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The evolution of more severe infections is not necessarily driven by bacteria multiplying faster, new research shows.
Humans and animals can develop resistance to harmful bacteria (pathogens) over time or with antibiotics or vaccines, and it is usually assumed that pathogens respond by multiplying faster.
But the new study - led by the University of Exeter - shows pathogen virulence and replication rates can evolve separately.
CLEVELAND -- In a study published July 26 online in the journal Diabetes, physician-researchers from University Hospitals Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, found that the asthma medication montelukast (brand name Singulair), can inhibit early changes in diabetic retinopathy, the eye disease which develops due to diabetes, in a mouse model of type 1 diabetes.
Bottom Line: This study (called a systematic review and meta-analysis) combined the results 31 randomized clinical trials with 12,464 adolescent participants to examine whether parent-based sexual health interventions were associated with three main outcomes: delayed sexual activity, improved condom use and parent-child sexual communication.
What The Study Did: This randomized clinical trial with about 400 adults conducted in China investigated acupuncture as an added treatment to antianginal therapies in reducing the frequency of angina attacks in patients with chronic stable angina.
Authors: Fanrong Liang, M.D., of the Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Sichuan, China, is the corresponding author.
(doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2019.2407)
New research has found that antibiotic-resistant strains of Klebsiella pneumoniae, an opportunistic pathogen that can cause respiratory and bloodstream infections in humans, are spreading through hospitals in Europe. Certain strains of K. pneumoniae are resistant to the carbapenem antibiotics that represent the last line of defence in treating infections and are therefore regarded as extremely drug resistant (XDR).
Osaka, Japan - Optimal methods for predicting treatment efficacy in patients with esophageal cancer are seriously lacking. But now, researchers from Japan have found a useful alternative to existing methods for predicting patient outcomes.
Cancer researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine have identified a key to controlling the growth and progression of prostate cancer, the second most common cancer in men. The researchers have dubbed this key "HULLK," and they believe it could be used to target and stop the progression of a cancer that kills more than 30,000 American men every year.
New Rochelle, NY, July 26, 2019--A new review of Pediatric Acute Respiratory Distress Syn-drome (PARDS) highlights the lack of data available for standard treatment approaches and adjunctive therapies, leading to significant variability in patient management. This compre-hensive review article, which also identifies a great need for studies to generate outcomes data in pediatric patients with ARDS, is published in Pediatric Allergy, Immunology, and Pulmonology, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers.
COLUMBUS, Ohio - A new study has uncovered concerning gaps in knowledge about birth control effectiveness.
The research, conducted in the Vietnam capital of Hanoi, included four forms of contraception: IUDs, birth control pills, male condoms and withdrawal.
About half of the women in the study who used condoms mistakenly thought they were the most effective pregnancy prevention. Condoms are about 85 percent effective.
Researchers at the University of Houston have found neuro biomarkers for Parkinson's disease that can help create the next generation of "smart" deep brain stimulators, able to respond to specific needs of Parkinson's disease patients. Those with the disease often undergo the high-frequency brain stimulation, a well-established therapy for the progressive nervous system disorder that affects movement, but the therapy has been imprecise.
It's not the operating room that is risky for patients undergoing noncardiac surgery; it's the recovery period. According to a large international study, only 0.7% of deaths in these patients occurred in the operating room, whereas 29% of deaths occurred after discharge from hospital. The study, which included patients at 28 centres in 14 countries, was published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).
Bottom Line: The proportion of U.S. adults adhering to the "Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans" from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services didn't significantly improve between 2007 and 2016 but time spent sitting increased. The first edition of the federal guidelines recommending types and duration of physical activity were released in 2008 and updated in 2018, including a recommendation to spend less time sitting.
Bottom Line: Symptoms of physician burnout appear to be associated with greater bias toward black people in this study of nearly 3,400 second-year resident physicians in the United States who identified as nonblack. Survey data from questionnaires that were part of another study were used. About 45% of physician residents had symptoms of burnout.
Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) is a very unusual disease: Often classified as a cancer because of uncontrolled cell growth in different parts of the body, it also has features of an autoimmune disease, as LCH lesions attract immune cells and show characteristic tissue inflammation. LCH is clinically variable and often difficult to diagnose. Skin involvement in babies with LCH can look like a nappy rash, whereas bone involvement can be mistaken as sarcoma in an X-ray picture. In its most aggressive form, LCH can present as leukaemia-like disease and lead to organ failure.
New Haven, Conn. -- County- and municipality-level bans on tobacco sales to individuals under age 21 yield substantive reductions in smoking among 18- to 20-year-olds, according to a new study from the Yale School of Public Health.
Published online in the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research, the study examines how "tobacco-21 laws" affect smoking among 18- to 20-year-olds residing in metropolitan/micropolitan statistical areas (MMSAs), which are clusters of adjacent counties that include an urban center with at least 10,000 residents.