Recent news stories relating to the "end of life" have brought public attention to palliative sedation (PS), a therapeutic procedure about which unfortunately little is known in the healthcare world and among the public. This lack of knowledge stems from the fact that, thus far, university courses have almost never provided for the systematic teaching of palliative care. This shortcoming leads to a certain resistance to its implementation or, even worse, confusion of PS with medically assisted death (MAD), a term that includes euthanasia and medically assisted suicide. Media debate has often contributed to this confusion, although there has been a higher quality of information and a reduction of semantic and conceptual ambiguity in the most recent news stories. The Italian Palliative Care Society (SICP) has published numerous press releases concering PS. To understand the difference between PS and MAD, it is necessary to know the constituent elements of the two procedures.

Individuals with type A blood have a 16% higher risk for early onset stroke (EOS) than those with other blood types, new research shows. Conversely, results from a meta-analysis of nearly 17,000 cases of ischemic stroke in adults younger than 60 years showed that having type O blood reduced the risk for EOS by 12%. In addition, the associations with risk were significantly stronger in EOS than in those with late-onset stroke (LOS), pointing to a stronger role for prothrombotic factors in younger patients, the researchers note.

Sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitors may reduce the risk for gout among adults with type 2 diabetes, new research suggests. The study, involving more than 200,000 individuals from a US commercial insurance database, was published online January 13 in Annals of Internal Medicine by Michael Fralick, MD, PhD, and colleagues. The glycosuria produced by SGLT2 inhibitors results in secretion of uric acid into the urine and a reduction in serum uric acid levels, but a relationship with gout had not been previously shown.

@abhinav It's important to remember that this includes new cases, as well as retrospectively identified cases. Over half (52%) are from the European region, while 262 cases (30% of the global total) are from the United Kingdom. Together the United Kingdom and the United States make up 65% of the global total.

The risk of cardiovascular events in patients with psoriatic disease rises with higher levels of two cardiac biomarkers in a manner independent of risk calculated by the Framingham Risk Score (FRS), a longitudinal cohort study has shown. But researchers who conducted the study note that neither of the two biomarkers identified in the study ― cardiac troponin I (cTnI) and N-terminal pro-brain-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) ― led to an improvement in predictive performance when combined with the FRS, despite their association with carotid plaque burden.

Berries, red wine, and other foods rich in flavonoids are associated with a lower risk for death in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), new research suggests. In a prospective analysis of more than 1200 participants with an eventual PD diagnosis, those who ate three or more servings of flavonoid-rich foods a week had a 70% lower mortality vs those consuming one or fewer servings of such foods per month.

Atopic dermatitis may be more prevalent in adults than previously realized, in part because it is a difficult diagnosis to make. Atopic dermatitis is often referred to as eczema by lay people and by healthcare professionals, but the term is too imprecise. Data from a previous study showed that patients who, as children, developed atopic dermatitis that persisted into adulthood exhibit null mutations in the filaggrin gene, but that these mutations are not associated with those whose dermatitis began in late childhood or adulthood

Even though men in midlife have more cardiovascular (CV) conditions and risk factors than women of the same age, women are more affected by these conditions in terms of cognitive decline, new research suggests. Analyses of almost 1400 participants in the population-based Mayo Clinic Study of Aging showed that diabetes, dyslipidemia, and coronary heart disease (CHD) all had stronger associations with global cognitive decline in women than in men

@arata Dark areas of skin may occur when pigment cells in the skin multiply faster than usual. This can occur as a result of repeated hair removal. Regularly shaving the underarms can lead to excessive production of pigment cells. The dark color itself is not usually a cause for concern. However, some people dislike having dark underarms for cosmetic reasons and may wish to try using the following methods to treat them:
moisturizing
applying topical creams
having laser therapy
using natural remedies, such as lemon juice or sea cucumber extract

Hello, I am suffering from urticaria, any suggestion to cure? I have itchy feeling round the clock. Please suggest any help so that I can mitigate the symptom.