A study funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has found a “positive association” between vaccine-related aluminum exposure and persistent asthma. The study (pdf), published on Sept. 28 in the medical journal Academic Pediatrics, sought to “assess the association between cumulative aluminum exposure from vaccines before age 24 months [2 years of age]” and…

If you want to stay well, make sure you’re getting enough sleep. That’s the conclusion of a new study that found that good sleep helps regulate a key component of the body’s immune system. Specifically, it influences the environment where white blood cells known as monocytes form, develop and get ready to support the immune function, a process called hematopoiesis….

Staring at a computer screen endlessly can lead to dry, irritated, tired eyes and headaches. But there’s a quick fix. Just look away from the screen every 20 minutes. Do this for at least 20 seconds, and look about 20 feet in the distance. Experts have suggested the 20-20-20 rule for a long time. Now, researchers have…

Children with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) who develop drug resistance generally lack treatment options and are deemed incurable. Recently, The CUHK’s HK-HOPE developed a method to obtain the sensitivity of a patient’s cancer cells to a basket of targeted drugs within three days. In combination with genomic analyses, AML patients are matched with the most…

Mark Zuckerberg’s Metaverse will encourage people to distance themselves from reality and devote more time to the virtual world, says Gettr CEO Jason Miller. Miller, who founded Gettr in July 2021 in response to censorship from incumbent social media services, said Meta’s endeavours to create a virtual world is an attempt by the tech giant…

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti—Haiti’s government on Sunday announced that at least eight people have died from cholera, raising concerns about a potentially fast-spreading scenario and reviving memories of an epidemic that killed nearly 10,000 people a decade ago. The cases—the first cholera deaths reported in three years—came in a community called Dekayet in southern Port-au-Prince and in…

At a Glance An immune substance called oncostatin M was found to sensitize and enhance the activity of itch-sensing neurons. A drug that blocks oncostatin M activity reduced scratching in a mouse model of chronic itch, suggesting a treatment strategy for persistent itchy skin conditions. Chronic itch is a common yet hard-to-treat symptom of many…

The Hong Kong Breast Cancer Database of the Hong Kong Breast Cancer Foundation shows that the ten-year survival rate of Chinese breast cancer patients was 87.7 percent. While the ten-year survival rate of patients with the early diagnosis was almost 90 percent, the rate dropped to less than 30 percent with stage 4 cancer. The…

Patients may no longer need to endure invasive procedures to investigate mild heart attacks, according to a new study from Flinders University in South Australia. If a randomised control trial (RCT) is successful, the CT scan could become a preferred tool for doctors which could also reduce the risk of complications. The current preferred procedure…

The Hong Kong Hospital Authority (HA) announced on Sept. 28 a study of clinical data of Chinese medicine in the treatment of recovered COVID-19 patients, indicating that Chinese medicine treatment in the recovery period can promote the resolution of residual symptoms, and improve lung functions and body constitutions. The study was conducted between September 2020…