Medical research

In this month’s “Hot Topic,” Brad Karon, M.D., Ph.D., will discuss recent information on the advantages and disadvantages of using butterfly needles for blood collection.

Previously reported levels of iron absorption from common Southeast Asian meals composed of rice, vegetables, and spices were too low to be consistent with the known prevalence of iron deficiency. In the present paper the cause of the low absorption was systematically sought. Variables investigated …

The amygdala is a highly interconnected region of the brain that is critically important to emotional processing and affective networks. Previous studies have shown that the response of the amygdala to emotionally arousing stimuli can be modulated by sex hormones. Because oral contraceptive pills dr …

Exogenous cortisol administration has been used to test the influence of glucocorticoids on a variety of outcomes, including memory and affect. Careful control of factors known to influence cortisol and other endogenous hormone levels is central to the success of this research. While the use of horm …

A scientist went looking for genes that cause cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome. But a public spat with a cannabis influencer who suffers from the disease may have derailed his research.

Brushing a patient’s teeth is basic care that often gets skipped when hospitals are busy. Experts warn the danger of unbrushed teeth is greater than realized.

Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS) constitutes a group of connective tissue diseases with variable organ dysfunction. We aimed to examine the comorbidity burden in patients with EDS.A nationwide populati...

Emerging data suggest that risk factors for obesity and insulin resistance such as diabetes during pregnancy and intrauterine growth failure may also have a role in the development of ADHD. Furthermore, ADHD and obesity share lifestyle factors, such as abnormal eating patterns, binge eating, and a s …

Rush and cluster immunotherapy schedules are accelerated immunotherapy build-up schedules. A cluster immunotherapy schedule involves the patient receiving several allergen injections (generally 2-4) sequentially in a single day of treatment on nonconsecutive days. The maintenance dose is generally r …

Mark Cuban

Do you struggle to understand the complex interplay of hormones and hypermobility? Yep... me too. Meet Cortney Gensemer, Ph.D., a postdoctoral scholar in the Norris Lab at MUSC. She and her colleagues are at the forefront of Ehlers-Danlos Syndromes (EDS) research. Cortney is a fellow Zebra who understands from first-hand experience how troubling an EDS diagnosis can be. Her disease pushes her to work hard because she aspires to find an answer for all of us. How does she manage it all? Cortney s

Traditional Chinese herbal drugs have been used for thousands of years in Chinese pharmacopoeia. The bark of Magnolia officinalis Rehder & E. Wilson, known under the pinyin name “Houpo”, has been traditionally used in Chinese and ...

Upper reference values for testosterone in women must be established from a well-characterized population.

Bacterial lysates, prepared from the microorganisms most frequently involved in human Respiratory Tract Infections (RTIs) have been in the market for several decades, and at present, several different brands are available in many countries worldwide. They all claimed to exert local and systemic immunomodulatory effects but different clinical trials show disparate results between them. The lack of consistency of predicted therapeutic effects has undermined their clinical use and hampered licensing in several countries. One explanation for such lack of consistency in the results is that their methods of preparation are also very different. Here, we review the available literature describing methods of preparation of bacterial lysates, including patent disclosure documents. We found a great variety of methodologies of preparation and a lack of standardized procedures among them. The main conclusion of our study is that there is a clear need for standardized protocols of production to obtain comparable results in clinical trials worldwide.

Probiotics overview for health professionals. Research food and supplement sources, health effects, safety, selection, and use here.

Aging | doi:10.18632/aging.101250. James A. McCubrey, Kvin Lertpiriyapong, Linda S. Steelman, Steve L. Abrams, Li V. Yang, Ramiro M. Murata, Pedro L. Rosalen, Aurora Scalisi, Luca M. Neri, Lucio Cocco, Stefano Ratti, Alberto M. Martelli, Piotr Laidler, Joanna Dulińska-Litewka, Dariusz Rakus, Agnieszka Gizak, Paolo Lombardi, Ferdinando Nicoletti, Saverio Candido, Massimo Libra, Giuseppe Montalto, Melchiorre Cervello

Bacterial lysates, prepared from the microorganisms most frequently involved in human Respiratory Tract Infections (RTIs) have been in the market for several decades, and at present, several different brands are available in many countries worldwide. ...

