News

Editor’s note: Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in Medscape’s Coronavirus Resource Center. SARS-CoV-2’s infection sites are well known in the airways and other parts of the body, but new research indicates that the virus also infects mouth cells. The findings by Ni Huang, PhD, from the Wellcome Sanger Institute in Cambridge, United Kingdom,

Government officials and veteran advocates shared new approaches for preventing veteran suicide and expanding access to mental health services during a hearing of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs on Wednesday. The committee also explored ways to reduce the mental health stigma that can prevent vulnerable veterans from seeking help. Around 18 veterans die by

No one likes having a stuffy nose, but a new warning from the FDA is encouraging manufacturers of over-the-counter nasal decongestants to make their products tamper-free. The FDA is warning against over-use of  Benzedrex, the brand name for the nasal decongestant propylhexedrine.  Propylhexedrine is safe when used as directed and available over the counter. But,

Fewer than 1 in 10 people report they are getting “very good sleep” at night — just one of several eye-opening findings about the state of sleep quality during the COVID-19 pandemic in new data from University College London researchers. In a survey of more than 70,000 people, only 7.7% now report their sleep as “very

After surpassing his original goal of having 100 million Americans vaccinated by his 100th day in office — which doesn’t arrive until late April — President Joe Biden upped the ante to 200 million by then. The president made this announcement during his first press conference, held today.  The new target comes as some states

Editor’s note: Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in Medscape’s Coronavirus Resource Center. After declining for 8 consecutive weeks, new cases of COVID-19 rose among children in the United States, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association. A total of 57,078 new cases were reported in children during the

An FDA advisory panel voted overwhelmingly — 19-1 — that a proposed Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) program would not ensure a favorable benefit-risk balance for tanezumab, a nerve growth factor inhibitor that drugmaker Pfizer hopes to market for osteoarthritis (OA) pain. It’s yet another setback in a long and rocky road for the

This week, AstraZeneca released two sets of phase III safety trial results for its Covid-19 vaccine, each showing slightly different efficacy rates. The inconsistency has kicked up controversy and confusion, but experts so far believe there is little impact on safety. The results In AstraZeneca’s first set of data, released March 22nd, its vaccine candidate

Editor’s note: Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in Medscape’s Coronavirus Resource Center. Pregnant and breastfeeding women who receive an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine develop a strong immune response and produce antibodies that can transfer to the fetus through the placenta and to newborns through breast milk, according to a prospective cohort study published March

A recombinant formulation of human tissue kallikrein (KLK1) is safe and tolerable in patients with acute ischemic stroke, phase 2 results suggest. KLK1 is an endogenous vasoactive serine protease and vasoregulator. The formulation studied in this trial was DM199, which is being developed by DiaMedica Therapeutics. Compared with placebo in the ReMEDy trial, treatment with

A short-term rise in nitrogen dioxide air pollution could be tied to a bump in local mortality rates the next day, researchers showed in a large international study. Across 398 cities (located mostly in the U.S., Europe, and Asia), each 10 μg/m3 increase in ground-level NO2 concentration was associated with increases in mortality the next

Tense shoulders, clenched jaws, poor sleep, headaches and even nausea, are some of the common manifestations of stress. But stress can also contribute to hair loss, even disrupt menstrual cycles, each a possible byproduct of prolonged stress. And, prolonged stress, along with the health ramifications of Covid-19, has permeated the everyday reality of many since

The US Senate voted mostly along party lines to confirm Vivek H. Murthy, MD, MBA, to serve as the 21st Surgeon General of the United States. Seven Republicans — Bill Cassidy (Louisiana), Susan Collins (Maine), Roger Marshall (Kansas), Susan Murkowski (Alaska), Rob Portman (Ohio), Mitt Romney (Utah), and Dan Sullivan (Alaska) — joined all the

Two new recalls and a safety warning mean that it’s time to check your pantry to ensure that your family and pets are protected from health risks. Hand Sanitizer There have been hand sanitizer recalls   aplenty since the pandemic began, including the unprecedented import alert for products from Mexico. New on the list is

