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Last year, a record number of heart transplants were performed in the U.S., but analyses of the data show a dark reason behind this good news: A sharp rise in organ donations is largely driven by the U.S. drug-abuse epidemic. A new study published in The New England Journal of Medicine by investigators from Brigham and Women's Hospital and University of Utah, examines survival outcomes for patients who have received organs from donors who died of drug intoxication.

Cannabidiol (CBD), a compound derived from the cannabis plant that does not produce a "high" and has been an increasing focus of medical research, was shown in a new large-scale, randomized, controlled trial to significantly reduce the number of dangerous seizures in patients with a severe form of epilepsy called Lennox-Gastaut syndrome.

Patients with stroke caused by bleeding on the brain (intracerebral haemorrhage) may benefit from receiving a drug currently used to treat blood loss from major trauma and bleeding after childbirth, an international trial has revealed.

The study, led by experts at The University of Nottingham and funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment Programme, found that giving tranexamic acid (TXA) to people who had experienced intracerebral haemorrhage reduced the number of deaths in the early days following the stroke.

Pediatric asthma takes a heavy toll on patients and families alike. Affecting more than 7 million children in the U.S., it's the most common nonsurgical diagnosis for pediatric hospital admission, with costs of more than $570 million annually. Understanding how to care for these young patients has significantly improved in the last several decades, leading the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to issue evidence-based guidelines on pediatric asthma in 1990.

Older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), often a precursor to Alzheimer's, showed significant improvement with certain complex thinking and memory skills after exergaming, according to a new study.

The results could encourage seniors, caregivers and health care providers to pursue or prescribe exergames (video games that also require physical exercise) in hopes of slowing the debilitating effects of those with MCI, sometimes a stage between normal brain aging and dementia.

Gout, a painful inflammatory arthritis, is not associated with an increased risk of fracture, according to a large study led by Keele University, and published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).

These results contrast with those of previous studies, which found higher risk of fracture in people with gout.

Montreal, May 11 2018 -- Historically, our view of host defense against infection was that we must eliminate pathogens to eradicate disease. However, this perspective has recently been challenged as scientists have taken a lesson from plant biologists about an ancient strategy involving the ability to "tolerate" rather than "resist" infection to maintain health. This concept, referred to as "disease toler-ance", provides an opportunity to develop new strategies that mitigate the consequences of infection.