News

Editor’s note: Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in Medscape’s Coronavirus Resource Center. The Biden administration announced Tuesday a massive federal effort to better understand, diagnose, and treat the crippling effects of long COVID. The National Research Action Plan on long COVID will gather experts from various agencies, including the Department of Defense and

Bruce Willis is stepping away from acting. The 67-year-old actor, well known for his roles in the Die Hard series, The Sixth Sense, Pulp Fiction, as well as many others, has recently been diagnosed with aphasia, his family said. Ex-wife Demi Moore announced on Instagram: “To Bruce’s amazing supporters, as a family we wanted to

The COVID-19 pandemic has made it clear that it is not going anywhere anytime soon. Since the omicron subvariant BA.2 gained dominance in the U.S. last month, there has been a growing concern about a possible surge in cases and transmissions in the country. Experts have since been encouraging the administration of another booster shot.

When the PCSK9 inhibitor alirocumab is added to high-intensity statins soon after an acute myocardial infarction (AMI), the reduction in atheroma volume is doubled at 12 months, compared with placebo, while other key signs of plaque stabilization, such as fibrous cap thickness, are also significantly and substantially improved, according to the results of the PACMAN-AMI

Certain wounds don’t heal quite as well as others, but a team of researchers has found how an extract from wild blueberries may help with healing. About one to two percent of the people in developed countries are estimated to experience a chronic wound in their lifetime. These are the wounds that don’t go through a “normal, orderly, and

The Food and Drug Administration has granted approval to Abbott’s Aveir leadless, single-chamber pacemaker system for patients with bradycardia. In a press release, Abbott said the device has a unique mapping capability that allows interventionists implanting the device to measure electrical signals within the heart to determine the correct placement before final implantation. Aveir is implanted

How do we find more hours in the day? As the stress and strain of the past 2-plus years have continued, they have revealed even more of the pressures on those of us practicing on the front lines trying to do our best to take care of patients. We have responded to a deadly pandemic,

A new COVID-19 variant has been discovered in the United Kingdom, as the country’s Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has begun analyzing it.  The agency said that as of March 22, 637 cases of the new strain, dubbed XE, have been found in England. It is described as a “recombinant” of the Omicron variant, and its relative BA.2, with “the majority

Three visual acuity tests taken at home produce results comparable to those achieved with standard tests taken in the office, researchers say. All the tests are free. Two measure near vision, and the third measures distance vision. “I think the purpose of these tests is for reassurance for patients and clinicians so we know that

The new heart failure (HF) guidelines released this week by three North American societies had a lot of catching up to do given the significant, even paradigm-shifting, additions to available treatment options in the last few years. The landscape now includes both new and repurposed drug therapies that benefit almost without regard to ejection fraction

WASHINGTON — Researchers made a strong case that earlier was better when it comes to catheter ablation of ventricular tachycardias (VTs) in people with implantable cardiac defibrillators (ICDs). After a first ICD shock, 23 patients with ischemic or non-ischemic cardiomyopathy soon underwent radiofrequency VT ablation and ended up with 4% incidence of worsening heart failure

Many American adults are affected by prediabetes. A new study has found that its prevalence among youths is also increasing. For their study, published Monday in JAMA Pediatrics, researchers looked at the trends in prediabetes among American youths aged 12 to 19 from 1999 until 2018. To do this, they looked at the data of 6,598 participants,

WASHINGTON – Results from new analyses further fleshed out the potent effect by the investigational SGLT1&2 inhibitor sotagliflozin on major cardiovascular adverse events in patients with type 2 diabetes, chronic kidney disease, and at high risk for cardiovascular disease in the SCORED trial that randomized more than 10,000 patients. In prespecified, secondary analyses of the SCORED

In a study published Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the national health agency advised recipients of Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose vaccine to get a booster with one of Pfizer or Moderna’s mRNA vaccines.  The CDC’s guidance was made in response to the infrequent but detrimental health effects of J&J’s vaccine, such as

