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New research has found that biomarker testing in individuals at risk of lung cancer led to a major reduction in deaths. This study, conducted with 12,000 smokers and ex-smokers, demonstrates how biomarkers—measurable indicators of biological changes—can identify individuals at high risk of lung cancer, leading to earlier detection and significantly improved outcomes. Professor Frank Sullivan led a large-scale trial involving 12,000 smokers and ex-smokers. The study found that testing high-risk individuals with biomarkers led to a 40% reduction in deaths from lung cancer and other causes over five years. Biomarkers are measurable indicators of biological processes, such as proteins or...

Researchers have found a potential link between putative retinal gliosis and Alzheimer's disease. The study demonstrates that putative retinal gliosis could be a sign of Alzheimer's disease-related neuroinflammation, an inflammatory response within the brain or spinal cord. Putative retinal gliosis refers to changes in the retina caused by activation of glial cells, which are support cells that become activated when there is damage or disease in the retina. In this study, Edmund Arthur, O.D., Ph.D. found that presumed neuroinflammation was larger in the retina of preclinical Alzheimer's disease patients compared to similarly aged controls, like from postmortem tissues and animal...

One of the big COVID-19 mysteries is why some people suffer severe illness, while others experience mild colds. Research about reactive T cells produced during infection with other beta coronaviruses — which could explain a level of mitigating immunity for some people — has appeared in journals. Age certainly seems to be a significant risk factor. However, nothing to date explained all differences or provided any insight into which patients may suffer from severe disease.Now researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) have found a specific and sensitive biomarker that may provide more insight:In a new retrospective study,...

Why it's OK if it cures patients The pharmaceutical company Schering-Plough is excluding African-American patients from the Phase II trial of its new Hepatitis C (HCV) anti-viral drug. Activist groups are denouncing this exclusion as racist. For its part, Schering-Plough argues that it has valid scientific grounds for limiting the research at this stage to other racial groups. Company researchers point out that for unknown reasons, black people do not respond as well to HCV treatments as do members of other racial groups. One prominent activist, Judith Dillard, told the Newark Star-Ledger, "The bottom line is that African-Americans have been...