Researchers
A University of Bristol University spinout has launched with more than £700,000 of pre-seed funding to develop a blood test for detecting and monitoring microvascular disease. Dimension Technologies' novel blood test aims identify biochemical signs of disease in the microvasculature, the network of microscopic blood vessels that delivers oxygen and nutrients throughout the body. Damage [...]
An AI model using multiple years of 3D mammograms predicted five-year breast cancer risk more accurately than models using a single 3D or 2D scan. The deep-learning tool, called NYU-DRP, analyses mammograms taken over several years to assess changes in breast tissue between screenings. It correctly ranked women at higher risk 72 per cent of [...]
A pig kidney transplant kept a man off dialysis for nine months, the longest reported dialysis-free survival after the procedure in a living human. The genetically modified organ functioned for 271 days before the patient moved to short-term dialysis and later received a human donor kidney. The case also marked the first transition from a [...]
AI scribes used by doctors may miss body language and other non-verbal cues that can contain clinically important information, a review has warned. The technology converts spoken consultations into text and generates summaries, but researchers said it cannot capture gestures, facial expressions, movement or emotional cues. Academics at the University of Edinburgh raised [...]
A population-level analysis found 43 per cent of chronic kidney disease cases in Greater Manchester are currently undiagnosed. The analysis estimates that around 94,000 people in the region have chronic kidney disease (CKD) without a diagnosis. Most are of working age and in the early stages of the condition. It also found substantial differences linked [...]
The results suggest the test could help identify patients at greater risk of bladder cancer who may need to be prioritised for urgent cystoscopy. Researchers hope it could reduce the number of patients requiring urgent cystoscopies, invasive procedures in which a small camera is inserted through the urethra into the bladder. The study was led [...]
AI models developed using one million health-related Reddit threads matched human raters, suggesting they could support faster mental health triage. Researchers spent two years building a database of mental health narratives and training two AI models, PaLM 2 and AutoML, to analyse real-world accounts shared on Reddit. They linked language used in the posts to [...]
Brain scans have identified two previously unreported psychosis subtypes, suggesting structural differences may reflect separate illness mechanisms. The findings suggest that variation in psychosis symptoms, treatment responses and long-term outcomes could reflect separate illness mechanisms and developmental pathways. Researchers analysed structural brain scans from 381 people diagnosed with schizophrenia spectrum disorders or bipolar disorder with [...]
A new global initiative will see labs across the world harness wastewater as an early warning system for public health protection. Global Wastewater Day will bring together scientists, governments, water utilities and public health organisations to use wastewater as an early warning system for future pandemics. The initiative will coordinate sampling on 31 March 2027, [...]
A shingles vaccine was linked to lower risks of heart attack, heart failure and stroke in older adults, a US study of 70,000 people suggests. People who received Shingrix had a 12 per cent lower risk of a cardiovascular event during the first three and a half years after vaccination. By the end of the [...]
