistance, which...
Clinical trial reveals 'breakthrough' treatment options for MDR-TB
Clinical trial results presented at the Union World Conference on Lung Health in Paris last week provided evidence to support the use of four...
Common drug slashes risk of MDR-TB – SA-led study
A cheap, commonly available antibiotic pill halves the risk of people exposed to drug-resistant TB from contracting the particularly deadly strain of the disease,...
Scientists grow human embryo model without sperm or egg
Scientists have grown an entity that closely resembles an early human embryo, without using sperm, eggs or a womb, describing it as the first...
Even mild Covid reduces sperm counts – Spanish study
Men recently infected with Covid-19 have decreased sperm counts for more than three months after even mild infections, and the sperm they that do produce is...
Race versus skin tone debate in resolving pulse oximeters' false readings
Physicians and government regulators are increasingly aware that pulse oximeters measure oxygen levels less accurately in patients with darker skin. But the issue with...
Mental health illness toll on life expectancy – South African study
Almost one-third of South Africans receive a mental health diagnosis at some point in their lives, placing a high toll on life expectancy, a...
Parenting styles linked to children's weight – UK study
Children whose parents lack warmth are likelier to grow up overweight or obese, according to the first study of its kind, which investigated the...
Minimum of five hours’ sleep for good health and longevity – UK study
Researchers say chances of multiple chronic health problems in people older than 50, could be reduced if they have a minimum of five hours...
US study shows how fat can actually be healthy
Recent research has found that being physically active alters fat at a molecular level in ways that improve the fat’s health.
The findings have broad...
How you sleep could be ‘strongest predictor’ of when you will die – US study
Increased sleep fragmentation, when people briefly wake up several times at night without remembering it, is the “strongest predictor of mortality,” according to a...
Phase two clinical trials for promising lupus treatment
The results of promising research from a drug company will provide hope to the more than 5m people worldwide (90% of whom are women)...
Device to ID Kaposi sarcoma escalates treatment for sub-Saharan patients
A hand-held portable diagnostic device has been deployed in clinical tests in Uganda to identify cases of Kaposi sarcoma, a common yet difficult-to-detect cancer...
More chance of hip fracture for vegetarian women – large-scale British study
A study has found that vegetarian women have 33% more chance of breaking a hip later in life than those who eat meat, possibly...
One single chemical could be cure for baldness – US study
A single chemical could be responsible for whether people go bald or not, a recent study has found, the discovery of which could not...
Dunedin Study turns 50: Landmark experiment tracked 1,000 people from birth
In 1972, a researcher in a small city in New Zealand set out to track the development of more than 1,000 new-born babies and...
My cup runneth over: Is coffee becoming the beverage equivalent of daily aspirin?
A brace of new studies — involving, among others, the US National Institutes of Health —has indicated beneficial effects to coffee and/or tea consumption...