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ALLERGY & ASTHMA

Virtual clinics move in on allergy drops

An under-the-tongue treatment is popular in Europe, Canada, and Latin America. Why don't US allergists offer it?

UNDARK  

There's a much safer food allergy immunotherapy. Why don't more doctors offer it?

Some allergists offer oral immunotherapy. However, allergic reactions are common during treatment, and the hard-earned protection can fade if not maintained with regular dosing. An alternate approach, sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT), delivers food proteins through liquid drops held in the mouth—a site rich in tolerance-inducing immune cells.

MEDSCAPE

Could gut microbes be key to solving food allergies?

New therapeutics are testing whether protective bacteria can dampen harmful immune responses to food.

KNOWABLE  

+ more ALLERGY & ASTHMA

ALLERGY (cont.)


Medscape

How does farm life protect children from asthma and allergies? August 2022

Needle-free epinephrine products could be available in 2023. March 2022

Managing overuse of food IgE panels: Multiple approaches needed. March 2022

Digital monitors can relieve asthma burden by boosting medication adherence and inhaler technique. March 2022

Dupilumab shows histological and clinical benefit in larger eosinophilic esophagitis cohort. March 2022

Asthma: Easy strategy reduces exacerbations, improves control. Feb 2022

Peanut oral immunotherapy is safe and effective in toddlers in large placebo-controlled trial. January 2022

Peanut allergy patients reap continuing benefits past first year, Palforzia study shows. August 2021

There's a much safer food allergy immunotherapy. Why don't more doctors offer it? (Part 1 of 3 - PDF) July 2021

Direct-care allergy clinic specializes in sublingual immunotherapy (Part 2 of 3 - PDF) July 2021

Sublingual immunotherapy: Where does it stand? (Part 3 of 3 - PDF) July 2021


Nature Biotechnology

IgGenix: engineering antibodies to fight food allergies. June 2021


NPR

Allergists debate anticipated FDA approval of a peanut allergy drug. September 2019

A new treatment can relieve food allergies, but few doctors offer it. February 2019


Real Simple

What's new in food allergy etiquette? June 2020


Science News

Fecal transplant pills helped some peanut allergy sufferers in a small trial. February 2020

An experimental toothpaste aims to treat peanut allergy. February 2020

Liquid mouth drops could one day protect people from peanut allergies. September 2019


Science News for Students

New success in treating allergies to peanuts and other foods. February 2020

Food allergies can trigger stress and anxiety. February 2020


Undark

Virtual clinics move in on allergy drops. August 2023

An unorthodox allergy clinic seeks to disrupt medicine. April 2021

Book review: Targeting the bane of food allergies. October 2020

Why parents are turning to a controversial treatment for food allergies. August 2019


WebMD

Needle-free epinephrine options are on the horizon (PDF). April 2022

Food allergy families seek out hard-to-find immunotherapy (PDF). October 2021

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CANCER

Cancer's sweet cloak

Sugars on cell surfaces help tumors hide from the immune system.

SCIENCE NEWS  


*Winner of 2018 Biedler Prize for Cancer Journalism

Scientists and parents band together to research cures for rare childhood cancer

A research start-up is connecting parents with scientists in hopes of sparking new research on diseases whose survival rates haven't budged in 30 years.

NPR

Leaving a legacy

Two mothers, each with a son who died of brain cancer, worked together to increase awareness and acceptance of tumor tissue donation.

CANCER TODAY 

COVID

How primary care physicians can recognize and treat Long COVID

First she had heart palpitations, a bad headache, a spike in blood pressure. Then came tingling and numbness . . .

JAMA 

Cheap generics might treat COVID-19, but obstacles abound

Even in the midst of a global pandemic, the clinical trial system in the United States is inhospitable to independent researchers.

MEDSCAPE 

Investigating antidepressant's surprising effect on COVID deaths

Researchers are still puzzling over what this drug does at the molecular level to help COVID patients.

SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN

IMMUNOLOGY

'Trained immunity' offers hope in fight against coronavirus

A novel form of immunological memory that was mostly ignored for a century extends the benefits of vaccines. It could be of help in ending the COVID pandemic.

QUANTA 

Nanohealers

Tiny particles cloaked in cell membranes sop up blood toxins and calm inflammation.

SCIENCE NEWS  

Could the immune system be key to Alzheimer's disease?

Increasing evidence suggests that chronic inflammation takes a toll on the brain over the course of a lifetime.

KNOWABLE

NEUROSCIENCE

Could blood transfusions and tissue transplants spread certain dementias?

Scattered evidence suggests that aberrant proteins act as "seeds" to transmit neurodegenerative disease, but the jury is still out.

SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN

Could a zap to the brain derail destructive impulses?

A brain implant already used to treat severe epilepsy might also help fend off impulses to abuse drugs or overeat before they happen, researchers say.

NPR 

Big brain, big data

Neuroscientists are starting to share and integrate data—but shifting to a team approach isn't easy.

NATURE  

PROFILES

Elizabeth Berry-Kravis: Running a marathon for fragile X syndrome

Elizabeth Berry-Kravis has spent decades uncovering molecular clues to fragile X syndrome and crafting trials of treatments. Her efforts are paying off.

SPECTRUM

Seeding the field

As a pioneer in plant behavioral studies, Joanne Chory set the stage for a generation of scientists.

HHMI 

They never told her that girls could become scientists

Now she knows they can. Mireille Kamariza, who grew up in Burundi, is a Stanford graduate student developing a cheaper, faster test to detect TB.

NPR  

STEM DIVERSITY & DISPARITIES

To diversify the scientific workforce, postdoc recruitment needs a rethink

Biased hiring practices are limiting efforts to attract and retain researchers from minority ethnic groups.

NATURE

Tackle negative thinking head-on to boost diversity in biomedicine

One California university is trying a new strategy to help minority students perform in STEM classes and develop the mental resilience to face future challenges.

NPR 

Atopic dermatitis underrecognized, undertreated in patients of color

Skin disease images that are found online or in medical textbooks mostly show white patients, yet atopic dermatitis can be more common and more severe in certain other ethnic groups.

MEDSCAPE  

TECHNOLOGY & STARTUPS

A new breed of cancer immunotherapy

Glycoscience-focused start-ups look to broaden the benefits of immuno-oncology with drugs that target a protein family called Siglecs and their glycan ligands.

CHEMICAL & ENGINEERING NEWS  

How engineers are drug developers are working to change childhood cancer's deadly calculus

A non-profit organization merges engineering and biology to accelerate drug development for childhood cancers.

NATURE  

Be Biopharma: B cells as protein factories

Plasma cells can be turned into protein factories for patients with protein deficiencies for whom one-and-done gene therapy is not an option.

NATURE BIOTECHNOLOGY

FOR KIDS

Why can't bugs be grub?

Researchers are studying why some people think eating insects is gross—.and how to change that.

SCIENCE NEWS FOR STUDENTS  

Superbugs: A silent health emergency

Bacteria are outsmarting antibiotics to an alarming degree.

SCIENCE NEWS FOR STUDENTS  

Ants in space

Learning how ants search is helping scientists design robots and may help them better understand the brain, the Internet and other complex systems.

MUSE

THIS & THAT

Wanted: More data, the dirtier the better

The computational immunologist Purvesh Khatri embraces messy data as a way to capture the messiness of disease. As a result, he's making elusive genomic discoveries.

QUANTA  

Medical cargo could be the gateway for routine drone deliveries

Proposals for drones to carry blood, trauma supplies and lab samples are awaiting approval by the Federal Aviation Administration.

NPR  

The secret power of the cell's waste bin

Trash collectors in the cell moonlight at the controls of the genetic machinery.

QUANTA