When My Infant Daughter Was Declared Brain-Dead, I Had To Make An Unimaginable Choice
Nearly a decade ago, the doctor who had been responsible for my daughter’s care in the pediatric ICU asked me: “Would you consider organ donation?” My mind struggled to string his words into a decipherable sentence. My husband and I had just been told that our 1-year-old daughter, Rehma, was brain-dead. She was on a […]
99% Of World’s Population Breathes Poor-Quality Air: WHO
GENEVA (AP) — The U.N. health agency says nearly everybody in the world breathes air that doesn’t meet its standards for air quality, calling for more action to reduce fossil-fuel use, which generates pollutants that cause respiratory and blood-flow problems and lead to millions of preventable deaths each year. The World Health Organization, about six […]
Astronomers closer to unlocking origin of mysterious fast radio bursts: New study by international team of scientists identifies polarization as key trait that may reveal the origin of the powerful millisecond-long cosmic radio explosions
Nearly 15 years after the discovery of fast radio bursts (FRBs), the origin of the millisecond-long, deep-space cosmic explosions remains a mystery. That may soon change, thanks to the work of an international team of scientists — including UNLV astrophysicist Bing Zhang — which tracked hundreds of the bursts from five different sources and found […]
6 Months of U.S. Data Support Safety of mRNA COVID Vaccines
Nearly all local and systemic adverse events (AEs) reported after Pfizer or Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccines were mild and transient, and only a fraction of individuals reported seeking medical care, according to data from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) and CDC’s v-safe tracker. Out of almost 300 million mRNA vaccine doses administered in the […]
Ultrasounds for endangered abalone mollusks: Ultrasounds proven an effective, hands-off way to help spawn endangered abalone
The world’s abalone are threatened, endangered or otherwise vulnerable in nearly every corner of the planet. While captive breeding efforts are underway for some species, these giant sea snails are notoriously difficult to spawn. If only we could wave a magic wand to know when abalone are ready to reproduce, without even touching them. Scientists […]
Millions Of You Have Gotten Cheap ACA Coverage; Millions More Still Could
Nearly 14 million people have signed up for private insurance through the Affordable Care Act’s marketplaces, the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reported on Monday. There are two reasons you might want to pay attention to that. One is the implications for policy and politics. The new enrollment figure is the highest in […]
Concurrent heatwaves seven times more frequent than in 1980s
Multiple large heatwaves the size of Mongolia occurred at the same time nearly every day during the warm seasons of the 2010s across the Northern Hemisphere, according to a study led by Washington State University researchers. Using climate data from 1979 to 2019, the researchers found that the number of heatwaves occurring simultaneously in the […]
‘Concerning’ Opioid Prescribing in Patients With Cirrhosis
Nearly one in five patients with cirrhosis were prescribed opioids during outpatient visits, more often than not by a primary care physician (PCP), according to a national analysis of over 10 million ambulatory visits. From 2006 to 2016, 17% of all outpatient visits for patients with cirrhosis resulted in an opioid prescription, usually a refill, […]
Immunotherapy Combo in Advanced RCC Led to More Time Off Treatment
Nearly one-fifth of patients with intermediate- or poor-risk advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) treated with nivolumab (Opdivo) plus ipilimumab (Yervoy) in the CheckMate 214 trial were alive and treatment free beyond 3 years. Among the phase III trial participants, the treatment-free survival (TFS) rate at 42 months was 18% for those who were randomized to […]
When blood pressure needs more control, what’s better: An additional drug or more of the same? Study in veterans shows importance of personalizing the approach to intensifying treatment in sustainable ways
Nearly 34 million Americans have blood pressure that’s still too high even though they take medicine to control it. A new study may help them and their doctors decide whether to increase the dose of one of their existing drugs, or add a new one, to bring down their pressure and lower their risk of […]