Opinion | Challenges (and Rewards) of Being a Rural Doctor
I worked in rural Kentucky for 20 years — all of it in poverty clinics. I suspect I got to know my patients better than someone working in a specialty clinic in a big city. The challenges and rewards of doctoring are unique to each specialty, but these are the challenges and rewards I experienced […]
Letter on Patient’s Fatal Overdose May Curb Benzodiazepine Prescribing
Physicians who received a letter from a medical examiner notifying them of a recent patient’s fatal overdose prescribed fewer benzodiazepines, a secondary analysis of clinical trial data showed. Daily 2-mg diazepam pill equivalents decreased more in an intervention group that received a medical examiner letter and injunction to prescribe safely compared with a control group […]
CDC Examines Monkeypox’s Ability to Linger on Home Surfaces
Commonly used household surfaces in the Utah home of two infected and symptomatic monkeypox patients were covered with PCR-detected virus, yet no samples were culturable, according to a CDC investigation. Among 30 samples taken 20 days since the start of the patients’ isolation, 70% turned up positive on real-time positive PCR tests specific for non-variola […]
Potential target for treatment among patients with type 2 diabetes
In a potential game changer for patients with type 2 diabetes, a team of researchers at the Diabetes, Obesity, and Metabolism Institute (DOMI) at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai has identified a therapeutic target for the preservation and regeneration of beta cells (β cells) — cells in the pancreas that produce and […]
Gangrene Causes, Symptoms, Treatment, Type
Gangrene Symptoms and Signs Dry, Wet, Gas, and Fournier’s Gangrene A patient’s symptoms will depend on the type of gangrene, the location of the gangrene (internal organs, skin, extremity, etc.), and how much the gangrene has progressed. In dry gangrene, the skin is hard and black or purplish. In earlier stages, the skin may be […]
People With Advanced AIDS Benefit From Dolutegravir Treatment
MONTREAL — Patients with advanced HIV/AIDS infections had higher proportion of viral suppression with dolutegravir (Tivicay) treatment versus efavirenz (Sustiva) treatment, a researcher reported. At 48 weeks, 73.9% of the 92 patients assigned to a dolutegravir-based (DTG) regimen achieved viral suppression based on the 200 copies/ml assay versus 47.8% of the 92 patients assigned to […]
COVID-19: New energy for flagging immune cells: Immune cells do not receive sufficient suitable energy carriers in infected individuals, a study reveals
In severe Covid-19 patients, the metabolism produces insufficient amounts of certain energy-rich compounds called ketone bodies. However, these energy carriers are needed by two important cell types in the immune system in order to fight the virus effectively. Perhaps this finding explains why some people fall ill so much more severely than others. A study […]
NAFLD Tied to Higher Risk of Heart Failure
Middle-age patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) had a moderately higher risk of developing heart failure, an updated meta-analysis found. Pooled data on over 11 million participants showed NAFLD to be associated with a 50% greater risk of incident heart failure over a decade (pooled random-effects HR 1.50, 95% CI 1.34-1.67, P<0.0001), reported Giovanni […]
Relapse Patterns in Chronic Hep B After Halting Treatment
Chronic hepatitis B patients who discontinued tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF, Viread) after achieving viral suppression had higher rates of clinical relapse compared to those who stopped entecavir, a global retrospective study found. At 6 and 24 months, clinical relapse rates after stopping TDF grew from 31% to 58%, which was significantly higher than after entecavir […]
Anti-inflammatory compound shows potential in treating patients with severe COVID-19
An anti-inflammatory compound may have the potential to treat systemic inflammation and brain injury in patients with severe COVID-19 and significantly reduce their chances of death, according to a new study from UTHealth Houston and other institutions. A team of researchers including UTHealth Houston faculty members Aaron M. Gusdon, MD, assistant professor in the Vivian […]