News

Ponesimod, a selective S1P1 receptor agonist, has been shown to be efficacious for improving both disease and quality of life markers in patients with moderate to severe chronic plaque psoriasis.

A recent study found states that allowed the use of medicinal marijuana had substantially lower opioid overdose mortality rates compared with states that do not have medical cannabis laws.

In a somewhat bittersweet result for drugmaker Janssen, a United Kingdom health agency has recommended funding its hepatitis C drug for some patients but not for others.

Researchers from upstate New York have developed software that can detect atrial fibrillation by analyzing video from ordinary webcams.

The earlier autism could be diagnosed the more likely children could be helped. Currently that is done mostly by assessing a child's behavior. The search for a reliable quantitative measurement that could both identify the condition and its severity may have gotten a boost from researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY. The technique could also help clinicians or researchers see if a therapy is working.

Thirty-two states now have confirmed cases of Enterovirus-D68 (EV-D68). But that is not cause for alarm, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The new numbers are actually older cases. The reporting lag is because the CDC's testing laboratories have been overwhelmed with requests to test specimens.

Increased prevalence of hepatitis C infection among the nation's young is the subject of a new federally funded study underway in New Mexico.

Humira (adalimumab) is now indicated to treat children age 6 years and older with moderately to severely active Crohn's disease who have had an inadequate response to treatment with corticosteroids or immunomodulators.

The recent approval of the NephroCheck biomarker assay is a big step forward in the management of acute kidney injury.

The Accelerating Medicines Partnership in Rheumatoid Arthritis and Lupus Network is a public-private partnership designed to accelerate research into more effective diagnostic and treatment approaches for these autoimmune diseases.

New research indicates that atrial fibrillation (AF) eliminates the benefits that treatment with beta-blockers otherwise produces in patients with heart failure and reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF).

Organ supply and demand varies sharply by geography in the US. "The status quo is intolerable-there is too much geographic disparity," said Michael Charlton, MD, speaking at a Sept. 16 meeting in Chicago where transplant surgeons and others debated a controversial proposal to consolidate the nation's current regional organ distribution districts. The forum was convened by the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), a non-profit organization that under a contract with the federal Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) runs the current system of deciding which donor organs go where.

Patients diagnosed with lupus know only too well that the cells in their body are working against them as the condition progresses. Now, researchers at Yale University say they have found a way to take those same cells and use them to help cancer patients.

Study participants who drank moderate amounts of alcohol each week experienced decreased chronic pain prevalence and lower levels of disability compared to non-drinkers.

Researchers have achieved good results in treating rectovaginal fistula through soft tissue augmentation via plastic surgery fat harvesting and subsequent transplantation by injection.

After conducting a population-based, nationwide cohort study, researchers reported a relationship between inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), especially Crohn's disease (CD), and cervical neoplasia.

A blood test can predict what treatment options are best for patients with major depressive disorder, according to a study published in Translational Psychiatry.

A generic version of Gilead Science's hepatitis C drug Sovaldi will be produced in India and sold there and in other poorer countries at what is likely to be a fraction of what it costs in the United States.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the current outbreak of the Ebola virus could infect more than one million people if further steps are not taken to help the most severely affected countries.

When you weigh the potential benefits to the patient against the risk of treatment-related adverse effects and drug-drug interactions, most diabetic patients will benefit from treatment with statins.

Otezla (apremilast) is an oral, selective phosphodiesterase 4 (PDE4) inhibitor for the treatment of patients with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis for whom phototherapy or systemic therapy is appropriate.

New research from Northwestern University has found that schools are woefully unprepared to deal with anaphylaxis and other life-threatening emergencies stemming from student allergies.

New research indicates that doctors who treat anaphylaxis with intravenous epinephrine rather than intramuscular or subcutaneous injections are increasing the risk that patients will suffer overdoses or other adverse reactions.

Anil Asgaonkar, MD, provides an overview of the signs, symptoms, and causes that are frequently associated with hyponatremia, and outlines several standard treatment approaches.

Researchers in Wisconsin recently announced the discovery of a gene which could help explain certain traits seen in patients diagnosed with diabetes.

As more studies have demonstrated potential therapeutic applications for marijuana, public opinion regarding medical and recreational marijuana use has shifted. One such study recently published in the American Journal of Gastroenterology revealed medical marijuana is potentially beneficial for digestive disorders and gastrointestinal symptoms.

Is one beta blocker better than another for patients born with long QT syndrome? In a report published in The Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Abeer Abu-Zeitone, PhD, and colleagues found that in their study group, nadolol worked best at preventing a recurrent serious cardiac event and that propranolol, the oldest beta-blocker available, did the worst.

The American College of Cardiology (ACC) has had a change of heart. The group is now recommending doctors treating heart attack patients for arterial blockages should treat lesions in both cardiac arteries, not just the "culprit" artery that led to the MI.

Enterovirus-D68 could soon be in the rearview mirror, according to a Hartford, CT, pediatric intensivist who has treated more than 20 children hospitalized with the infection. "We may have plateaued," said Christopher Carroll, MD, an asthma specialist at Connecticut Children's Medical Center. While children are still being admitted for respiratory problems, "Now it's more a mix of symptoms, not those of classic enterovirus." Though he could not say for certain the outbreak has peaked, he did say that "things are not continuing to get worse."

The World Health Organization continued its efforts to battle the ongoing Ebola outbreak with a second meeting of its Emergency Committee tackling the virus.