Health

Researchers behind test using biomarkers say it could ‘revolutionise’ early diagnosis of disease

Researchers have developed a simple and “cost-effective” blood test capable of detecting Parkinson’s disease long before symptoms emerge, according to a study.

About 153,000 people live with Parkinson’s in the UK, and scientists who undertook the research said the test could “revolutionise” an early diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease, “paving the way for timely interventions and improved patient outcomes”.

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Public health experts argue he failed to give a full-throated endorsement of an extremely effective vaccine

The health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, said on a press tour that his response to a large measles outbreak in west Texas should be a “model for the world”. The statement came after Kennedy attended the funeral of a third measles victim over the weekend.

Kennedy’s response to the outbreak has been widely criticized by epidemiologists and public health experts, who argue he failed to give a full-throated endorsement of an extremely effective vaccine, that cases appear to be severely undercounted and that officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have been deployed late.

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Loss of funding could undo progress in reducing deaths in pregnancy and childbirth, especially in war zones, says UN

More women risk dying in pregnancy and childbirth because of aid cuts by wealthy countries, which could have “pandemic-like effects”, UN agencies have warned.

Pregnant women in conflict zones are the most vulnerable, and face an “alarmingly high” risk that is already five times greater than elsewhere, according to a new UN report on trends in maternal mortality.

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Prof David Liu is among the winners of 2025’s ‘Oscars of science’, with honours also going to researchers for landmark work on multiple sclerosis, particle physics and ‘skinny jabs’

For the past five years, David Liu – a professor at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, a biomedical research facility in Massachusetts – has marked Thanksgiving by handing over his entire annual salary, after taking care of taxes, to the staff and students in his laboratory.

It started as the pandemic broke and Liu heard that students who wanted to cycle instead of taking public transport could not afford bicycles. Given how hard they worked and how little they were paid, Liu stepped in. He couldn’t unilaterally raise their incomes, so emailed them Amazon eGift cards. This ran into problems too, however. “Everyone thought they were being scammed,” he recalls. And so he switched to writing cheques.

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Chance of developing some of the most lethal tumours up to five times higher in women recently diagnosed with condition

People who develop type 2 diabetes face an increased risk of some of the most lethal cancers, including liver and pancreatic tumours, with the greatest rises in women, research suggests.

The analysis of health records from 95,000 people found that the risk of pancreatic cancer was nearly twice as high, and the chance of developing liver cancer almost five times as high, in women recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.

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Study suggests infection is sexually transmitted and opens up new way to reduce recurrence by treating male partners

Bacterial vaginosis can be passed to women by male sexual partners, researchers have said, challenging the longstanding view that it is not a sexually transmitted infection.

Experts say the study offers a new way to reduce the risk of the infection returning in women, with another scientist saying it showed up the UK’s NHS website as “outdated and misleading”.

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Health experts wary as US health secretary fails to endorse effective vaccines and instead calls them a ‘personal choice’

Robert F Kennedy Jr, the US health secretary, has caused alarm among pediatricians, vaccine experts and lawmakers with an opinion piece that focuses on vitamin A and nutrition as treatments for measles.

In response to a measles outbreak in Texas, which resulted in the first American measles death in nearly a decade, Kennedy wrote for Fox News about the benefits of “good nutrition” and vitamin A – but did not explicitly recommend highly effective vaccines.

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Wyoming woman still in hospital while Ohio man released after facing ‘respiratory and non-respiratory symptoms’

Two people, in Wyoming and Ohio, have been hospitalized with H5N1 bird flu, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a routine flu update on Friday.

The person from Wyoming is still in hospital, while the Ohio patient has been released, according to the report. Both patients experienced “respiratory and non-respiratory symptoms”, the report said, without detailing those symptoms.

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Pontiff, 88, already in hospital when latest diagnosis made, as Vatican confirms medical situation is ‘complex’

Pope Francis has been diagnosed with double pneumonia after further tests showed a continuing “complex” medical situation, the Vatican said in a statement on Tuesday.

The pontiff, 88, underwent a chest X-ray, which “demonstrated the onset of bilateral pneumonia that required further pharmacological therapy”.

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Researchers say woman treated for neuroblastoma as a child is longest known survivor after having CAR T-cell therapy

A woman treated with a pioneering type of immunotherapy for a solid tumour has been in remission for more than 18 years with no further treatments, experts have revealed.

The therapy involves taking T-cells, a type of white blood cell, from a patient and genetically engineering them to target and kill cancer cells. These modified T-cells are grown in a laboratory and then infused back into the patient.

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