BOSTON—Most patients with thyroid eye disease treated with teprotumumab didn’t require additional treatments nearly 2 years later, according to industry-supported research being presented Sunday at ENDO 2024, the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in Boston, Mass., and published in the journal Thyroid. “Thyroid eye disease is a lifelong autoimmune disease that can worsen or flare, regardless of how it has been treated. This is the case for many autoimmune diseases,” said George Kahaly, M.D., Ph.D., professor of medicine and endocrinology at Johannes Gutenberg University Medical Center in Mainz, Germany. “Given the enduring nature ...

BOSTON—Older women with low bone density are more likely to experience their first hip fracture in their 60s compared to older ages, according to research being presented Sunday at ENDO 2024, the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in Boston, Mass. “Older women experience an increased risk of fragility hip fractures. These are hip fractures with minimal trauma or due to a fall from a standing height, and they are often deadly and disabling,” said Avica Atri, M.D., an Internal Medicine resident physician at Jefferson Einstein Hospital in Philadelphia, Pa. “As the population over 60 swells in the United States, a large proportion of women will be ...

In an impressive leap forward for robotics technology, researchers from Shanghai Jiao Tong University have unveiled a novel hybrid-driven origami gripper, designed to tackle the challenge of grasping and manipulating objects with unprecedented versatility and precision. This innovative device, highlighted in a recent study published in Cyborg Bionic Systems, promises to reshape the capabilities of robotic systems in industries ranging from manufacturing to healthcare. The newly developed gripper utilizes a combination of pneumatic and cable-driven mechanisms to control an origami-inspired structure, allowing for adjustable finger stiffness and variable finger lengths. This sophisticated ...

In an era marked by rapid technological advancement in biomedical engineering, a groundbreaking development is set to revolutionize our approach to drug testing and disease modeling. Researchers from Shanghai University and the University of California Los Angeles have made significant strides in the field of in vitro vascularized organ-on-a-chip systems, offering a promising alternative to traditional methods that rely heavily on animal testing and simplistic two-dimensional cell cultures. The organ-on-a-chip technology mimics human organs on a microscale by cultivating cells in a controlled microenvironment that simulates the 3D structure and physiological ...

BOSTON—A novel male contraceptive gel combining two hormones, segesterone acetate (named Nestorone) and testosterone, suppresses sperm production faster than similar experimental hormone-based methods for male birth control, according to a new study. Results from an ongoing multicenter phase 2b clinical trial will be presented Sunday at ENDO 2024, the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in Boston. “The development of a safe, highly effective and reliably reversible contraceptive method for ...

BOSTON—Men who illicitly used steroids to boost muscle size and physical performance and have stopped in the past year have impaired sexual function compared with men currently using steroids, according to a study being presented Sunday at ENDO 2024, the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in Boston, Mass. Having a psychiatric diagnosis and stopping steroids was associated with greater impairment in sexual function, the researchers found. “It is important to recognize the symptoms that men experience within the first year of stopping ...

BOSTON—Women experiencing moderate-to-severe vasomotor symptoms face a three times greater risk for metabolic-dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) compared to those with mild symptom severity, according to research being presented Monday at ENDO 2024, the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in Boston, Mass. Vasomotor symptoms include hot flashes or night sweats—symptoms that have become synonymous with menopause. “This research is significant as it contributes ...

The world of robotics is witnessing a transformative shift with the rise of soft robotics, which offers unparalleled flexibility and adaptability in various applications, from medical interventions to intricate rescue operations. A groundbreaking review article by Zhou et al. published in Cyborg Bionic Systems in 2024, sheds light on this evolution, highlighting the crucial integration of actuation and sensing technologies that pave the way for truly intelligent soft robots. Soft robots, unlike their rigid counterparts, are made from materials that mimic the mechanical properties of living tissues, allowing them to move and adapt with a life-like grace. This capability makes ...

