Study Archives - Mediarabe

Eli Lilly says other COVID-19 antibody drug trials ongoing after study halted for safety concern

October 14, 2020

By Carl O’Donnell and Michael Erman

a large building: FILE PHOTO: Eli Lilly logo is shown on one of their offices in San Diego

© Reuters/MIKE BLAKE
FILE PHOTO: Eli Lilly logo is shown on one of their offices in San Diego

(Reuters) – Eli Lilly & Co on Wednesday said other trials of its experimental coronavirus antibody therapy remain on track after a government-run study testing the treatment in hospitalized COVID-19 patients was paused due to safety concerns.

Lilly said on Tuesday that an independent safety monitoring board requested a pause in the trial, called ACTIV-3, due to a potential safety issue.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is collaborating with Lilly on the trial, said the advisory board paused the trial after seeing a “difference in clinical status” between patients on Lilly’s drug on those who received a placebo, without providing further detail.

Lilly on Wednesday said the paused trial is distinct from others it is conducting because it focuses on hospitalized patients who are

It’s Tough to Change the Minds of ‘Vaccine-Hesitant’ Parents, Study Finds | Health News

October 14, 2020

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By Amy Norton
HealthDay Reporter

(HealthDay)

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 14, 2020 (HealthDay News) — When parents have concerns about the safety of childhood vaccinations, it can be tough to change their minds, as a new study shows.

The study involved “vaccine-hesitant” parents — a group distinct from the staunch “anti-vaxxer” crowd. They have worries about one or more routine vaccines, and question whether the benefits for their child are worthwhile.

Even though those parents are not “adamantly” opposed to vaccinations, it can still be hard for pediatricians to allay their concerns, said Jason Glanz, lead researcher on the study.

So Glanz and his colleagues looked at whether giving parents more information — online material “tailored” to their specific concerns — might help.

It didn’t. Parents who received the information were no more likely to have their babies up to date on vaccinations than other parents were, the study found.

The news

Restore EF Study Demonstrates Impella-Supported High-Risk PCI Improves Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction

October 14, 2020

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The Restore EF Study demonstrates the use of contemporary best practices, including attempting a more complete revascularization with Impella-supported high-risk PCI, is associated with significant improvement of left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), heart failure symptoms, and anginal symptoms at follow up. The interim analysis was presented today by Mitul Patel, MD, an interventional cardiologist at UC San Diego Health, at TCT Connect, the 32nd annual scientific symposium of the Cardiovascular Research Foundation.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201014005286/en/

Figure 1 (Graphic: Business Wire)

The ongoing, multi-center, prospective, single-arm study enrolled 193 consecutive qualified patients who underwent a Protected PCI procedure with Impella between September 2019 and September 2020 at 19 hospitals in the United States, representing a variety of hospital settings including rural, urban, community and academic centers. The interim analysis showed:

Significant median LVEF improvement from baseline to 90-day follow up (31% to 45%

Study: Less restrictive reproductive rights reduce birth complications risk by 7%

October 14, 2020

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Oct. 13 (UPI) — Women living in states with less restrictive reproductive rights policies are 7% less likely have low birth weight babies than those living in states with more stringent laws, according to an analysis published Tuesday by the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

The risk was 8% lower for Black women living in less-restrictive states, the data showed.

“Our study provides evidence that reproductive rights policies play a critical role in advancing maternal and child health equity,” study co-author May Sudhinaraset, of the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, said in a statement.

Since the Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade in 1973, which effectively legalized abortion, states have had “substantial discretion” in creating policies governing whether Medicaid covers the costs of contraception or reproductive health care.

Some states have taken steps that effectively limit access to abortion services and other reproductive care, Sudhinaraset and her colleagues

New Study Analyzes Direct Primary Care’s Impact on Large School District’s Health Benefits

October 13, 2020

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LONGMONT, Colo., Oct. 13, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Nextera Healthcare, the first provider of direct primary care (DPC) in Colorado and one of the first in the United States, was the subject of an in-depth case study report on the positive impact in health and healthcare costs for a large local school district. The case study evaluated the benefits of DPC and how DPC is used to improve employee health outcomes while decreasing cost to the employee and employer. The analysis was performed by KPI Ninja, a leading healthcare analytics and performance improvement company. KPI Ninja conducted risk score analysis using the Johns Hopkins’ ACG® research system.

