EClinicalMedicine

In a phase 2 trial, researchers from Osaka University have found that erythromycin, a commonly used antibiotic, has acceptable safety and tolerability profiles in patients with myotonic dystrophy type 1. This common form of muscular dystrophy currently has no cure, and the research team is hopeful that phase 2b and 3 trials will further reveal the efficacy of erythromycin as a treatment—at least in some patients.

• Your chances of getting resuscitated by a bystander in Asia if your heart suddenly stops while in a public place depends on whether you’re a man or a woman. • Across nine Asian communities, in public locations, the bystander CPR rates were 31.2 per cent for females and 36.4 per cent for males. • For women, the chances of receiving bystander CPR when suffering a cardiac arrest in a public out-of-hospital setting is lower than for men; in homes or private places, the likelihood is reversed.

With the COVID-19 pandemic resulting in lockdowns in different parts of the world, from the US to many European nations, there have been intense debates on when and how we can safely reopen the economy. New research led by Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) computer scientists has used a data-driven modelling approach to answer the time-critical question of when the stringent social distancing and quarantine measures against COVID-19 can be loosened so that normal life and economic activities can be restored in a safe manner.