Senate Committee Advances HHS Assistant Secretary Nomination
The Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (HELP) Committee voted 12-11 along party lines Thursday to recommend that Brian Christine, MD, be confirmed as assistant secretary for health at HHS, in addition to five other Trump administration nominees. “These nominees are vital to advancing President Trump’s pro-worker, pro-family, pro-patient agenda,” HELP Committee Chair Sen. Bill […]
Paramagnetic Seeds: An Effective Option for Breast Lesion Localization
Paramagnetic seeds along with superparamagnetic iron oxide (SPIO) was an effective combination for nonpalpable breast lesion localization and sentinel lymph node detection (SLND), data from the MAGTOTAL trial in Sweden showed. The totally magnetic technique was equivalent to the use of guidewire and SPIO regarding re-excision frequency at 2.84% versus 2.87%, for a difference of […]
Explanations Don’t Help Clinicians Spot Biased AI
Providing clinicians with artificial intelligence (AI) predictions along with model explanations can boost diagnostic accuracy, but that accuracy drops when using a biased AI model — and explanations don’t mitigate those negative effects, according to a randomized clinical vignette survey study. Clinicians who were asked to differentiate between pneumonia, heart failure, or chronic obstructive pulmonary […]
Year in Review: Follicular Lymphoma
Studies demonstrating high response rates and manageable safety profiles, along with FDA approvals, have supported bispecific antibodies as promising treatment options for follicular lymphoma. At the start of 2023, a new option became available with the accelerated approval of mosunetuzumab (Lunsumio) late last year. The first-in-class bispecific monoclonal antibody works by inducing CD20-directed CD3 T-cell […]
Scientists tie obesity to sex- and age-specific genes
From influencing how our body stores fat to how our brain regulates appetite, hundreds of genes, along with environmental factors, collectively determine our weight and body size. Now, researchers add several genes, which appear to affect obesity risk in certain sexes and ages, to that list. The study, published on August 2 in the journal […]
Long-Acting HIV Drug Promising for Treatment-Naive Patients
Lenacapavir (Sunlenca) given every 26 weeks along with daily antiretroviral therapy (ART) suppressed HIV on par with conventional regimens in the first-line setting in the phase II CALIBRATE trial. Viral suppression to fewer than 50 copies/mL at week 54 was 85-90% across all three groups given the drug whether orally or subcutaneously every 26 weeks […]
Clinical Challenges: Thromboembolic Risk in Pediatric Cardiomyopathy
Children with cardiomyopathy are one of the highest-risk pediatric groups for developing thrombosis, along with kids with Fontan circulation, systemic-to-pulmonary artery shunt-dependent functionally univentricular circulation, central lines, and Kawasaki disease with coronary aneurysms. Prophylaxis to prevent thromboembolism and associated complications for children with cardiac disease is most commonly done with antiplatelets (such as aspirin and […]
Seeing how odor is processed in the brain: New study shows odor unpleasantness processed more quickly than perceived quality
A specially created odor delivery device, along with machine learning-based analysis of scalp-recorded electroencephalogram, has enabled researchers at the University of Tokyo to see when and where odors are processed in the brain. The study found that odor information in the brain is unrelated to perception during the early stages of being processed, but when […]
Do You Have to Be Over 50 to Get the Shingles Vaccine?
What is shingles? Shingles, also called herpes zoster, is a painful rash forming along the path of one spinal or brain nerve. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that people over 50 receive two doses of the recombinant zoster vaccine (RZV). Shingles, also called herpes zoster, is a painful rash forming along the […]
Hidden distortions trigger promising thermoelectric property
In a world of materials that normally expand upon heating, one that shrinks along one 3D axis while expanding along another stands out. That’s especially true when the unusual shrinkage is linked to a property important for thermoelectric devices, which convert heat to electricity or electricity to heat. In a paper just published in the […]