COVID-Positive Donor Organs Safe; Shorter Omicron Infectious Period?
The use of abdominal organs from COVID-19-positive donors for transplant was safe, a small study showed. No rejection occurred among four recipients who received liver, kidney, or pancreas transplants from four COVID-positive donors, and none of the recipients acquired a COVID infection, reported Emily Eichenberger, MD, of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, at a […]
Erdafitinib Continues to Show Efficacy in Urothelial Carcinoma
The pan-FGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor erdafitinib (Balversa) was active and safe in patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma, according to long-term follow-up of a phase II study. At a median follow-up of 24 months, the investigator-assessed objective response rate (ORR) was 40% among 101 patients with prespecified FGFR alterations treated with erdafitinib, reported […]
Prescribing the abortion pill without restrictions is safe and effective, study finds: Researchers say Canada’s experience offers a roadmap for other countries
Abortion remains safe after Canada removed restrictions on the medical abortion pill mifepristone in November 2017. That’s one of the key findings from a UBC-led study published today in the New England Journal of Medicine. The study used comprehensive government health data to examine 315,000 abortions in Ontario between 2012 and 2020. An analysis showed […]
Anxiety cues found in the brain despite safe environment
Imagine you are in a meadow picking flowers. You know that some flowers are safe, while others have a bee inside that will sting you. How would you react to this environment and, more importantly, how would your brain react? This is the scene in a virtual-reality environment used by researchers to understand the impact […]
COVID Prevention Tx Safe, Shows Efficacy in High-Risk Groups
A monoclonal antibody cocktail designed for COVID-19 pre-exposure prophylaxis was safe, and appeared to be effective across populations at risk of severe COVID and who may have a subpar response to vaccination, a researcher said. AZD7442 (tixagevimab/cilgavimab) met its primary endpoint, reducing the risk of symptomatic COVID-19 among high-risk populations by 77% (95% CI 46%-90%), […]
Probiotics Show Promise for Symptoms of Functional GI Disorders
Spore-forming probiotics were safe and effective for treating functional dyspepsia symptoms in a small randomized Belgium trial. In an intention-to-treat analysis involving 55 patients with functional dyspepsia, a greater proportion of those given probiotics achieved clinical response at 8 weeks compared to patients given placebo (48% vs 20%, respectively; RR 1.95, 95% CI 1.07-4.11, P=0.028), […]
Clearing the Hurdles to Safe Injection Facilities
Rhode Island authorized the first ever safe injection facilities (SIFs) or “harm reduction centers” in the U.S. last week, but many states still face an uphill battle to opening their own sites. The bill calls for launching a two-year pilot program which would permit harm reduction centers or SIFs to serve as a community resource, […]
Did Fecal Transplant Stop COVID in Its Tracks?
Fecal microbiota transplant (FMT) was safe in two hospitalized patients who were co-infected with cases of COVID-19 that quickly resolved, raising questions about the procedure’s effect on the virus. FMT was effective for the two patients, who were receiving the treatment for Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) infections and subsequently tested positive for COVID-19, reported Jaroslaw […]