A team of Israeli and US researchers have developed a simple blood test that can detect a person's risk of developing leukaemia -- a deadly blood cancer.

In the study, published in the journal Nature Medicine, the researchers suggested that this test may replace the current more invasive method of bone marrow sampling used to diagnose certain blood cancers, news agency reported.

The team led by researchers from Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel focused on myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) -- an age-related condition in which blood-forming stem cells do not develop properly.

MDS can lead to severe anaemia and may progress to acute myeloid leukaemia, one of the most common types of blood cancer in adults.

In a major scientific breakthrough, researchers from IIT (BHU) in Uttar Pradesh have developed a miniaturised, self-reporting diagnostic device that can detect early-stage bone cancer with high precision.

The first-of-its-kind sensor detects osteopontin (OPN) -- a key biomarker for bone cancer.

The device is reagent-free, portable, and cost-effective and is ideal for rural healthcare, said the research team led by Dr. Pranjal Chandra from the School of Biochemical Engineering.

The device works much like a glucose metre and enables quick, accurate, and on-the-spot detection, even in resource-limited settings.

Zimbabwe has recorded an increase in AIDS-related deaths in the first half of this year, Health and Child Care Minister Douglas Mombeshora said on Friday.

Addressing a media workshop on HIV reporting and stigma reduction in the Zimbabwean capital, Harare, the minister said that between January and June this year, Zimbabwe recorded 5,932 AIDS-related deaths, compared to 5,712 during the same period last year.

"An increase of 220 deaths is a reminder that our work is not done," he said, without specifying the main cause of the increase.

According to Mombeshora, Zimbabwe has made progress in the fight against HIV/AIDS, particularly in meeting the UNAIDS 95-95-95 targets, but he warned that the gains remain fragile and are under threat from various challenges, including resource constraints, stigma, and discrimination.

Mongolia has recorded 232 new cases of measles infection over the past 24 hours, bringing the national caseload to 10,065, the National Center for Communicable Diseases (NCCD) said on Friday.

Meanwhile, 260 more measles patients have recovered from the disease, bringing the total number of recoveries to 8,405, the NCCD said in a statement.

The majority of new measles infections were among school-age children who had only one shot of the measles vaccine, it said.

In this regard, the NCCD advised parents to protect their children from a potentially severe disease by getting them two doses of the measles vaccine, news agency reported.

According to the World Health Organization, measles is a highly contagious disease caused by a virus. It spreads easily when an infected person breathes, coughs or sneezes. It can cause severe disease, complications, and even death.

An international team of scientists has developed an artificial intelligence (AI) tool that could revolutionise cancer treatment by mapping cellular diversity within tumours.

The innovation tackles tumour heterogeneity in oncology, where varied cell populations cause treatment resistance and recurrence, news agency reported.

The AAnet AI tool, developed by the Sydney-based Garvan Institute of Medical Research in collaboration with the Yale School of Medicine in the US, uses deep learning to study gene activity in single cancer cells.

It finds five different cell types within tumours, each with its own behaviour and risk of spreading. This helps doctors understand cancer better than older methods, which treated all tumour cells the same, said the multinational research team.

Sleep patterns are significantly influenced by the day of the week, the season, and geographic locations, according to a study.

The study, led by researchers from Flinders University in South Australia, is based on data from more than 116,000 adults and over 73 million nights of sleep. The team used an under-mattress device to objectively track sleep duration and timing across 3.5 years, news agency reported.

The study finds that sleep is shaped not just by personal habits, but by environmental factors like daylight, temperature, and weekly routines.

"Our findings underscore the seasonal nature of human sleep, and that it is influenced by demographics and geography," said Hannah Scott, a sleep health expert at Flinders University.

Gujarat Health Minister Rushikesh Patel on Thursday launched a state-level Td (Tetanus and Diphtheria) and DPT (Triple Antigen) immunisation campaign from Unjha in Mehsana district.

The campaign aims to protect children and adolescents from life-threatening diseases such as tetanus, diphtheria, whooping cough, polio, pneumonia, and others.

Under this public health initiative, 992 Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK) teams will conduct vaccination sessions across 47,439 schools, targeting an estimated 18.2 lakh students.

In addition, around 6.1 lakh children in approximately 39,045 Anganwadis will receive the second dose of the DPT booster as per the national immunisation schedule.

The campaign is part of India’s Universal Immunisation Programme, which has, since 2019, included Td vaccines for adolescents aged 10 and 16.

Gene therapy may be a crucial tool to put HIV to sleep permanently, providing a lasting and durable treatment against the virus that causes AIDS, according to a study.

Scientists at Johns Hopkins University in the US showed that a molecule within HIV can be manipulated and amplified to force the virus into long-term dormancy -- a state in which HIV does not replicate.

The new findings add to a growing body of evidence that may help researchers develop a gene therapy that boosts the production of the molecule -- an "antisense transcript," or AST, said Fabio Romerio, Associate Professor of molecular and comparative pathobiology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

The study builds on previous research which showed that AST is produced by HIV's genetic material and is part of a molecular pathway that essentially puts the virus to sleep -- a state known as viral latency.

More than 90 per cent of employees in India are confident that they can afford the healthcare needs for themselves and their families, according to a report on Thursday.

The Mercer Marsh Benefits report, based on a survey of over 18,000 employees across 17 markets, including in India, explores what employees value most from their workplace benefits, and how their expectations are evolving.

The findings showed that for Indian employees there are high levels of well-being and satisfaction. The report also highlights growing expectations around flexibility, personalisation, and long-term support, indicating a broader evolution in the Indian workforce – one that is becoming more rooted in long-term ambitions.

While the report showed that although 92 per cent of employees are confident about affording healthcare needs, the top two reasons for delaying healthcare are financial and anticipated long wait times.

While biological drugs or biologics have improved the lives of many people with severe asthma, a new study shows that some immune cells with high inflammatory potential are not completely eradicated after treatment.

The findings may explain the reason for the return of inflammation of the airways as soon as the treatment is discontinued, said researchers from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden.

In a new study published in the scientific journal Allergy, the team explored what happens to the immune cells of patients being treated with biologics -- which has become an important tool in the treatment of severe asthma.

They analysed blood samples from 40 patients before and during treatment. They found that instead of disappearing during treatment, certain types of immune cells -- which play a key part in asthma inflammation -- actually increased.

“This suggests that biologics might not attack the root of the problem, no matter how much they help asthma patients during treatment,” said Jenny Mjösberg, professor of tissue immunology at Karolinska Institutet’s Department of Medicine in Huddinge.