When SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, began spreading worldwide in 2020, many research teams immediately set to work developing a vaccine against it. Building on decades of previous work on mRNA technology and on other viral vaccines, including HIV, they achieved their goal within the year. The most widely used mRNA vaccine design contains the genetic instructions for the body to make the spike protein that the virus uses to enter cells. The resulting immune response protects against infection and, more importantly, disease and death. However, developing a vaccine for HIV has proven much more difficult.

Overly aggressive treatment of diabetes and hypertension in older adults is causing preventable harm—including dangerously low blood sugar or blood pressure, hospitalizations, disability and even death. Despite existing guidelines urging individualized, cautious care, these complications remain widespread, especially among frail seniors and nursing home residents. Researchers call for urgent change in how health care providers are supported and held accountable. They argue that they should be actively encouraged – not merely expected – to avoid overtreatment through carefully designed quality measures.

Despite improvements in medical and surgical management strategies, brain abscess continues to cause disability and mortality in affected individuals. The long-term predictors of survival in individuals with brain abscess are not well understood. Researchers have now addressed this knowledge gap using a retrospective cohort study based on patients from Thailand. They have identified key predictors of long-term survival in patients and created a dynamic nomogram that can aid individualized prognostication for each patient.