News about 2018

Dexcom Won Regulatory Approval For New Glucose Monitoring System

In this study, researchers showed that Dexcom won FDA approval for next generation of Glucose monitoring for diabetes, that eliminates the need for finger pricks and is nearly one-third smaller than its current wearable sensor for diabetes patients. The Food and Drug Administration this week gave the green light to Dexcom's G6 system for delivering real time blood sugar readings. Expected to hit the U.S. market in the second quarter, the G6 targets Type 1 and insulin-taking Type 2 diabetes patients.

Study Shows How Norovirus Infections Get Their Start

Researchers from the Washington University School of Medicine have shown, in mice, that the virus infects a rare type of intestinal cell called a tuft cell. The findings, published in the journal Science suggest that targeting tuft cells with a vaccine or a drug may be a viable strategy for preventing or treating norovirus infections.

Brain Trauma: New Assessment Tools Improved Prognosis

Researchers create new assessment tools that build on the Glasgow Coma Scale in order to provide greater information on injury severity and prognosis in patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) while still offering the simplicity of use. These tools are described and evaluated in two companion papers published in the Journal of Neurosurgery. 

Nepali Version Connor Davidson Resilience Scales For Chronic Pain Measurements

Researchers hypothesized that the CD-RISC-2-NP would demonstrate (1) acceptable internal consistency, (2) good test-retest reliability, and (3) construct validity via moderate negative correlations (i.e., rs ~ − 0.30) with measures of anxiety and depression. 

They further hypothesized that the Nepali versions of CD-RISC-2 and CD-RISC-10 would (1) strongly correlate with each other, and (2) negatively correlate with the measure of pain intensity. Finally, we evaluated the standard error of measurement (SEM), minimum detectable change (MDC), and limits of agreement of both scales.

Alectinib Improves Lung Cancer Symptoms Longer Than Crizotinib

Alectinib conferred longer symptom improvement than crizotinib among patients with ALK-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to a phase III ALEX trial presented at the ELCC 2018 (European Lung Cancer Congress) in Geneva, Switzerland.

Ayushman Bharat: Role in Making for a Healthier India

Ayushman Bharat, the new, flagship health initiative of the government, has two dimensions. First, it aims to roll out comprehensive primary health care with Health and Wellness Centres (HWCs) serving as the people-centric nuclei.

A nationwide network of 1.5 lakh HWCs will be created by transforming the existing sub-centers and primary health-care centers by 2022. This will constitute the very foundation of New India’s health care system.

Elite Athletes: The Science of Elite Long Distance Running

Sunday's Gold Coast Commonwealth Games marathon will include exceptional elite-level marathon runners, including Kenneth Mungara, the Gold Coast marathon record holder and Australia's Michael Shelley, who won the Gold medal at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games Marathon four years ago.

Young Adults Who Were Undernourished Suffer From Hearing Loss

According to a new study, researchers analyzed the relationship between the hearing of more than 2,200 young adults in Nepal and their nutritional levels as children 16 years earlier. The findings suggest that nutritional interventions in South Asia could help prevent hearing loss, a condition which currently affects an estimated 116 million young people in the region. Young adults who were undernourished as preschool children were approximately twice as likely to suffer from hearing loss as their better- nourished peers. The study was published in American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

HEV Screening of Blood Products Provides a Safer Transfusion

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection is once again in the spotlight, with two studies presented today at The International Liver Congress^™ 2018 in Paris, France challenging the ideas that HEV infections are benign and self-limiting, and that a blood-borne transmission is a rare event.

Researchers from Hamburg and Hannover in Germany collaborating on these studies have demonstrated that HEV infections can be fatal in immunocompromised, and in some cases, immune-competent individuals. They also demonstrated those blood products are an important source of infection in those who are immunosuppressed.

Drug Evaluation Improved With a New Technology

MIT engineers have developed new technology that could be used to evaluate new drugs and detect possible side effects before the drugs are tested in humans.

Using a microfluidic platform that connects engineered tissues from up to 10 organs, the researchers can accurately replicate human organ interactions for weeks at a time, allowing them to measure the effects of drugs on different parts of the body. The study is published in the journal Scientific Reports.

Hand Dryers Makes Your Hands Unhygienic, Study Reports

The new study finds that the measure of washing hands with soap or handwash to cleanse them may be ruined by the hand dryer that is spraying bacteria on the clean hands

Effect Of Antihypertensive Medications On Dementia In Older African-Americans

According to a new study, researcher provides substantial evidence of significant reduction of risk of onset of dementia for African American men and women age 65 and older with hypertension when they take any of a variety of drug classes for their high blood pressure.  Controlling blood pressure with any of the commonly prescribed antihypertensive medications can prevent dementia in older African-Americans with hypertension.