Mar 21st, 2023 - For patients admitted to the intensive care unit with severe community-acquired pneumonia, treatment with hydrocortisone led to a lower risk of death at 28 days versus placebo, a phase III randomized trial in France showed. Among nearly 800 patients who received standard therapy, death had occurred by day 28 in 6.2% of those in the hydrocortisone group compared with 11.9% of those in the placeb...

Mar 21st, 2023 - Gov. Gavin Newsom on March 18 announced the selection of Utah-based generic drug manufacturer Civica to produce low-cost insulin for California, an unprecedented move that makes good on his promise to put state government in direct competition with the brand-name drug companies that dominate the market.

Mar 21st, 2023 - Note that some links may require subscriptions. President Joe Biden signed a bill requiring the declassification of information related to the origins of the COVID-19. (Reuters) The DEA issued an alert regarding the widespread threat of fentanyl mixed with the veterinary tranquilizer xylazine. The world's top climate scientists have issued "a survival guide for humanity". (CNBC) Current and for...

Mar 20th, 2023 - Compared with standard fractionation, hyperfractionated intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) could significantly increase overall survival (OS), as well as reduce the rate of severe late complications in patients with locally advanced recurrent nasopharyngeal carcinoma, according to Chinese investigators. Their phase III trial showed that patients randomized to hyperfractionated IMRT had bet...

Mar 17th, 2023 - Lanolin, known mainly for its emollient properties, has been named by the American Contact Dermatitis Society as the Contact Allergen of the Year for 2023. Lanolin is a complex and varying mixture of high molecular weight esters, aliphatic alcohols, sterols, fatty acids, and hydrocarbons, but the allergic components are mainly the free lanolin alcohols, especially alkanediols, said Donald V.

Mar 17th, 2023 - A cohort study of Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries with sickle cell disease (SCD) showed a life expectancy of just 52.6 years, well below that of the general population. And among SCD patients, survival varied by sex and insurance status. Men, individuals covered by Medicare for disabilities or end-stage renal disease (ESRD), and the dual-eligible were groups with particularly short life exp...

Mar 17th, 2023 - For the first time, cases of paralytic polio have been linked to the novel oral polio vaccine type 2 (nOPV2), with multiple cases detected in Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) announced on Thursday. Circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) was found in stool samples from seven children with acute flaccid paralysis in...

Human infections with avian influenza A viruses are uncommon but have occurred sporadically in many countries, usually after unprotected exposures (e.g. not using respiratory or eye protection) to infected poultry or virus-contaminated environments and have resulted in mild-to-severe illness with a wide range of symptoms and complications.

Mar 17th, 2023 - B. Braun Medical Inc. (B. Braun) is voluntarily recalling five (5) lots of 0.9% Sodium Chloride for Injection USP 250ML in Excel within the United States to the hospital/user level. The voluntary recall has been initiated due to fluid leakage or low fill volume of the respective containers. The biggest risk with a slow leak in any intravenous solution preparation is a break in sterility which p...

Mar 17th, 2023 - Note that some links may require subscriptions. A new analysis of genetic samples from China appears to link the origin of COVID-19 to raccoon dogs. (The Atlantic) What's a raccoon dog, anyhow? (Wikipedia) After a 2-year pandemic spike, maternal deaths in 2022 appear to have returned to pre-pandemic levels, according to preliminary data from the CDC. (AP) Another tickborne illness, babesiosis, ...

Mar 16th, 2023 - Men who played elite soccer were more likely to develop neurodegenerative diseases -- notably, dementia -- as they aged, a study in Sweden showed. The risk of neurodegenerative disease was 46% higher among soccer players who played in the Swedish top division than in the general population (HR 1.46, 95% CI 1.33-1.60), according to Peter Ueda, MD, PhD, of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, a...

Mar 16th, 2023 - The FDA authorized the U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company, a subsidiary of tobacco giant Altria, to market Copenhagen Classic Snuff as less likely to cause lung cancer than cigarettes. The loose moist snuff smokeless tobacco product had already been on the market with standard tobacco warning labels; now it can carry this claim: "IF YOU SMOKE, CONSIDER THIS: Switching completely to this product fro...

Chronic diseases account for most of the disease burden in low- and middle-income countries, particularly those in Asia. Researchers reviewed literature on chronic disease risk factors in Viet Nam to identify patterns and data gaps. This study summarizes relevant study information in tables listing available studies, risk factors measured, and the prevalence of these risk factors.

Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are a major public health threat, particularly in developing countries. In sub-Saharan Africa, the scarcity of reliable data on NCDs in the general population makes it difficult to develop efficient prevention strategies. The objective of this cross-sectional study was to assess the prevalence of 4 cardiometabolic NCDs among 402 private-sector workers in Dakar, S...

Mar 16th, 2023 - Patients with treatment-resistant granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA) may see improvement with tofacitinib (Xeljanz), results of a small trial suggested. Among 11 patients for whom at least four previous drugs had failed, seven showed strong responses when put on the oral Janus-associated kinase (JAK) inhibitor, reported Louise Linde, MD, PhD, of Copenhagen University Hospital in Denmark, an...

Mar 16th, 2023 - The UK, along with 117 other countries, exceeded the World Health Organization target on fine particulate matter in 2022, a report on world air quality shows. Only 12 countries were within the guideline value of 5 μg/m3 for annual PM2.5 concentrations, said the fifth annual study by IQAir, a Switzerland based air technology group.1 These included Australia, New Zealand, Estonia, and Finland.

Mar 16th, 2023 - A recent study makes it clear: Countries like Sweden that can link data from different areas - such as the labor market and health care - have a decisive advantage when it comes to setting targeted actions. A research team from the Complexity Science Hub, together with scientists from Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands, investigated the extent to which mental and somatic illnesses influence in...

Mar 16th, 2023 - The rapidly-growing bottled water industry can undermine progress towards a key sustainable development goal: safe water for all, says a new United Nations report. Based on an analysis of literature and data from 109 countries, the report says that in just five decades bottled water has developed into “a major and essentially standalone economic sector,” experiencing 73% growth from 2010 to 202...

Mar 16th, 2023 - DETROIT – Henry Ford Health’s success with empowerment of women, promotion of veterans, development of entry-level employees, and support of LGBTQ+ team members and overall culture has landed it on Newsweek’s list of “America’s Greatest Workplaces for Diversity 2023.” This particular list is Newsweek’s first and is grouped by six main economic sectors and 34 industries including healthcare. Hen...

Mar 16th, 2023 - Wolfgang Fink’s selection as this year’s recipient of the SPIE Aden and Marjorie Meinel Technology Achievement Award continues a distinguished legacy of optics and photonics at the University of Arizona. He received the award for his pioneering work on ophthalmic technologies, including visual prostheses and diagnostic methods. SPIE, or the International Society for Optics and Photonics, has re...