Giving melanoma patients a “personalized” vaccine can prompt an anti-tumor immune response that lasts for years, an early study finds. The study involved just eight patients with advanced melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. But it builds on earlier work showing it is possible to spur the immune system to respond to an individual’s… read on > read on >
Full doses of blood thinners can benefit patients hospitalized with COVID-19, but the severity of their illness matters, researchers say. The new global analysis found that hospitalized patients with moderate COVID-19 may benefit from the drugs’ clot-preventing powers, but patients with illness so severe it requires admission to an intensive care unit may not. “SARS-CoV-2… read on > read on >
As more infectious coronavirus variants first detected in Britain and South Africa circulate globally, President Joe Biden plans to bar travel by non-citizens into the United States from South Africa. A White House official said Sunday that the South Africa travel ban would go into effect on Jan. 30 and that an existing ban would… read on > read on >
Irene Greenhalgh, 83, considers herself a pretty computer-savvy senior, but even she got lost in a maze of websites and e-mails trying to get an appointment for her COVID-19 vaccine. One health provider’s e-mail provided links to sites that were giving vaccinations, but the dates listed were a week old. A board of health’s website… read on > read on >
Electronic ‘early warning systems’ for kidney damage in hospital patients don’t improve outcomes, researchers say. These systems are meant to alert for acute kidney injury (AKI). AKI, a sudden decrease in the kidney’s filtration function, occurs in 15% of hospital patients and increases the risk of death 10-fold. The systems give an automated alert in… read on > read on >
People with anxiety and depression are more likely to step up their drinking during the COVID-19 pandemic than those without these mental health issues, an online survey revealed. Alcohol use grew the most among young people, but older adults with anxiety and depression were about twice as likely to report increased drinking as older adults… read on > read on >
Going into cardiac arrest at night can be particularly deadly, and now new research suggests that it might strike women more than men. Sudden cardiac arrest is an electrical malfunction that causes the heart to stop beating. The survival rate for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest is only 10%, the researchers said. “Dying suddenly during nighttime hours… read on > read on >
Here’s one reason why past or current smoking may handicap you if you are battling breast cancer: New research suggests that nicotine promotes the spread of the disease to your lungs. Smoking is known to increase the risk that breast cancer will spread, which lowers the survival rate by one-third at diagnosis. But the role… read on > read on >
The new year is the ideal time to focus on your health and one expert has some tips, especially for men, for doing that. According to Dr. Kevin McVary, director of Loyola Medicine Men’s Health Center, in Maywood, Ill., “Men don’t always focus on their health and, in fact, men are less likely to see… read on > read on >
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned on Friday that a new, more infectious coronavirus variant first spotted in the United Kingdom late last year could also be more lethal. The new variant, which has since been found in numerous countries including the United States, was already known to be far more infectious than the original… read on > read on >