A new pooled analysis of two smaller trials testing the new approach of dropping thrombolysis before thrombectomy in patients with large vessel occlusion stroke has shown similar outcomes with and without tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), but has also hinted at specific subgroups where one approach or the other may be preferred. “I think the data

He stood silently. His eyes fixed on us, immaculately dressed in a dark three-piece suit adorned with a gold watch and chain, hair meticulously groomed, a brightly colored bow tie centered perfectly on a freshly starched white shirt, wire collar stays in place, black wing-tip shoes glistening. Gold cuff links and military-like, sharply creased pants,

A new tool accurately assesses three types of anhedonia in adolescents, new research shows. The novel Multidimensional Adolescent Anhedonia Scale (MAAS) assesses anticipatory, consummatory, and recall anhedonia, which will help improve diagnoses in research and clinical settings, the investigators say. Anhedonia, the loss of interest and pleasure in activities, is often the first sign of

Insomnia, sleep disruption, and job burnout were linked to higher odds of COVID-19 among physicians and other healthcare workers frequently exposed to SARS-CoV-2, a survey of nearly 2,900 clinicians showed. Clinicians in high-risk jobs who had three sleep problems — difficulty sleeping at night, poor sleep continuity, and frequent sleeping pill use — had almost

Beginning April 1, employers with at least 20 employees will start paying the COBRA health insurance premium for workers who have lost their jobs. The premium payment perk is part of the recently signed American Rescue Plan Act. The free coverage ends September 1, 2021. Required by law, COBRA requires employers to offer health-care coverage

Clinicians should be aware that the discordance between high-sensitivity cardiac troponin (hs-cTn) assays is significant enough that management recommendations may change, for example, for a patient assessed for suspected acute coronary syndrome (ACS) in one hospital and transferred to another that uses a different assay, according to a team of international researchers. When hs-cTn concentrations

More individuals are using medical cannabis, but the increase appears to be more pronounced among seniors, new research suggests. Results of a large Canadian survey study show that the proportion of older users among total users increased from 17.6% before 2017 to 26.7% in 2018 and 31.2% in 2019. The proportion of older users was

Hormonal therapy with an intrauterine device (IUD) led to complete tumor regression in two-thirds of women with early-stage endometrial cancer or precancerous lesions, a randomized pragmatic phase II study showed. At 6 months, the pathologic complete response (pCR) rate was 61% for patients randomized to a levonorgestrel-containing IUD alone, 67% for those also encouraged to

Editor’s note: Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in Medscape’s Coronavirus Resource Center. Individuals who experience inflammation of the thyroid gland during acute COVID-19 illness may still have subacute thyroiditis months later even if thyroid function has normalized, new research suggests. Furthermore, the thyroiditis seems to be different from thyroid inflammation caused by other

Editor’s note: Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in Medscape’s Coronavirus Resource Center. Despite being prioritized for COVID-19 vaccination, 48% of frontline healthcare workers have not yet gotten one or more vaccine doses, according to a survey conducted by the Washington Post and the Kaiser Family Foundation February 11–March 7. The researchers conducted online

The 24-hour news cycle is just as important to medicine as it is to politics, finance, or sports. At MedPage Today, new information is posted daily, but keeping up can be a challenge. As an aid for our readers and for a little amusement, here is a 10-question quiz based on the news of the

Take a look at your neck — but not for signs of advancing, or already obvious, aging. We are looking for lumps and bumps, those possible indicators of thyroid cancer. The reason: Thyroid cancer is becoming another significant women’s health issue.  How significant an issue? There are about 44,000 new cases of thyroid cancer a

Editor’s note: Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in Medscape’s Coronavirus Resource Center. Women hospitalized with severe COVID-19 generally do better than men, which led to the notion that perhaps men hospitalized for COVID-19 could be treated with female hormones. This concept has shown “very encouraging” results in a single-center, US pilot study that

Every morning and most evenings, we head to the bathroom, grab a toothbrush and clean our teeth. And then put that brush someplace. Unless you are careful, first about cleaning that brush and second about storing that brush, then it’s likely you’ve spread more than toothpaste on your teeth: A bacchanal of yucky micro-organisms are