BOSTON—Almost one out of five breast cancer survivors may experience weight gain of more than 10%, suggests a study presented Monday at ENDO 2024, the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in Boston, Mass. A number of factors are associated with excessive weight gain, the researchers found. Factors associated with more than 10% weight gain included a lower weight, younger age, and more advanced cancer stage at cancer diagnosis; hormone-positive breast cancer; mutations of the BRCA2 gene; undergoing more aggressive breast surgery; and the use of chemotherapy and endocrine therapy, the study found. “Weight ...

An immunotherapy drug given before surgery instead of chemotherapy meant that over ten times more patients with a certain genetic profile were cancer free after surgery, according to clinical trial results presented by researchers at UCL and UCLH. The findings, presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting 2024, are interim results from the NEOPRISM-CRC phase II clinical trial assessing whether the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab can improve outcomes for patients with stage two or stage three MMR deficient/MSI-High bowel cancer. The ...

About The Study: A stepped-care model, with palliative care visits occurring only at key points in patients’ cancer trajectories and using a decrement in quality of life to trigger more intensive palliative care exposure, resulted in fewer palliative care visits without diminishing the benefits for patients’ quality of life. While stepped palliative care was associated with fewer days in hospice, it is a more scalable way to deliver early palliative care to enhance patient-reported outcomes.   Quote from corresponding author Jennifer S. Temel, M.D.: “This study demonstrates that early palliative ...

BOSTON – A new study led by investigators from Mass General Cancer Center, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system, reveals the effectiveness of more scalable ways of delivering palliative care to patients with advanced lung cancer. The findings were highlighted at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s annual meeting and are published in JAMA. The study, led by Jennifer S. Temel, MD of the Mass General Cancer Center, assessed the effectiveness of stepped palliative care, in which all patients receive palliative care for their condition, but with a minimum of required contact with a specialty-trained clinician. ...

Berlin, Germany:  Differences in socioeconomic status (SES) are known to be linked to differences in the risk of developing disease. While people with lower SES are more likely to develop complex diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease, those with a higher SES are at increased risk of developing certain types of cancer. Using biobank and national register data, researchers from Finland have now found that people with lower SES (educational achievement and occupation) have a greater genetic susceptibility to develop many other complex diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, lung cancer, depression, and alcohol ...

CHICAGO – While CAR T cell therapy has revolutionized treatment for many blood cancers, including non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), many patients who receive CAR T cell therapy do not experience a long-term remission. For those whose cancers return or become resistant after CAR T cell therapy, the prognosis is poor, with few options left. A new “armored” form of CAR T cell therapy, developed by Carl June, MD, the Richard W. Vague Professor in Immunotherapy in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University ...

BOSTON—People who have had type 1 diabetes for more than 50 years without kidney complications may still be at substantial risk for heart disease, despite excellent control of blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar levels, according to a study presented Saturday at ENDO 2024, the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in Boston, Mass. Heart disease is a major cause of death in people with type 1 diabetes, especially in those who develop kidney complications from diabetes. “As people with type 1 diabetes live longer due to improved medical care, a substantial proportion of these patients survive without kidney complications, but are still at high risk for heart ...

BOSTON—Medications for type 2 diabetes and obesity known as GLP-1 receptor agonists may lower the risk of acute pancreatitis recurrence in people with obesity and those with type 2 diabetes, according to a study presented Saturday at ENDO 2024, the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in Boston, Mass. Doctors have been cautious about prescribing these medications in patients with a history of pancreatitis due to the potential risk of worsening the condition – a warning that is included in prescribing information, said lead researcher Mahmoud Nassar, M.D., Ph.D., Department of Medicine ...

BOSTON—Having medical conditions linked to obesity does not impact the total weight loss achieved with the anti-obesity medication tirzepatide, according to an industry-supported study being presented Saturday at ENDO 2024, the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in Boston, Mass.  Obesity causes or worsens over 200 diseases. It has been widely believed that when patients suffer multiple medical problems, they are not able to lose as much weight as those without medical issues. The new study, funded by tirzepatide maker Eli Lilly Inc., was designed to see if having more obesity-associated ...

