Helen Albert

Berlin, Germany

Freelance Science Journalist at Freelance

Senior Editor at Inside Precision Medicine

Freelance journalist. Focus: med, life sci, bioanth & biotech. Bylines: Forbes, BMJ, New Scientist, Chemistry World, Labiotech & more. Senior ed. @Inside_PM

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Articles

Early Menopause Increases Metabolic Liver Disease Risk

4 days ago | insideprecisionmedicine.com | Helen Albert

Women who experience menopause before the age of 50 are at increased risk of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), as well as associated risk factors such as prediabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, and abnormal lipid levels in the blood.
Down Syndrome Linked to Increased Risk of Stroke

1 week ago | insideprecisionmedicine.com | Helen Albert

Results from a Swedish study researching cardiovascular risk show that people with Down syndrome are at significantly increased risk of both ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke compared to those without the condition. Risks of other cardiovascular events, such as heart attack, were no higher in people with the genetic condition than in the rest of the population, although in people under the age of 40 years, people with Down syndrome had a higher risk.
Shingles Vaccine Lowers Heart Disease Risk

1 week ago | insideprecisionmedicine.com | Helen Albert

Results from a large study carried out in Korea show that vaccination with the live attenuated shingles vaccine significantly reduces the risk of cardiovascular events for up to eight years after vaccination. The effect was most noticeable in men, people under the age of 60 years, and people with unhealthy lifestyles. Shingles occurs when the varicella zoster virus, which causes chickenpox, is reactivated in the body.
AI-Generated Hospital Discharge Summaries Accurate and Helpful

1 week ago | insideprecisionmedicine.com | Helen Albert

Results from a study led by the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), show that hospital discharge summaries generated by large language models (LLMs), a form of artificial intelligence (AI), are of comparable quality to those written by physicians. While there were a few differences between the human- and AI-generated summaries, the researchers believe this kind of tool could be used to draft summaries more quickly before being checked by physicians, before patients leave the hospital.
Cardiomyopathy Gene Variants Linked to Atrial Fibrillation

2 weeks ago | insideprecisionmedicine.com | Helen Albert

People who carry rare genetic variants linked to cardiomyopathy, a disease impacting the heart muscle, are more likely to develop atrial fibrillation, according to results from the UK Biobank and the All of Us cohort. Writing in JAMA Cardiology, the researchers report that the presence of cardiomyopathy-associated pathogenic or likely pathogenic variants increased the risk of atrial fibrillation 2-fold and early atrial fibrillation 5-fold.
Pancreatic Cancer Treatment Outcome Predicted By Genetic Test

2 weeks ago | insideprecisionmedicine.com | Helen Albert

A genetic tool developed in Japan allows clinicians to determine which patients may benefit the most from pancreatic cancer surgery to remove advanced tumors after first undergoing treatment to shrink the tumors. The tumor marker gene (TMG) model involves combining the patients’ genetics with that of their tumor and was able to differentiate between patients who did well after surgery and those who did not.
Molecular Testing Improves Patient Experience Post-Organ Transplant

2 weeks ago | insideprecisionmedicine.com | Helen Albert

Donor-derived cell-free (dd-cf) DNA and gene expression profiling can improve the quality of life of patients who undergo a heart or other organ transplant and can reduce the number of follow-up biopsies that are needed from the transplanted organ. Although these tests have been available for a while and are becoming more widely used, they are still often carried out in addition to invasive biopsies rather than being used as a way to assess patients who might need biopsies.
Less than 10% of plastics are produced using recycled materials

2 weeks ago | chemistryworld.com | Helen Albert

An analysis of the global plastics industry shows that only 9.5% of plastic was made from recycled materials in 2022. Almost a third of plastic waste produced during that year was allocated for recycling, but only half was actually recycled. ‘The low recycling rate is due to a number of challenges including plastic diversity, contamination and economic barriers,’ explains lead author Quanyin Tan at Tsinghua University in Beijing.
Statins Could Improve Blood Cancer Survival

3 weeks ago | insideprecisionmedicine.com | Helen Albert

Research led by the University of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates shows use of statins, widely prescribed for lowering blood cholesterol, could improve survival in people with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) or small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL). Both CLL and SLL impact mature B lymphocytes, a type of white blood cell, and are slow growing.
Enhertu Scores as First Line Therapy in HER2-Positive Breast Cancer

3 weeks ago | insideprecisionmedicine.com | Helen Albert

AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo’s antibody drug conjugate (ADC) Enhertu shows it can also perform well as an initial therapy in a Phase III trial compared to standard first-line therapy in HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer. Enhertu, also known as trastuzumab deruxtecan, is already approved by the FDA, European Medicines Agency, and other regulators as a follow-on therapy for a number of different oncology indications, including HER2-positive breast cancer and non-small cell lung cancer.