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A Practitioner's Must Read
Parkinson’s: 7 strategies used to deal with walking difficulties assessed
A Dutch study assesses the efficacy of a variety of compensation strategies that have been developed by people with Parkinson’s to overcome walking difficulties.
Various...
Twice-yearly inclisiran injections as alternative to daily statins in NHS plan
Inclisiran, administered through twice-yearly injections, saw cholesterol levels fall by half in an Imperial College London study. Under a British NHS plan, the gene-silencing...
Daily cocktail of four drugs reduces stroke risk and heart attack in half
A daily cocktail of aspirin, statins and blood pressure pills slashes a personʼs risk of a stroke in half, a study has found.
According to...
Low-dose aspirin linked to lower dementia risk when started early — Large cohort study
Low dose acetylsalicylic acid (LDASA) may have some protective benefit against cognitive decline, but only if started well before symptoms begin, according to a...
Gargling: An under-explored strategy to control COVID transmission
An under-explored strategy to better control transmission of SARS-CoV-2, especially in children to young to be vaccinated, may involve the use of a dilute...
Simple dietary changes may have significant effect on psoriasis
A Western diet rich in sugar and fat leads to an imbalance in the gut's microbial culture and may contribute to inflammatory skin diseases...
Long COVID: More than a quarter of patients still symptomatic after six months — Swiss study
In a study of adults from the Zurich general population who were infected with COVID-19 in 2020, more than a quarter report not having...
South African childhood asthma guidelines 2021
Asthma is the most common chronic illness of childhood. The prevalence is rising and the mortality and morbidity from asthma in South Africa are...
‘Potential new standard’ in high-risk kidney cancer — KEYNOTE-564 trial
Single-agent immune checkpoint inhibition after surgery reduced the risk of disease recurrence or death in patients with high-risk clear cell renal cell carcinoma (RCC),...
AI outperforms humans in creating cancer treatments — but doctors balk
The impact of deploying Artificial Intelligence (AI) for radiation cancer therapy in a real-world clinical setting has been tested by Canadian researchers in a...
Final SPRINT study confirms benefits of aggressive BP management
Final results from the landmark SPRINT study confirm that aggressive blood pressure (BP) management, targeting a systolic blood pressure (SBP) below 120 mm Hg,...
Sleep meds make no difference to insomnia over the long term
Long term use of prescription meds for insomnia doesn't seem to improve disturbed sleep in middle-aged women, found a study conducted over 21 years,...
Baby Aspirin on par with full-dose for cardiovascular disease
A large landmark study found that low-dose and regular-strength aspirin is equally safe and effective for preventing additional heart problems in people who already...
Vagus nerve stimulation: A potential new treatment for ischaemic stroke
Vagus nerve stimulation in patients who had moderate-to-severe loss of arm function after suffering from ischaemic stroke at least 9 months before enrolment, resulted...
Clinical guide to diagnosing, in children, bruising caused by abuse
Bruising caused by physical abuse is the most common injury to be overlooked or misdiagnosed as non-abusive before an abuse-related fatality or near-fatality in...
AGA: New clinical practice guidelines on IGBs for weight loss
With obesity affecting 40% of the US population, the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) has released new recommendations on the therapeutic role of intragastric balloons...
Bariatric surgery significantly cuts cancer risk in severely obese NAFLD patients
Bariatric surgery can significantly reduce the risk of cancer – and especially obesity-related cancers – by as much as half in certain individuals, according...
Common Alzheimer's treatment linked to slower cognitive decline — 5-year Karolinska study
Cholinesterase inhibitors are a group of drugs recommended for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease, but their effects on cognition have been debated and few...
Royal College Ireland: Surgery best for acute uncomplicated appendicitis
A Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland study conducted in Beaumont Hospital in Dublin has found that surgery, rather than antibiotics-only, should remain as the...
