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Medicine20 May 2024

Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) may improve pulmonary hypertension and right ventricular function

EMBARGOED UNTIL: 2:15 p.m. PT, May 19, 2024 Session: A97 – It’s (Not) a Small World: Molecular and Physiologic Epidemiology in PAH The Impact of Reproductive History on Pulmonary Hypertension: Insights from the Pvdomics Study Date and Time: Sunday, May 19, 2024, 2:15 p.m. PT Location: San Diego Convention Center, Room 6D (Upper Level) ATS 2024, San Diego – The use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) may be associated with improved pulmonary hypertension in women, according to research presented at the ATS 2024 International Conference. Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a type of pulmonary vascular ...

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Medicine20 May 2024

Hospitals caring for diverse patient populations have higher mechanical ventilation mortality

EMBARGOED UNTIL: 2:39 P.M. PT, May 19, 2024 Session: A93 - CRITICAL CARE AND ACUTE CARE MEDICINE: DISPARITIES, QUALITY IMPROVEMENT, AND OUTCOMES Examining the Association Between Hospital Environments and Intersectional Disparities in Mechanical Ventilation Outcomes Date and Time: Sunday May 19, 2024, 2:39 p.m. PT Location: San Diego Convention Center, Room 7A-B (Upper Level) ATS 2024, San Diego – The odds of death for patients receiving mechanical ventilation for pneumonia or sepsis increase along with the diversity of hospitals’ patient populations, suggesting more systemic factors such ...

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Medicine19 May 2024

Spirometry clinical trial eligibility may differ with race-neutral equations

EMBARGOED UNTIL: 9:15 a.m. PT, May 19, 2024 Session: A27 – Emerging Treatments and Therapeutic Strategies in COP: Results of Clinical Trials and Observational Studies Impact of Race-Neutral Spirometry Reference Equations on Eligibility for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Clinical Trials Date and Time: Sunday, May 19, 9:15 a.m. PT Location: San Diego Convention Center, Room 33A-C (Upper Level) ATS 2024, San Diego – Equations that don’t use racially and ethnically adjusted spirometry results to help determine eligibility for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) ...

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Medicine19 May 2024

World-first trial shows benefits of finding, treating undiagnosed asthma and COPD

Finding and treating people with undiagnosed asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) improved their health and reduced their healthcare visits for respiratory symptoms in the year after diagnosis, according to a world-first clinical trial published in the New England Journal of Medicine. "It's estimated that 70 per cent of people with asthma or COPD go undiagnosed." said study lead Dr. Shawn Aaron, a senior scientist and lung specialist at The Ottawa Hospital and professor at the University of ...

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Medicine19 May 2024

Acetaminophen shows promise in warding off acute respiratory distress syndrome, organ injury in patients with sepsis

A National Institutes of Health (NIH)-supported clinical trial has found that intravenous acetaminophen reduced sepsis patients’ risk of having organ injury or developing acute respiratory distress syndrome, a serious condition that allows fluid to leak into the lungs. Sepsis is the body’s uncontrolled and extreme response to an infection. While the trial did not improve mortality rates in all patients with sepsis regardless of severity, the researchers found that acetaminophen gave the greatest benefit to the patients most at risk for organ damage. With the therapy, those patients needed less assisted ...

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Medicine19 May 2024

Bisoprolol in patients with COPD at high risk of exacerbation

About The Study: Among people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) at high risk of exacerbation, treatment with the β1-selective β-blocker bisoprolol did not reduce the number of self-reported COPD exacerbations requiring treatment with oral corticosteroids, antibiotics, or both. Quote from corresponding author Graham Devereux, M.D.: “People with COPD are at increased risk of cardiovascular conditions that benefit from treatment with beta-blockers. However, there is a well-documented ...

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Science19 May 2024

Pamrevlumab for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

About The Study: Among patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis treated with pamrevlumab (a fully human monoclonal antibody that binds to and inhibits connective tissue growth factor activity) or placebo, there was no statistically significant between-group difference for the primary outcome of absolute change in forced vital capacity from baseline to week 48. Quote from corresponding author, Ganesh Raghu, M.D.: “Current treatment with the two drugs approved by regulatory agencies ...

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Medicine19 May 2024

Acetaminophen for prevention and treatment of organ dysfunction in critically ill patients with sepsis

About The Study: In critically ill sepsis patients, treatment with intravenous acetaminophen for 5 days was safe but did not improve the primary end point of days alive and free of any organ support (dialysis, assisted ventilation, and vasopressors) to day 28 compared with placebo. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Lorraine B. Ware, M.D., email Lorraine.ware@vumc.org. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jama.2024.8772) Editor’s Note: Please see the ...

