More alcohol, less brain: Association begins with an average of just one drink a day
Even light-to-moderate drinking is associated with harm to the brain, according to a new study. Researchers analyzed data from more than 36,000 adults that found a link between drinking and reduced brain volume that begins at an average consumption level of less than one alcohol unit a day — the equivalent of about half a […]
Cancer May Heighten Odds of Guillain-Barre Syndrome
People with certain types of cancer may have an increased risk of developing Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), according to a Danish population-based study. Over a 30-year period, 2% of individuals with GBS also had a recent cancer diagnosis, as compared to 0.6% of those in a matched control group (odds ratio [OR] 3.6, 95% CI 2.6-5.1), […]
Primary Vaccine Series Alone Can’t Stop Omicron Infection
Protection against symptomatic COVID-19 with the Omicron variant shot up after a booster dose among adults who received the two-dose Pfizer vaccine primary series (Comirnaty), though even that faded with time, British researchers found. While protection against symptomatic disease dwindled to next to nothing (8.8%, 95% CI 7.0-10.5) at 25 or more weeks, vaccine effectiveness […]
What Are the Signs of Asperger’s in Adults?
Signs of Asperger’s in adults Asperger’s, like autism, was mostly noticeable in interactions with other people. A person who has been diagnosed with Asperger’s or mild autism is usually not unhappy when alone. Mild autism doesn’t mean someone can’t keep a job, care for themselves, or start a family if they choose to do so […]
Heart Failure Patients Still Undertested for CAD
People with new-onset heart failure (HF) continued to lack adequate testing for coronary artery disease (CAD), a common and treatable cause of HF, and nationwide variations in testing rates suggested room for quality improvement across physicians and geographic regions. From a large pool of patients with incident HF in 2004-2019, just 34.8% underwent CAD testing […]
Deep Learning Identifies PPMS Patients Who May Respond to Treatment
Deep learning identified subgroups of patients with primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS) who may respond to disease-modifying therapy, researchers said. A trained model separated responders and non-responders across a range of predicted effect sizes, reported Jean-Pierre Falet, MD, of McGill University in Montreal, Canada, at the ACTRIMS Forum 2022, the annual meeting of the Americas […]
Black, Latinx Adults With Asthma Benefit from Inhaled Glucocorticoid Add-On
Black and Latinx patients who used an inhaled glucocorticoid as needed along with usual care had improved asthma outcomes, according to results from the PREPARE trial. In the study of patients with moderate-to-severe asthma, and compared to a control group that continued usual care only, the intervention group experienced a 15% decrease in risk of […]
Cervical Cord Atrophy Predicts Silent MS Progression
Spinal cord atrophy predicted disease progression in people with relapsing multiple sclerosis (MS), a single-center observational study showed. A 1% faster cervical cord atrophy rate was associated with 69% (P<0.0001) shorter time to silent clinical progression and a 53% (P<0.0001) shorter time to secondary progressive MS (SPMS) conversion, reported Antje Bischof, MD, of University Hospital […]
Study questions the role of vitamin D2 in human health but its sibling, vitamin D3, could be important for fighting infections
New research has found significant differences between the two types of vitamin D, with vitamin D2 having a questionable impact on human health. However, the study found that vitamin D3 could balance people’s immune systems and help strengthen defences against viral infections such as Covid-19. In a collaborative study by the Universities of Surrey and […]
ADHD linked to hoarding behavior: As many as 1 in 5 adults with ADHD could have significant hoarding symptoms
New research has found that people with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are significantly more likely to also exhibit hoarding behaviours, which can have a serious impact on their quality of life. The study, published in the Journal of Psychiatric Research and funded by theBritish Academy and the Leverhulme Trust, found that almost one in five […]