Oct 3rd, 2022 - The antifibrotic pirfenidone (Esbriet) did not change the decline in forced vital capacity percentage (FVC%) from baseline of 10% or more or the risk of death compared with placebo in patients with rheumatoid arthritis-associated interstitial lung disease (RA-ILD). However, the drug appeared to slow the rate of decline in lung function, a phase 2 study indicated.

Oct 3rd, 2022 - I hear other doctors talk about online reviews, both good and bad. I recently read a piece where a practice gave doctors a bonus for getting 5-star reviews, though it doesn’t say if they were penalized for getting bad reviews.

Oct 3rd, 2022 - Posimir® (bupivacaine solution) is now available for postsurgical analgesia for up to 72 hours following arthroscopic subacromial decompression. Posimir is a novel formulation of bupivacaine, an amide local anesthetic, designed to be administered into the subacromial space under direct arthroscopic visualization. The depot product uses a sucrose-based biodegradable matrix (sucrose acetate isobu...

Oct 3rd, 2022 - Health officials worldwide can still take steps to contain the monkeypox outbreak, says Dr Alissa Davis, Associate Professor at the Columbia School of Social Work, but it will require addressing the challenges of stigma, misinformation, and health inequity. “Overall case numbers of monkeypox are growing, although the number of new infections has recently been trending downward,” says Davis, an ...

Oct 3rd, 2022 - Topline results were announced from a large global phase 3 confirmatory study of lecanemab for the treatment of early Alzheimer disease. Lecanemab is a humanized monoclonal antibody that works by selectively binding to, neutralizing, and eliminating soluble toxic amyloid beta aggregates. The investigational agent was by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in July 2022 for the treatment of mi...

Oct 3rd, 2022 - Young children and adolescent patients present differently with eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE), according to study results published in the Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition. For the study, researchers sourced data from the European Pediatric Eosinophilic Esophagitis Registry (pEEr) registry, which was initiated in 2015 by the Eosinophilic Gastrointestinal Disorders Working Gr...

Oct 3rd, 2022 - According to the second law of thermodynamics, it is inevitable that entropy will continue to increase over time. 1 Entropy is a measure of disorder, which can eventuate in chaos and lead to profound uncertainty, with serious psychological consequences.

Oct 3rd, 2022 - Murray et al have written a timely, thoughtful, and useful article (“Smoking cessation: Varenicline and the risk of neuropsychiatric adverse events,” Current Psychiatry, July 2022, p. 41-45) about the role of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor partial agonist varenicline for helping patients stop smoking, which is still the main preventable cause of morbidity and premature death.

Oct 3rd, 2022 - The blood-brain barrier (BBB) is an essential barrier of closely spaced cells that regulates entry into the CNS. What passes should be highly regulated to protect the brain from potentially harmful peripheral cells or molecules from the rest of the body.

Oct 3rd, 2022 - Caused by the same family of viruses (Poxviridae) as the variola virus, monkeypox was discovered in 1958 after outbreaks occurred among research monkeys. It was first identified in humans in 1970. Before the 2022 outbreak, nearly all cases seen outside Africa were linked to the continent via travel or animal export. However, data suggest that men who have sex with men (MSM) account for a sizeab...

Oct 3rd, 2022 - As a family medicine physician specializing in HIV for over two decades, standing up for my patients' rights and speaking out against discrimination in healthcare have become an unavoidable and integral part of caring for my patients. When the Trump Administration in 2019 launched an initiative to end the HIV epidemic in the United States by 2030 featuring HIV preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) as ...

Oct 3rd, 2022 - The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted an accelerated approval for a new drug, futibatinib (Lytgobi), to be used for patients with a certain type of biliary tract cancer. Futibatinib was granted priority review and breakthrough designation, the agency said in its announcement. Futibatinib is indicated for use in adult patients with previously treated, unresectable, locally advanc...

Oct 3rd, 2022 - Ruxolitinib (Opzelura) cream can help repigment the skin in many body areas affected with vitiligo, researchers reported at the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology (EADV) 2022 Annual Meeting. Those difficult areas include the hands and feet, said Thierry Passeron, MD, PhD, of Université Côte d'Azur and Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Nice in France. Indeed, a 50% or greater impr...

Oct 3rd, 2022 - Medical cannabis may be an important alternative to opioids for pain management, new research suggests. In a large survey, patients with a variety of ailments, including pain and mental health problems, reported less pain and better functioning, after using medical cannabis — and most were able to stop or cut back on their opioid use. "Some patients wish to move away from opioid-based pain medi...

Oct 3rd, 2022 - Editor's note: Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in Medscape's Coronavirus Resource Center. Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, the U.S. federal government has supervised the purchasing and distribution of vaccines, tests, and treatments. Many Americans saw for the first time what publicly funded healthcare could do as citizens were able to access prevention and treatment without for-pro...

Sep 30th, 2022 - Adding venetoclax (Venclexta) to a gilteritinib (Xospata) regimen appeared to improve outcomes in refractory/relapsed FLT3-mutated acute myeloid leukemia (AML), a new industry-funded phase 1b study reported. “The combination of venetoclax and gilteritinib is a highly active and tolerable oral combination regimen that potentially improves response frequency and depth over existing standards in a.

Sep 30th, 2022 - Shortly after osimertinib was approved for patients with non–small cell lung cancer in 2020 by the Food and Drug Administration, a patient came to me with increasing shortness of breath. He had been on erlotinib (Tarceva) for about 2 years and had done well.

Sep 30th, 2022 - BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company), a leading global medical technology company, announced a voluntary recall on June 23, 2020 for specified catalog numbers of the ChloraPrep™ 3 mL applicator due to possible fungal contamination, which only affects climate zone IV regions in specific U.S. territories and countries (see list of catalog numbers and regions impacted by this issue below). BD has id...

Sep 30th, 2022 - Chronic hydroxychloroquine therapy did not have a preventative effect against COVID-19 infection in patients with rheumatic conditions compared with those without rheumatic conditions, according to study findings published in American Journal of the Medical Sciences. Researchers in Oklahoma conducted a retrospective, nationwide, observational study across all Veterans Health Administration (VHA...

Sep 30th, 2022 - Vaccination against COVID-19 was not found to increase incidence of disease flares in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) compared with those who were unvaccinated, according to study findings published in Vaccine. Researchers at the Department of Medicine at Tuen Mun Hospital in Hong Kong conducted a retrospective study to analyze patterns of vaccine hesitancy, vaccination status,...