The antifibrinolytic tranexamic acid (TXA) reduced serious bleeding without a significant effect on major vascular outcomes in patients undergoing noncardiac surgery at risk for these complications in the POISE-3 trial. TXA cut the primary efficacy outcome of life-threatening, major, and critical organ bleeding at 30 days by 24% compared with placebo (9.1% vs 11.7%; hazard

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, here is a 10-question quiz based on the news of the week. Topics include the FDA’s

Coughing has become a rather alarming symptom, especially during the time of COVID. It may undermine your capacity to focus on your work, and it could also force you to withdraw from socializing with other people since the symptom instills fear that you might have the virus.  Two years after the global health crisis started,

For the past week, accolades and excitement have permeated the HIV advocacy space. The reaction is due to the March 28 release of the Biden Administration’s proposed Fiscal Year 2023 (FY23) budget, which seeks Congressional approval for increasing funding toward its Ending the HIV Epidemic in the U.S. But the budget also allocates a mandatory,10-year,

A group of researchers has found traces of chemicals in cat and dog feces, which shed light on how human beings too may be exposed to such toxic substances. Primary aromatic amines are chemicals that are used in the production of items such as pesticides, food colorants, dyes and pharmaceuticals, noted the researchers of a new study published in the journal Environment International.

On March 31, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended that all adults aged 19-59 years receive a vaccination for hepatitis B. It also added that adults aged 60 years or older without known risk factors for hepatitis B may get vaccinated. The agency earlier recommended the vaccination for all infants and children

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is collecting $100 million in pandemic assistance money from providers who failed to comply with the agency’s reporting requirements, a Bloomberg Law report found. On March 10, HHS’s Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) sent notices to providers who received more than $10,000 in relief money but

A study from Epic Research found that pregnancy, along with other comorbidities, can increase the chance of getting a breakthrough COVID-19 infection.   A breakthrough COVID-19 infection is defined as a group of fully vaccinated individuals who are still susceptible to a COVID-19 infection if they are exposed to the virus. Authors of the study reviewed over 10 million medical records of patients

Anaphylaxis resulting from patch testing is very rare, according to new research presented at the American Contact Dermatitis Society (ACDS) 2022 Annual Meeting, held in Boston. The reaction was estimated to occur in fewer than 1 in 100,000 patients. While anaphylaxis is listed as a potential risk of patch testing, there were previously no data

A large study has debunked the anecdotal claims on the efficacy of the anti-parasitic drug ivermectin against COVID-19. Despite what some experts previously believed, the dewormer did not help treat patients infected with SARS-CoV-2.  Ivermectin vs. COVID-19 Since the early days of the pandemic, some experts and medical doctors have been adamant about the purported

Hidden formaldehyde and formaldehyde releasers found in many cosmetics and other products, including personal protective equipment to shield healthcare workers from COVID-19, provoke allergic reactions in some people, report the authors of a clinical review update. “Formaldehyde and formaldehyde releasers are still widely present in our environment and continue to be important causes of contact allergy

A cardiologist is suing Epic Systems for copyright infringement, alleging in legal documents that the nation’s leading electronic health record (EHR) vendor distributed his heart disease assessment tool without a license. Earlier this month, John Spertus, MD, of Saint Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute in Kansas City, Missouri, filed a lawsuit in the Western District

A team of researchers has found that caffeine could actually be a possible treatment for some of the symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder that’s marked by a pattern of hyperactivity and/or inattention, noted the authors of a study published in the journal Nutrients. It is said to be the “most commonly diagnosed

PARIS, France — Fewer than 1% of patients with intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms (IPMNs) of the branch ducts develop adenocarcinoma after 5 years of follow-up monitoring, according to a French observational study. These findings were presented during the Francophone Days of Hepato-gastroenterology and Gastrointestinal Oncology (JFHOD 2022). This rate of adenocarcinoma falls well below those