Lice have existed since at least 4,000 BC; researchers found nits on the remains of human hair in a cave in the Judean Desert. One wonders how parents got rid of lice in those days. Today, parents scratch their heads trying to decide which option to choose that will successfully remove lice from their children’s hair.
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Eleven operational taxonomic units (OTUs) of fecal bacteria were less abundant in children with celiac disease than in healthy children, according to the findings of a study published in Gastroenterology. This microbial signature correctly identified approximately four out of five cases of celiac disease, regardless of whether children were newly diagnosed or had already modified
Welcome to the latest edition of Investigative Roundup, highlighting some of the best investigative reporting on healthcare each week. Ob/Gyn Convicted in Unnecessary Hysterectomy Scheme A federal jury convicted Virginia ob/gyn Javaid Perwaiz, MD, on 52 counts related to a scheme to perform unnecessary hysterectomies and other surgeries in order to defraud private and government
After a 50-year hiatus, psychedelic drugs are undergoing a research renaissance. Roland R. Griffiths, professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Neuroscience and the Oliver Lee McCabe, III Professor in the Neuropsychopharmacology of Consciousness, and director of the Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, discusses the status of these
Mostly everyone, from glamorous influencers to your grumpy neighbor, use at least one social media platform. So it’s time to ask the question: How does being on social media make you feel? Pew Research Center estimates that 72% of the American public use social media in some form. Even as they enable people to build connections in
Editor’s note: Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in Medscape’s Coronavirus Resource Center. Clarissa Barnes, MD, a hospitalist at Avera McKennan Hospital in Sioux Falls, S.D., and until recently medical director of Avera’s LIGHT Program, a wellness-oriented service for doctors, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants, watched the COVID-19 crisis unfold up close in her
The global pandemic has made life difficult for gym users. When gyms closed, many resorted to home workouts or walks along trails. But when the gyms began to reopen, a new hurdle arose: Can you exercise while wearing a mask? Some research has said no, but a new study says, mask up with confidence. While study
The oral tyrosine kinase 2 inhibitor deucravacitinib was effective for the treatment of active psoriatic arthritis in a phase II placebo-controlled trial. At week 16, only 31.8% of patients who had been randomized to receive placebo met the 20% response criteria of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR20), compared with 52.9% of those receiving 6
About 11 percent of the US population has diabetes; 20 percent have acid reflux. And, lots of people with diabetes have acid reflux. Because so many people have these conditions, we offer this head’s up about medicines you might be taking, and the problems linked to them. The US Food and Drug Administration is investigating to determine if
In early January of 2011, Georgetown University freshman Michelle Konkoly returned to campus from a training trip to Puerto Rico with the school’s NCCA Division I women’s swimming & diving team. She was pumped for a postseason run and for her second semester as a biology major. The future looked bright. “I had a pretty
Parents’ fears regarding the impact of school closures on their children’s education are proving true. Several researchers have found that because students missed classes on a regular basis during the first wave of the pandemic, their academic performance slipped. Education disrupted is a global phenomenon. At various levels of schooling, 94% of students’ education was interrupted worldwide. According to the United
Editor’s note: Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in Medscape’s Coronavirus Resource Center. The U.S. began another dark chapter in its COVID-19 epidemic, cresting 10 million cases and approaching nearly a quarter of a million deaths from the virus. Many Asian countries that were hit hard early on have now controlled their outbreaks with
In a “Clinical Challenges” series on rare lung diseases, MedPage Today reviewed the current thinking and latest treatments for three such conditions: idiopathic lung disease, pulmonary arterial hypertension, and lung complications of alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency. The following quiz is designed to test your knowledge about one aspect of each of these clinical challenge topics. Correct
So now that we have a new president-elect, what can we expect from Joe Biden and his team with regard to health care? Candidate Joe Biden made clear his first priority as president would be addressing the health and economic crisis created by the COVID-19 pandemic. But as president, Biden will almost certainly turn his
