Diagnosis

A simple home test for breast cancer and a UV energy-harvesting window made of recycled materials are the big winners of this year’s James Dyson Awards. The annual competition encourages university students to develop innovative solutions to problems.

A protein, previously found to be an effective blood-based biomarker of neurodegenerative diseases, has for the first time been detected in eye fluid. The discovery lays the foundation for eye tests to catch neurodegenerative diseases before symptoms appear.

Two new studies, published in The Lancet Neurology, are suggesting increasing levels of a particular brain protein, detected in blood and spinal fluid, could be the earliest sign of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s.

A new study is suggesting signs of the disease ALS may be detectable in teeth, decades before the onset of any symptoms. The research points to a dysfunction in metabolizing metals as a possible factor in the onset of this still mysterious disease.

A new case report describes the discovery of throat cancer in a subject using a novel saliva test designed to detect human papillomavirus virus. The saliva screening test appears very promising but needs further validation before broad deployment.

Research from a medical student is pointing to an early-stage biomarker for a variety of cancers. The research found subjects with abnormally small red blood cells were twice as likely to be diagnosed with cancer as those with normal blood results.

Some medical experts around the world are suggesting a loss of the sense of smell may be an early indication of COVID-19. The preliminary, and still anecdotal, observation is not officially recognized as a COVID-19 symptom by the WHO at this stage.

A new study led by researchers from UC San Diego is suggesting unique microbial DNA signatures detected in blood samples can not only potentially identify dozens of different cancers but also catch the disease in its earliest stages.

A compelling new study from the International Agency for Research on Cancer is suggesting a simple biomarker in urine may be an effective test for bladder cancer, signaling the disease's presence up to 10 years before clinical signs appear.

Following on from prior research finding brain wave patterns can signal whether antidepressant medication will be effective, a study is reporting the development of an algorithm that can predict patient response to antidepressants based on EEG data.

A new AI system is proving more effective at detecting breast cancer in mammograms than trained radiologists. The software, developed by researchers from Google, is not designed to replace humans but instead improve current diagnostic processes.

A team of Australian researchers has developed a novel early detection test for Parkinson’s disease based on a short series of drawing and writing tasks. The team is aiming to move through final trial stages and bring the new test to market by 2022.