Tide Turns on Withholding Blood Pressure Meds for Pregnant Women
WASHINGTON — Consensus is growing that clinicians can be confident treating mild hypertension in otherwise healthy pregnant women without hurting their babies, based on the CHAP study. In this large randomized trial, treating high blood pressure (BP) to a target of <140/90 mm Hg resulted in better outcomes than did usual care, as evidenced by […]
Patient-centered approach to treating obesity
It’s one of the most polarizing questions among clinicians: Is treating obesity while also reducing weight stigma and eating disorder risk mutually exclusive? In a recent commentary published online ahead of print in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, a team of researchers takes aim at what they say is an outdated […]
Starting antiretroviral therapy early essential to battling not one, but two killers
Two weeks makes a big difference in treating the animal version of HIV and latent tuberculosis, researchers from Texas Biomedical Research Institute, Southwest National Primate Research Center and colleagues report this month in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. The finding is another piece in the puzzle of the complex interaction between HIV and tuberculosis (TB), […]
Antibody with engineered peptide targets bone metastasis: Enhanced breast cancer drug could halt spread
A moderate amount of a peptide-enhanced, biological cancer drug goes a long way in treating breast cancers that metastasize to the bone. A study by scientists at Rice University and Baylor College of Medicine demonstrated the effective treatment of such cancers in rodent models, bringing hope for new therapies to treat bone metastases. The open-access […]
For children, young adults with recurrent AML, immunotherapy shows promise: Natural killer cells could help young patients with few treatment options
An immunotherapy harnessing the immune system’s “natural killer” cells has proven effective in treating acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in some adults whose cancers return. Now, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have shown, in a small clinical trial, that the same natural killer cells also can help some children and young […]
Risk of Premature Death Seen in Testicular Cancer Survivors
Treating testicular cancer (TC) with platinum-based chemotherapy (PBCT) and radiotherapy (RT) was associated with an increased risk of long-term non-TC mortality, a Norwegian population-based cohort study found. Over a median follow-up of 18.7 years, overall excess non-TC mortality was 23% in men diagnosed with TC compared with the general population (standardized mortality ratio [SMR] 1.23, […]
Clinical Challenge: Sorting Through Treatment Options for Hidradenitis Suppurativa
To clear the air from the outset, treating hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) has always been challenging. Many patients delay seeking treatment until the condition has reached moderate or severe stages. Others seek help earlier, only to face misdiagnosis and misunderstanding by clinicians who are not familiar with the condition or who do not take the time […]
Help, My Kid Is A ‘Whiteatarian’!
It was parents’ weekend at my freshman daughter’s college, and we were treating her to dinner at an off-campus bistro. The waitress arrived, and she gave her order: “I’ll have the baked salmon with a side of sauteed spinach, please.” I dropped my menu, my jaw and the mistaken notion that I knew what this […]
Small protein protects pancreatic cells in model of type 1 diabetes
A new study has shown that treating type 1 diabetes-prone mice with the small protein MOTS-c prevented the immune system from destroying insulin-producing pancreatic cells, effectively preventing the onset of the autoimmune disease. The small protein that first made headlines as an “exercise mimetic” increasingly appears to also have a big role in regulating the […]
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), […]