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Adults should be tested for hepatitis B virus (HBV) at least once in their lifetime, according to updated guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This is the first update to HBV screening guidelines since 2008, the agency said. “Risk-based testing alone has not identified most persons living with chronic HBV infection and

A new study has unveiled previously unknown aspects of depression and its effect on increased stroke risk as well as worse recovery following stroke. The study, published in the journal Neurology, found people with symptoms of depression were more likely to experience stroke and have worse recovery after having one. “Depression affects people around the

A very rare intraventricular fetus-in-fetu was surgically removed from a 1-year-old girl with motor delay and an enlarged head circumference, a report from China showed. The fetiform mass was a malformed monochorionic diamniotic twin, reported Chunde Li, MD, of Beijing Tiantan Hospital, and co-authors in Neurology. Genetic sequencing showed identical single-nucleotide variants in the host

Already commonly used in combination for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), macitentan and tadalafil are safe and effective in a fixed-dose combination even as first-line therapy, according to a randomized multicenter comparative trial. The fixed-dose combination “led to a highly significant and marked improvement in pulmonary vascular resistance when compared to macitentan and

Scientists seem to have done the impossible. They have created mice with two biological fathers. The revolutionary research could open the way for new fertility treatments in the future, including reproduction in same-sex couples. “This is the first case of making robust mammal oocytes from male cells,” said Katsuhiko Hayashi, who led the research team at Kyushu

Two new studies conclude with the same old messages — women are less likely than men to receive guideline-directed care for acute chest pain and are at higher risk for poor outcomes after bypass surgery. Dr Dion Stub In one report looking at evaluation of acute chest pain, women were less likely to receive analgesia,

The maker of an unproven drug, Makena, has said it will voluntarily remove the product from the U.S. Manufactured by Covis Pharma, based in Switzerland, the drug is intended to prevent premature births.  The company made the announcement Tuesday, according to ABC News. The decision to remove the drug comes after almost four years since

The television series “The Last of Us” describes a human pandemic with a mind controlling cordyceps fungus. When asked whether a COVID-19 pandemic with a pathogenic fungus is possible, my answer has generally been some variation of “yes, but it’s unlikely.” Cordyceps fungi turn ants into zombies, establishing the precedent that this group of organisms

Individuals with a history of depressive symptoms have a 46% higher risk for stroke than those with no depression history, new research suggests. Data from the international INTERSTROKE study also showed that those with depressive symptoms before a stroke had worse outcomes, including a significantly higher mortality rate in the first month after a stroke.

Are you one of the many people who are afraid of clowns? Researchers dove deep into the fear and found some interesting things about its origins. The team behind the study, which was published in Frontiers in Psychology, had a closer look at the fear of clowns, known as coulrophobia, and even created a questionnaire to assess it.

Less than two years after opening a state-of-the-art $26 million hospital in Leadville, Colorado, St. Vincent Health nearly ran out of money. Hospital officials said in early December that without a cash infusion they would be unable to pay their bills or meet payroll by the end of the week. The eight-bed rural hospital had turned a

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued several recall notices for two brands of eyedrops that may not be sterile and could lead to extensive vision problems and serious injury. The recall affects certain eyedrops distributed by Pharmedica and Apotex, and follows a February recall which was linked to a multi-state outbreak of drug-resistant infections. That outbreak

Opioids were the most common substance contributing to fatal poisonings among children age 5 years and younger in recent years, researchers reported. Examination of 731 poisoning-related fatalities from 2005 to 2018 in young kids reported to the National Fatality Review-Case Reporting System (NFR-CRS), showed that opioids were involved in 346 of the fatal cases (47.3%).

