Nature Medicine

A poor diet remains a leading contributor to ischaemic heart disease, according to an analysis from 204 countries over a 30-year period

Duke-NUS scientists have identified how a small number of overactive genes may drive widespread changes in brain function in Down syndrome, helping explain how an extra chromosome affects learning and memory.

Nearly 40% of new cancer cases worldwide in 2022 may be associated with modifiable risk factors, according to an analysis of 36 cancer types from 185 countries, published in Nature Medicine. The findings suggest that reducing exposures such as tobacco smoking, certain infections, and alcohol use remains essential for cancer prevention.

Immune response from two doses of mRNA vaccines is sufficient to protect against COVID-19 in children. A third dose does not confer additional benefit, research conducted by the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine (NUS Medicine) and Duke-NUS Medical School has found.

A commentary in Nature Medicine advocates the proper application of artificial intelligence in healthcare and warns of the dangers when machine learning algorithms are misused.

A booster dose of the Pfizer–BioNTech vaccine (BNT162b2) against SARS-CoV-2 after an initial two doses of either the CoronaVac inactivated virus vaccine or Pfizer–BioNTech mRNA vaccine is shown to provide protection against the Omicron variant, in a pair of papers published in Nature Medicine.

Although most people are likely to accept a future vaccine against COVID-19 if one is proven safe and efficacious, the hesitancy of those who refuse vaccination could stall global efforts to achieve community immunity, suggests a study published in Nature Medicine.

An international collaborative team from PROS Ehime University and CellFee Science, Japan; the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, Australia; Pasteur Institute, France; and Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics, Switzerland developed a new diagnostic blood test which detects recent exposure to ‘vivax’ malaria. The new test can also identify people who may harbor dormant liver-stage malaria parasites, which can cause illness. This new diagnostic approach has the potential to enhance malaria surveillance and accelerate elimination.

Professor Tony MOK from the Faculty of Medicine of The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CU Medicine) and Professor LU You from West China School of Medicine at The Sichuan University co-led the world’s first-in-human Phase I clinical trial investigating the safety and feasibility of CRISPR gene-edit therapy as a treatment option for patients with late stage lung cancer. Research team recruited 22 advanced Non-small-cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) patients and isolate the T cell (a form of white blood cell) from peripheral blood. After gene-editing by CRISPR, the T cells that were reinfused back to patient may have the ability to attack cancer cell. Objective of the study is to demonstrate safety and feasibility. Results demonstrated CRISPR technology is safe and feasible as patients showed no severe adverse events and the frequency of off-target events was only 0.05%. This opens a new chapter in the history of lung cancer immunotherapy. The findings were recently published on-line in the international medical journal Nature Medicine.

A new compound could help doctors detect epileptic foci in the living human brain as well as further the understanding of psychiatric disease.