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Science19 May 2024

Measuring lung function more accurately and more equitably

Removing race from equations that estimate lung function will shift the categorization of disease severity across patient populations, moving more Black individuals into an advanced disease category, according to new research led by scientists at Harvard Medical School. At the same time, more white and Hispanic people would be reclassified as having less advanced illness. The findings, the research team said, suggest that adjusting lung function tests to include race — as has been the case historically — likely normalized worse lung function and downplayed disease severity among Black people. The work, to be published May 19 in the New England Journal ...

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Medicine18 May 2024

Study reports ‘excellent’ outcomes for patients receiving optimized treatment for atrial fibrillation

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common form of arrythmia or irregular heartbeat worldwide, impacting millions of people in the U.S. alone. In a new study published in Heart Rhythm, researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system, analyzed real-world clinical data to measure the impact of evidence-based best-practices on patient outcomes for the most common AF procedure: radiofrequency (RF)-based ablation. One year after the procedure, 81.6 percent ...

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Science18 May 2024

Modular Communicative Leadless ICD is safe and exceeds performance expectations

Wireless implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) eliminate the lead-related complications that come with a wired ICD, but they are unsuitable for patients with ventricular tachycardia, when the heart beats too quickly, or bradycardia, when the resting heart rate is seen as low. Research led by Amsterdam UMC, that is published today in the New England Journal of Medicine, shows that the first wireless modular system suitable for these patient groups is safe and exceeds performance expectations. Opening the door for a wider ...

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Medicine18 May 2024

Patients seen by female gastroenterologists have significantly less health care utilization than patients seen by male providers

WASHINGTON, DC (May 18, 2024) — Patients seen by a female gastroenterologist for an initial consultation are less likely to use medical care in the emergency department, hospital or primary care office for two years after their visit when compared to patients initially seen by male gastroenterologists, according to a study to be presented at Digestive Disease Week® (DDW) 2024. “If there really is something different about the way female and male gastroenterologists provide care that impacts patient outcomes, it will be important to share these learnings broadly among health care providers ...

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Physics17 May 2024

Iso-propagation vortices: optical multiplexing for unprecedented information capacity

The future of optical communications just got brighter. In a groundbreaking development reported in Advanced Photonics, researchers from Nanjing University have introduced iso-propagation vortices (IPVs), a novel concept that offers a solution to a long-standing challenge faced by scientists and engineers: how to increase information processing capacity while overcoming the limitations of traditional vortex beams. Challenge: divergence and beam size Multiplexing of optical degrees of freedom, such as polarization and wavelength, has been a staple in enhancing communication capacity. ...

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Technology17 May 2024

Ukraine blackouts caused by malware attacks warn against evolving cybersecurity threats to the physical world

On a cold winter night in 2016, Ukrainians experienced the first-ever known blackout caused by malicious code (malware) designed to autonomously attack the power grid. One-fifth of Kyiv’s citizens were plunged into darkness as attackers used malware to target the capital city’s power grid. Six years later, in the early months of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, a second attack attempted to combine kinetic and cyber attacks to take down Ukraine’s power grid. Malware attacks against physical ...

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Science17 May 2024

How memories crystallize over time

“Practice makes perfect” is no mere cliché, according to a new study from researchers at The Rockefeller University and UCLA. Instead, it’s the recipe for mastering a task, because repeating an activity over and over solidifies neural pathways in your brain. As they describe in Nature, the scientists used a cutting-edge technology developed by Rockefeller’s Alipasha Vaziri to simultaneously observe 73,000 cortical neurons in mice as the animals learned and repeated a given task over two weeks. The study revealed that memory representations transform from unstable to solid in ...

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Medicine17 May 2024

Gilbert Family Foundation invests $21 million to launch new research initiative focused on developing advanced disease models to accelerate cure for neurofibromatosis

New initiative, launched on World NF Awareness Day, focuses on developing improved models to understand neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) with the goal of rapidly testing new treatments. 18 grants will be provided to leading medical research institutions in the United States and Europe. The Next-Generation NF1 Models Initiative is the Foundation’s fourth research initiative focused on accelerating a cure for neurofibromatosis. DETROIT, May 17, 2024 – Gilbert Family Foundation, a private foundation established by Dan and Jennifer Gilbert to accelerate a cure for ...

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Medicine17 May 2024

Multiple onychopapillomas and BAP1 tumor predisposition syndrome

About The Study: This study found that BRCA1-associated protein (BAP1) tumor predisposition syndrome was associated with a high rate of nail abnormalities consistent with onychopapillomas (a benign tumor of the nail) in adult carriers of the disease. Findings suggest that this novel cutaneous sign may facilitate detection of the syndrome in family members who are at risk and patients with cancers associated with BAP1 given that multiple onychopapillomas are uncommon in the general population and may be a distinct clue to the presence of a pathogenic germline variant in the BAP1 gene. Corresponding Authors: To contact the corresponding authors, ...

