US measles cases reach 4,080, and the CDC's count of two deaths leaves out the five that Pennsylvania reports

The rest of the day

8 more stories on this beat.

Each with its own sources. None of these is a link to the story above.

1. 02

   Shingles jab bookings double over dementia hopes

   Bookings for the shingles vaccine at Boots, a UK chain of chemists, more than doubled in the past year, and at Superdrug they rose 41%. [9] Some buyers hope it will protect them against dementia. [9] Shingles is a painful rash that appears when the chickenpox virus, asleep in the nerves since childhood, wakes up. [9] An Oxford study of over 200,000 Americans found 17% less dementia after the newer Shingrix vaccine than after an older one, 22% in women and 13% in men. [9] Most people under 65 pay about 450 pounds for two doses. [9]

   Women22%

   Men13%

   Why it matters — None of this is proof yet. [9] A study of English hospital records found no sign that the older vaccine protects, and trials in Finland and Denmark will not report for years. [9] Alzheimer's Research UK does not advise the jab to prevent dementia. [9]

2. 03

   Fresh immune cells run out faster in male mice

   A Nature Aging study looked at naive T cells, white blood cells that have not yet met a germ. [8] They come mainly from the thymus, a gland in the chest that works hardest until the teenage years, then shrinks. [8] Male mice lost them faster than females, and by middle age their lymph nodes, the small glands where immune responses start, had shrunk and spotted cancer less well. [8] Blocking male hormones regrew the thymus and restored the cells and the cancer fight in middle-aged male mice, but not old ones. [8]

   Why it matters — Men are nearly twice as likely as women to get cancer and to die of it. [8] The authors say the findings suggest ways to restore middle-aged men's immune defences, but the work is in mice, with only supporting human data. [8]

3. 04

   COVID woke sleeping lung tumours in mice

   Scientists infected mice carrying lung tumours with the virus that causes COVID-19, in experiments run at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden. [10] The infection left the lungs short of oxygen and inflamed. [10] That switched on VEGF, a signal that makes new blood vessels grow, and the new vessels fed the tumours, which grew. [10] An antibody that blocks VEGF held the tumours back. [10] Small lumps in the lungs are common in adults, and many are cancers that are not growing. [10]

   Why it matters — The authors suggest other lung infections could have the same effect. [10] This has been shown in mice only, and nobody has yet tested whether it happens in people. [10]

4. 05

   A germ sensor that helps tumours hide

   Researchers at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China, studied MDA5, a protein that cells normally use to sense viruses. [11] In patients' data, tumours with a lot of MDA5 went with shorter survival and with weaker results from immunotherapy, drugs that release the brakes on immune cells. [11] In female mice, removing MDA5 made cancer cells die in a way that alerts the immune system. [11] Killer T cells became more active, and immunotherapy worked better against several kinds of cancer. [11]

   Why it matters — The team names MDA5 as a target for future drugs. [11] There is no medicine against it yet, and the result has not been tested in people. [11]

5. 06

   Antibody cells from before birth found in adults

   Scientists led by Menna Clatworthy reported B1-like cells in the kidneys and other organs of adults, in the journal Science Immunology. [12] B1 cells are a kind of white blood cell that renew themselves and make ready-made antibodies, proteins that can stick to many different targets. [12] Mice have them, and they had been seen in human organs before birth, but it was unclear whether adults keep them. [12] The cells found in adults made antibodies on their own, without being prompted. [12]

   Why it matters — In mice these cells settle in before birth and then renew themselves, unlike the fresh T cells that the thymus makes less of with age. [12][8] The study shows where the cells are in adults, not yet what they do in illness. [12]

6. 07

   AstraZeneca opens a lab tower for 2,000 scientists

   AstraZeneca, a British drugmaker, opened an 18-storey research centre in Kendall Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Monday 5 October. [13] Nearly 2,000 scientists will work there on lung disease, obesity, breast cancer and rare diseases. [13] It stands next to the Broad Institute, a large gene research centre. [13] The building is part of a $1 billion promise to the state, with a plan to grow AstraZeneca's Massachusetts staff by more than half. [13]

   Why it matters — The site is part of Massachusetts' $4 billion Mass Leads Act, a 2024 law to attract companies, so public money is part of the draw. [13] The chief executive, Pascal Soriot, said cures for many cancers are not far away, which is a company's hope, not a result. [13]

7. 08

   UK regulator to keep watching AI medical devices

   The MHRA, the UK regulator for medicines and medical devices, will keep checking every AI-based medical device after it goes on sale. [14] Until now a device was checked once, before it reached patients. [14] The change is one of 44 recommendations from a national commission on AI in healthcare, which the UK government accepted on 6 October. [14] A plan to carry them out is due next spring. [14] The MHRA has also opened a third round of its AI Airlock, where companies test devices with the regulator watching. [14]

   Why it matters — AI devices can fail, be hacked or cause harm in new ways, so one check before sale may miss problems that appear later. [14] The rules for how the watching works are not written yet. [14]

8. 09

   A rule of three to spot cancer in children

   About 1,900 children up to the age of 14 are diagnosed with cancer each year in the UK. [15] It is the leading cause of death from disease in children under 15. [15] Just under a third of parents say they feel confident spotting the signs. [15] A national campaign backed by CCLG, a children's cancer charity, asks doctors to refer a child after three lasting symptoms, three visits or three weeks of unexplained illness. [15] About half of children are diagnosed within two weeks, but some wait up to 25 weeks. [15]

   8 of 10

   children with cancer in the UK who survive

   Why it matters — Cancer grows faster in children than in adults, and quicker diagnosis can mean gentler treatment. [15] More than eight in ten children now survive, far more than in the 1970s, and 13-year-old Amelia Carroll, diagnosed with leukaemia last year, is in remission and back at school. [15]