Results from a 10-year study of children and adolescents who underwent a common weight loss operation to treat severe obesity show they safely have long-lasting major weight loss and improvement of their obesity-related medical problems without stunting their growth in height. The study, involving the longest known follow-up of pediatric…
When COVID patients are intubated in ICU, the trauma lingers long after the emergency
The current wave of COVID cases is leading to more hospital and intensive care (ICU) admissions. Frontline health workers and experts use the term “intubation” for the extra breathing support some patients need in an emergency. But many people don’t know what this procedure involves and the trauma it can…
One in four cancer patients lack sufficient immunity against measles and mumps, study finds
Researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center have published findings in the journal JAMA Network Open indicating that many cancer patients lack sufficient immune protection against the measles and mumps viruses. The highest risk groups within the study were young adults and bone marrow transplant recipients, providing information to clinicians…
Heart failure patients may be at higher cancer risk
Living with heart failure is hard enough, but a new study suggests that these patients may also face a higher risk of cancer. Researchers looked at more than 100,000 heart failure patients and the same number of people without heart failure. Their average age was just over 72 and none…
Blood cancer patients with COVID-19 fare better with convalescent plasma
A large, retrospective, multicenter study involving Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis indicates that convalescent plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients can dramatically improve likelihood of survival among blood cancer patients hospitalized with the virus. The therapy involves transfusing plasma — the pale yellow liquid in blood that is…
India virus patients suffocate from low oxygen amid surge
Authorities scrambled anew Saturday to supply medical oxygen to Indian hospitals where COVID-19 patients were suffocating amid low supplies as the country with the world’s worst coronavirus surge set a new global daily record of infections for the third straight day. The 346,786 infections over the past day brought India’s…
Research identifies gender bias in estimation of patients’ pain
“On a scale of one to 10, how much pain are you in?” In a recent study published by the Journal of Pain, co-authored by Elizabeth Losin, assistant professor of psychology and director of the Social and Cultural Neuroscience lab at the University of Miami, researchers found that a patient’s…
OCD patients with comorbidities respond well to deep brain stimulation
A new study published in Frontiers in Psychiatry finds that patients with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) as well as other psychiatric comorbidities, such as autism spectrum or tic disorders, may respond well to Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS). DBS is a minimally invasive neurosurgical procedure that uses coordinates to target certain…
Surgery is a viable treatment for pancreatic cancer patients especially after chemotherapy
Patients with stage II pancreatic cancer who are treated with chemotherapy followed by resection (an operation that removes the cancerous part of the organ, structure or tissue) live nearly twice as long as patients who receive only chemotherapy, according to a new Journal of the American College of Surgeons study…
To avoid withdrawal symptoms, patients should slowly decrease doses of antipsychotics over months or even years
Withdrawing from antipsychotics may require months or even years, and patients need to gradually reduce to very low doses, according to a new analysis led by UCL and King’s College London academics. The review, published in Schizophrenia Bulletin, is the first-ever scientific paper outlining how exactly antipsychotic medication should be…
Humira (adalimumab) Receives FDA Approval to Treat Pediatric Patients Living with Moderately to Severely Active Ulcerative Colitis
NORTH CHICAGO, Ill., Feb. 24, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV) today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Humira (adalimumab) for the treatment of moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis in pediatric patients 5 years of age and older. In clinical trials, Humira induced clinical remission…