The analysis looked at 23,593 claims from September 2018 – August 2019 and compared two preferred provider organization (PPO) plans: a PPO Direct plan, which included Nextera Healthcare and a PPO Choice plan. The PPO Direct plan including the Nextera Healthcare

Study: Many older Americans with heart failure take 10 or more meds

October 13, 2020

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When older people hospitalized for heart failure are sent home, they are often given a whopping 10 medications to take for a variety of conditions.

But is this “polypharmacy” practice necessary, or does it just place a bigger burden on already frail patients?

It’s not a question so much of the quantity of the medications, but whether the medications patients are taking are the right ones for them, said senior study author Dr. Parag Goyal, a geriatric cardiologist at NewYork-Presbyterian in New York City.

“It’s not just that we’re not starting the right medications, there may be situations where we’re not stopping the wrong medications as well,” Goyal said. “I think we need to look at the medication that older adults with heart failure take in a more holistic fashion.”

For the study, Goyal’s team examined the medical charts of 558 adults aged 65 and older who were hospitalized in

Hurricane Irma caused over 400 senior deaths in Florida, study says

October 13, 2020

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TAMPA, Fla. – The aftereffects of 2017’s Hurricane Irma appear to have killed more than 400 senior residents of Florida nursing homes, a new university study shows.

Researchers at the University of South Florida and Brown University concluded that 433 additional patients died within 90 days of the September 2017 storm, compared to the same period in 2015, when there were no hurricanes.

Their study examined health data for 62,000 patients at 640 Florida nursing homes obtained from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, according to the Tampa Bay Times. The study was recently released.

HURRICANE DELTA’S DEATH TOLL AT 4 AS LOUISIANA OFFICIALS STRESS GENERATOR SAFETY AFTER DEADLY FIRE

The study was prompted by the heat-related deaths of 12 residents at a Broward County nursing home. Authorities said those deaths were caused when the storm disabled the central air conditioning and the staff failed to move patients to

Cancer takes heavy toll on women’s work, finances, study shows

October 13, 2020

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Young women with cancer are at a high risk for employment and financial consequences, a new study finds.

“Our study addresses the burden of employment disruption and financial hardship among young women with cancer — a group who may be at particular risk for poor financial outcomes after cancer given their age and gender,” said researcher Clare Meernik, a fellow at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center.

She and her colleagues surveyed more than 1,300 women in North Carolina and California a median of seven years after diagnosis. Their cancer was diagnosed when they were 15 to 39 years of age and working.

Following their diagnosis, 32% of the women had to stop working or cut back on their hours. Twenty-seven percent said they had to borrow money, go into debt or file for bankruptcy because of cancer treatment.

Women with disrupted employment were

New global temperature data will inform study of climate impacts on health, agriculture

October 13, 2020

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A seemingly small one-to-two degree change in the global climate can dramatically alter weather-related hazards. Given that such a small change can result in such big impacts, it is important to have the most accurate information possible when studying the impact of climate change. This can be especially challenging in data-sparse areas like Africa, where some of the most dangerous hazards are expected to emerge.

A new data set published in the journal Scientific Data provides high-resolution, daily temperatures from around the globe that could prove valuable in studying human health impacts from heat waves, risks to agriculture, droughts, potential crop failures, and food insecurity.

Data scientists Andrew Verdin and Kathryn Grace of the Minnesota Population Center at the University of Minnesota worked with colleagues at the Climate Hazards Center at the University of California Santa Barbara to produce and validate the data set.

“It’s important to have this high-resolution

Study finds that unit cohesion may mitigate mental health issues from combat exposure

October 13, 2020

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Concerns around the mental health of returning service members—particularly those with combat exposure—continues to dominate discussion amongst military and medical professionals.

A range of mental health issues, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and suicidal ideation, commonly surface in service members post-deployment. Honoring the service members who protect us, then, involves actively seeking to mitigate these effects and to protect them, too.

To this end, the U.S. Department of Defense funded a study to determine the impact of unit cohesion during deployment on post-deployment mental health—and the findings show that taking a more preliminary approach to addressing mental health may be the way forward.

“Our team identified unit cohesion, the shared identity and mutually supportive relationships that develop among members of the same unit, as the key potential factor for reducing the adverse mental health outcomes of combat exposure,” Flynn says.

Using longitudinal survey data