THE MEDICAL NEWS

DZNE researchers have generated new insights into how the human genome shapes the chemical composition and concentration of blood lipids.

Most people living with severe asthma are also battling other health conditions that go under the radar, a major new study has found.

Handwriting requires a combination of fine motor control and a complex set of mental skills, such as selecting, organizing, and interpreting sensory information, making it a cognitively challenging task. Because of its high demand on the brain, it is a potential marker of cognitive decline, especially as we age. Then, our handwriting often becomes slower or choppier.

Food and alcohol cues appear to engage partially distinct EEG oscillatory patterns, with food cues linked mainly to increased delta activity and alcohol-related processing showing alpha and delta differences in key contrasts. The effects were strongest in participants with relatively higher AUDIT scores, but neural changes were small and subjective cue responses were more robust.

The protein p53 is often called the guardian of the genome for its central role in preventing cancer. Yet paradoxically, it is also one of the most frequently mutated and dysfunctional proteins in human tumors.

Ensitrelvir, an oral SARS-CoV-2 3C-like protease inhibitor, reduced symptomatic RT-PCR-confirmed COVID-19 among household contacts when given within 72 hours after symptom onset in the infected index patient. In the phase 3 SCORPIO-PEP trial, COVID-19 occurred in 2.9% of ensitrelvir recipients versus 9.0% of placebo recipients, with similar overall adverse-event rates.

The new system, termed KGN@PB@CM, combines several advanced elements. Prussian blue (PB) nanozymes act as potent reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavengers, while kartogenin (KGN)-a small molecule that promotes stem cell migration and tenogenic differentiation-is loaded onto the PB core.