Standard patch test screening, which tests for up to 70 allergens for patients with allergic contact dermatitis, is limited and may miss many allergens, a study published in JAMA Dermatology has found. The cross-sectional study, led by Erin M. Warshaw, MD, MS, with the Department of Dermatology, Park Nicollet Health Services in Minneapolis, Minnesota, found that adding allergens to screening, particularly those related to personal care items and work-related products, is critical to managing and diagnosing the disease

@simran Endothelial dysfunction — the inability or reduced ability of the vasculature to expand to allow for increase in blood flow when needed — is the earliest stage of atherosclerosis pathogenesis.

@paromita AID systems are not approved by any regulatory body, and despite several nonrandomized studies demonstrating their effectiveness and safety, there is still concern among some health professionals about their safety. In 2019, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned against the use of any nonapproved devices or algorithms. (Now, though, at least one open-source AID system algorithm is under FDA review.) Aimed at addressing those concerns, CREATE (Community Derived Automated Insulin Delivery) is the first randomized controlled clinical trial to compare an open-source AID system to insulin pump therapy and CGM (without any communication between the two) in patients with type 1 diabetes, most of whom were naive to AID systems.

@simran Doctors eventually will try weaning Easton off the immune-suppressing drugs required after a transplant, said Dr. Joseph Turek, Duke's chief of pediatric cardiac surgery. The research is in very early stages and just one possible method scientists are testing in hopes of inducing what's called immune tolerance to a transplant. But Turek says if it works, it could be attempted with other organ transplants, not just the heart. Easton was a candidate for the experimental transplant because he had two separate health problems. He was born with some heart defects that surgeries right after birth failed to solve. And he suffered recurrent infections that doctors eventually realized meant his own thymus wasn't working properly. Some babies are born without a thymus, which stimulates development of part of the immune system known as T cells. Separately, Duke researchers had been working with Enzyvant Therapeutics to develop lab-grown implants of donated thymus tissue to treat that rare disorder.

@paromita Increased intakes of specific minimally processed foods, such as fruits, vegetables, nuts, whole grains, fish, vegetable oils, and decreased intakes of salt, processed meats and sugar-sweetened beverages appear to be key relevant priorities for dietary and policy recommendations. Future studies should evaluate the potential effects of specific interventions to address the diet-related cardiometabolic mortality and reduce disparities

@poli During the final 6 months of the study, corticosteroids were reduced by 50% for 3 months and then withdrawn for 3 months. Patients recorded symptoms, medication use, and lung function twice a day in electronic diaries. Evaluating efficacy during this period in the 693 patients completing the study, the researchers note that both active doses significantly reduced the odds of moderate or severe asthma exacerbation, which was the primary endpoint, compared with placebo. Specifically, the hazard ratios were 0.72 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.52 - 0.99) for the 6 SQ-HDM group (P = .045) and 0.69 (95% CI, 0.50 - 0.96) for the 12 SQ-HDM group (P = .03). The absolute risk differences in the intervention groups vs in the placebo group were 0.09 (95% CI, 0.01 - 0.15) for the 6 SQ-HDM group and 0.10 (95% CI, 0.02 - 0.16) for the 12 SQ-HDM group. No significant difference was observed between the active groups (hazard ratio, 0.96; 95% CI, 0.68 - 1.37; P = .84).

@simran A credible alternative explanation to the thrifty gene hypothesis was presented by John Speakman, who argues that, contrary to undergoing positive selection, genes that promoted fat storage were the result of genetic drift. When humans were able to band together and coordinate their foraging, hunting, and social activities, as well as evade prey by innovative tactics such as the use of fire, they were able to effectively remove themselves from danger without relying on genes for leanness, physical strength, and athleticism. Speakman argues that this "predation release" led neither to purifying selection nor positive selection for thrifty alleles. The thrifty alleles were simply neutral and allowed to drift, explaining their high prevalence in today's modern human gene pool.

@poli The following are useful websites for patient and family education:
Duke University Health Services, Bereavement, Coping After a Traumatic Death

The University of Iowa, Coping with Death, Grief, and Loss

Helpguide.org, Coping with Grief and Loss: Guide to Grieving and Bereavement

Hello, Is booster dose essential for everyone to prevent omicron? What do we know about those third doses of the vaccine so far? Are they safe and effective? Who are the people who may need them? And should the world be looking at booster shots at this stage of the pandemic?

@durba This may still sound like sci-fi, but nanotech is slowly entering our daily life. 2021 can bring a bunch of revolutionary tidings in the field of nanomedicine. If you’re wondering what nanomedicine is, here is a short definition: it’s all about the use of nanoscale (microscopically tiny) materials and objects, such as biocompatible nanoparticles, nanoelectronic devices, or even nanorobots (wow!) for specific medical purposes and manipulations, such as diagnosis or treatment of living organisms. For example, it can be used as a potential hunter for cancer cells or viruses, which requires a group of nanorobots to be injected into a human’s blood vessels. This technology is expected to successfully fight back many genetic, oncologic, or auto-immune diseases on a cellular level, including tumors, arthritis, and others (or even become an ultimate solution to them).