BOSTON—People under age 50 have a greater risk for heart attack or stroke if they’ve lived with obesity for 10 years, according to industry-sponsored research being presented Saturday at ENDO 2024, the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in Boston, Mass. “It is well established that people who have excess weight at any point in time have a greater risk of heart attacks and strokes. What was not known was whether it matters for how long someone has been exposed to excess weight,” said Alexander Turchin, M.D., M.S., Director of Quality at the Division of Endocrinology at Brigham & Women’s ...

BOSTON—One year after a prediabetes diagnosis, Asians were more likely to develop diabetes mellitus whereas Black patients were more likely to remain in prediabetes range, highlighting racial disparities in diabetes prevention, according to data presented at ENDO 2024, the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in Boston, Mass. “Every year a small proportion of patients with prediabetes will progress to diabetes mellitus with some proportion of patients reverting to normal glucose levels,” said Ewelina Niedzialkowska, M.D., an internal medicine resident at Corewell Health William Beaumont University Hospital, in Royal Oak, Mich. “While diet, lifestyle ...

BOSTON—The type of estrogen in hormonal birth control may influence anxiety-like behaviors, according to data presented by Abigail Hegwood, M.S., from the Prakapenka Lab at ENDO 2024, the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in Boston, Mass. “It is plausible that estrogen type is a key player in mood or cognitive related side effects of hormone-based contraceptive use,” said Alesia Prakapenka, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Biomedical Sciences program at Midwestern University in Downers Grove, Ill. According to the CDC, 12.6% of women in the United States between the ages of 15 and 49 reported using oral contraceptives from ...

In an era where robotics are increasingly becoming a part of everyday life, a significant breakthrough has been made by a team of researchers at Zhe jiang University, China. Their latest creation, a wrist-inspired soft actuator capable of bidirectional torsion, promises to transform the landscape of soft robotics. The innovative design of this actuator, described in detail in the journal Cyborg Bionic Systems, is inspired by the human wrist's ability to perform complex movements. Unlike traditional robotic mechanisms that rely on rigid components, this soft actuator utilizes a magneto-pneumatic hybrid system combined with a Kresling origami structure. This design allows for an astonishing ...

Researchers from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, in collaboration with the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior at Radboud University, have developed a revolutionary method for the rapid identification of network topologies. Their new approach, detailed in a recent publication in Cyborg Bionic Systems, significantly accelerates the process of understanding complex dynamical networks, which are crucial in numerous applications ranging from power grids to transportation systems. The innovative method, named Finite-Time Topology Identification of Delayed Complex Dynamical Networks (FT-TIDCN), leverages finite-time stability ...

BOSTON—Prediabetes increases the risk of dying before age 75, particularly due to heart disease, kidney disease and acute diabetic complications, according to a new study presented Saturday at ENDO 2024, the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in Boston, Mass. “Prediabetes is well known to increase the risk of developing diabetes; however, information about other complications of prediabetes in Latin America was limited before this study,” said study researcher Carlos Fermin-Martinez, M.D., of the National Autonomous University of Mexico in Mexico City, Mexico. He is also with the National Institute of Geriatrics in Mexico ...

BOSTON—Semaglutide improved taste sensitivity, changed gene expression in the tongue that’s responsible for taste perception, and changed the brain’s response to sweet tastes, according to research presented Saturday at ENDO 2024, the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in Boston, Mass. “People with obesity often perceive tastes less ‘intensely,’ and they have an inherently elevated desire for sweet and energy-dense food,” said Mojca Jensterle Sever, Ph.D., of the University Medical Centre in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Jensterle Sever and colleagues designed a proof-of-concept study on the impact of GLP-1 ...

BOSTON—People of color and those who experience social vulnerability are more likely to experience worse glycemic control than their white counterparts, according to research presented Sunday at ENDO 2024, the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in Boston, Mass. “As of 2021, 29.7 million people were living with diabetes, contributing to significant morbidity across the population. Despite advances in diabetic care, marginalized populations bear an increased burden of diabetic complications,” said study author Jennifer Tich, M.D., from Internal Medicine-Pediatrics R3 at the University of Rochester in Rochester, N.Y. Tich and colleagues identified ...