Omega-3 based medicine plus statins may lower stroke risk another 36%
Taking the triglyceride-lowering prescription medicine icosapent ethyl cut the risk of stroke by an additional 36% in people at increased risk of cardiovascular disease...
Statins found to have no effect on muscle pain in placebo trial
A study has found no overall effect of statins on the frequency or severity of muscle symptoms compared with placebo in people who had...
A two-week 'window of opportunity' for best recovery after stroke
The capacity of the human brain to recover and rewire itself peaks around two weeks after a stroke and diminishes over time, found a...
Pre-diagnosis aspirin use may lower colorectal cancer mortality — American Cancer Society
A study finds that long-term aspirin use before a diagnosis of colorectal cancer (CRC) may be associated with lower CRC-specific mortality, found an American...
Colchicine improves outcomes in COVID-19 patients — Small Brazilian trial
Colchicine appeared to be safe and effective in treating moderate to severe COVID-19 infections in hospitalised patients, according to a randomised, double-blind clinical trial...
Metabolic surgery versus conventional therapy for type 2 diabetes — 10-year trial
A 10-year UK-Italian randomised clinical trial, published in The Lancet, showed that metabolic surgery is more effective than medications and lifestyle interventions in the...
Earlier-age daily aspirin linked to lower incidence of colorectal cancer in aged
There is substantial evidence that a daily aspirin can reduce risk of colorectal cancer in adults up to age 70. An a large data...
Low and very-low carb diets for type 2 diabetes remission – Systematic review
Patients with type 2 diabetes who follow a strict low carbohydrate diet (LCD) for six months may temporarily experience greater rates of remission compared...
Oral rimegepant an effective preventive for migraine — clinical trial
Rimegepant was effective for preventive treatment of migraine, found a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 2/3 trial, published in The Lancet.
Migraine affects 15% of...
Support for induction at 41 weeks' pregnancy, especially for first-time mothers — meta-analysis
There is growing evidence that pregnant women who go beyond term, especially first time mothers and their infants, will benefit from induction of labour...
Cancer survivors at higher flu hospitalisation and mortality risk. Also severe COVID?
Survivors from a wide range of cancers are more likely than people in the general population to be hospitalised or die from seasonal influenza...
Even low-dose steroid treatments substantially increase CVD risk
While high doses of steroids are known to increase the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), the impact of lower doses is unknown, a Leeds...
Guidelines on oxygen saturations as an admission criterion may be set too high — Large UK study
A UK study found that current NHS guidelines on blood oxygen levels, that between 94 and 98 per cent are 'normal', may be too...
Large trial produces 'best evidence' of aspirin benefits in reducing CVD risk
Aspirin added significantly to the benefits of a low-cost ‘polypill’ approach for primary prevention of cardiovascular disease in an intermediate-risk population, the TIPS-3 study...
Trial stopped: Long-acting injectable highly effective in preventing HIV in women
One of the most eagerly awaited HIV study findings, that of an injection every two months that can prevents HIV infection in women, became...
New estimates of breast cancer risks associated with HRT
A study published by The BMJ provides new estimates of the increased risks of breast cancer associated with use of different hormone replacement therapy...
Corticosteroids and bone risk; guidelines change needed — large UK analysis
A large UK analysis of health records found that exposure to inhaled and oral corticosteroids is an independent risk factors for bone health in...
WHO: Meta-analysis as to optimal first-line HIV medication
A study published by The Lancet is set to change international treatment recommendations for people who are newly diagnosed with HIV – an update...
Antibiotics compared to surgery in treating appendicitis — Randomised trial
The largest randomised US study of appendicitis found that 70% of patients can avoid surgery and be treated with antibiotics only.
Every year more than...
Self-sampling for STIs in rectum and throat just as accurate
Self-sampling for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in the rectum and throat is just as accurate as testing performed by a healthcare worker, investigators from...
Comparative testing of antibody kits shows wide performance variations — UK study
There is wide variation in the performance of commercial kits for detecting antibodies against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), according to a...