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Top Medical News
Lonely people were twice as likely to die from any cause than people who did not feel lonely, according to a study based on a national survey presented at the recent EuroHeartCare 2018 in Dublin, Ireland. Also, loneliness is associated with poorer patient-reported outcomes in terms of mental and physical health in patients with heart disease.
In patients with hypertension, awareness of the condition does not appear to influence lifestyle behaviours, according to a recent study.
Having both pre-existing type 2 diabetes (T2D) and chronic kidney disease (CKD) appears to raise the risk of all-cause and cardiovascular disease (CVD)-specific mortality in patients with heart failure, according to results of a Singapore study.
The likelihood of restarting treatment with direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) following gastrointestinal bleeding (GIB) appears to be low among older patients who require blood and intensive care, a study has shown. Furthermore, a history of venous thromboembolism and thienopyridine use are risk factors for subsequent thromboembolism and GIB, respectively.
Use of opioid pain medication among adults with comorbid symptoms of insomnia and chronic pain appears to prolong time spent being awake in bed, reports a study, adding that such effect cannot be attributed to changes in pain, use of sleep medication or total sleep time.
One-year course of resistance training with elastic bands favourably affects body composition and lipid profile in postmenopausal women, as shown in a recent study. Specific benefits include reductions in waist circumference and body weight, as well as in cholesterol and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels.
Perirenal fat is associated with carotid intima-media thickness, especially among overweight and obese children, and may thus represent a useful parameter for evaluating cardiovascular risk in the paediatric population, according to a study.
Special Reports
The medical field has advanced in leaps and bounds. Along with it comes changes in the way we deal with patients or diseases. However, the fundamentals of medicine, namely patient-centred care can sometimes be sidelined in this age and among the aspects that suffer along with it are the high value of a patient’s own blood and the autonomy over his or her own body.
At the recent ‘Reinforced for the Glycaemic Challenge’ symposium held at Shangri-la Hotel, Kuala Lumpur, Associate Professor Dr Alexander Tan, Professor Dr Chee Kok Han and Dr Chan Siew Pheng shared their insights into the importance of achieving glycaemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), while simultaneously providing them with cardiovascular protection.
At the recent American Society of Haematology Annual Meeting 2017, Professor François-Xavier Mahon reviewed recent studies related to tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) cessation in patients with chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) who have achieved sustained deep molecular response (DMR).
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is one of the most common neurological disorders – affecting over 2.3 million people globally – and it is the leading cause of nontraumatic disability in young adults. However,the availability of supportive resources and services for people with MS is scarce in many regions of the world. In Malaysia, the prevalence of MS is estimated at 2-3/100,000; the current Malaysian clinical practice guidelines on the management of MS recommend disease modifying agents, such as interferon-β and teriflunomide, as first-line therapeutic agents. In this article, Dr Singer - in partnership with Sanofi and the Malaysian Society of Neurosciences - shares his insights into managing MS dynamically, highlighting the importance of early intervention in improving patient outcomes.
Globally, one in four people will be affected by psychiatric or neurological disorders during their lifetime.1 With an estimated affected population of 450 million people, mental disorders are among the leading causes of ill-health and disability worldwide.1 At the recent Lundbeck Neuroscience Symposium held at Hilton Kota Kinabalu from 3–5 November 2017, three renowned key opinion leaders from the field of psychiatry shared their insights into the optimal management of bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.
At a recent Menarini-sponsored symposium held during the 47th Annual Scientific Meeting of the Malaysian Orthopaedic Association at Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, Dr Magdi Hanna spoke on the importance of effective postoperative pain management, highlighting the role of multimodal combination therapy in improving treatment outcomes.
At a recent Lundbeck Neuroscience Symposium at Hilton Kota Kinabalu, Professor Bernhard Baune discussed important clinical considerations in the management of behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD), focussing on the role of memantine hydrochloride (Ebixa®; Lundbeck).
Conference Reports
Clinical use of a 21-gene express assay can help spare adjuvant chemotherapy in many patients with early breast cancer, according to results of a large trial hailed by experts as practice-changing.
Most patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) can have improved overall survival (OS) with first-line pembrolizumab without chemotherapy even if their PD-L1 expression levels are low, results of the phase III KEYNOTE-042 trial have shown.
Prescribing antibiotics despite no indication of infection to patients hospitalized with asthma was associated with longer hospital stay, a higher risk of antibiotic-related diarrhoea, and elevated hospitalization costs, according to a study presented at the recent American Thoracic Society conference (ATS 2018).
Women with endometriosis may have a higher risk of asthma compared with women without endometriosis, according to a study presented at ATS 2018.
The notion that overweight patients with COPD* seems to have a reduced risk of mortality vs those who are of normal weight, or that fat alters outcomes in obese patients – a phenomenon called “obesity paradox” – does not hold true if BMI is >40 kg/m2, a study has shown.
Dupilumab, the fully human anti-interleukin-4 receptor α monoclonal antibody indicated for the treatment of atopic dermatitis, appeared to improve lung function, reduce exacerbations, and decrease oral corticosteroid use in individuals with moderate-to-severe asthma, according to two phase III trials presented at ATS 2018.
Vitamin C supplementation in pregnant women who smoke resulted in improved forced expiratory flow (FEF*) in their newborns at 3 and 12 months, according to data presented at ATS 2018.
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