News

A stuffed, plush Ebola virus toy sold out in days at Giant Microbes, an online store. Halloween stores report they have run out of HazMat suits bought as Ebola-themed costumes. Sheltering children from frightening news is hard in this global, multi-media world. Naturally, a lot of kids have questions about Ebola, the lethal pathogen that is devastating parts of West Africa, and has spread to the US and other countries. What should we tell them?

Could portable perfusion devices be a game-changer for organ transplants? The machines keep organs "alive" for days at warm temperatures. That prolongs cell life, slowing the race against the damage that can set in within hours when donor organs are kept on ice in coolers. Manufacturer TransMedics, based in Andover, MA, makes devices for the lung, heart, and liver Researchers and clinicians express growing excitement-along with some skepticism-at the prospect that these medical devices could dramatically increase the viability of donor organs.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Genzyme's application to include new information about its multiple sclerosis drug teriflunomide (Aubagio) on its label. The new labeling content is efficacy and safety data from two Phase III trials of the drug.

As the Ebola crisis in West Africa worsens and fears spread about a potential major outbreak in the US, physicians are looking for information-not just about the disease but how to protect themselves and their workers. In a series of video-taped discussions Alfred DeLuca, Jr., MD, an internist and infectious disease specialist in Manalapan, NJ and Peter Salgo, MD a professor of medicine and anesthesiology at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York, NY offered advice and shared their insights on the growing threat posed by the lethal virus. "It's scary--Let's talk about scary," Salgo said.

With the Ebola outbreak now reaching the United States, news reports of confirmed, suspected, and possible cases of the deadly virus have made the virus Topic A. From serious medical journal articles to bizarre postings on Twitter, Ebola news was everywhere. In Princeton, NJ, Ebola panic resulted in some residents tacking up "wanted" posters for NBC News Correspondent Nancy Snyderman, who was recently given state orders to stay home until OCt. 22 because she may have been exposed to the virus during a reporting trip.

Ron Klain, who was chief of staff to Vice President Joe Biden and former Vice President Al Gore, will be Obama's point-man for dealing with the Ebola outbreak. The New York Times reported that Klain's duties will involve handling the nation's response to Ebola both domestically and in Africa.

News from the literature on a possible link between atherosclerosis and psoriasis and quality of life for patients with this skin condition.

With the Ebola outbreak hitting closer to home than ever before, the US Department of Health and Human Services announced it is backing the "accelerated" development of a vaccine for the deadly virus.

Breaking ranks with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Director Thomas Frieden, 3 doctors at 2 of the nation's 4 bio containment care facilities and a fourth at a military hospital said allowing community hospitals to care for patients with Ebola and similar pathogens is too risky. They call for creating a new system of regional facilities fully equipped and staffed with workers trained to safely handle such cases.

Despite the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) repeated statements that the Ebola virus cannot be transmitted in the air, two University of Illinois professors warn that the virus could spread that way. In a commentary published last month by the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy of the University of Minnesota, Lisa Brosseau, ScD and Rachael Jones, PhD, argue that the virus "has the potential be transmitted via infectious aerosol particles both near and at a distance from infected patients."

A new clinical trial in children is set to begin that will test the blockbuster hepatitis C drug Sovaldi in combination with ribavirin as part of an all-oral regimen.

The US FDA last week approved the combo drug (trade name: Harvoni) for use in the US.

After meeting with his cabinet last night President Barack Obama pledged to step up the federal response to Ebola. That includes sending in a special US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention "SWAT" team should future cases be confirmed.

Researchers report finding a correlation between adverse childhood experiences and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) development, with a more pronounced association in women.

Researchers are looking for the next best non-invasive and safe alternatives to fight infections. Although unconventional, a preliminary study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association revealed the successful strides researchers have made to cure patients suffering from recurrent C. Difficile infection (CDI) using oral frozen fecal matter treatment.

News that a nurse at Texas Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas diagnosed with Ebola had earlier made a round trip to Cleveland, OH raised questions about whether voluntary isolation agreements enforced by local health authorities are adequate to protect the public from the virus. President Barack Obama canceled travel plans to hold an Ebola meeting with his cabinet and a new report found the virus could spread through respiratory secretions--contrary to what the feds have been saying.

Pirfenidone has been approved in Europe for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) since 2011, whereas this is the first approval for nintedanib for the treatment of IPF.

New research into food-induced anaphylaxis concludes that hospitalization rates among American children roughly doubled between 2000 and 2009.

The American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS) has released new guidelines designed to prevent the occurrence of atrial fibrillation (AF) in thousands of patients who undergo lung surgery in the United States each year.

Studying vascular endothelial growth factor could lead to a new type of painkiller, according to a study published in Neurobiology of Disease.

In a development that could help clear its backlog of specimens awaiting testing, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced it has developed a faster test for Enterovirus D68 (EV-D68).

Deep brain simulation (DBS) -- surgically-implanted brain pacemakers that reversibly change brain activity and improve quality of life for many patients -- have been available since 1997 for essential tremor and approved for Parkinson's disease since 2002.

Readmission rates among cardiac surgery patients have been reported to range from approximately 14 percent to 63 percent, a rate that far exceeds that in patients who undergo other surgical procedures.

According to the Foundation for Quality Health Care, overall mortality rates associated with coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) hover at or below 2 percent, a 27 percent decrease from as recently as 2002.

Prescription opioid analgesics play an important and legitimate role for surgical patients, and proper use by surgeons ensures that patients find the pain relief they need with few adverse events.

A third patient has been diagnosed with Ebola in Dallas, TX. The unidentified woman is the second Texas Presbyterian Health worker to get the disease after caring for deceased Ebola victim Thomas Eric Duncan, local officials said in an early morning news conference. The patient, like nurse Nina Pham, is in isolation at Texas Presbyterian Health. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) along with Texas health officials are monitoring 75 people who had contact with Duncan, the visitor from Liberia who died of the disease Oct. 8.

NBC medical editor Nancy Snyderman, MD, apologized yesterday for breaking her agreement to stay home-sort of. Snyderman did not acknowledge that since she had contact with a cameraman who accompanied her to West Africa to report on Ebola--and who is now hospitalized with the virus-- she may have put the public's health at risk. She maintained she had done nothing wrong. But she said she was sorry everyone was worried by seeing her around town in the Princeton, NJ area.

Can pets pose an Ebola risk? According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the US Department of Agriculture and the American Veterinary Medical Association the State, the answer is "maybe." Making good on CDC Director Thomas Frieden, MD's promise to come up with guidelines for such cases, the CDC did so Oct. 13 in the form of a Q&A posted on its website.

Many doctors say they are unhappy in their work. But according to Todd Kashdan, PhD, a psychology professor at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA, that may not be such a bad thing. " The way we think when we're happy is very different from when we are mildly unhappy,

The nurse who contracted Ebola after caring for deceased Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan at a Dallas, TX hospital has been identified as Nina Pham, 26, a critical care specialist at Texas Presbyterian Health Hospital. The Dallas Morning News said the woman's identification has been confirmed by her family. Animal lovers are concerned also about the fate of her dog.