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Intermittent or continuous extended adjuvant endocrine therapy led to virtually identical long-term survival in hormone receptor (HR)-positive breast cancer, according to an updated analysis of a randomized trial. Disease-free survival (DFS) at 7 years was 81.4% with intermittent extended letrozole and 81.5% with continuous treatment. The results mirrored previously reported 5-year DFS, which also did

Do you shower or bathe daily? If you do, then you’re already doing more than some Hollywood A-listers. That’s right, because, in today’s surprising revelation, Hollywood celebrities like Ashton Kutcher, Mila Kunis and Jake Gyllenhaal have revealed that they don’t shower as often. What started as a viral tweet, the topic has led to some celebrities confessing about their shower

A leadless, partially subcutaneous left ventricular (LV) pacing system that can deliver cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) when added to dual-chamber pacing, already available in Europe, continues its quest for regulatory approval in the United States. Patients with standard CRT indications who didn’t respond to the treatment or weren’t able to receive a full biventricular (BiV) pacing

The lambda variant has certain traits that could make it the “most dangerous” strain of SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19, but Chinese experts are not worried. Here’s why.  Delta Variant Reaches Japan Japan’s health ministry officials announced on Friday that they have found their first lambda case in the country — a woman in

Asymptomatic pregnant women with no previous diagnosis of type 1 or 2 diabetes should be screened for gestational diabetes at 24 weeks’ gestation or later, according to an updated recommendation from the US Preventive Services Task Force. Pregnant individuals who develop gestational diabetes are at increased risk for complications including preeclampsia, fetal macrosomia, and neonatal hypoglycemia,

Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine appeared to have a higher effectiveness rate compared with the Pfizer vaccine during the period of time when the Delta variant first became predominant, researchers reported. While both vaccines were highly protective against infection from January to July in Minnesota (Moderna 86%, Pfizer 76%), their effectiveness estimates declined during the month of

Big or small celebrations typically include enjoying a nice drink in a memorable place like the beach. Luckily, you don’t have to miss out on drinks thanks to non-alcoholic options. Flavorful and packed with nutrients, these may even be the better choice. Here are some of the best non-alcoholic drinks as well as the best wine alternatives that you can purchase online. Curious Elixir No. 4

Doctor’s Illegal Opioid Distribution Results in Patient Death Thomas K. Ballard III, MD, of Jackson, Tennessee, pleaded guilty to causing the death of one of his patients in 2015 by illegally prescribing hydrocodone. He faces a minimum of 20 years in prison for one count of illegal drug distribution resulting in death. He will be

A cholesterol drug could help bring down the number of daily COVID-19 infections, according to a new study. Long-Existing Drug: A Striking Discovery Researchers have recently stumbled upon a new discovery concerning a drug that’s mainly developed to treat high cholesterol. Fenofibrate is a fibrate class oral medication, which has been around since 1975, is

When gastroenterologists resect polyps during colonoscopy, they may inadvertently leave some neoplastic tissue behind. Biopsies from resection margins sometimes contain polyp remnants, even after a lesion has been visibly removed, research has shown. But the significance of incomplete resection has been unclear. A new study indicates that incomplete resection, compared with complete resection, substantially increases

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is planning to rescind a “Most Favored Nation” rule from the Trump administration that would have tested a model requiring that Medicare pay no more for certain drugs than the price paid by some other developed nations. “Given that the nationwide preliminary injunction precluded implementation of the MFN [Most Favored

While rapid diagnostic test kits for COVID-19 have been available since last year, point-of-care diagnostic tests for the virus and its variants have been nonexistent, for the most part. But a group of experts is about to change that with the development of a new at-home COVID testing device that can detect specific variants of

Eating at least half a serving per day of foods rich in flavonoids — like strawberries, oranges, peppers, and apples — may help lower the risk of age-related cognitive decline, new research shows. Among the different types of flavonoids, flavones (found in some spices and yellow or orange fruits and vegetables) and anthocyanins (found in