Sales of a bestselling health book by a high-profile University of Southern California oncologist have been suspended because of dozens of instances of plagiarism. The Los Angeles Times reported earlier this week that it identified at least 95 instances of plagiarism by author David B. Agus, MD, in The Book of Animal Secrets: Nature’s Lessons

Canadian twins who were born at 22 weeks have scored a new world record of being the most premature twins. Brother and sister Adiah and Adrial Nadarajah were born at 126 days, beating the earlier record set in 2018 by twins, by just a day, BBC reported.  The certification earlier belonged to Kambry and Keeley

Two US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) proposals on how telehealth can be used going forward to prescribe controlled substances are drawing criticism from mental health and addiction treatment specialists. The proposed rules — one for Schedule III-V substances, and the other for buprenorphine — are due to go into effect on May 11, when the

Scientists have developed an innovative headphone that can clear out earwax efficiently without creating a mess. The headphone-shaped cleaning device is called OtoSet Ear Cleaning System, and is the product of the Seattle-based medical startup SafKan Health. Otoset is claimed by the startup to be the first FDA-approved ear-cleaning device for removing mild to severe

Codon-specific KRAS mutations are predictive of an overall survival (OS) benefit for metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) patients treated with trifluridine-tipiracil (FTD/TPI; Lonsurf), according to a genomics-based analysis. After identifying biomarkers of resistance and validating the findings in a real-world dataset, researchers showed that patients with KRAS G12-mutant tumors in the phase III RECOURSE trial achieved

COPENHAGEN — Children and young adults with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are about 2.5 times more likely to develop posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), almost twice as likely to report an eating disorder, and 1.5 times more likely to engage in self-harm, a new UK study suggests. The retrospective, observational study of young people with IBD

A woman who experienced unnatural menstrual bleeding and a lot of pain in the abdomen for years was diagnosed with terminal uterine cancer. The U.K.-based mum-of-two is now urging other women to report their health concerns at an early stage to avoid potentially dangerous consequences. Kelly Pendry, 42, told BBC that she started having “heavy,

NEW ORLEANS – EHR-embedded alerts that a patient with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) is a great candidate for treatment with a mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist (MRA) more than doubled prescribing of this “pillar” class for HFrEF, compared with control practices that used usual care and no alerts. That’s according to results of BETTER CARE-HF,

Sometimes, employees feel dissatisfied in their workplace and it can affect their productivity, as well as their mental and physical health. A new study looks at a previously ignored factor that has a significant effect on employees’ mental health. The study, published in the Journal of Research in Personality, found that office space designs have a bearing on

NEW ORLEANS – Immediate complete revascularization was non-inferior to staged complete revascularization in patients who presented with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and multivessel disease, according to BIOVASC trial findings. In the prospective, open-label study, the composite primary outcome occurred in 7.6% of 764 patients in the immediate complete revascularization group and in 9.4% of 761

Patients with degenerative mitral valve (MV) regurgitation that calls for surgery may, for the most part, safely choose either a standard procedure requiring a midline sternotomy  or one performed through a mini-thoracotomy, suggests a randomized comparison of the two techniques. Still, the minimally invasive approach showed some advantages in the study. Patients’ quality of recovery

In the next 12 years, the global population could see a significant increase in the number of overweight or obese people, with a new study claiming at least 4 billion individuals would weigh more than the normal average.  The World Obesity Federation recently released its World Obesity Atlas 2023 report predicting the global economic impact of

NEW ORLEANS – In the first pivotal randomized, controlled trial of a transcatheter device for the repair of severe tricuspid regurgitation, a large reduction in valve dysfunction was associated with substantial improvement in quality of life (QOL) persisting out of 1 year of follow-up, according to results of the TRILUMINATE trial. Based on the low procedural

A man in Charlotte County, Florida, just wanted to relieve some symptoms by clearing his nasal cavity with water. But what happened next led to his early demise.  The Florida Department of Health in Charlotte County reported in a news release issued late last month that a resident got infected by the brain-eating amoeba Naegleria

NEW ORLEANS — Transcatheter edge-to-edge repair (TEER) of severely regurgitant tricuspid valves improved outcomes, largely in terms of quality of life, the TRILUMINATE Pivotal trial showed. Compared with medical therapy alone, the percutaneous placement of an investigational TriClip device to hold the leaflets together was favored in a Bayesian analysis with a win ratio of