Category Archives: Medical news

A recent study published in the Neurology demonstrated that rituximab immunotherapy meaningfully improved modified Rankin Scale (mRS) scores in 76.3% of autoimmune limbic encephalitis (ALE) patients whereas 68.8% of them attained a favorable mRS score (0-2), a median of 22.5 months later. Kon Chu and colleagues chose ALE patients who already underwent first-line immunotherapy after symptom onset of a median of 6.8 months (mRS score of 3).

However, symptoms worsened even in 31.3% patients who responded partially to the treatment with mRS score extending to 4, when rituximab was started 12.1 months after symptom onset. The authors found that ALE patients delivered excellent response with mRS score of 2 at the end of a median rituximab treatment cycle of 5 weeks compared to those who did not receive rituximab treatment after first-line immunotherapy. Thus rituximab can be a good choice to treat ALE patients with poor response to first-line immunotherapy since it works efficiently and is well-tolerated regardless of the patient’s autoantibody status.

According to the authors, patients who responded partially to first-line therapy showed greater favorable effects while those receiving and not receiving rituximab, at 88.0% and 83.3%, respectively. In multivariate analysis, the authors found 9.5-fold uplift in mRS improvement associated with partial response to first-line immunotherapy. They believe that first-line immunomodulators and rituximab share some common mechanisms in alleviating autoimmunity. On the other hand, patients who received rituximab after nonresponsive first-line treatment experienced superior outcomes (60%) than those who did not receive rituximab (22.2%).

These findings propelled the authors to propose that rituximab may be considered as a first-line immunotherapy for ALE.

Consuming fish during pregnancy have proved to be profitable for both mother and baby in numerous ways including overall health improvement of mother and boosting brain growth in babies. A recent Southampton University study has found more health benefits with fish intake during pregnancy. Professor Philip Calder, a Danone International Prize for Nutrition awardee, reported that women eating salmon fish during pregnancy may guard their unborn child from becoming asthmatic. Salmon is rich in protein, vitamin B and omega-3 fatty acids.

Omega-3 fatty acids increment neurological and visual development in babies and reduce risk of premature delivery in pregnant women. Professor Philip Calder along with his colleagues trailed 123 pregnant women and their babies. Pregnant women were divided into two groups–half of them were instructed to eat salmon twice/week from week 19 of pregnancy until delivery while the other half were prescribed to refrain from fish consumption. The study found that children born to women who ate salmon were 5 times less probable to suffer from asthma at the age of 2-3 years than those whom mothers didn’t take salmon at all. However, no difference was found in children at the age of six months.

“Women undertaking hormonal therapy during their early post-menopausal phase tend to carry lesser rate of subclinical atherosclerosis”, say researchers from the University of Southern California, US. The study results were published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Subclinical atherosclerosis forms the fundamental mechanism in development of cardiovascular diseases such as heart attack, stroke, etc. Several studies have noted that the perks of hormone therapy against vascular degeneration count on the timing of initiation of the intervention.

Based on this hypothesis, Howard N. Hodis and colleagues carried out Early versus Late Intervention Trial with Estradiol (ELITE) in 600 post-menopausal women with no history of cardiovascular disease or diabetes. Two sets of women were selected–women within 6 years of menopause (early post-menopause); and women with 10 year or more beyond menopause (late post-menopause). Each set randomly received either oral estradiol (progesterone vaginal gel in those with uterus) or placebo.

The authors reported that early post-menopausal group women taking estradiol demonstrated fewer rate of blocked arteries than those taking placebo after a median of 5 years of hormone therapy. This study is the first to imply that to achieve good prevention of atherosclerosis progression, timing of hormonal therapy initiation in post-menopausal women is crucial.

Women consuming birth control pills experience lesser incidence of knee injuries, stated Aaron Gray, lead author of a study performed at The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston and published in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury is one of the most common injuries experienced by athletes.

The ACL connects the top and bottom parts of the knee. Serious injury may happen if the ligament is damaged with back-to-play rates reducing to 49% in soccer players. Other devastating lifelong damages include knee instability, altered walking gait and early onset arthritis. Compared to male athletes, female counterparts are 1.5 to 2 times more vulnerable to ACL injuries.

The researchers checked out national insurance claims and prescription database of 23,428 young women aged 15-19 years and reported that ACL knee injured women consuming birth control pill were less prone to undergo corrective surgery than those not using the pill. Based on preceding research which determined that ACL injuries in women are more prominent during their menstruation period when estrogen levels are high; authors propose that estrogen incapacitates the ACL thereby rendering women liable to injury.

The authors also showed that women aged 15-19 years requiring ACL reconstructive surgery were 22% less likely to be consuming oral contraceptives than those non-injured and of the same age thus revealing that using birth control pills may be of potential benefit to control estrogen levels thereby averting intermittent ACL weakness and knee injury in young women.

An exclusive study from the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute in Salt Lake City proposes that curtailed concentrations of vitamin D may anticipate the risk of cardiovascular conflicts such as heart attack, heart failure, stroke or death in people. Headed by author Heidi May, the study assessed 4200 elderly people aged between 52-76 years. Among them, 30% were diabetic while 70% suffered coronary artery disease.

The authors analysed the levels of various vitamin D metabolites in each participant to foresee their link with eventual cardiovascular events and found that total vitamin D and bioavailable vitamin D were the most precise parameters for this task. During metabolism, most of the total vitamin D binds to proteins. However, approximately 10-15% of it becomes bioavailable vitamin D which does not bind to neighbouring proteins but gets absorbed directly into the bloodstream and is available to act on target cells.

The study noticed that depressed total and bioavailable vitamin D levels predicted detrimental cardiovascular effects. Although, the research also details the observations from several other trials, the authors suggest to plan more research on non-Caucasian groups as previous studies portray different results between Caucasian and non-Caucasian populations.