Healthier Lifestyle Maintained After Bariatric Surgery
Bariatric surgery patients tended to maintain healthier lifestyle habits compared with peers who were eligible but had not received this treatment, according to data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). People approximately 7 years out of bariatric surgery reported more moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) than those who were eligible but did not […]
Robotic Surgery Wins for Keeping Bladder Cancer Patients Alive, Out of Hospital
NEW ORLEANS — Robot-assisted radical cystectomy with intracorporeal urinary diversion compared with open radical cystectomy among patients with non-metastatic bladder cancer resulted in a statistically significant increase in days alive and out of the hospital, according to results from the iROC trial. Within 90 days of surgery, patients undergoing robotic surgery spent a median of […]
Drug reduced frequency of breathing pauses in sleep apnea
A new University of Gothenburg study has paved the way for the first drug treatment for sleep apnea. Compared to before receiving the treatment, breathing pauses decreased with on average more than 20 per hour for patients given the drug. The treatment that has been tested is carbonic anhydrase (CA) inhibition, CA being an enzyme […]
What’s the Best Way to Treat Femur Breaks From Bone Metastases?
BALTIMORE — The use of long-stem hemiarthroplasty (LSHA) did not improve quality-of-life (QoL) or functional outcomes compared to intramedullary nailing (IMN) in treating pathological fractures of the pertrochanteric femur caused by bone metastases, a researcher reported. In the randomized controlled surgical trial, short-term outcomes (3 to 12 months) demonstrated that mean Toronto Extremity Salvage Scores […]
Remdesivir Appears Effective in COVID Outpatients, Too
Remdesivir (Veklury) reduced risk of hospitalizations by 87% compared with placebo in outpatients at high risk of progression to severe COVID-19, a researcher said. While the raw numbers were small — two in the remdesivir arm versus 15 in the placebo arm — the remdesivir arm had a significantly lower risk of hospitalization (0.7% vs […]
Early accumulation of tau in the brain predicts memory decline in Alzheimer’s disease
Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have compared how well different Alzheimer’s biomarkers predict the progression of the disease and its effect on the memory. They found that early accumulation of tau proteins in the brain as measured by PET scanner was more effective at predicting memory impairment than biomarkers in the cerebrospinal fluid or […]
Robot-Assisted Prostatectomy Tied to Fewer Complications
Robot-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP) was associated with fewer surgical complications compared with open or laparoscopic prostatectomies, a population-based cohort study in Taiwan found. Among more than 1,400 patients who underwent radical prostatectomy in 2015, those treated with RARP were less likely to need blood transfusions compared with those who received laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (LRP; adjusted […]
Study identifies molecule that stimulates muscle-building in humans
In a randomized control study of 10 healthy young men, researchers compared how consuming the single amino acid leucine or its two-molecule equivalent, dileucine, influenced muscle-building and breakdown. They found that dileucine boosts the metabolic processes that drive muscle growth 42% more than free leucine does. They report their findings in the Journal of Applied […]
Another Bioresorbable Stent Hits a Snag
A novel bioresorbable stent failed to meet the threshold for noninferiority compared with durable devices in the OPTIMIZE trial, and researchers suggested rising troponin use may have played a role. The Svelte stent, designed to facilitate direct stenting and transradial access in percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), did not differ significantly from metallic everolimus-eluting stents with […]
Thawing permafrost releases greenhouse gas from depth: After 2020 heat wave: methane concentrations in Siberian air point to gas emission from limestone
In a study led by the University of Bonn (Germany), geologists compared the spatial and temporal distribution of methane concentrations in the air of northern Siberia with geological maps. The result: the methane concentrations in the air after last year’s heat wave indicate that increased gas emissions came from limestone formations. The study is published […]