Mark Lewis, MD, saw the pain in his patient’s body. The man’s gastrointestinal tumor had metastasized to his bones. Even breathing had become agonizing. It was a Friday afternoon. Lewis could see his patient would struggle to make it through the weekend without some pain relief. When this happens, “the clock is ticking,” said Lewis, […]

Extremely preterm infants remain a very high-risk category for illness and mortality. Prior research indicates this may be mitigated by feeding preterm infants with human milk fortified with a human milk-based fortifier (HMBF). A new research paper in The Lancet’s eClinical Medicine journal explores the effects of such feeding vs. fortifiers produced from cow’s milk. […]

Move over, Alexa and Siri. A digital conversation agent called CeCe helped reduced symptom severity and improved quality of life in adults with an overactive bladder (OAB) in an 8-week study. People with an OAB have higher rates of anxiety, depression, and loneliness and spend up to 2.5 times more on their healthcare than those […]

Monitoring glucose levels is one of the key elements in health monitoring. A research team has now developed a battery-independent fluorescent nanosensor based on single-wall carbon nanotubes and an inactive form of the enzyme glucose oxidase (GOx). Because the enzyme is not in its active form, the analyte is not consumed during the measurement, and […]

TOPLINE:  Dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) with clopidogrel-aspirin given within 72 hours of a mild ischemic stroke or a high-risk transient ischemic attack (TIA) shows a greater risk reduction for new stroke than aspirin alone, although with a higher bleeding risk. METHODOLOGY: The INSPIRES, a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, involved patients with mild ischemic stroke or high-risk […]

A growing number of states are opening taxpayer-funded health insurance programs to immigrants, including those living in the U.S. without authorization, even as Republicans assail President Joe Biden over a dramatic increase in illegal crossings of the southern border. Eleven states and Washington, D.C., together provide full health insurance coverage to more than 1 million […]

The prevalence of clinically meaningful conjunctivitis in patients taking dupilumab for atopic dermatitis (AD) is likely about 2%, and it most often occurs in the first 16 weeks of therapy. Those are key findings from an analysis of published trials of dupilumab for AD and other conditions that study author Matthew Zirwas, MD, presented during […]

Artificial intelligence (AI) holds the promise of identifying premalignant and advanced malignant lesions during colonoscopy that might otherwise be missed.  Is it living up to that promise?  It seems that depends on where, how, and by whom it’s being implemented. Clinical Trials vs the Real World The majority of randomized clinical trials of AI use […]

In a Viewpoint article published Dec. 27, 2023, in JAMA Surgery, three Johns Hopkins researchers urge the medical community to dismiss a widely held, but scientifically unsupported belief that many people who are transgender and gender diverse (TGD), and undergo gender affirming surgery (GAS), later regret their decision to undergo such procedures. The researchers are: […]

TOPLINE: ChatGPT offers mostly accurate insights into cardiac arrest, benefiting laypeople, but cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)-related answers require improvement. METHODOLOGY: A list of 40 cardiac arrest- and CPR-related questions was prepared. ChatGPT responses to the questions were assessed and rated by 14 healthcare professionals and 16 laypeople on a scale of 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent). […]