By Michelle Roberts Health editor, BBC News online A cheap and widely available drug can help save the lives of patients seriously ill with coronavirus. The low-dose steroid treatment dexamethasone is a major breakthrough in the fight against the deadly virus, UK experts say. The drug is part of the world’s biggest trial testing existing...
Tuberculosis vaccine strengthens immune system
by University of Bonn A tuberculosis vaccine developed 100 years ago also makes vaccinated persons less susceptible to other infections. While this effect has been recognized for a long time, it is not known what causes it. Together with colleagues from Australia and Denmark, researchers from Radboud university medical center the universities of Nijmegen and...
CANCER AND CHEMO TEAM UP TO MAKE NEUROPATHY WORSE
Contrary to common medical guidance, chemotherapy does not appear to be the only culprit in neuropathy, a neurological side effect of cancer treatment, according to a new study in rats. Cancer itself contributes heavily, too, and the stresses on neurons appear far worse than the sum of the two causes. “There was some distress caused...
GLP-1-based treatment of diabetes does not cause pancreatitis
UNIVERSITY OF COPENHAGEN THE FACULTY OF HEALTH AND MEDICAL SCIENCES About 50,000 Danish diabetic patients are treated with GLP-1-based medicine. GLP-1 is a hormone that reduces the blood sugar and inhibits the appetite, and it is a frequent treatment for type 2 diabetes and obesity. A known side effect of this particular treatment is that...
Update on stem cells for COVID-19, Surgisphere scandal
The term Regenerative Medicine covers so much biomedical science these days including everything from just about any kind of cell therapy (not just stem cells) to CRISPR gene editing, and with the the COVID-19 pandemic, it seems this umbrella use of the term now includes potential treatment of viral illnesses. It can be hard to...
Case series: Teriflunomide therapy in COVID-19 patients with MS
During the COVID-19 pandemic, patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) and their clinicians have had questions and concerns about whether immunotherapies for MS could influence risk for infection or lead to an unfavorable outcome. In the Journal of Neurology, Rohit Bakshi, MD, a senior neurologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and international co-authors present the cases...
Are Patients Dying ‘From’ COVID or ‘With’ COVID?
George D. Lundberg, MD DISCLOSURES June 05, 2020 Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in Medscape’s Coronavirus Resource Center. Death is usually fairly easy to diagnose; cause of death, not so much. In fact, death certificates in the United States and around the world are notoriously wrong. How does this happen? Death certificates are...
Silicones may lead to cell death
by Radboud University Nijmegen Silicone molecules from breast implants can initiate processes in human cells that lead to cell death. Researchers from Radboud University have demonstrated this in a new study published on 12 June in Scientific Reports. “However, there are still many questions about what this could mean for the health effects of silicone...
An aspirin a day keeps the bowel doctor away
by Newcastle University A regular dose of aspirin to reduce the risk of inherited bowel cancer lasts at least 10 years after stopping treatment, research has revealed. The international trial—known as CAPP2—involved patients with Lynch syndrome from around the world and revealed that two aspirins a day, for an average of two and a half...
Two new, powerful small molecules may be able to kill cancers that other therapies can’t
Using human cell and mouse models, City of Hope scientists demonstrate that the cancer inhibitors they’re developing could destroy acute myeloid leukemia and tumors from brain, pancreatic and breast cancers PRINT E-MAIL DUARTE, Calif. — City of Hope scientists have identified and developed two potent small molecules that appear to suppress tumor growth in multiple...