Major Medical Groups Pushed Out of Role Supporting CDC’s Vaccine Advisors
Multiple healthcare organizations that have historically helped the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) develop vaccine recommendations have been told they can no longer participate in ACIP work groups, leaving the organizations frustrated and worried about what will happen next. “We’re very concerned and disheartened that our organizations are considered ‘special interest groups’ and […]
A Chicago Hospital Bows to Federal Pressure on Trans Care for Teens
He’s 17 and lives in the Chicago suburbs. He loves theater and recently helped direct a play at his high school. He takes competitive AP courses and is working on his Eagle Scout project. And he’s been on a journey for 4 years. Once a week, the transgender teen injects testosterone into his body. He’s […]
Oral Corticosteroids Ease Preschoolers’ Acute Wheeze
Oral corticosteroids helped reduce wheeze severity and length of hospital stay in children experiencing acute preschool wheeze, a pooled analysis of patient-level randomized trial data showed. The medication reduced wheezing severity score (WSS) after 4 hours to a greater degree than did placebo (mean difference -0.31 on a 12-point scale, P=0.011). This, however, was not […]
E-Cigs Show Some Benefit as Smoking Cessation Aid in Clinical Trial
Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) helped people better stick to smoking cessation in the randomized controlled ESTxENDS trial. Participants smoking at least five tobacco cigarettes a day at baseline showed validated continuous abstinence from tobacco smoking at 6 months in 28.9% of cases after getting free e-cigarettes and counseling, which was significantly better than the 16.3% abstinence […]
JAK Inhibitor Preserves Beta-Cell Function in Early Type 1 Diabetes
A Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor helped preserve beta-cell function in people with recent-onset type 1 diabetes, the phase II BANDIT trial found. Meeting the study’s primary endpoint, daily baricitinib (Olumiant) maintained a significantly higher average mixed-meal-stimulated C-peptide level at week 48 compared with placebo (0.65 vs 0.43 nmol/L/min, P=0.001), according to Thomas Kay, MBBS, PhD, […]
‘Alexa, Titrate My Insulin’: AI App Boosts Glycemic Control in Randomized Trial
A custom artificial intelligence (AI) app for insulin management advice helped patients with type 2 diabetes gain rapid glycemic control, a small randomized clinical trial found. In titrating basal insulin, those who used a voice-based conversational AI application — delivered over Amazon’s Alexa at home — more quickly achieved optimal insulin dosing (median 15 days […]
A Medical Student, a Dying JFK, and ‘Destiny’: What a Young Doctor Saw 60 Years Ago
Sixty years ago, at the age of just 25, a fourth-year medical student named Joe Goldstrich helped colleagues treat the stricken president of the U.S. in a Dallas emergency department. Then he kept quiet for 3 decades. “I was afraid,” Goldstrich recalled. He finally spoke up in a 1993 book and opened up even more […]
Inhaled Antibiotic Cuts Risk of Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia
A short course of an inhaled antibiotic helped prevent the incidence of ventilator-associated pneumonia in the intensive care unit (ICU), a randomized trial in France showed. In critically ill patients intubated for between 3 to 4 days, administration of amikacin (Arikayce) reduced the rate of first ventilator-associated pneumonia compared with an inhaled placebo (15% vs […]
Dementia Risk From Midlife Onward Predicted With New Tool
A novel 14-year risk score helped identify people from age 50 onward at risk for all-cause dementia, a large U.K. study showed. The tool, called the U.K. Biobank Dementia Risk Score (UKBDRS), was developed and validated in two U.K. cohorts, reported Raihaan Patel, PhD, of the University of Oxford in England, and co-authors. The area […]
Kombucha Shows Potential Diabetes Benefit in Small Trial
Drinking kombucha helped improve blood glucose levels in people with type 2 diabetes, according to a randomized, controlled pilot trial. After drinking the fermented tea for a month, participants saw a significant reduction in average fasting blood glucose levels (164 vs 116 mg/dL, P=0.035) not seen in those in the placebo group (162 vs 141 […]