Placenta accreta spectrum (PAS) disorder is a life-threatening condition that occurs when the placenta remains attached to the uterus after childbirth. Now researchers have developed a blood test to identify this condition, enabling early intervention by high-risk pregnancy specialists.

NIBIB selected three winning teams for designs that excel according to four criteria: the significance of the problem being addressed; the impact on clinical care; the innovation of the design; and the ideation process or existence of a working prototype.

The RADx program has paved a path forward for small- and medium-sized diagnostics companies with innovative ideas and novel technologies to help meet public health challenges and compete in the marketplace. A funded network of agile academic or private laboratories that can objectively evaluate novel clinical tests, whether they originate from the largest diagnostics companies or new startups, can provide impartial and cost-effective third-party assessments of test performance to facilitate FDA decision making. Source: Nature Biotechnology.

NIBIB-funded research drives progress in the diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring of middle ear infections.

Bioengineers have developed biocompatible self-assembling “piezoelectric wafers,” which can be made rapidly and inexpensively to enable broad use of implantable muscle-powered electromechanical therapies.

NIH-funded researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have demonstrated the potential of a neuromodulation approach that uses low-intensity ultrasound energy, called transcranial focused ultrasound—or tFUS.

Nanofiber-based treatments stimulate the body to mount its own biological attack on immune disorders.

In an opinion piece, Roxanne Khamsi, a science journalist covering the COVID-19 pandemic, says that “throughout the pandemic, there have been various kinds of medical anomalies,” such as “people who test positive for months and others who never get infected despite living in close quarters with Covid sufferers.” Khamsi writes that “such surprising cases are often declared ‘outliers’ and shrugged off (and, indeed, should be downplayed when designing public health policies for the general population), but unusual examples of any disease can offer important insights for scientists, and most critically, lead to new medicines for that illness and others.” NIBIB immunologist Kaitlyn Sadtler is quoted as saying, “The complexity of the immune system cannot be overstated. ... It makes it amazingly effective but amazingly difficult to understand.” Source: New York Times

Rapid antigens testing is just as effective in preventing COVID-19 outbreaks as polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, tests when used as part of a regular screening program, according to the National Institutes of Health. Source: McKnight's Long-Term Care News