Jun 14th, 2021 - Historic changes to blood donation eligibility criteria in England, Scotland, and Wales were implemented on World Blood Donor Day (14 June), and enable more men who have sex with men (MSM) to donate blood, platelets, and plasma. Under the revised eligibility rules, donors will no longer be asked if they are MSM, thereby ending the assessment based on the previous population-based risks. Instead...

Jun 14th, 2021 - Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved StrataGraft for the treatment of adult patients with thermal burns containing intact dermal elements (remaining deep skin layers) for which surgical intervention is clinically indicated (also referred to as deep partial thickness burns).

Jun 14th, 2021 - For the eighth consecutive year, Boston Children's Hospital has captured the no. 1 spot in the national honor roll of U.S. News & World Report's Best Children's Hospitals. Released today, the 2021–2022 rankings, which acknowledge 50 US centers for delivering exceptional care in several specialties, also give the Massachusetts hospital the top spot in 4 of 10 pediatric specialties assessed: neph...

Jun 14th, 2021 - Takeaway Young women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) had an increased risk of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE), whether as a composite outcome (myocardial infarction [MI], angina and revascularisation) or as individual outcomes. Weight gain, type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and social deprivation increased the risk of progression to MACE. Why this matters International PCOS guide...

Jun 14th, 2021 - UK cancer patients were significantly more likely to die from COVID-19 infection than their counterparts in the European Union (EU), even after taking into account their age, tumour stage and COVID-19 severity, suggests a UK data analysis. The results highlight that UK cancer patients are a "high-risk" group that "should be prioritised" for COVID-19 vaccination as the pandemic continues to evol...

Jun 13th, 2021 - Psoriasis affects at least 100 million people worldwide, with plaque psoriasis (also referred to as psoriasis vulgaris) being the most common form. Although many different medication options are available for psoriasis, the type of treatment prescribed is chosen on the basis of severity and percentage of body surface area (BSA) affected (eg, mild, moderate, moderate to severe, or severe disease...

Jun 13th, 2021 - Editor's note, 14 June 2021: This article was updated with information from Public Health England, and a Downing Street briefing. These are the UK coronavirus stories you need to know about today. 4-Week Delay to Easing England's Lockdown Prime Minister Boris Johnson was due to confirm today the next stage of his roadmap for unlocking restrictions in England on 21 June. Instead he told a Downin...

Jun 13th, 2021 - NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Researchers and clinicians in Latin America suggest a potential synergistic epidemic, or syndemic, between helminth infection and COVID-19 and urge research on strategies to decrease helminth co-infection before implementation of a COVID-19-vaccine initiative. "The effects of these pathogens on COVID-19 vaccines efficacy must be considered during the current deployme...

Jun 13th, 2021 - NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC)'s pathologic prognostic staging system low-risk Recurrence Score (RS) for downstaging breast cancer should be expanded from < 11 to less than < 18, researchers suggest. "We are increasingly understanding the importance of tumor biology in breast cancer, and the added prognostic value of genomic assays, including the Oncot...

Jun 13th, 2021 - (Reuters Health) - Patients who receive biologic infusions at home may have a higher risk of adverse events than those who receive the infusions at a health care facility, a new study suggests. Researchers examined administrative claims data on 57,220 adults who received a total of 752,150 biologic infusions for immune-mediated disease between 2007 and 2017. The analysis included a total of 34,...

Jun 13th, 2021 - Dr Erika B. Parente It follows that, as the prevalence of obesity among people with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) increases, so would the incidence of nonalcoholic fatty liver (NAFL), as it does in type 2 diabetes. However, researchers in Finland report that the incidence of NAFL in T1DM is much lower, and that the use of the waist-to-height ratio to calculate midsection girth could be a low-...

Jun 13th, 2021 - SOMA, Japan (Reuters) - Tamio Hayashi, 77, doubted he could ever navigate the internet systems set up to register for COVID-19 vaccines across most of Japan. He hated the idea of using the "troublesome" systems that have broken down and befuddled other older residents, hobbling Japan's inoculation push. Luckily, local officials in his small, northeastern town helped him through the red tape and...

Jun 13th, 2021 - LIDDERWAT, India (Reuters) - As India rushes to vaccinate its people against the coronavirus, medical workers often have to trek to perilous heights and across treacherous terrain to reach those in remote areas. In the northern region of Lidderwat, more than 100 km (60 miles) from the capital of India-administered Kashmir, medical teams have had to trek more than six hours on foot and ponies to...

Jun 13th, 2021 - Among adults in a weight management program in six countries who replied to a survey, more than half reported experiencing weight-related stigma — being teased or treated unfairly or being discriminated against by others because of weight. Moreover, in each country they were commonly stigmatized by family members, starting at a young age, and by doctors, shows the research. People with overweig...

Jun 13th, 2021 - STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Swedish health officials warned on Friday of worrying local outbreaks of the COVID delta variant and urged people to get vaccinated to avoid a fourth wave of the pandemic. Sweden, an outlier in the fight against the pandemic with its no-lockdown policy, has seen a steep decline in cases and hospitalisations in the past month after surges in infections in the spring. Close ...

Jun 13th, 2021 - Editor's note: Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in Medscape's Coronavirus Resource Center. The CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices is scheduled to meet this week to discuss reports about heart inflammation in adolescents who have received a COVID-19 vaccine, according to ABC News. The CDC has received 226 reports of myocarditis in people who are under age 30 and have re...

Jun 13th, 2021 - NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Patients with type 1 diabetes may be at greater risk of cognitive decline as they age, especially if they have high blood sugar, bouts of severe hypoglycemia and/or high blood pressure, researchers say. For individuals with type 1 diabetes, "the effectiveness of avoiding high blood pressure and high blood sugar levels over time on cognitive function is very consisten...

Jun 13th, 2021 - (Reuters) - Europe's drug regulator said on Friday batches of Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine made for the region around the time when contamination issues were revealed at a U.S. manufacturing site would, as a precaution, not be used. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) did not say how many shots were affected, but Reuters has reported it involves millions of doses, making it harder for J...

Jun 13th, 2021 - SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A jury on Thursday awarded nearly $15 million to five people who lost eggs or embryos when a cryogenic storage tank failed at a fertility clinic. A federal jury made the award in a lawsuit filed over the 2018 tank failure at the Pacific Fertility Center in San Francisco that destroyed about 3,500 frozen eggs and embryos. The award — including more than $14 million in damage...

Jun 13th, 2021 - (Reuters Health) - Nine in 10 U.S. adults may have inadequate knowledge about palliative care, particularly if they're infrequent users of health care, a new study suggests. Researchers examined data on responses from a total of 3,450 participants in the 2018 National Cancer Institute Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) 5 Cycle 2 to assess overall familiarity with palliative care ...