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Scientists have identified metabolites in the blood that accurately predict whether a woman will develop type 2 diabetes after experiencing a transient form of illness during pregnancy. This discovery could lead to a test that would help doctors identify patients at greatest risk and help them potentially avert the disease through interventions including diet and exercise.
Researchers at the University of Nebraska Medical Center have identified a key cell signaling pathway that drives the devastating muscle loss, or cachexia, suffered by many cancer patients. The study, which will be published May 22 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, suggests that targeting this pathway with a drug already in phase 2 clinical trials for diabetes could prevent this syndrome.
Over the past twenty years, huge efforts by a broad coalition of stakeholders, coordinated by the World Health Organization have curbed the latest epidemic of human African trypanosomiasis, a lethal disease transmitted by tsetse flies. Now, public health officials report in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases that the elimination of the disease as a public health problem is within reach, with fewer than 1,000 new cases reported in 2018.
In public health emergencies--including the current COVID-19 pandemic--local media are important sources of information for the public. In a paper published this week in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, researchers have interviewed Sierra Leonean journalists about their experiences reporting during the 2014-2015 Ebola outbreak. The experiences of these journalists may be able to help inform current efforts to communicate about COVID-19.
More than half of mums-to-be who are at risk of the dangerously high blood pressure condition, pre-eclampsia, are missing out on preventive aspirin treatment, says an expert in an editorial published online in Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin.
Making aspirin available from local pharmacies could help ward off the condition, says consultant obstetrician Dr Joanna Girling of West Middlesex University Hospital, London.
We can't, and shouldn't, expect healthcare professionals without adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) to risk their lives to care for patients with COVID-19 infection, contends an expert in a stinging rebuke, published in the Journal of Medical Ethics.
Governments in the developed world knew full well what they were doing when they chose to underfund health service infrastructure and ignore repeated warnings about the advent of a pandemic, such as SARS-CoV2, the coronavirus responsible for COVID-19 infection.
Patients with heart failure have substantially shorter life expectancies than people without this condition. Approximately 6.5 million people in the U.S. and over 64 million people worldwide have heart failure, and about half of them have heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). In the last three decades, there have been many advancements in the treatment of HFrEF with several new drugs showing promising results in randomized, controlled clinical trials. However, uptake of new therapies has been slow.
Amsterdam, May 21, 2020 - Bladder cancer is associated with significant illness and mortality, particularly if treatment is delayed.
Results of a comprehensive analysis of exercise and its protective role for high-risk breast cancer patients show that women who exercise not only live longer, but also are more likely to remain cancer-free after their treatment. What's more, the study suggests that even a modest amount of exercise can be beneficial.
Leesburg, VA, May 21, 2020--Remote reading of imaging studies on home PACS workstations can contribute to social distancing, protect vulnerable radiologists and others in the hospital, and ensure seamless interpretation capabilities in emergency scenarios, according to an open-access article published ahead-of-print by the American Journal of Roentgenology (AJR).
The findings of a survey of adolescent cancer patients and their families at four tertiary care U.S. pediatric hospitals showed that parents had a poor understanding of their teens' preferences for the best time to bring up end-of-life decisions, dying a natural death, and being taken off life support.
While the initial coronavirus peak is starting to pass - in Europe, at least - without the ventilator shortages many feared, the spectre of a second wave or future outbreak means questions of medical rationing still hold sway.
New research suggests that current ICU protocols and ethical guidelines lack detail, and leave doctors exposed to legal liability if another contagion surge forces them to make painful snap decisions due to insufficient resources.
As we know, a malignant tumor is a complex system of mutated cells which constantly interacts with and involves healthy cells in the body. This specificity of malignant neoplasms greatly complicates the process of therapy, since the tumor quickly becomes resistant to chemotherapy drugs.
The inherited disease of phenylketonuria is expressed in the inability of the body to absorb certain amino acids, mainly phenylalanine.
A person affected by this disease has to follow a low-protein diet all his life. Otherwise, phenylalanine will accumulate in the body and can lead to severe damage to the central nervous system.
Recently, the scientific journal Pharmaceuticals published an article written by researchers of the Institute of Living Systems of the IKBFU and Kemerovo State University, which offers an effective way to treat this disease.
Research completed in NUI Galway has shown that lowering blood pressure by taking blood pressure medications reduces the risk of developing dementia and cognitive impairment by 7%. The findings are published today in a leading international medical journal, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).