Most men who are treated for prostate cancer according to modern guidelines have good survival rates and the majority of these men will die of causes other than prostate cancer. This is revealed in a new study from Uppsala University published in the Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network.

“We were surprised by how much life expectancy affected the prognosis. This shows the importance of a thorough assessment of the general health of a man with newly diagnosed prostate cancer. The patient’s life expectancy has a substantial impact on the choice of appropriate treatment strategy,” says Marcus Westerberg, researcher at the Department of Surgical Sciences at Uppsala University, who led the study.

Researchers have developed an open-source molecular diagnostic assay for pathogen detection, successfully tested for COVID-19. The innovative RT-LAMP method is heat-stable, uses only non-proprietary reagents, and eliminates the need for expensive commercial kits and cold chain storage. Demonstrating performance in both Vienna and Ghana, the low-cost solution has potential for enhancing quick and equitable testing capabilities in resource-limited areas worldwide.

A vaccine protects more than 100 million infants each year from severe tuberculosis (TB), including the fatal brain swelling it can cause in babies and toddlers. But the vaccine doesn’t prevent adults from developing the more common form of TB that attacks the lungs, which still kills 1.25 million people each year. Scientists from Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University, The University of Utah, and other institutions took a new approach to understanding why this is. Their genetic study in mice reveals that TB bacteria can “play dead” in the face of an immune system primed to attack—a finding that may pave the way for better vaccines and therapies for the world’s deadliest infectious disease.