Editor’s note: Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in Medscape’s Coronavirus Resource Center. In a real-world setting, full vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 was more than 80% effective at reducing infection in people with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) who were taking immunosuppressive medications. The study, which examined postvaccine infection rates in a Veterans Affairs cohort, further

“It was complete chaos.” — Wajiha Jurdi Kheir, MD, an ophthalmologist at American University of Beirut Medical Center, describing her experience treating patients after last year’s blast at the nearby Port of Beirut in Lebanon. “We’ve had this flat ‘there’s no evidence boosters are indicated’ message. The messaging should be, ‘yes, we’re going to need

Find it. Kill it. This is the simple premise behind new biomaterial-based vaccines that experts are designing to fend off future pathogens, or germs that could threaten human health. As they plan next-generation vaccines, scientists are banking on the idea that the structure of a future pandemic-scale pathogen will be like the ones they already

The Met Gala is happening this year after taking a step back last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the global health crisis is still ongoing, the event will be very different from previous years. Apart from the health protocols that will be implemented, the fundraiser is going vegan.  The Met Gala and its

Aerobic exercise may help reduce blood pressure in patients whose hypertension responds poorly to medications, a new study suggests. A randomized controlled clinical trial showed that patients with resistant hypertension assigned to a moderate-intensity aerobic exercise training program had lower blood pressure (BP) compared with patients who received usual care. Dr Fernando Ribeiro “Resistant hypertension

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

A new survey has found that a number of Americans who remain unvaccinated against COVID-19 are strongly against the vaccines because they think the shots are more dangerous than the coronavirus.  The survey, published on the Kaiser Family Foundation’s website Wednesday, was conducted from July 15 to 27 as part of the organization’s ongoing COVID-19

A head-to-head randomized comparison of milrinone and dobutamine — the most used inotropes in cardiogenic shock therapy in North America — failed to find a significant advantage for one agent over the other. Patients treated with milrinone and dobutamine had similar rates of the primary composite outcome (49% vs 54%; relative risk [RR], 0.90; 95%

We ate a lot more during the pandemic. The latest figures by Public Health England suggest that more than 40% of British adults gained an average of 3kg during the pandemic. The reasons for the rise in body weights seem, at first glance, obvious. We tended to move less during prolonged periods of lockdown, with

The US Food and Drug Administration has cleared Abbott’s latest optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging platform powered by its new Ultreon Software, the company has announced. The system is designed to provide a more comprehensive, automated view of coronary blood vessels and potential blockages by combining OCT with artificial intelligence (AI) detection. A recent study

Spore-forming probiotics were safe and effective for treating functional dyspepsia symptoms in a small randomized Belgium trial. In an intention-to-treat analysis involving 55 patients with functional dyspepsia, a greater proportion of those given probiotics achieved clinical response at 8 weeks compared to patients given placebo (48% vs 20%, respectively; RR 1.95, 95% CI 1.07-4.11, P=0.028),

Ivermectin, an existing drug against parasites including head lice, has had a chequered history when it comes to treating COVID-19. The bulk of studies so far show there’s not enough evidence ivermectin is useful in treating or preventing COVID-19, either alone or with antibiotics or supplements. Yet interest in the drug remains, on social media,

There will be “routine application” and “broader acceptance” of minimally invasive focal therapies for early-stage prostate cancer within the next 5 years in the United States, predict a trio of clinicians in a new essay published online July 28 in JAMA Surgery. They maintain that focal therapy (FT) offers a “middle ground” between two extremes:

Hygiene was a significant part of the health measures to control the coronavirus at the start of the pandemic. But as evidence began to emerge of airborne spread, the focus switched to masks and, more recently, ventilation. Indeed, for some the focus has switched so sharply from surface transmission to airborne transmission that they now

A recent study published in Nature’s Scientific Reports suggests that the size of dams in Africa is an important and overlooked factor in malaria transmission. The report’s major finding was that between 0.9 million and 1.7 million malaria cases each year were attributable to dams, and more than 75% of these were due to small