All COVID-19 News
The Least Bad Decision: Crisis Standards of Care After the Pandemic
2024 19 Apr
COVID-19 was an emergency that lasted for years and left few regions of the world untouched. The pandemic shone a spotlight on both the strengths and weaknesses of our disaster planning. What worked, what did not, and how can we better plan for future emergencies? The COVID-19 pandemic forced hospitals and health systems around the world... Read more
Patient and Family Partnerships in the ICU: History, Benefits, and Strategies for the Future
2024 19 Apr
The seamless integration of patient- and family-centred care in the critical care setting remains elusive. This review discusses the history and benefits of patient- and family-centred care, plus strategies for partnering with patients and families in the critical care setting. Introduction Patient and family partnerships in the... Read more
Google's HeAR: New AI Tool for Health Monitoring Through Sound Analysis
2024 05 Apr
A team of Google scientists has unveiled a groundbreaking machine-learning tool named Health Acoustic Representations (HeAR) designed to detect and monitor various health conditions by analysing sounds like coughing and breathing. This innovative artificial intelligence (AI) system, trained on an extensive dataset comprising millions of human audio... Read more
Long COVID Symptoms: Researchers Highlight Role of Enzyme-Like Antibodies
2024 04 Apr
Researchers at UVA Health, led by Dr. Steven L. Zeichner, have discovered a potential explanation for some of the mysteries surrounding COVID-19 and long COVID. They found that COVID-19 can induce the production of antibodies, termed "abzymes," that mimic enzymes regulating essential body functions like blood pressure, blood clotting, and inflammation.... Read more
Just Published: The HOT-COVID Clinical Trial - ISICEM 2024
2024 19 Mar
Findings from the HOT-COVID Randomised Clinical Trial, just published in JAMA, were presented at #ISICEM24. COVID-19 pneumonia often leads to hypoxaemic respiratory failure, necessitating high levels of supplemental oxygen and intensive care. Previous recommendations suggested maintaining peripheral oxygen saturation (Spo2) between 90% and... Read more
Revised EUSOBI Guidelines on Axillary Lymphadenopathy After COVID-19 Vaccination
2024 06 Mar
Axillary lymphadenopathy is a common side effect of the COVID-19 vaccination, leading to increased imaging-detected asymptomatic and symptomatic unilateral axillary lymphadenopathy. This has threatened to negatively impact the workflow of breast imaging services, leading to the release of ten recommendations by the European Society of Breast Imaging... Read more
Lockdowns Linked to Skin Cancer Delays Costing €7bn in Europe
2024 17 Feb
Delays in the diagnosis of skin cancer, attributed to the COVID-19 lockdowns, have resulted in an estimated 100,000 years of life being lost and a financial impact of €7.1 billion across Europe, a recent study suggests. This research, disclosed last Friday in the Jama Network Open journal, underscores the severe outcomes of the 2020 and... Read more
Cell-Based Therapies for ARDS
2024 13 Feb
Cell-based therapies, particularly mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs), hold significant promise for treating acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). MSCs exhibit therapeutic effects such as reducing inflammation, improving lung function, and promoting tissue repair. These cells can be sourced from different tissues, affecting their ease of harvest... Read more
Women's Health Remains in Crisis Worldwide Even as COVID-19 Pandemic Wanes
2024 16 Jan
Third annual Hologic Global Women’s Health Index shows billions of women untested for life-threatening conditions, emotional health worsening and nearly 1 billion women living with physical pain. The world faces an emergency in women’s health even as the COVID-19 pandemic wanes, according to one of the largest annual updates on women’s... Read more
Survey Reveals Organisations Embrace Emerging Technologies for Competitive Advantage
2023 29 Nov
Based on the data presented in the ‘Digital Transformation and Emerging Technologies in the Healthcare Industry’ report, nearly 71% of healthcare professionals confirmed that the COVID-19 pandemic had the greatest impact on accelerating digital transformation in the healthcare sector. To stay competitive, numerous organisations are actively embracing... Read more
Groundbreaking MRI Unveils Brain Changes in Individuals with Long-COVID
2023 24 Nov
New research to be presented at the upcoming annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA), reveals distinctive brain changes in individuals with long COVID, different to those who have fully recovered from COVID-19. Long COVID sufferers experience a wide variety of different symptoms which may persist for long time after... Read more
Knowledge and Awareness of Sepsis Among Risk Populations
2023 22 Nov
Sepsis can have potentially life-threatening consequences. Early recognition is crucial for effective intervention. The role of patients in preventing and identifying sepsis early is vital. However, there is an incomplete understanding of sepsis knowledge among at-risk groups and their ability to recognise sepsis as a medical emergency. COVID-19... Read more
The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institutet award the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology
2023 05 Oct
The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institutet has today decided to award the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly to Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman for their discoveries concerning nucleoside base modifications that enabled the development of effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19.The discoveries by the two Nobel Laureates were... Read more
High Performance Computing
2023 04 Oct
High performance computing refers to computing systems with extremely high computational power that are able to solve hugely complex and demanding problems. In the digital decade, high performance computing (HPC) is at the core of major advances and innovation, and a strategic resource for Europe's future. In today’s world, more and... Read more
Data to Track Incidence, Mortality for SARS-CoV-2–Associated Sepsis
2023 03 Oct
Sepsis is a life-threatening condition resulting from a dysregulated response to infection, historically associated with bacterial infections. However, viral infections are increasingly recognised as significant contributors to sepsis, especially with events like the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and surges of respiratory viruses like RSV and influenza. Despite... Read more
The Need to Address Missed and Delayed Cancer Screenings During the Pandemic
2023 28 Sep
In a recent report, published in the journal Cancer, researchers have documented a significant decline in cancer screenings and subsequent diagnoses in the United States during the initial stages of the Covid-19 pandemic. There were notable decreases in the number of newly diagnosed cases across six types of cancer including colorectal, female breast,... Read more
Empowering Africa: Local Manufacturing of Diagnostic Tools
2023 06 Sep
The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the global issue of insufficient access to diagnostic tools. In Africa, limited access to affordable and accessible diagnostic tools significantly hindered efforts to track and contain COVID-19. It's crucial to recognise that this issue is not specific to the pandemic; rather, it persists as an ongoing challenge in... Read more
Patient Experiences in Hospitals Change Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic
2023 31 Aug
The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic posed unparalleled challenges for acute-care hospitals. To control the spread of COVID-19 infection, hospitals adopted new protocols, including social distancing and restricted visitor access. A recent cohort study looked to describe differences in 2020 to 2021 patient experiences to assess whether the... Read more
Cost Savings Through Zero Preventable Deaths
2023 30 Aug
Instituting patient safety practices will save lives and healthcare dollars. We are proud of our healthcare experts; it is the system that needs to be fixed, and we can do that! We can create a system where safe, high-quality healthcare is delivered to every patient every time. Healthcare must become a high-reliability organisation, and this starts... Read more
Ultra-Low Tidal Volume Ventilation for COVID-19-ARDS
2023 18 Jul
A new study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of ventilation with ultra-low tidal volume (ULTV) compared to low tidal volume (LTV) in patients suffering from COVID-19-related acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). COVID-19-related ARDS is associated with a high mortality rate and extended mechanical ventilation duration. The study... Read more