Culture

Oncologists at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center have successfully treated a patient with metastatic melanoma by combining two different types of immunotherapy. Cassian Yee and colleagues describe their approach in a paper, "Combined IL-21-primed polyclonal CTL plus CTLA4 blockade controls refractory metastatic melanoma in a patient," that will be published online May 30 in The Journal of Experimental Medicine.

A new study published in Diabetologia (the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes [EASD]) shows that children with a strong family history of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and/or type 2 diabetes were found to have cholesterol levels significantly higher than children with no family history of those conditions.

WASHINGTON, D.C., May 27, 2016 - Hospital alarms are currently ranked as the "top medical technology hazard" within the United States. On average, there are about 480,000 patients in hospitals -- each generating about 135 clinical alarms per day. But studies show that more than 90 percent of these alarms result in no action. Alarm errors -- either alarms that sound and receive no response or alarms that fail to sound when they should --occur roughly 8 million times per day.

Having relaxing music played just before eye surgery leads to patients feeling less anxiety and requiring less sedation, concludes a study presented at Euroanaesthesia 2016 (London, 27-30 May). The study is by Dr Gilles Guerrier, Cochin University Hospital, Paris, France, and colleagues.

The heart rate may be an indicator of a person's life expectancy. A research team at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has to this end analyzed an effect which at first seems paradoxical: Minor irregularities in the heartbeat are indicative of a healthy body. A clinical study confirmed a strong correlation between this phenomenon and the survival prospects of heart attack patients. The new methods of measurement may soon be applied in medical practice.

May 27, 2016 - The crisis of lead-contaminated drinking water in Flint, Mich., continues to make headlines--but it's just the most prominent example of an "ongoing and needless tragedy of childhood lead poisoning," according David E. Jacobs, PhD, CIH, a noted authority on childhood lead poisoning prevention. Dr. Jacobs writes in the June Journal of Public Health Management and Practice, published by Wolters Kluwer.

A new meta-analysis showing the effectiveness of ketamine for dealing with persistent post-surgical pain (PPSP) is to be presented at Euroanaesthesia 2016 (London, May 27-30 ). Ketamine, a cheap and safe drug, may have the potential to save health systems billions of dollars globally by being used in place of other drugs to prevent PPSP.

Medical societies, including the American Society of Clinical Oncology, recommend that patients with advanced cancer receive palliative care soon after diagnosis and receive hospice care for at least the last three days of their life. Yet major gaps persist between these recommendations and real-life practice, a new study shows.

Technologies that make it harder for people to abuse opioids - like doctoring pills so that they produce unpleasant side effects if broken, crushed or injected -- likely will have limited effectiveness in stemming the global epidemic of opioid abuse, according to Adam Kaye, a professor of pharmacy at University of the Pacific.

Writing in the latest issue of the journal Current Pain and Headache Reports, Kaye and his co-authors argue that such technologies are no substitute for education.

Brivaracetam (trade name: Briviact) has been approved since January 2016 as add-on therapy for adolescents from the age of 16 years and adults with epileptic seizures. The German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) now examined in an early benefit assessment whether this drug offers an added benefit for patients in comparison with the appropriate comparator therapy.

Vismodegib (trade name: Erivedge) has already been approved since 2013 for the treatment of patients with locally advanced basal cell carcinoma (BCC) or symptomatic metastatic BCC and has already undergone an early benefit assessment according to the Act on the Reform of the Market for Medicinal Products (AMNOG). The Federal Joint Committee (G-BA) limited its decision in February 2014 to two years, which is why the drug manufacturer now submitted a new dossier.

In a recent study of patients with overactive bladder (OAB), a 30 mg extended release formulation of propiverine hydrochloride was at least as effective and safe as a 4 mg extended release formulation of tolterodine tartrate. Both medications are called antimuscarinic drugs that block certain cell receptors, but propiverine differs from other antimuscarinics because of a dual mode of action.

Dining in dimly lit restaurants has been linked to eating slowly and ultimately eating less than in brighter restaurants, but does lighting also impact how healthfully we order?

Amsterdam, The Netherlands, May 26, 2016 - New research has found that the rise in alcohol-related mortality during the 1990s and early 2000s in Scotland, and the subsequent decline, were likely to be explained in part by increasing then decreasing alcohol affordability. The research was undertaken to understand better what the independent impact of the Scottish Government's alcohol strategy was.

(Washington, May 26, 2016)--The American College of Physicians (ACP) along with the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) sent a letter today to House and Senate leaders urging them to immediately pass legislation that would provide the highest possible funding level for research, prevention, control, and treatment of illnesses associated with the Zika virus that is commensurate with the public health emergency that the virus represents.