News &amp; Updates

Opioid fills are common among women who have undergone hysterectomy, and those with preoperative anxiety and depression are more prone to persistent use and related complications, according to a study.

Fruits, cereals, fish help protect against lumbar spinal stenosis

Adoption of a diet rich in fruits, cereals, and fish confers benefit for the risk of lumbar spinal stenosis, whereas the consumption of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) in greater amounts is associated with a risk increase, a study suggests.

Original New Drug Application Approvals by US FDA (01-15 October 2021)

New drug applications approved by US FDA as of 01-15 October 2021 which includes New Molecular Entities (NMEs) and new biologics. It does not include Tentative Approvals. Supplemental approvals may have occurred since the original approval date.

Baricitinib: A potential treatment for alopecia areata?

Baricitinib, an oral, selective Janus kinase (JAK)1/JAK2 inhibitor, may help improve hair growth in patients with severe alopecia areata, according to results from the phase III BRAVE-AA1 and BRAVE-AA2 trials.

14 Oct 2021

Syngeneic HSCT confers higher relapse rates, lower nonrelapse mortality in AML patients

Though relapse tends to be higher with syngeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), it confers lower rates of nonrelapse mortality, making such procedure a viable alternative treatment option for acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) patients in first complete remission, a recent study has found.

Abnormal nighttime BP doubles death risk in diabetes patients

For adults with diabetes, increased blood pressure (BP) at night (reverse dipping) was associated with more than double the risk of death compared with those whose BP dipped as expected at night, according to the longitudinal CHAMP1ON study presented at Hypertension 2021.

Second-line selective internal radiotherapy slows colorectal liver metastases progression

Administering a device-based selective internal radiation therapy, in addition to systemic treatment in the second-line setting, extends time to progression in colorectal liver metastases patients, as shown in the phase III EPOCH trial.

14 Oct 2021

Second bDMARD after failure of non-TNFi biologic in RA shows modest drug survival, response

A recent study has shown modest drug survival and primary response of a second biologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drug (bDMARD) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) switching due to failure of a nontumour necrosis factor inhibitor (non-TNFi) bDMARD as the first agent.

14 Oct 2021

Minimally invasive cardiac surgery on par with median sternotomy in low-risk Asian patients

A single-centre study in Singapore has demonstrated the safety and efficacy of minimally invasive cardiac surgery (MICS), producing better outcomes than conventional median sternotomy (MS) procedures in certain respects.

Smoking reduces effect of methotrexate-based treatment in RA patients