@jac A total of 95 patients with coronary spasm underwent ACh rechallenge, which consisted of repeated ACh provocation 3 minutes after intracoronary nitroglycerin administration using the same dose that previously induced spasm. During initial ACh provocation, 55 patients (58%) had isolated microvascular spasm and 40 patients (42%) had isolated epicardial spasm (78% diffuse, 22% focal). ACh rechallenge, however, revealed coexisting microvascular spasm in 48% of patients with epicardial spasm (19 of 40).

@aronyak The researchers also reviewed brain imaging data and genetic data from 39,692 participants in 2014 to examine the relationships between sleep duration and brain structure and between sleep duration and genetic risk. In addition, 156,884 participants completed an online follow-up mental health questionnaire in 2016-2017 to assess the longitudinal impact of sleep on mental health. Both excessive and insufficient sleep was associated with impaired cognitive performance, evidenced by the U-shaped curve found by the researchers in their data analysis, which used quadratic associations.

@palash The gap between a person's chronologic age and their brain age has been implicated in earlier studies as a biomarker for risk of dementia, schizophrenia, Alzheimer's disease, and other conditions. Bretzner and colleagues wanted to know if that brain age gap was also a predictor for outcomes following a stroke.

@palash the exploratory analysis suggested there may be an advantage for patients with HER2-positive disease, but primarily those who had at least 1 C allele of a prespecified ATM associated rs11212617 SNP. These patients achieved a higher pathologic complete response rate with metformin than those without the allele. There were 620 patients with HER2-positive disease analyzed, with 99.4% receiving chemotherapy and 96.5% receiving trastuzumab. There were 99 IDFS events, and 47 OS events.

@rajan The deep-learning system had 93% sensitivity and 83% specificity for identification of early neoplasia, significantly better than the 72% sensitivity and 74% specificity for the general endoscopists. The overall accuracy of the computer-assisted detection system was 88%, compared to 73% for the general endoscopists. Moreover, the deep-learning system achieved greater accuracy than did any single one of the endoscopists.

Exposure to certain toxic metals, even at low levels, can promote atherosclerosis progression in the carotid, femoral, and coronary arteries, suggests new research that implicates arsenic, cadmium, and titanium, in particular, as potential culprits. The analysis of 1873 adults, nearly all men, in the longitudinal Aragon Workers Health Study was based on data obtained at their annual health exams as workers at an auto assembly factory in Spain. Participants, ranging in age from 40 to 55 years, were measured for exposure to nine toxic metals, the remaining six being uranium, barium, chromium, antimony, tungsten, and vanadium.

@palash You must self-isolate for a minimum of 10 days if you have any of:
high temperature – this means you feel hot to touch on your chest or back (you do not need to measure your temperature)
new, continuous cough – this means coughing a lot for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours (if you usually have a cough, it may be worse than usual)
loss or change to your sense of smell or taste – this means you've noticed you cannot smell or taste anything, or things smell or taste different to normal

Hello, I have nasal congestion, do I need to isolate myself ? I have no other symptoms like fever, headache, loss of taste. Please let me know what should I do?

@prabir Love it or hate it, voice technology is here to stay. For those who love it, voice-commanding Siri or Alexa to report on the weather or play a song is kind of a power trip, not to mention ultra convenient. For those who loathe it, the complaints range from difficulty with Alexa’s comprehension to fears of eavesdropping tech.
From its novel start to its rapid infiltration into more of our lives, voice-enabled tech (or voice assistants) is changing the way we access and use healthcare. In fact, Amazon recently greenlighted six healthcare companies to develop apps for Echo (Alexa), and HIPPA compliant apps are already in the works for several major players.

@pratibha Applying pressure to the wound is the best way to stop it bleeding. Place a clean and dry piece of material such as a bandage, towel, or cloth on the wound and apply pressure with both hands. Maintain firm and continuous pressure until the bleeding has stopped. Checking too soon to see if the bleeding has stopped may interfere with the healing process. Reducing the flow of blood will also help stop the bleeding, so raise the affected area if possible. If the injury is to the hand or arm, simply raise it above the head. If the injury is to a lower limb, lie down and raise the affected area above the level of the heart. Applying ice to a wound will constrict the blood vessels, allowing a clot to form more quickly and stop the bleeding. The best way to do this is to wrap ice in a clean, dry cloth and place it on the wound.