Curated News: Medical Meetings

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Resveratrol, given to Alzheimer’s patients, appears to restore the integrity of the blood-brain barrier, reducing the ability of harmful immune molecules secreted by immune cells to infiltrate from the body into brain tissues, say researchers. The reduction in neuronal inflammation slowed the cognitive decline of patients, compared to a matching group of placebo-treated patients with the disorder.

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Leading researchers will discuss the global impact and role of diagnostic testing for the Zika virus as well as how the timing of infection affects pregnancy and newborns at a media briefing in advance of the 68th AACC Annual Scientific Meeting & Clinical Lab Expo being held in Philadelphia, July 31–August 4.

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An odor identification test may prove useful in predicting cognitive decline and detecting early-stage Alzheimer’s disease, according to research presented at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference.

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In a study of 48 adults with a diagnosis of Early Dementia or Mild Cognitive Impairment, almost half reported positive changes in life outlook and quality of life, countering the assumption that this diagnosis would have a uniformly negative impact.

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Advanced Instruments, Inc., a leader in laboratory instrumentation, announced today that it has received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to market its GloCyte Automated Cell Counter System and GloCyte Low and High Level Controls.

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A multidisciplinary research team led by University of Houston scientist Jarek Wosik has developed a high-temperature superconducting coil that allows magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners to produce higher resolution images or acquire images in a shorter time than when using conventional coils.

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When talking about troubling sexual encounters some women mention faking sexual pleasure to speed up their male partner's orgasm and ultimately end sex.

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Getting back into the game is important for any athlete after a significant injury but shoulder injuries can be tricky, especially for football players. Researchers presenting their work today at the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine’s (AOSSM) Annual Meeting in Colorado Springs, CO, note that surgical treatment for shoulder instability in collegiate athletes is often the best medicine for returning to play, especially in those who performed at high levels previously.

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Graft size, sex and age have a significant effect on the odds of an ACL re-tear post reconstruction with a hamstring graft, say researchers presenting their work today at the American Orthopaedic Society of Sports Medicine’s Annual Meeting in Colorado Springs, CO.

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Current public perceptions about alcohol- and other drug-use disorders are out of step with scientific knowledge. There remains a general belief that these disorders are essentially moral failings and/or bad choices. This view is completely at odds with research demonstrating that these disorders are indeed a brain disease. A documentary called “The Anonymous People” features personal narratives that call for a fundamental reframing of the national conversation about alcohol and substance-use disorders and recovery.

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The immune system in the elderly is dysfunctional and infections are more prevalent, more severe, and harder to defeat. Drinking alcohol has a variety of damaging effects on the immune system and organs – like the gut, liver and lung – which can be worsened by pre-existing conditions as well as consumption of prescription and over-the-counter medications that aged individuals often take. This presentation addresses how alcohol affects the elderly more dramatically, and also suppresses their ability to battle infections, like pneumonia, much more severely than it does younger individuals.

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Stunning new images and the highest-resolution maps to date of Jupiter at thermal infrared wavelengths give a glowing view of Juno's target, a week ahead of the NASA mission's arrival at the giant planet. The maps reveal the present-day temperatures, composition and cloud coverage within Jupiter's dynamic atmosphere, and show how giant storms, vortices and wave patterns shape the appearance of the giant planet. The observations will be presented on Monday 27 June at the National Astronomy Meeting in Nottingham by Dr Leigh Fletcher of the University of Leicester.

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Epigenetics is the study of changes in organisms caused by modifying gene expression – by alcohol, for example – rather than alteration of the genetic code itself. Recent evidence suggests that alcohol can inhibit activity of an enzyme called histone deacetylase (HDAC) in the amygdala, a brain region that is crucial for storing memories and regulating fear, anxiety, and other emotions. This presentation will address histone modifications in the rodent amygdala during chronic alcohol exposure and withdrawal.

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While many people view college drinking as the norm, less understood is that how students drink can place them at a higher risk for multiple problems. Drinking on an empty stomach usually means that someone will get drunk faster, given that food helps to absorb alcohol, slowing down alcohol absorption into the bloodstream. A growing trend among college drinkers is called “drunkorexia,” a non-medical term that refers to a combination of alcohol with diet-related behaviors such as food restriction, excessive exercising, or bingeing and purging.

