Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), also known as an enlarged heart, is associated with a nearly two times higher risk of dementia according to a recent University of Minnesota School of Public Health study published in the American Heart Journal. 3D Model of the heart by Dr. Matthew Bramlet. Credit: NIH LVH is a condition in which the muscle wall of the heart‘s left pumping chamber (ventricle) becomes thickened...
Year: <span>2018</span>
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Older people can come to believe their own lies
What happens when older adults lie? A new study suggests that in as little as 45 minutes they can come to believe it’s the truth. Associate professor of psychology Angela Gutchess and her colleagues published the research online in the journal Brain and Cognition. Gutchess and her collaborators used electroencephalography (EEG) to monitor the brain activity of...
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Researchers invent medical device for early intervention of congestive heart failure
A research team from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) and Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) has invented a smart handheld medical device that could enable early intervention for patients with congestive heart failure. The portable innovation, which resembles a stethoscope, is made up of an acoustic sensor connected to a smartphone. It enables early...
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Cancer cells’ use of sugar holds the key to their destruction
Scientists have suggested a way to improve treatments that use viruses to attack cancer. It exploits the fact that cancer cells need a lot of glucose and must metabolize it rapidly to survive. Oncolytic viruses specifically target and enter cancer cells and use the cells’ machinery for their own multiplication and spread. They destroy tumors from the inside without harming nearby...
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Are Stem Cells the Future of Effective Back Pain Treatment?
According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, 80 percent of Americans will have at least one episode of lower (or lumbar) back pain in their lifetimes. Discomfort or pain in the cervical and thoracic regions is common as well, with an estimated third or so of Americans living with pain at any...
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‘Real world’ data on Yescarta for lymphoma look slightly worse than initial study results
Doctors treating lymphoma patients with the CAR-T therapy Yescarta in the “real world” are seeing results that are slightly worse than data collected in the pivotal clinical trial conducted by Kite Pharma, now a part of Gilead Sciences. But the analysis may have been affected by the inclusion of sicker patients who would have been...
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CAR-T cell update: Therapy improves outcomes for patients with B-cell lymphoma
Forty percent of patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma had a complete response, most of which were durable UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MEDICAL CENTER In their phase-2 study of tisagenlecleucel (marketed as KYMRIAH®), to be published on-line Dec. 1, 2018 in the New England Journal of Medicine, an international team of researchers evaluated 93 patients with relapsed or refractory...
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Larotrectinib: Targeting DNA in cancer therapy
While other toddlers her age were fighting naptime, two-year-old Michelle was battling an aggressive, life-threatening cancer. Doctors at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles saved her life in an epic battle, wielding what is being hailed as a “magic bullet” in the fight against certain cancers. Michelle, 2, participated in the clinical trial for larotrectinib at Children’s Hospital Los...
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For older adults with heart failure: Can taking too many medications reduce abilities?
As we age, we tend to develop a number of chronic health conditions and concerns. Often, managing health problems can mean that older adults may take many different medications. When older adults take five or more medicines (a scenario health experts call “polypharmacy”, it can increase the risk of harmful side effects. Polypharmacy can contribute...
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Researchers extend effectiveness of immunotherapy to more lung cancer patients
Immunotherapy, the strategy for triggering the patient’s own immune system to attack cancer, is proving effective for more tumour types, although to varying degrees. In lung cancer, immunotherapy had proven to extend survival rates for only some variants of the disease. Now, an international clinical trial led by the oncologist Luis Paz-Ares has substantially increased...