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Category: health – Page 4

Microsoft 365 outage takes down admin center in North America

Microsoft is investigating an outage that blocks some administrators with business or enterprise subscriptions from accessing the Microsoft 365 admin center.

While the company has yet to disclose which regions are affected by this ongoing service degradation, it is tracking it on its official service health status page to provide impacted organizations with up-to-date information.

“Some users in the North America region may be unable to access the Microsoft 365 admin center. We’re reviewing service monitoring telemetry to isolate the root cause and develop a remediation plan,” Microsoft said when it acknowledged the issue.

The ‘Miracle Mineral Solution’—amazing cure or toxic illusion?

Miracle Mineral Solution, also known as MMS, has been marketed for years as a purported miracle cure for various conditions, including cancer, autism, and COVID-19. MMS is the marketing name for sodium chlorite (NaClO₂), a powerful disinfectant used, among other things, for water treatment. When sodium chlorite is acidified, chlorine dioxide (ClO₂) is formed. Its consumption can be hazardous to health.

A team of scientists from Wroclaw Medical University decided to investigate this.

In a study published in Scientific Reports, they analyzed the effects of acidified sodium chlorite (ASC), from which ClO₂ is produced.

Abstract: In a cohort of over 1,000 patients with BreastCancer

Emilio Hirsch & team identify SH3BP5L as the most highly expressed guanine nucleotide exchange factor (GEF) for RAB11A, and its inhibition lowers lung metastasis and cell spreading in triple negative breast cancer models (TNBC):

The figure shows immunohistochemical assessment of SH3BP5L expression in tissue from patients with breast cancer.

@unito.it @fondazioneumbertoveronesi

1Department of Molecular Biotechnology and Health Sciences, Molecular Biotechnology Center “G. Tarone,” University of Torino, Torino, Italy.

2IEO, European Institute of Oncology IRCCS, Milan, Italy.

3Department of Oncology and Hemato-Oncology, University of Milano, Milano, Italy.

Continue reading “Abstract: In a cohort of over 1,000 patients with BreastCancer” | >

Can medical AI lie? Large study maps how LLMs handle health misinformation

Medical artificial intelligence (AI) is often described as a way to make patient care safer by helping clinicians manage information. A new study by the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and collaborators confronts a critical vulnerability: when a medical lie enters the system, can AI pass it on as if it were true?

Analyzing more than a million prompts across nine leading language models, the researchers found that these systems can repeat false medical claims when they appear in realistic hospital notes or social-media health discussions.

The findings, published in The Lancet Digital Health, suggest that current safeguards do not reliably distinguish fact from fabrication once a claim is wrapped in familiar clinical or social-media language. The paper is titled “Mapping LLM Susceptibility to Medical Misinformation Across Clinical Notes and Social Media.”

Predicting Return Home After Moderate-to-Severe Traumatic Brain Injury

Background and ObjectivesDays alive and at home (DAH) is a validated outcome measure that captures health care transitions between time spent at home vs various nonhome care settings, offering a more nuanced patient-centered understanding of recovery. We…

What to watch as fungal infections rise: Species that can quickly ‘translate’ fat-use proteins

A new study by researchers at Kiel University and MPI-EvolBio describes how more efficient protein production drives the adaptation of fungi to the human body, potentially turning previously harmless species into emerging pathogens. In the wake of global change and the associated rise in temperatures, fungal infections are on the increase worldwide, threatening crops, wildlife and, also, human health. Many fungal species are completely harmless and fulfill important ecological functions, such as decomposing organic matter and releasing nutrients into the soil.

As symbionts of multicellular organisms, they perform useful functions for their host. On the other hand, some species are so-called opportunistic human pathogens: particularly in a weakened immune system, such fungi can colonize the body and cause serious and even life-threatening infections.

While fungi are often studied as pathogens of crops at institutions such as Kiel University and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Plön (MPI-EvolBio), researchers are increasingly turning their attention to their harmful effects on humans. A research team led by Professor Eva Stukenbrock, head of the Environmental Genomics group at Kiel University and MPI-EvolBio, has conducted a new study to investigate why certain fungi might become human pathogens in the course of global change. To this end, the researchers analyzed various fungal species of the order Trichosporonales, which includes both harmless and dangerous species for humans.