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Underage drinking is a major public health and social problem in the U.S. The ability to identify at-risk children before they initiate heavy alcohol use has immense clinical and public health implications. A new study has found that demographic factors, cognitive functioning, and brain features during the early-adolescence ages of 12 to 14 years can predict which youth eventually initiate alcohol use during later adolescence around the age of 18.

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Health-promotion and disease-prevention efforts can no longer use a one-size-fits-all approach. Efforts targeting emerging adult populations – encompassing late adolescence and early adulthood – must embrace and utilize multi-pronged, multi-media approaches in order to be successful. This presentation discusses a unique media-awareness campaign designed to reduce binge drinking, as well as associated HIV/HCV risk, among Hispanic/Latino emerging adults.

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Alcohol treatment has come a long way from enforced isolation in asylums, and technological advancements are particularly promising in terms of their capacity to improve treatment effectiveness. Promising research looks at the feasibility, implementation, validity and utilization of mobile momentary-assessment breathalyzers within the context of an intensive outpatient (IOP) treatment for alcohol-use disorders (AUDs).

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ISPOR announced its plenary sessions and speakers for its 7th Asia-Pacific Conference that will be held 3-6 September 2016 in Singapore. The plenary sessions will explore concepts related to the conference theme—Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research in Asia-Pacific: Challenges, Opportunities, and Future Direction.

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A new study found that the NFL, NBA and NHL teams traveling from west to east had a higher winning percentage compared to teams traveling in the opposite direction.

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For the first time, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) has released official consensus recommendations for the amount of sleep needed to promote optimal health in children and teenagers to avoid the health risks of insufficient sleep.

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Preliminary findings from a Penn Medicine study (abstract #0508) presented at SLEEP 2016, the 30th annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies LLC, suggest that what may prevent 70 to 80 percent of individuals with new onset insomnia (acute insomnia) from developing chronic insomnia is a natural tendency to self-restrict time in bed (TIB).

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People with type 2 diabetes who intensively controlled their blood sugar level during the landmark ACCORD Trial Eye Study were found to have cut their risk of diabetic retinopathy in half in a follow-up analysis conducted four years after stopping intensive therapy. Investigators who led the ACCORD Follow-on Eye Study (ACCORDION) announced the results today in New Orleans at the American Diabetes Association annual meeting. The study was supported by the National Eye Institute.

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The old adage “you are what you eat,” may be better phrased as “your sleep relates to what you eat.” An individual’s body composition and caloric intake can influence time spent in specific sleep stages, according to results of a new study (abstract 0088) from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania that will be presented at SLEEP 2016, the 30th annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies LLC.

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Since the 1980s, continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) – in which positive pressure is pushed through the nasal airways to help users breathe while sleeping – has been by far the most widely used treatment for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). With more than 18 million people experiencing OSA, a number expected to rise, new results from a Penn case study of a new device implanted in the chest called hypoglossal nerve stimulation (HGNS) offers promise for patients with moderate to severe OSA who cannot tolerate CPAP. Researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania will present data (abstract 0378) on their outcomes with hypoglossal nerve stimulation for the treatment of patients with sleep apnea at SLEEP 2016, the 30th annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies LLC.

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Simon Fraser University research aimed at helping people get to sleep will be highlighted at an international sleep conference next week. Luc Beaudoin, an adjunct professor in cognitive science and education, created the mySleepButton® app two years ago (a new version with the world's first configurable "body scan" will be released shortly).

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The amino acid acetylcarnitine may help predict an individual’s neurobehavioral performance during chronic sleep restriction, according to results of a new study (abstract 0251) from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania that will be presented at SLEEP 2016, the 30th annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies LLC.

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A group of researchers from the University of Louisville, Japan and Austria is the first to identify a protein, AF1q, associated with multiple myeloma and a condition that occurs in approximately one-fourth of very aggressive multiple myeloma, extramedullary disease or EMD.

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Early findings by researchers at the University of Cincinnati (UC) College of Medicine suggest that the use of a second generation cancer drug, carfilzomib, may provide an improved approach for the reduction of antibodies in potential kidney transplant candidates.

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ISPOR's 21st Annual International Meeting recently concluded in Washington, DC, USA. Government officials, health ministries, and global thought leaders in health economics and outcomes research (HEOR) from more than 80 countries convened in the US capital during an election year on May 21–25, 2016.