Compare prescription drug prices and coupons. Save up to 90% on prescription medications by shopping at online pharmacies accredited for safety credentials to protect your health.

Background Allergen specific IgG4 levels have been monitored as a surrogate marker for the tolerance inducing effect of subcutaneous immunotherapy (SCIT) in many studies. Its accuracy at group level has been well established, but IgG4 has not yet found its place in the daily care of immunotherapy patients. Methods Intralymphatic immunotherapy (ILIT) is a novel route for allergy vaccination against pollen allergy, where an ultrasound-guided injection of 1000 SQ-U Alutard is given directly into a groin lymph node. The suggested standard dosing so far has been one injection with 4 weeks in-between. In total 3000 SQ-U with the treatment completed in 2 months. IgG4 was measured with Immulite technique and rhinoconjunctivitis symptoms were estimated with daily online questionnaires. Mann–Whitney U-test and Wilcoxon Signed Rank test were applied for comparisons between groups and within groups, respectively. Results The present study demonstrates that a single, preseason ILIT booster of 1000 SQ-U Alutard 5-grasses®, re-increases the allergen specific timothy-IgG4 levels, in patients already treated with ILIT before the previous pollen season. It also shows the feasibility of the ILIT-route for allergy vaccination of rhinitis patients, with or without concomitant asthma, with low degree of side effects and reconfirms high and sustained patient satisfaction. Conclusions It is tempting to suggest that the allergen specific IgG4 levels can be used to build an intuitive algorithm for future clinical guidance of ILIT patients. Trial registration Is Intralymphatic Allergen Immunotherapy Effective and Safe?, ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier NCT04210193. Registered 24 December 2019—Retrospectively registered, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/study/NCT04210193?term=NCT04210193&draw=2&rank=1

That doesn’t stop providers from prescribing it or pharmacies from making it

Consensus processes like the Delphi method are well-meaning, but they are not a substitute for rigorous RCTs with large sample sizes, adequate duration, and standardized outcome measures.

In summary, using a modified Delphi process, expert consensus-based recommendations were developed on how to dose and administer medical cannabis for the treatment of patients with chronic pain.

Blood test CA 125: a rule-in test for the #diagnosis of women presenting with symptoms of #endometriosis. This article includes Author Insights, a video abstract available at https://vimeo.com/rcog/a...

A blog for people with endometriosis discussing the latest Cochrane evidence on blood tests for diagnosing endometriosis

The relation between excessive prolactin and endometriosis-related infertility is debatable. Anovulation or defective luteal phase occurs frequently due to hyperprolactinemia in subfertile women. In this investigation, we evaluated the association between ...

More than ten percent of people suffer from at least one episode of depression and related mental disorders in a lifetime, and depression and related mental disorders are one of the world’s greatest public health problems. A multiple system theory holds that dysregulation of the multiple systems underlies the pathogenesis of depression and related mental disorders, and new therapies based on the multiple system dysregulation theory are urgently needed. In this study, the antidepressant effect of decoction from herbi Cistanche deserticola/i Y.C.Ma andi Cistanche tubulosa/i was examined. Herbi Cistanche/i decoction reduced the immobility period significantly in the mouse tail suspension test. Mice treated with herb decoction showed an improved ability of spatial learning and memory in the Morris water maze test. Groups treated herb decoction displayed a downregulated monoamine oxidase (MAO) activity; the dopamine (DA) concentration in the brain was upregulated, indicating herbi Cistanche/i decoction improved the nerve excitability; the serum concentration of corticosterone (CORT) was downregulated, showing that mice benefited from a reduced stress level. Hence, the antidepressant efficacy and mechanism of traditional Chinese herbi Cistanche/i were explored in this study. Herbi Cistanche/i showed a potential to be developed as a complementary and alternative therapy for depression.