Indigenous Food Is Medicine Program Feasibility for Navajo Patients

In this nonrandomized clinical trial, the MUTTON-HF intervention incorporating Indigenous recipes and locally sourced Native food was feasible and acceptable for patients with heart failure in rural Navajo Nation.

Question Among Navajo patients with heart failure living rurally on the reservation, is a medically tailored meal delivery program incorporating Indigenous foods and recipes feasible and acceptable?

Findings This nonrandomized clinical trial included 20 American Indian patients with heart failure receiving care at 2 Indian Health Service sites in rural Navajo Nation. A community-designed, Indigenous, medically tailored meal program was implemented; the intervention was deemed both feasible (90% of weekly meal boxes received by patients) and acceptable (mean Acceptability of Intervention Measure score, 17 of 20).

Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Programs in Health Care Institutions: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

In this systematic review and meta-analysis of EDI initiatives in health care institutions, programs were associated with an increased workforce diversity.

This systematic review and meta-analysis assesses equity, diversity, and inclusion initiatives in health care institutions that aimed to promote a more inclusive and equitable health care culture for individuals who beloing to racial and ethnic minority groups.

New CRISPR tool spreads through bacteria to disable antibiotic resistance genes

Antibiotic resistance (AR) has steadily accelerated in recent years to become a global health crisis. As deadly bacteria evolve new ways to elude drug treatments for a variety of illnesses, a growing number of “superbugs” have emerged, ramping up estimates of more than 10 million worldwide deaths per year by 2050.

Scientists are looking to recently developed technologies to address the pressing threat of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, which are known to flourish in hospital settings, sewage treatment areas, animal husbandry locations, and fish farms. University of California San Diego scientists have now applied cutting-edge genetics tools to counteract antibiotic resistance.

The laboratories of UC San Diego School of Biological Sciences Professors Ethan Bier and Justin Meyer have collaborated on a novel method of removing antibiotic-resistant elements from populations of bacteria. The researchers developed a new CRISPR-based technology similar to gene drives, which are being applied in insect populations to disrupt the spread of harmful properties, such as parasites that cause malaria. The new Pro-Active Genetics (Pro-AG) tool called pPro-MobV is a second-generation technology that uses a similar approach to disable drug resistance in populations of bacteria.

Oxytocin, Physical Intimacy, Wound Healing, and Stress Responses

RCT: Daily oxytocin administration combined with positive physical intimacy was linked to improved wound healing and reduced cortisol. Oxytocin alone or positive interactions without physical intimacy did not enhance healing, suggesting the neurohormone acts to amplify the health effects of social behaviors.

This double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial tested whether intranasal oxytocin, instructed positive interaction (PAT), and naturally occurring intimacy influence wound healing. Oxytocin enhanced wound healing only in interaction with social behaviors, by tendency with PAT and significantly with affectionate touch and sexual activity, whereas oxytocin or PAT alone showed no effect. These findings suggest that oxytocin amplifies the benefits of intimacy rather than exerting direct effects.

Previous animal data on this topic are mixed, with oxytocin alone showing no effect on healing,31 but synergistic effects with social interaction in hamsters29 and with social housing in mice.30 Human evidence remains scarce, limited to 1 study linking endogenous oxytocin with partner communication and faster healing.33

Despite early enthusiasm in oxytocin administration studies, more recent reviews have highlighted that findings from intranasal oxytocin research are inconsistent and studies are often underpowered.47-49 Several large-scale replications have failed to reproduce key effects, such as the link between oxytocin and trust,50 and null results have been reported in both healthy and clinical populations.51 Given these limitations, researchers have increasingly called for a shift from testing general main effects of oxytocin toward examining interactions that consider individual and contextual factors.48,52 As summarized by Yao and Kendrick,53 oxytocin effects in romantic contexts vary depending on factors like relationship type and perceived partner characteristics; for example, oxytocin enhances partner attractiveness, especially when the partner is seen as trustworthy.

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