A research team led by Professor Jiandong Ding at Fudan University has derived a set of equations for random degradation inspired by the classic Poisson raindrop problem, providing the first theoretical framework to quantify “acquired heterogeneity” — the uneven degradation that emerges during service rather than from manufacturing defects. Applying this framework to biodegradable metal stents, the team discovered that coating iron with polylactide (PLA) increases the corrosion rate by 3-fold but reduces corrosion inhomogeneity by 4,000-fold in blood-mimetic medium, paradoxically leading to later device fracture despite faster degradation. The resulting metal–polymer composite stent was validated in preclinical porcine studies, clinical trials involving 1,108 patients across multiple cohorts, and 5-year follow-up of 45 first-in-human cases, demonstrating safety, durability, and reliability. The theoretical framework is, in principle, applicable to any field where random spatiotemporal variability undermines system performance, from ship corrosion and bridge fracture to climate variability and big data analytics.

The non-profit Boehringer Ingelheim Stiftung supports LMU clinician-scientist Daniel Kotlarz through its Rise up! program.

Researchers from the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore (NUS Medicine), have identified a promising antiviral compound that can inhibit a range of enteroviruses, including Enterovirus D68 (EV-D68), an emerging respiratory virus linked to severe respiratory illness and acute flaccid myelitis, a condition that can cause paralysis.

A study led by Flinders University and published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology found requests by GPs for anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) tests increased more than 13-fold between 2011 and 2021, despite growing evidence that the test cannot predict whether a woman will become pregnant naturally - not now or in the future.