‘Going to Watch Our Feet and Ask if We Moved’: What We Heard This Week
“And, you know we’re talking a good game but at some point, future generations are going to watch our feet and ask if we moved.” — Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.) speaking about the inertia he’s observed around climate-related problems that have plagued the U.S. for decades. “This arrangement was a handshake designed to bring procedures […]
Black Prostate Cancer Patients Less Likely to Go Under the Knife During Pandemic
The odds of undergoing surgery for prostate cancer were significantly lower for Black patients compared with white patients during the initial wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a retrospective cohort study. Just 1% of Black men with untreated nonmetastatic prostate cancer underwent prostatectomy from March to May 2020 compared with 26% of white men, […]
Safety Concerns Turn FDA Panel Thumbs Down for Novel CKD-Anemia Drug
An FDA advisory committee almost unanimously agreed that the risks were just too high for the chronic kidney disease (CKD)-related anemia drug roxadustat in any patient population. In a 13-1 vote Thursday, members of the Cardiovascular and Renal Drugs Advisory Committee felt that although there’s an unmet need for new anemia therapeutics, this particular drug […]
Raise a Glass? Study Tallies Cancer Cases From Booze
More than 700,000 new cases of cancer worldwide in 2020 were attributable to alcohol consumption, according to a population-based modeling study. Men accounted for about three-quarters of these cancer cases, which most commonly affected the esophagus and liver, reported Harriet Rumgay, BSc, of the International Agency for Research on Cancer’s Cancer Surveillance Branch in Lyon, […]
Which Came First: Low Testosterone Levels or Severe COVID-19?
Low testosterone levels in men with symptomatic COVID-19 were associated with a greater risk of severe illness or death, according to Italian researchers. Their case-control study found that, among men admitted to the emergency department of a Milan Hospital during the first wave of the pandemic, the lower the level of testosterone the higher the […]
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 […]
IVF Babies at No Increased Risk of Childhood Cancers
Children conceived via assisted reproductive technology (ART) were not at increased risk of developing cancer later on, according to results of a prospective study. Compared with kids born to subfertile mothers who did not use ART, those conceived via ART methods — such as in vitro fertilization (IVF) — did not have a higher risk […]
Hospitalization Rates for New-Onset Type 2 Diabetes in Kids Took Off During Pandemic
Young people were more likely to be initially diagnosed with type 2 diabetes (T2D) during the pandemic, while there was a significant increase in the number of new-onset pediatric T2D cases during the first 9 months of the COVID-19 crisis, researchers reported. Most of these cases involved non-Hispanic Black children and males, according to presentations […]
The Murky Post-Pandemic Future of Hepatitis C Elimination in the U.S.
About 25% fewer patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) were initiated on treatment in 2020 compared with 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, though the WHO target for elimination may not be entirely out of reach, a researcher said. If HCV programs are able to rebound from the pandemic and return to their original forecast, […]
Two Inflammatory Proteins Linked With Slower Cognitive Decline
In a surprising finding, elevated levels of two inflammatory proteins were associated with slower cognitive decline in older adults. Higher plasma levels of pro-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-12 p70 (IL-12p70) were associated with less cognitive decline in people with a significant burden of amyloid-beta, reported Rudolph Tanzi, PhD, of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School in […]