Amy Jacob

Patients with advanced melanoma are living longer when treated with a combination of two targeted therapies, dabrafenib and trametinib than those solely given another drug, vemurafenib.

Including dried plums as part of one's daily diet was found to potentially diminish the risk of colon cancer.

Treating moderate to severe plaque psoriasis is certainly no picnic for patients' pockets.

Individuals afflicted with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis are also at higher risk for new-onset migraines.

Patients with cutaneous melanoma metastases responded favorably to combination treatment with intralesional interleukin 2 (IL-2) and topical imiquimod and a retinoid cream.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the oral nucleoside TAS-102 (Lonsurf/ Taiho Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd) to treat patients with advanced colorectal cancer (CRC) who had not been responding to other treatments.

Treatment with the monoclonal antibody bezlotoxumab effectively reduces Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) infection recurrence through week 12 when combined with standard of care antibiotics.

Researchers from the Mayo Clinic have identified a protein marker, Bim, which can help effectively predict patients' responses to PD-1 blockade immunotherapy for melanoma.

A study that assessed novel drug delivery methods has shown that curcumin-loaded pH-sensitive microparticles may be an efficient and effective approach to treating ulcerative colitis (UC).

The American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) recently released new recommendations encouraging physicians to thoroughly inform patients of their options when it comes to dermatologic medications and procedures.

Researchers at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) recently discovered specific genetic variants that are carried by children with very early onset inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

Men searching for breast reduction procedures should stick to fat freezing, or cryolipolysis – the safe and effective non-invasive alternative to fat reduction that doesn't damage surrounding tissue.

Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT), already shown to be effective for Clostridium difficile treatment, has been found to eradicate two of the most common antibiotic-resistant hospital superbugs: vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium (VRE) and multidrug-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae.

Voriconazole, used to treat fungal infections in lung transplant recipients, has been reported to increase their risk of skin cancer and mortality.

Couch potatoes, beware. According to a recent study presented at the European Society of Cardiology 2015 Congress (ESC) in London, UK, watching television for longer than five hours each day doubles the likelihood of suffering a fatal pulmonary embolism.

Clinicians are urged not to treat central sleep apnea in heart failure patients with adaptive servo-ventilation (ASV) therapy, which was reported to increase mortality in heart failure patients.

Barry Greenberg, MD, UCSD Sulpizio Cardiovascular Center, La Jolla, California, USA, presented results from the Calcium Up-Regulation by Percutaneous Administration of Gene Therapy in Cardiac Disease Phase 2b (CUPID 2) gene transfer study at the European Society of Cardiology 2015 Congress.

For patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), administering ticagrelor in the ambulance safely reduces ischemic events 24 hours following primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).

The glucose-lowering medication lixisenatide was found not neither increase nor decrease cardiovascular (CV) events compared with placebo in patients afflicted with type 2 diabetes and acute coronary syndrome.

Patients suffering from psoriasis have a higher risk of developing arrhythmia – even after controlling for other risk factors, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.

Consistently using low-dose aspirin and non-aspirin non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) could successfully diminish the risk of colorectal cancer (CRC) – the third most common cancer in the US.

Researchers found that adding kunzea oil to topical psoriasis treatments with liquor carbonis detergens (LCD) and salicylic acid did not improve the irritating skin condition.

Hepatologists are seeing a growing number of patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in their practices. Finding the most effective ways to treat them has become a focus of the field. A recent study also looked at the link between this and similar conditions and cardiovascular disease.

Caffeine addicts, rejoice. A recent study concluded that regularly consuming caffeinated coffee could potentially help inhibit the return of colon cancer post-treatment, eventually improving the chance for a cure.

Patients with cirrhosis are often in need of specialized care that they cannot always get. Finding new ways to do that has been the focus of many people in hepatology in recent years.

For patients who have undergone a liver transplant or have severe liver disease finding the right medications can be critical in their overall care.

High levels of noncalcified coronary plaque and an increased risk for heart attack is linked to poor HDL-cholesterol efflux capacity (CEC) in patients with psoriasis.

Adults who experienced physical or sexual abuse in their lifetime have a higher risk of developing ulcerative colitis (UC).

Hydrogel had been reported to successfully treat targeted tissues in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

Women giving birth through in-vitro fertilization (IVF) were reported more likely to experience the after-effects of long-term gastro-esophageal reflux disease (GERD) symptoms.