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Category: health – Page 74

USA: Using an electronic health record (EHR)-based algorithm plus practice facilitators embedded in primary care clinics did not reduce hospitalization at one year, according to a pragmatic trial involving patients with the triad of chronic kidney disease, hypertension, and type 2 diabetes.

“The hospitalization rate of patients in the intervention group at one year was about the same as that with usual care (20.7% vs 21.1%),” the researchers reported in the ICD-Pieces study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), type 2 diabetes (T2D), and hypertension (the kidney-dysfunction triad) are at high risk for multiple complications, end-stage kidney disease, and premature death. Despite the availability of effective therapies for these patients, there is a lack of results of large-scale trials examining the implementation of guideline-directed therapy to reduce death and complications risk in this population.

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The Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) is developing a spacecraft named Astroscale Prototype Servicer for Refueling (APS-R) as part of a $25.5 million project with the U.S. Space Force.

Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) will build, integrate, and test a small demonstration spacecraft as part of a $25.5 million Space Mobility and Logistics (SML) prototyping project funded by the U.S. Space Force and led by prime contractor Astroscale U.S. The spacecraft, called the Astroscale Prototype Servicer for Refueling (APS-R), will refuel other compatible vehicles while in geostationary orbit.

“Running low on fuel is a common issue for spacecraft in Earth orbit,” said SwRI Staff Engineer Steve Thompson, the SwRI project systems engineer. “When they have expended all of their fuel, their mission ends — even though the vehicle may be in otherwise excellent health. A refueling vehicle can extend those missions, and we can get additional lifetime out of spacecraft that are already in orbit.”

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Researchers at Tel Aviv University have developed a new treatment course for patients with metastasizing breast cancer, using medication already on the market.

Based on tissue samples from American and Israeli patients and using an animal model, the researchers from the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences showed that a combination of existing drugs can hinder the spread of cancer to the bones, thereby improving the chances of survival.

More than 75 percent of patients with metastatic breast cancer see it spread to the bone.

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This post is also available in: he עברית (Hebrew)

Analyzing and storing large amounts of data requires a lot of energy, so the future of technology might hold a different approach to data storage. At least, that is what Professor Søren Brunak from the University of Copenhagen thinks.

Brunak states that while Denmark is one of the best in the world at health data, analyzing and storing huge amounts of health data comes at a climate cost. “We have begun to consider the carbon footprint of bioinformatics and CO2 emissions resulting from data analysis,” he adds.

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Whereas traditional colonoscopy involves snaking a camera called a colonoscope through your colon and rectum, a CT colonography, or virtual colonoscopy, consists of X-rays and a computer creating 3D images of these organs.

If you’re between the ages of 45 and 85, you should have a colorectal cancer screening routine in place, per the American Cancer Society (ACS). But a colonoscopy —in which your doctor uses a special camera to look inside your colon and rectum in search of abnormal growths called polyps —isn’t the only option to take charge of your gastrointestinal health.

You can choose from noninvasive screening methods: computed tomography (CT) colonography and/or a stool-based test. Billionaire entrepreneur and Shark Tank investor Mark Cuban tells Fortune he enjoys the relatively low cost and simplicity of the former, also called virtual colonoscopy. In short, it’s an X-ray exam that doesn’t require sedation or anesthesia.

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MONDAY, March 25, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Intrathecal gene transfer with scAAV9/JeT-GAN may result in some benefit for children with giant axonal neuropathy, according to a study published in the March 21 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Diana X. Bharucha-Goebel, M.D., from the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, and colleagues conducted an intrathecal dose-escalation study of scAAV9/JeT-GAN in children with giant axonal neuropathy. Fourteen participants received one of four intrathecal doses of scAAV9/JeT-GAN: 3.5 × 1013 total vector genomes (vg); 1.2 × 1014 vg; 1.8 × 1014 vg; and 3.5 × 1014 vg (in two, four, five, and three participants, respectively).

The researchers found that during a median observation period of 68.7 months, one of the 48 serious adverse events was possibly related to treatment and 129 of 682 adverse events were possibly related to treatment. In the total cohort, the mean pretreatment slope was −7.17 percentage points per year. One year posttreatment, posterior mean changes in slope were −0.54, 3.23, 5.32, and 3.43 percentage points with the 3.5 × 1013 vg, 1.2 × 1014 vg, 1.8 × 1014 vg, and 3.5 × 1014 vg doses, respectively. For slowing the slope, the corresponding posterior probabilities were 44, 92, 99 (above the efficacy threshold), and 90 percent, respectively. Sensory-nerve action potential amplitudes increased, stopped declining, or became recordable after being absent in six participants between six and 24 months after gene transfer, but remained absent in eight participants.

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Cell therapy company LyGenesis today revealed that the first patient has received treatment in the Phase 2a clinical trial of its regenerative cell therapy targeting end-stage liver disease (ESLD). The therapy, known as LYG-LIV-001, treats ESLD via an allogeneic regenerative cell therapy transplanted into patients’ lymph nodes.

ESLD affects nearly 2% of the US population, with more than 50,000 Americans succumbing to chronic liver disease annually. Often stemming from cirrhosis, ESLD poses significant health risks, and many patients are ineligible for traditional liver transplants.

The Phase 2a clinical trial, an open-label, dose-escalation study, is currently recruiting 12 patients diagnosed with ESLD. Each participant will undergo close monitoring for one year to assess the safety, tolerability, and efficacy of the transplanted hepatocytes in addressing the symptoms of ESLD.

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