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Environment17 May 2024

Researchers confirm scale matters in determining vulnerability of freshwater fish to climate changes

The silver chub isn’t considered sensitive to climate change on a national scale, but context matters. For example, if climate change sensitivity is evaluated in only one region of the United States, the freshwater fish appears quite a bit more susceptible. “Relative to other species we looked at in the gulf region of the U.S., the silver chub occupied a pretty small geographic area,” said Samuel Silknetter, a Ph.D. student in biological sciences. “If we didn’t look at the climate sensitivity across multiple ...

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Science17 May 2024

Sweet taste receptor affects how glucose is handled metabolically by humans

PHILADELPHIA (May 16, 2024) – The rich research portfolio of the Monell Chemical Senses Center on sweet taste goes way back: Monell scientists were one of four teams in 2001 that found and described the mammalian sweet taste receptor – TAS1R2-TAS1R3. Twenty years later in 2021, a pair of papers published in Mammalian Genome by Monell researchers covered the genetics of sugar-loving mice. The sweet taste receptor, expressed in taste bud cells, conveys sweetness from the mouth when it is activated. Earlier this month, a study in PLOS One, led by another Monell researcher, delved into how the sweet-taste receptor might be the first stop ...

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Space17 May 2024

STAR sees a magnetic imprint on deconfined nuclear matter

The Science Scientists have the first direct evidence that the powerful magnetic fields created in off-center collisions of atomic nuclei induce an electric current in “deconfined” nuclear matter. This is a plasma “soup” of quarks and gluons that have been set free, or “deconfined,” from nuclear matter—protons and neutrons—in the particle collisions. The magnetic fields in deconfined nuclear matter are a billion times stronger than a typical refrigerator magnet, but their effects can be hard to detect. This new study’s evidence is from measuring the way ...

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Medicine17 May 2024

CU faculty member receives prestigious award for health equity work

In recognition of her exceptional work in advancing health equity, the Society of General Internal Medicine (SGIM) bestowed its 2024 Herbert W. Nickens Award to Rita Lee, MD, a University of Colorado Department of Medicine faculty member, at a May 17 meeting in Boston. “The committee has chosen to honor you as an exemplary SGIM member who has made prioritizing minority health and diversity the primary focus of your career,” Alana Biggers, MD, MPH, the chair of the award selection committee, said in a congratulatory letter to Lee. The ...

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Medicine17 May 2024

Better medical record-keeping needed to fight antibiotic overuse, studies suggest

A lack of detailed record-keeping in clinics and emergency departments may be getting in the way of reducing the inappropriate use of antibiotics, a pair of new studies by a pair of University of Michigan physicians and their colleagues suggests. In one of the studies, about 10% of children and 35% of adults who got an antibiotic prescription during an office visit had no specific reason for the antibiotic in their record. The rate of this type of prescribing is especially high in adults treated seen in emergency departments and in adults seen in clinics who have Medicaid coverage or no insurance, the ...

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Medicine17 May 2024

Clinicians report success with first test of drug in a patient with life-threatening blood clotting disorder

Key Takeaways Immune thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura, a rare blood clotting disorder, results from an autoimmune attack against an enzyme called ADAMTS13 A recombinant form of human ADAMTS13 approved for a different condition helped to save the life of a young mother with immune thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura Results from this first use of the drug for this condition—by a team led by researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital—warrants testing the drug in a clinical trial A team led by investigators from Massachusetts General Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system, used a new drug to save the life of a patient ...

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Medicine17 May 2024

NIH study shows chronic wasting disease unlikely to move from animals to people

WHAT: A new study of prion diseases, using a human cerebral organoid model, suggests there is a substantial species barrier preventing transmission of chronic wasting disease (CWD) from cervids—deer, elk and moose—to people. The findings, from National Institutes of Health scientists and published in Emerging Infectious Diseases, are consistent with decades of similar research in animal models at the NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). Prion diseases are degenerative diseases found in some mammals. These diseases primarily involve deterioration of the brain but also can affect the eyes and other organs. ...

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Science17 May 2024

Scientists discover mechanism of sugar signaling in plants

UPTON, N.Y. — Proteins are molecular machines, with flexible pieces and moving parts. Understanding how these parts move helps scientists unravel the function a protein plays in living things — and potentially how to change its effects. Biochemists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory and colleagues at DOE’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) have just published a new example of how one such molecular machine works. Their paper in the journal Science Advances describes how the moving parts of ...

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