Oct 19th, 2022 - An international team of scientists who analyzed centuries-old DNA from victims and survivors of the Black Death pandemic has identified key genetic differences that determined who lived and who died, and how those aspects of our immune systems have continued to evolve since that time. Researchers from McMaster University, the University of Chicago, the Pasteur Institute and other organizati...

Oct 19th, 2022 - Surges of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections among health care workers (HCWs) have led to critical staffing shortages. From January 4 to February 4, 2022, we implemented a return-to-work antigen testing program for HCWs, and 870 HCWs participated. Antigen test positivity was 60.5% for those ≤5 days from symptom onset or positive polymerase chain reaction (PC...

Oct 19th, 2022 - Infectious diseases are among the strongest selective pressures driving human evolution1,2. This includes the single greatest mortality event in recorded history, the first outbreak of the second pandemic of plague, commonly called the Black Death, which was caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis3. This pandemic devastated Afro-Eurasia, killing up to 30–50% of the population4. To identify loci...

Oct 18th, 2022 - One of the cornerstones of management during the COVID-19 pandemic has been to isolate individuals with infection to prevent viral spread. Guidelines for most of the pandemic have recommended 10 days of isolation.1 However, this prolonged period of isolation can lead to lost wages, workforce shortages, and other negative socioeconomic factors.

Jan 30th, 2023 - Myelofibrosis treatment with the Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor momelotinib resulted in clinically significant improvements in symptoms and spleen response compared with danazol for symptomatic, JAK inhibitor-exposed patients with anemia and intermediate- or high-risk disease, the phase III MOMENTUM trial showed. A significantly greater proportion of patients in the momelotinib group reported a ≥...

Jan 30th, 2023 - Vinod Chandran, MBBS, MD, DM, PhD Most patients develop psoriatic arthritis (PsA) after the onset of cutaneous psoriasis. The path toward long-term remission of PsA may be by early diagnosis and effective treatment prior to the onset of joint damage.

Jan 30th, 2023 - Although rare, acute hepatic porphyrias (AHPs) may be more common than previously thought, particularly among women between ages 15 and 50, according to a new clinical practice update from the American Gastroenterological Association. For acute attacks, treatment should include intravenous hemin, and for patients with recurrent attacks, a newly-approved therapy called givosiran should be consid.

Jan 30th, 2023 - Patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) showed reduced antibody responses following COVID-19 vaccination, with drugs for the condition such as belimumab (Benlysta) and mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) likely to blame, researchers said. Immunoglobulin G (IgG) titers measured 2 weeks after the second dose of mRNA COVID vaccines were lower by about 20% among 342 lupus patients compared with th...

Jan 30th, 2023 - The FDA has granted accelerated approval to pirtobrutinib (Jaypirca), a non-covalent or reversible Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor, for the treatment of relapsed or refractory mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) after at least two prior lines of systemic therapy, including a BTK inhibitor. Pirtobrutinib is the first BTK inhibitor of any kind specifically approved for patients with MCL that has ...

Jan 30th, 2023 - At least 22 viral illnesses were linked with an increased risk of subsequent neurodegenerative disease, NIH researchers found. Using data from the U.K. and Finland, Mike Nalls, PhD, of the NIH Center for Alzheimer's and Related Dementias, and co-authors identified 45 viral exposures that were tied to an increased risk of dementia or other neurodegenerative diseases and replicated 22 of these as...

Oct 17th, 2022 - Hair products may contain hazardous chemicals with endocrine-disrupting and carcinogenic properties. Previous studies have found hair product use to be associated with a higher risk of hormone-sensitive cancers including breast and ovarian cancer; however, to our knowledge, no previous study has investigated the relationship with uterine cancer.

Jan 30th, 2023 - A woman in her late 40s presented with painful ulcers in her groin and armpits that hadn't healed in 3 years, an Indian group reported in JAMA Dermatology. The woman explained that when the sores first appeared, they were just itchy, oozing, reddish bumps; over time, they worsened to form painful, pus-filled oozing ulcers. She had been treated with numerous courses of antibiotics, antifungals, ...

Jan 29th, 2023 - Additional videos from SGS are available here, including these recent offerings: Tips and tricks for a successful rollerball endometrial ablation Resection of infected sacrohysteropexy mesh Surgical techniques for excision of juvenile cystic adenomyoma.

cases indicate a stronger link to soil transmission, possible seasonal variation, and a milder course of disease.

Jan 29th, 2023 - The risk of postoperative recurrence is higher in lung cancer patients who smoke than non-smokers. However, objective evaluation of the postoperative recurrence risk is difficult using conventional pathological prognostic factors because of their lack of reproducibility. Consequently, novel objective biomarkers that reflect postoperative risk in lung cancer patients who smoke must be identified...

Jan 29th, 2023 - Microscopic examination is commonly used for malaria diagnosis in the field. However, the lack of well-trained microscopists in malaria-endemic areas impacted the most by the disease is a severe problem. Besides, the examination process is time-consuming and prone to human error. Automated diagnostic systems based on machine learning offer great potential to overcome these problems. This study ...

Jan 29th, 2023 - Disseminated cryptococcal infection is especially prone to occur in immunosuppressed hosts. We herein report the case of an immunosuppressed girl with disseminated cryptococcal infection in whom pulmonary cryptococcosis (PC) presented as diffuse cavitary pulmonary nodules, a finding which has rarely been reported. A 16-year-old immunocompromised girl presented with fever and a non-productive co...

Jan 29th, 2023 - Ramsay-Hunt syndrome (RHS) due to varicella zoster virus (VZV) infection is commonly reported in individuals aged at least 50 years or immunocompromised individuals. VZV infection may invade the central nervous system (CNS) and cause meningitis or encephalitis, which are more likely to occur in patients with chronic diseases such as diabetes and chronic renal failure. However, cases with VZV-in...

Jan 29th, 2023 - A gunshot wound to the colon is a frequent injury in armed conflicts. An example of a high-energy modern weapon is hollow-point bullets, which is associated with increased tissue damage and lethal outcome. The aim of this study was to evaluate gunshot injuries to the colon in combat patients and to assess the difference in clinical features of patients with colon injuries by hollow-point versus...

Jan 29th, 2023 - Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), one of the most common types of cancers worldwide, is diagnosed mainly through tissue biopsy. However, owing to the tumor heterogeneity and other drawbacks, such as the invasiveness of the biopsy procedure and high cost and limited usefulness of longitudinal surveillance, there has been a focus on adopting more rapid, economical, and noninvasive screening me...