What Is COVID Variant XBB?
The latest strain of coronavirus might be less severe, but it’s more contagious than ever.
Parkinson’s Incidence 50% Higher Than Previously Thought
The annual incidence of Parkinson’s disease was 50% higher than previous estimates in data from five epidemiological cohorts in the U.S. and Canada. The new incidence rate was nearly 90,000 cases annually for people 65 and older, reported Allison Willis, MD, of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and co-authors. This contrasted sharply with the […]
More Than 3,500 Deaths In U.S. Have Been Linked To Long-COVID: CDC
Long-COVID has been linked to more than 3,500 deaths in the U.S. since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, according to data released Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). An analysis of death certificates between January 2020 and the end of June 2022 found long-COVID listed as either an underlying or […]
Mom’s dietary fat rewires male and female brains differently: Excess fat triggers immune cells to overeat serotonin in the brain of developing male mice, leading to depression-like behavior
More than half of all women in the United States are overweight or obese when they become pregnant. While being or becoming overweight during pregnancy can have potential health risks for moms, there are also hints that it may tip the scales for their kids to develop psychiatric disorders like autism or depression, which often […]
Role of Cytoreductive Nephrectomy Unclear for Dedifferentiated Kidney Cancer
AUSTIN, Texas — Cytoreductive nephrectomy improved overall survival (OS) by more than a year for patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) with sarcomatoid or rhabdoid (S/R) dedifferentiation treated with immunotherapy in an observational study, but the difference did not achieve statistical significance. Median OS was 30 months with surgery versus 17 months without, representing […]
8,000 Nerve Endings? Actually, the Clitoris Has More
MIAMI — The oft-cited claim that there are more than 8,000 nerve endings in the clitoris comes from a 1976 book by Thomas Lowry and Thea Lowry, in reference to a study of cows. No one had fact-checked that claim in humans — until now. There are, in fact, an average of 10,280 nerve fibers […]
How Well Do Opioids Stack Up for Musculoskeletal Pain in the ED?
For musculoskeletal pain in the emergency department (ED), opioids weren’t clearly better than other analgesics across studies in a systematic review and meta-analysis. When evaluated at a median of around 2 hours of follow-up, opioids were not statistically or clinically more effective against pain than nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs; mean difference [MD] -0.1 on a […]
U.S. Experts Weigh In on Colonoscopy Status in Wake of European Trial
Could a new study that suggests colonoscopy is less effective than expected thwart efforts in the U.S. to get more people screened for colorectal cancer? Medical associations and physicians are weighing in on the subject, noting that they are worried that the results from the randomized NordICC trial, published earlier this week in the New […]
More Harm Reduction, Less Abstinence-Only in COVID Messaging, Experts Say
More attention to harm reduction — rather than totally abstaining from risky behaviors — would improve messaging on the COVID-19 pandemic, Amesh Adalja, MD, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, said Wednesday. “A lot of COVID-19 was abstinence-only” when it came to behavior, Adalja said during an online briefing sponsored […]
Opinion | Will Elon Musk’s Warning About the Future Hold True for Medicine?
“Mark my words. AI [artificial intelligence] is more dangerous than nukes.” — Elon Musk The other day, as soon as I walked into work, already running my usual 10 minutes late, I was hustling from my office to the clinic when I saw one of our physician assistants in the hallway. She is otherwise known […]