NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A modified form of intermittent theta-burst stimulation (iTBS) called SAINT that delivers higher doses of magnetic stimulation on an accelerated timeline and targeted to individual neurocircuitry relieved depression in 90% of patients with treatment-resistant depression in a small open-label study. SAINT, or Stanford Accelerated Intelligent Neuromodulation Therapy, "...

(Reuters Health) - The "double hit" of dementia and the coronavirus pandemic creates an especially vulnerable group of patients and caregivers, dementia experts say. During the COVID-19 outbreak in China, national organizations released guidelines about how to provide support, and multidisciplinary teams started free counseling services. Other countries can follow their approach, the experts wr...

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Shoved to the ground, splashed with bleach or glared at on public transportation, health workers face a growing tide of hostility across Latin America for potentially spreading COVID-19. For Sandra Aleman, a nurse in the city of San Luis Potosi in central Mexico, the attack began when a group of children sprayed juice and soda on her white uniform, shouting, "It's Covid!...

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Both generalists and oncologists are prescribing fewer opioids, a new analysis of Medicare data shows. From 2013 to 2017, opioid-prescribing rates among generalists dropped by 27%, while prescribing rates fell by 24% among oncologists, Dr. Trevor J. Royce of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and colleagues report in JAMA Oncology. "You really would thin...

(Reuters) - Black Americans enrolled in Medicare were around four times as likely as their white counterparts to be hospitalized for COVID-19, U.S. government data released on Monday showed, highlighting significant racial disparities in health outcomes during the pandemic. "The disparities in the data reflect longstanding challenges facing minority communities and low income older adults," sai...

SEOUL/BERLIN/LONDON (Reuters) - Some governments in Europe and Asia said on Wednesday they have enough of Gilead's COVID-19 anti-viral remdesivir for now despite fears of shortages since the U.S. drugmaker pledged most output to its home market for the next three months. The pharmaceutical company's move stirred the global debate about equitable access to drugs and brought concerns about access...

BERN (Reuters) - Switzerland needs access to a European Union early-warning system for health crises to shore up its defenses against the new coronavirus in China, Swiss health officials said on Tuesday. Under the EU's Early Warning and Response System (EWRS), member states share information to try to prevent or control cross-border threats to health. But Switzerland is not a member of the EU, ...

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Transcatheter tricuspid-valve interventions (TTVIs) can successfully reduce tricuspid regurgitation (TR) in patients with cardiac implantable electronic devices (CIED) without compromising safety, according to a retrospective study. "This is the first large series to show the feasibility of transcatheter tricuspid repair in patients with a previous CIED lead through ...

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The rate of colectomy within the first year after hospital admission for ulcerative colitis has declined in the modern era of biologics, suggesting the advent of biologic therapy has changed the natural history of the disease, researchers report. "Our data imply optimism that the natural history of needing colon surgery in acute severe ulcerative colitis may be diffe...

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Higher education level is associated with higher rates of follow-up of incidental findings from lung-cancer screening, according to a retrospective chart review. "We were expecting race to be related to lower follow-up and that what we were measuring was a combination of access to care and socioeconomic status," said Dr. Stephen A. Deppen of Vanderbilt University Med...

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - More than half of retired surgeons who responded to a survey wish they had done some things differently during their career, including spending more time with their families and taking better care of themselves. "We found it interesting that the biggest regret of retired surgeons was not having spent more time with their loved ones, while instead allocating their tim...

(Reuters Health) - High levels of exposure to traffic-related air pollution at a very young age may lead to structural changes in the brain, a new imaging study suggests. Brain scans of 12-year-old children show reduced thickness of the cortex and decreased gray matter volume in those who lived less than a quarter of a mile (400 meters) from a major highway at age 1, according to a report in PL...

By Michelle Martin and Paul Carrel BERLIN (Reuters) - Four people who work at the same company in southern Germany have been infected with the coronavirus, and one of them contracted it from a colleague visiting their workplace in China, officials said on Tuesday. The cases raise concerns about the spread of the flu-like virus that broke out in the central Chinese city of Wuhan at the end of la...

(Reuters Health) - Most U.S. adults report worrying about at least two financial issues, such as being able to afford medical bills, retirement or a child's college education, new research finds. Individuals with two or more financial worries were far more likely to suffer from serious psychological distress than those who reported fewer money concerns, Dr. Judith Weissman, a mental health rese...

(Reuters) - U.S. health officials on Tuesday reported no new deaths from the mysterious respiratory illness tied to vaping after their last update on Jan. 16, keeping the total deaths at 60. As of Jan. 21, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported 43 more cases from the illness associated with use of e-cigarettes or vaping products. The number of people hospitalized now stoo...

(Reuters) - A Harvard University department chair and two Chinese nationals who were researchers at Boston University and a Boston hospital were charged on Tuesday with lying about their alleged links to the Chinese government. The charges are part of an aggressive effort by U.S. authorities to block what they say are Chinese attempts to steal American scientific and technological advances. "Th...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP is the unnamed company that surfaced in criminal charging documents filed earlier this week in a probe of illegal kickbacks from drugmakers, according to people familiar with the matter. Purdue Pharma, which faces U.S. Justice Department probes and sprawling litigation over allegations that it played a central role in the deadly U.S. opioid ...

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - A team of scientists in Australia said on Wednesday they have successfully developed a lab-grown version of the new coronavirus, the first to be recreated outside of China, in a breakthrough that could help quicken the creation of a vaccine. The researchers at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity in Melbourne said they would share the sample, which was gr...

(Reuters) - Shares of Spring Bank Pharmaceuticals plummeted 26% on Wednesday after the company said it would end the development of an experimental drug to treat chronic hepatitis B virus, following the death of a patient in a mid-stage trial. The drug developer said the "occurrence of unexpected serious adverse events, including one patient death" while testing the drug, inarigivir soproxil, l...

GENEVA (Reuters) - The World Health Organization (WHO) praised China on Wednesday for its efforts to tackle the new coronavirus outbreak and expressed optimism that the transmission could be halted. "We are at an important juncture in this event. We believe these chains of transmission can still be interrupted," said Mike Ryan, Executive Director of WHO Health Emergencies Program who accompanie...