News & Updates

Antibiotics are commonly inappropriately prescribed for upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs), reports a recent Egypt study. Nevertheless, physicians show good attitudes toward appropriate antibiotic use and knowledge of antibiotic resistance.

First-line immunotherapy treatment with atezolizumab – a PD-L1 inhibitor – offers a survival advantage over single-agent chemotherapy in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who are ineligible for platinum doublets in the phase III IPSOS trial.

The use of an exhalation delivery system with fluticasone (EDS-FLU) significantly reduces acute exacerbations of chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS), which may help drive down the need for antibiotics and prevent antibiotic resistance, in the ReOpen1 and 2 randomized controlled trials.

Cryotherapy for the paediatric airway is safe and demonstrates a high success rate, results of a study have shown. In addition, cryobiopsy is not inferior to the commonly used forceps biopsies and may be used as an alternative in the future.

Residential exposure to fine particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of ≤2.5 μm (PM2.5) appear to elevate the risk of lung adenocarcinoma in women, suggests a Taiwan study.

Despite widespread uptake of vaccinations, COVID-19 remains a serious health issue for high-risk patients, owing to the emergence of new variants of concern (VOCs), waning immunity, and breakthrough infections.

At a recent symposium in Singapore, esteemed experts Dr Asok Kurup, Consultant Infectious Diseases Physician at Mount Elizabeth Medical Centre, Singapore, and Dr Alex Soriano, Head of Infectious Diseases Department, Hospital Clínic of Barcelona and Assistant Professor, University of Barcelona, Spain, gave insights on the evolution of global trends since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and discussed key challenges in managing high-risk patients with COVID-19 in the ICU. They also highlighted early treatment strategies to minimize the burden of COVID-19 on healthcare systems.