Antibiotics for C-sections effective after umbilical cord clamped

Antibiotics for cesarean section births are just as effective when they're given after the umbilical cord is clamped as before clamping—the current practice—and could benefit newborns' developing microbiomes, according to Rutgers co-authored research.

Q&A: Saying no to holiday gatherings during the COVID-19 pandemic

We typically host several family members and their children in our home for a visit each December. But due to COVID-19 we have decided to avoid social encounters. How can I tell my siblings that they and their children can't come without creating a rift? Also, do you have any advice on politely declining holiday invitations?

Inflammatory compounds found in cooked meat linked to childhood wheeze

Inflammatory compounds found in cooked meat are linked to a heightened risk of childhood wheeze, finds research published online in the journal Thorax.

Smartphone fitness apps and wearable activity trackers boost physical activity levels

Smartphone fitness apps and wearable activity trackers do help boost physical activity levels, finds a review and pooled data analysis of the available evidence, published online in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

EU awaits watchdog's coronavirus vaccine decision

The EU's drug regulator will decide on Monday whether to authorise the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, with desperate countries hoping for the green light to finally start inoculating their citizens.

Five key things about the EMA's vaccine decision

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) will decide on Monday whether to give the green light for the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine within the EU.

One company's quest for an antibody drug to fight COVID-19

On a Saturday afternoon in March as COVID-19 was bearing down on New York City, a dozen scientists anxiously crowded around a computer in a suburban drug company's lab. They had spent weeks frantically getting blood from early survivors across the globe and from mice with human-like immune systems—all to test thousands of potential treatments.

EXPLAINER: Are new coronavirus strains cause for concern?

Reports from Britain and South Africa of new coronavirus strains that seem to spread more easily are causing alarm, but virus experts say it's unclear if that's the case or whether they pose any concern for vaccines or cause more severe disease.

Mostly virus-free Kauai hit by pandemic after travel resumes

On Hawaii's rural island of Kauai, where sprawling white sand beaches and dramatic seaside mountains attract visitors from around the world, local residents spent the first seven months of the pandemic sheltered from the viral storm.

More EU nations ban travel from UK, fearing virus variant

A growing list of European Union nations and Canada barred travel from the U.K. on Sunday and others were considering similar action, in a bid to block a new strain of coronavirus sweeping across southern England from spreading to the continent.

With winter at hand, the virus whips up winds of uncertainty

Coronavirus cases spiking nationwide. A chill, existential and literal, setting in once more. And now: a winter likely to be streaked by a soundtrack of sirens instead of silver bells.

Panel: People over 75, essential workers next for vaccines

A federal advisory panel recommended Sunday that people 75 and older and essential workers like firefighters, teachers and grocery store workers should be next in line for COVID-19 shots, while a second vaccine began rolling out to hospitals as the nation works to get the coronavirus pandemic under control.

South Korea tightens Seoul curbs after record death toll

South Korea banned gatherings of more than four people in the capital and surrounding areas Monday as the country recorded its highest daily coronavirus death toll since the epidemic began.

New strain of COVID-19 is driving South Africa's resurgence

South Africa has announced that a new variant of the COVID-19 virus is driving the current resurgence of the disease, with higher numbers of confirmed cases, hospitalizations and deaths.

Tube fishway technology will get fish up and over those dam walls

Engineers and scientists at UNSW Sydney have come up with an ingenious way to get fish past dam walls, weirs and other barriers blocking their migration in Australian rivers.

High-flying Tesla joins S&P 500; skeptics say buyer beware

In the middle of last year, Tesla's losses were piling up, sales weren't enough to cover expenses and big debt payments loomed. The situation was so bad that one influential Wall Street analyst raised the possibility that Tesla wouldn't be able to pay its bills and would have to be restructured financially.

Stampede2, Bridges simulations show weak spots in Ebola virus nucleocapsid

In the midst of a global pandemic with COVID-19, it's hard to appreciate how lucky those outside of Africa have been to avoid the deadly Ebola virus disease. It incapacitates its victims soon after infection with massive vomiting or diarrhea, leading to death from fluid loss in about 50 percent of the afflicted. The Ebola virus transmits only through bodily fluids, marking a key difference from the COVID-19 virus and one that has helped contain Ebola's spread.

Metals and metalloids may alter prenatal hormone concentrations during pregnancy: study

Exposure to metals such as nickel, arsenic, cobalt and lead may disrupt a woman's hormones during pregnancy, according to a Rutgers study.

Socioeconomic background linked to survival after having a cardiac arrest in hospital

Hospital in-patients from lower socioeconomic backgrounds are less likely to receive prompt cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) after their hearts stop beating and less likely to survive than patients from higher socioeconomic backgrounds.

Climate warming linked to tree leaf unfolding and flowering growing apart

An international team of researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Zhejiang A & F University and the University of Eastern Finland have found that regardless of whether flowering or leaf unfolding occurred first in a species, the first event advanced more than the second over the last seven decades.

COVID-19: avoiding hospital caused heart disease death rise

Lower rates of hospital attendance for urgent heart problems during the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic may have contributed to avoidable deaths in England, finds a new study led by UCL researchers.

Study resolves the position of fleas on the tree of life

A study of more than 1,400 protein-coding genes of fleas has resolved one of the longest standing mysteries in the evolution of insects, reordering their placement in the tree of life and pinpointing who their closest relatives are.

Getting into shape pre-surgery to aid recovery for older patients: study

Older adults about to undergo elective surgery should undertake a sustained programme of targeted exercise beforehand to counteract the muscle-wasting effects of bedrest, new research suggests.

Screen time, emotional health among parents' top concerns for children during pandemic

Parenting in a pandemic is not for the faint of heart.

Ivory Coast creates first marine protected area

Ivory Coast has announced the creation of its first Marine Protected Area (MPA).

Surveillance of antimicrobial resistance could be more challenging outside of the EU

In a new report from the Microbiology Society, experts from around the UK explain the desperate need for long-term and ambitious funding for surveillance and research into antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

Study reveals low risk of COVID-19 infection among patients undergoing head and neck cancer surgery

A recent international observational study provides important data on the safety of head and neck cancer surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings are published early online in Cancer, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society. The study is part of the COVIDSurg Collaborative, an initiative to describe surgical practices during the early period of the pandemic, when many hospitals had limited capacity and when it was unclear whether it was safer to delay or continue in-hospital cancer treatments.