Patients who take the vitamin K antagonist warfarin to prevent thromboembolic events are significantly more likely to require knee or hip replacement surgery — a surrogate endpoint for end-stage osteoarthritis — than are patients who take direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs), results of a UK-based study showed. In a nested case-control study, warfarin use was associated
Sharks are in the news, but not for their normal shenanigans. They, and their squalene, an oil found in their livers, apparently have a role in the COVID-19 vaccine story. Squalene is used as an adjuvant in vaccines and chemotherapeutics. An adjuvant revs up the immune system, resulting in a bigger immune response, which means better resistance to
People taking even low-dose methotrexate need tuberculosis screening and ongoing clinical care if they live in areas where TB is common, results of a study presented at ACR Convergence 2020 suggests. Coauthor Carol Hitchon, MD, MSc, a rheumatologist with the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, who presented the findings on Friday, also warned
COVID-19 hit nursing homes with a situation that they “were not equipped to handle,” according to David Coppins, CEO and co-founder of IntelyCare, a workforce management company specializing in post-acute care. In the following Q&A, Coppins discusses the battle that nursing homes have had to confront during the pandemic, and Pennsylvania CNA Christine Pepple offers
A diagnosis of high blood pressure is often not made by itself; the odds are good that other health problems exist. In fact, hypertension is often combined with type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney disease, making it a triple health threat. “Diabetes can affect small blood vessels. And that can result in hypertension. And that can
Pregnant women with interstitial lung disease (ILD) related to autoimmune disease may not necessarily need to terminate their pregnancies if they have close monitoring before, during, and after pregnancy with a multidisciplinary team of physicians, new research suggests. Senior author Megan Clowse, MD, MPH, associate professor of medicine in the Division of Rheumatology at Duke
During the week of November 2, AstraZeneca delivered some disappointing news to legislators in the UK: its COVID-19 vaccine, developed along with the UK’s Oxford University, would not be available for use by the winter holidays. Andrew Pollard, PhD, head of the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca vaccine trials, told members of the Science and Technology
President-Elect Joe Biden Joe Biden’s victory sets the stage for healthcare to become a high-profile priority of his presidency. The former vice president has sketched out a big health agenda: ramping up the federal response to COVID-19, boosting the Affordable Care Act, creating a new “public option” to cover uninsured Americans, and expanding Medicare and
Many nursing home employees work at multiple facilities, which is a possible reason COVID infections have spread so rapidly and persistently in this setting, Jackie Fortiér writes ~ They Work in Several Nursing Homes to Eke Out a Living, Possibly Spreading the Virus (Kaiser Health News) Maintaining protections for preexisting conditions may hinge on the
The recalls on metformin, a medication used to treat type 2 diabetes, have not stopped. Since June through this week, at least nine companies have recalled the extended release version of this medication. These are all voluntary recalls. No adverse events have been reported. This week, Nostrum Laboratories, Inc., announced an immediate voluntary recall of four lots, two
Editor’s note: Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in Medscape’s Coronavirus Resource Center. Point-of-care lung ultrasound is better than chest x-ray for diagnosis of COVID-19 pneumonia, according to new research. “We continue to be confronted with a diagnostic challenge — patients often have vague non-specific multi-system presentations,” Kendra Mendez, MD, Temple University Hospital, Philadelphia,
Like nearly everything else in 2020, choosing health benefits during this fall’s open enrollment period will not be easy for people who receive their health benefits from work. Amid a pandemic-induced recession, plenty of working Americans are looking for ways to save money on their health costs. But choosing the right coverage will take time,
A history of prior depressive illness conferred a sevenfold increased risk of developing treatment-limiting mood symptoms in patients on isotretinoin for acne in a large Scottish observational study, Sanaa Butt, MD, reported at the virtual annual congress of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology. This was, however, the sole identifiable risk factor for treatment-limiting
Benefits of upadacitinib (Rinvoq) monotherapy versus methotrexate seen at the conclusion of the 48-week double-blind phase of a randomized clinical trial for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) persisted for 24 more weeks in an open-label extension. At week 48, 20% improvements on the criteria of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR20) were seen in 74% of patients