At-home testing and patient choice credited for reducing racial disparities A 20-year initiative that offered flexible options for colorectal cancer screening at a major integrated health system doubled colorectal cancer screening rates, cut cancer incidence by a third, halved deaths, and brought racial differences in outcomes to nearly zero, according to a study to be presented at Digestive Disease Week® (DDW) 2025. “By offering an effective screening approach equally to everyone, we were able to eliminate much of the disparity,”…

One of the challenges of fighting pancreatic cancer is finding ways to penetrate the organ’s dense tissue to define the margins between malignant and normal tissue. A new study uses DNA origami structures to selectively deliver fluorescent imaging agents to pancreatic cancer cells without affecting normal cells. The study, led by University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign mechanical science and engineering professor Bumsoo Han and professor Jong Hyun Choi at Purdue University, found that specially engineered DNA origami structures carrying imaging dye…

Researchers from The University of Osaka discover that specific white blood cells and the amount of an inflammation protein in the blood can predict relapse of an autoimmune blood vessel disease Neutrophils, one of the immune system warriors that were thought to be all the same, turn out to be diverse. Unfortunately, these cells are also active in autoimmune diseases. New research from Japan has found that a certain subpopulation of these white blood cells can predict disease relapse at…

Multicenter study suggests stroke prevention guidelines may underestimate risk in patients with symptomatic mild carotid stenosis Ischemic stroke remains one of the leading causes of death and long-term disability worldwide, with narrowing of the carotid artery due to atherosclerosis contributing to up to 30% of all cases. For decades, medical practitioners have primarily relied on the degree of carotid narrowing (stenosis) to assess the risk of stroke and determine the best treatment options. However, mounting evidence suggests that this approach…