by Noah Fromson, University of Michigan Credit: University of Michigan Screening for a sometimes fatal condition among patients with a rare autoimmune disease could soon—thanks to a computer algorithm—become even more accurate. Researchers at Michigan Medicine found that an internet application improved their ability to spot pulmonary arterial hypertension in patients with systemic sclerosis, or scleroderma. The unpredictable condition is marked...
RADIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF NORTH AMERICA IMAGE: Noncalcified coronary plaque in an asymptomatic 52-year-old man living with HIV with a 10-year Framingham risk of 5%. Images show 256-section contrast-enhanced coronary CT angiography with electrocardiographic gating and curve reformat. A, B, CT scan shows a smooth noncalcified plaque in the right coronary artery (arrows) with 70%-80% stenosis....
BRIGHAM AND WOMEN’S HOSPITAL Chronic pain is among the most common chronic conditions in the United States, but estimates of its prevalence and impact vary widely. In 2019, the National Center for Health Statistics of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention added a new set of questions relating to pain to its National Health...
TEL-AVIV UNIVERSITY IMAGE: SPREAD OF THE BRITISH VARIANT IN ISRAEL CREDIT: TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY A new study at Tel Aviv University found that the British variant (termed: B.1.1.7) of Covid-19 is 45% more contagious than the original virus. The researchers relied on data from about 300,000 PCR tests for Covid-19 obtained from the COVID-19 testing...
by Emily Caldwell, The Ohio State University Credit: CC0 Public Domain A high daily dose of an omega-3 supplement may help slow the effects of aging by suppressing damage and boosting protection at the cellular level during and after a stressful event, new research suggests. Researchers at The Ohio State University found that daily supplements that...
by Riitta Partanen, University of Queensland Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain The decision to stop prescribing long-term anti-depressants should be made only after careful preparation by GPs and their patients, University of Queensland research has found. The qualitative study was based on interviews with 22 GPs working in urban and regional areas, who said there was no standardized approach....
The findings come more than 20 years after the launch of a landmark clinical trial, follow-up examinations, and analyses. When the Ocular Hypertension Treatment Study launched, it was universally accepted that all patients with elevated eye pressure should be given medication to lower that pressure. Researchers recruited more than 1,600 patients nationally who were at moderate to...
More than half of cervical cancer cases in the United States occur in women who have not had timely Pap smears and/or HPV tests — screenings that allow for detection of precancerous or cancerous cells on the cervix. Encouraging low-income women, in particular, to participate in such screenings likely would improve cancer detection and save...
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA – SAN FRANCISCO Researchers and physicians from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and UC San Francisco have found that deaths of workers using methylene chloride paint strippers are on the rise. The solvent is widely used in paint strippers, cleaners, adhesives and sealants. The study is the first comprehensive review...
MICHIGAN MEDICINE – UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN More blood thinners aren’t automatically better, another study confirms. A new publication in JAMA Internal Medicine focuses on the minimal pros and the concerning cons of combining a daily aspirin with a drug from the newer class of anticoagulants that include apixaban, dabigatran, edoxaban and rivaroxaban. Patients were taking one of...
