A Phase I/II randomized trial compared results from the measles and rubella vaccine delivered by a microarray patch, a small sticking plaster-like device with an array of microscopic projections that painlessly penetrate the skin and deliver the vaccine, or by conventional injection with a needle and syringe.

Inhaling the synthetic opioid fentanyl may cause potentially irreversible brain damage (toxic leukoencephalopathy), warn doctors in the journal BMJ Case Reports, after treating a middle-aged man found unresponsive in his hotel room after snorting the drug.

Exhaled breath may be very promising alternative to blood for the therapeutic monitoring of antibiotics, the ESCMID Global Congress (formerly ECCMID) in Barcelona, Spain (27-30 April) will hear.

The relationship between living in a polluted city like São Paulo (Brazil) and lung disease or cancer is well known. But the problems go further. Unprecedented research shows that long-term exposure to air pollution is directly linked to increased heart risks in residents of the capital of the state of the same name. People with high blood pressure are at even greater risk.

The Korea Institute of Industrial Technology (KITECH) has introduced a new solution in the form of a transparent mask, addressing concerns surrounding microplastic pollution and harmful solvents of conventional fibrous masks.