Curated News: NEJM

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Mount Sinai study is first to compare this anticoagulant with the standard of care in large randomized clinical trial

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Moderately ill patients hospitalized with COVID-19 have better chances of survival if treated with therapeutic-dose anticoagulation, according to an international study involving 121 sites, including UT Southwestern Medical Center.

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A NIH study co-led and designed by Michigan Medicine researchers found that using convalescent plasma to treat newly infected #COVID-19 patients demonstrated no significant benefit. The trial was stopped in February 2021 due to lack of efficacy based on planned interim analysis

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The study enrolled 120 transplant patients between May 25th and June 3rd. None of them had COVID previously and all of them had received two doses of the Moderna vaccine. Half of the participants received a third shot of the vaccine (at the 2-month mark after their second dose) and the other half received placebo. The primary outcome was based on antibody level greater than 100 U/ml against the spike protein of the virus. In the placebo group - after three doses (where the third dose was placebo), the response rate was only 18% whereas in the Moderna three-dose group, the response rate was 55%.

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The study enrolled 120 transplant patients between May 25th and June 3rd. None of them had COVID previously and all of them had received two doses of the Moderna vaccine. Half of the participants received a third shot of the vaccine (at the 2-month mark after their second dose) and the other half received placebo. The primary outcome was based on antibody level greater than 100 U/ml against the spike protein of the virus. In the placebo group - after three doses (where the third dose was placebo), the response rate was only 18% whereas in the Moderna three-dose group, the response rate was 55%.

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In an article in the New England Journal of Medicine, scientists from Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Medicine, the U.S. Military HIV Research Program and the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases at the University of North Carolina urged increased attention to persistent COVID-19 infections in immunocompromised people.

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The investigators discovered that in moderately ill patients full-dose heparin reduced the need for organ support compared to those who received lower-dose heparin.

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A potentially game-changing treatment for people with, or at risk of, blood clots has been found effective by an international team of researchers led by McMaster University. Results showed one abelacimab injection prevents blood clots for up to a month after surgery, reducing the risk by about 80%.

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Children and adolescents with multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) who are treated initially with intravenous immune globulin (IVIG) and glucocorticoids have reduced risk for serious short-term outcomes, including cardiovascular dysfunction, than those who receive an initial treatment of IVIG alone, a new study finds.

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People who receive mRNA COVID-19 vaccines are up to 91 percent less likely to develop the disease than those who are unvaccinated, according to a new nationwide study of eight sites, including Salt Lake City. For those few vaccinated people who do still get an infection, or “breakthrough” cases, the study suggests that vaccines reduce the severity of COVID-19 symptoms and shorten its duration.

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A new study by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute researchers has given scientists their first look at the genomic landscape of tumors that have grown resistant to drugs targeting the abnormal KRASG12C protein. Their work shows that, far from adopting a common route to becoming resistant, the cells take a strikingly diverse set of avenues, often several at a time. The findings, reported online today in the New England Journal of Medicine, underscore the need for new drugs that inhibit KRAS differently than current agents do.

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The treatment’s effectiveness was described in a report describing three Canadian patients who received the AstraZeneca vaccine, and who subsequently developed VITT. Two suffered clotting in their legs and the third had clots blocking arteries and veins inside their brain.

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Blood sugar control among adults with diabetes in the United States declined significantly in the past decade, according to a nationwide study from researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

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The new drug sotorasib reduces tumor size and shows promise in improving survival among patients with lung tumors caused by a specific DNA mutation, according to results of a global phase 2 clinical trial led by Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The drug is designed to shut down the effects of the mutation, which is found in about 13% of patients with lung adenocarcinoma, a common type of non-small-cell lung cancer.

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Results from the Phase II cohort of the CodeBreaK 100 study showed that treatment with the KRAS G12C inhibitor sotorasib achieved 12.5 months median overall survival in previously treated patients with KRAS G12C-mutated non-small cell lung cancer, according to researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

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Results were released this week on a new treatment with the potential to improve the outcomes for patients with hereditary BRCA mutations and high-risk, early-stage breast cancer. These results represent the first time a drug that blocks cancer cells from repairing their DNA (called a PARP inhibitor) has been shown to significantly reduce the risk of breast cancer returning in high-risk patients following completion of standard chemotherapy, surgery and radiation therapy.

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New research from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) medical oncologist Dean Bajorin, MD, and colleagues found that patients who received nivolumab (Opdivo®) after bladder cancer surgery reduced their overall risk for high-grade bladder cancer recurrence. This research was published today in the New England Journal of Medicine.