Despite affecting some 50 million Americans, allergies aren’t super well understood. The sparks that ignite your immune system can range from sunlight to onions, and symptoms of an attack are just as varied. For that reason, we’re spending several weeks writing about allergies—what they are, how they manifest, and how we can find relief. This...
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Easy-to-measure grip strength test could help predict major disease risk
Measuring grip strength – a clinical test that is both cheap and easy to perform – could be an important way to identify people who are at high risk for a wide range of diseases. New research, led by the University of Glasgow’s Institute of Cardiovascular and Medical Sciences and published today in the BMJ, found...
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Virtual care moves toward the frontline of provider-patient relationships
Virtual care, once on the fringes for providers and patients alike, is becoming more of a reality, and is increasingly used for low-acuity needs. Kaiser Permanente and UnitedHealthcare are among the big names using such settings for primary care appointments and quick patient consultations. Backers of virtual care say it holds potential to improve quality,...
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Physical therapy helps recover arm function in chronic CVA
(HealthDay)—Physical therapy promotes the recovery of arm function and neuroplasticity in all chronic stroke patients, according to a study published online April 25 in the Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice. Raquel Carvalho, P.T., from the University of Minho in Braga, Portugal, and colleagues assessed the effect of physical therapy based on problem-solving in recovering arm function in...
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Drug epidemic ensnares 25-year-old pill for nerve pain
This Thursday, May 3, 2018 photo shows bottles of gabapentin at Daniel’s Pharmacy in San Francisco. The 25-year-old non-opioid pain drug is one of the most prescribed medications in the U.S., ranking ninth over 2017, according to …more The story line sounds familiar: a popular pain drug becomes a new way to get high as...
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Drug duo approved for aggressive thyroid cancer
(HealthDay)—Two anti-cancer drugs administered together have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat an inherited form of thyroid cancer. Tafinlar (dabrafenib) and Mekinist (trametinib) combined have been approved to treat anaplastic thyroid cancer caused by an abnormal BRAF V600E gene, the agency said Friday in a news release. Anaplastic thyroid cancer is a rare, yet...
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Providing clinicians feedback on their Opioid prescribing data alters future prescribing
DES PLAINES, IL — Asking emergency department (ED) providers to self-identify their opioid prescribing practices and then providing them with timely, clinically relevant, individualized, and actionable feedback on their actual opioid prescribing data, significantly decreases future opioid prescribing among providers who underestimate their baseline prescribing. That is the finding of a study to be published...
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Chemical sensing chip sniffs out cocaine within minutes
A new, low-cost chemical sensing chip brings us one step closer to this technology, which has long been on the wish list of police officers and others looking to monitor drug use and curb dangerous driving. The chip could be integrated into a handheld, portable device for detecting drugs in biological samples such as blood,...
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Type 2 diabetes ups risk of renal cancer in women, but not men
(HealthDay)—Type 2 diabetes is independently associated with a greater risk of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) in women, but not in men, according to a study published online April 20 in Diabetes Care. Rebecca E. Graff, Sc.D., from Harvard University in Boston, and colleagues used data from 117,570 women participating in the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS; 1976 to 2014)...
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Easy-to-measure grip strength test could help predict major disease risk
Measuring grip strength – a clinical test that is both cheap and easy to perform – could be an important way to identify people who are at high risk for a wide range of diseases. New research, led by the University of Glasgow’s Institute of Cardiovascular and Medical Sciences and published today in the BMJ, found that lower grip...