Dining Out? Check the Bill for a ‘Health Insurance’ Surcharge
A restaurant in Atlanta took some heat on social media for adding a 4% health insurance surcharge to customers’ bills, but it wasn’t the first and likely won’t be the last. Restaurant owner Emily Chan told CNN that the fee covered almost all health insurance costs for employees. “We feel like there’s a pretty huge […]
Steroid Fails to Boost Survival in Advanced HIV Patients With TB Meningitis
Adding dexamethasone to treatment for tuberculous (TB) meningitis among heavily immunosuppressed HIV-positive patients in a low-resource setting did not significantly improve survival or confer any other measured benefits, a randomized controlled trial showed. Among 520 HIV-positive adults in Vietnam and Indonesia who received a year of chemotherapy for TB meningitis, 44.1% of those who also […]
Adding Regorafenib in First-Line ‘Promising’ in Gastric Cancer
Adding regorafenib (Stivarga) to a standard first-line chemoimmunotherapy regimen for HER2-negative metastatic esophagogastric cancer demonstrated “promising” activity in a single-arm phase II study, according to researchers. Among 35 evaluable patients treated with the tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) plus nivolumab (Opdivo) and FOLFOX chemotherapy, 25 (71%, 95% CI 54-85) remained progression free at 6 months, thus […]
Nivolumab-AVD Boosts PFS in Untreated Hodgkin Lymphoma
CHICAGO — Adding the immune checkpoint inhibitor nivolumab (Opdivo), rather than brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris), to a standard chemotherapy backbone reduced the risk of disease progression or death in newly diagnosed adults and adolescents with advanced-stage classical Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL), according to the SWOG S1826 trial. Patients in the phase III study received six cycles of […]
CDK4/6 Extends Reach Into Early-Stage Breast Cancer
CHICAGO — Adding ribociclib (Kisqali) to adjuvant endocrine therapy significantly improved invasive disease-free survival (iDFS) in patients with early-stage, high-risk breast cancer and hormone receptor (HR)-positive/HER2-negative disease, an interim analysis of a large phase III study found. In the NATALEE trial, which included patients with node-negative disease, the CKD4/6 inhibitor plus endocrine therapy combination resulted […]
Adding This New Criteria Drastically Cut 72-Hour Insulinoma Fast Time
SEATTLE — Adding beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHB) stopping criteria cut down fasting time when detecting insulinomas in patients with hypoglycemia, according to late-breaking findings presented here. By adding in a stopping point if BHB reached a level of 2.7 mmol/L or higher to the fasting protocol, fasting time was nearly 8 hours shorter on average across the […]
GLP-1 Agonists Come Out on Top in Cardiovascular Comparison of Newer Diabetes Meds
Diabetes patients adding a newcomer drug to their medications may derive cardiovascular benefits to varying degrees depending on their choice between GLP-1 agonists and SGLT-2 inhibitors, a large observational dataset suggested. Among U.S. veterans already on metformin, sulfonylurea, or insulin treatment and without cardiovascular disease (CVD), the addition of a GLP-1 agonist, instead of a […]
Blinatumomab Plus Chemo Effective in Aggressive Infant ALL
Adding a postinduction course of blinatumomab (Blincyto) to chemotherapy appeared safe and highly effective for treating an aggressive form of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in infants, according to results from a phase II study. Of the 30 infants with newly diagnosed KMT2A-rearranged ALL, 16 achieved minimal residual disease (MRD)-negative status following the 28-day infusion with […]
Perioperative Toripalimab Prolongs EFS in Stage III Lung Cancer
Adding an investigational anti-PD-1 drug to perioperative chemotherapy improved event-free survival (EFS) in patients with resectable, stage III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), an interim analysis of a phase III study found. Among 404 patients receiving perioperative chemotherapy in the so-called Neotorch trial, the median investigator-assessed EFS was not reached in patients assigned to toripalimab, […]
Simple addition to corn bran could boost grain’s nutritional value 15-35%
What if, by adding a couple of cell layers inside a corn kernel, the grain could become significantly richer in essential nutrients like iron, zinc, and protein? Such an improvement could benefit people who rely on corn for a large portion of their diet, as in many parts of the global south. In a new […]