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Many mesothelioma patients avoid surgery for fear it will degrade their quality of life. But a study has found just the opposite: Patients who underwent an operation called pleurectomy and decortication (PD) generally reported their quality of life improved after surgery.

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The amount a heart ‘bleeds’ following a heart attack can predict the severity of future heart failure, according to research presented today at the British Cardiovascular Conference, in Manchester.

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Being married could improve your likelihood of surviving a heart attack and is associated with reduced length of hospital stay, according to research presented at the British Cardiovascular Society (BCS) Conference in Manchester today.

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Mental stress could put heart disease patients at increased risk of a dangerous event, such as a heart attack, according to research presented at the British Cardiovascular Society (BCS) Conference in Manchester, UK.

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A study presented at ASCO may help reassure patients who worry the breast cancer drug tamoxifen could increase their risk of uterine cancer.

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An investigational immunotherapy drug being tested in the treatment of a rare form of skin cancer known as Merkel cell carcinoma has been found to be well tolerated with a clinical benefit seen in up to 42 percent of patients who failed prior treatment and were observed for at least six months.

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In a large randomized study, the immunotherapy drug nivolumab, a checkpoint inhibitor, was shown to be a safe and effective therapy for kidney cancer even in patients who continued treatment after their disease progressed.

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A study led by researchers at Roswell Park Cancer Institute and Columbia University Medical Center used advanced imaging methods to evaluate obesity, and suggests a relationship between obesity and disease relapse.

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Roswell Park researchers evaluated the overall and site-specific incidence of cancer among patients registered in USIDNET, and found increased cancer incidence rates, especially in lymphomas, among patients with primary immunodeficiency diseases.

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Researchers used deep T-cell receptor (TCR) sequencing to evaluate the clonal composition of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, or TILs, and identify novel prognostic biomarkers in ovarian cancer.

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Despite the known toxic effects of chemotherapy on the heart, the majority of women undergoing breast cancer treatment are not getting the recommended follow-up heart scans, according to research presented at the British Cardiovascular Society (BCS) Conference in Manchester.

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A clinical study – known as IRONMAN – will determine if iron supplement injections could ease the disabling symptoms of heart failure. The trial was officially launched today at the British Cardiovascular Society Conference in Manchester.

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Research has already shown that taking anabolic steroids is associated with high blood pressure and an increased risk of developing heart conditions such as left ventricular hypertrophy. Now research, part-funded by the British Heart Foundation and being presented on 6th June at this year's British Cardiovascular Society conference, has shown that for some people misusing steroids can be particularly dangerous.

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The experimental “smart-bomb” drug rovalpituzumab tesirine (Rova-T) appears safe and shows efficacy in treating patients with advanced small cell lung cancer, according to results from a first-in-human clinical trial to be presented today by a Memorial Sloan Kettering researcher at the 2016 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting in Chicago.

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Lenalidomide maintenance following stem cell transplant now a standard of care for people with multiple myeloma

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A crowd-sourcing strategy aimed at accelerating research into metastatic breast cancer has registered more than 2,000 patients from all 50 states in its first seven months, report researchers from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard at the American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting.

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Hispanic white and non-Hispanic black cancer patients between ages 15 and 29 may be more likely than same-aged white patients to die of their disease, according to a University of Colorado Cancer Center study presented at the American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting 2016.

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CU Cancer Center presented at ASCO 2016 finds that in Colorado patients over 50, the rate of CRC is falling at 2.5 percent per year while the rate of CRC in patients under 50 is rising at 0.8 percent per year. The increase in incidence appeared to be driven mostly by an increase in late-stage CRC in the under-50 population with an increase of 2.4 percent per year from 2003 through 2013.

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At ASCO 2016: University of Colorado Cancer Center study shows that younger colorectal cancer patients are more likely to have alterations in genes involved in what is known as the Wnt signaling pathway, a system of communication that drives the growth, survival and proliferation of cancer stem cells.

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Delivering genetic test results to patients at risk for cancer-causing genetic mutations over the phone helps to ease cost and transportation burdens and, compared to receiving results in person, does not cause patients additional stress, according to a new study from the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania which will be presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting (abstract 1502).

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As the chance of being diagnosed with thyroid cancer has risen in recent years, an investigator at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey and colleagues are exploring the impact of the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab on advanced disease. Updated results of their research will be presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting.