News by Subject Medicine & Health

Not only are studies of COVID-19 treatments being conducted at locations that don't typically care for high proportions of Black and Hispanic patients, the studies frequently exclude individuals with high-risk chronic ailments or who are pregnant.

In patients with type 2 diabetes, big swings in blood sugar levels between doctors' visits are associated with an increased risk of heart disease.

Patients with diabetes must keep a supply of insulin which must respect the cold chain. However not every household has a refrigerator. This forces people living with diabetes to go to hospital on a daily basis. MSF and UNIGE test insulin storage at temperatures ranging from 25°C to 37°C. The findings demonstrate that the stability of insulin stored under these conditions is the same as that of cold-stored insulin, with no impact on efficacy.

A new study by researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine found delayed time between abnormal stool-based screening and subsequent colonoscopy was associated with an increased risk of a cancer diagnosis and death from colorectal cancer.

An interim analysis of data from the phase 3 trial of the COVID-19 vaccine from Russia (Gam-COVID-Vac) suggests that a two-dose regimen of the adenovirus-based vaccine offers 91.6% efficacy against symptomatic COVID-19. The preliminary findings, published in The Lancet, are based on analysis of data from nearly 20,000 participants, three-quarters of whom received the vaccine and one quarter received a placebo.

Researchers seeking to develop on-demand and behaviorally congruent HIV prevention options for anal sex are reporting the results of three early phase clinical trials of rectal microbicides at the HIV Research for Prevention Virtual Conference. The Phase I studies, led by the National Institutes of Health-funded Microbicide Trials Network, found both of two gel-based products well-tolerated, with higher doses of the active drugs likely required to provide protection from HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.

Results of a multi-centre, international, clinical trial co-led by Peter Munk Cardiac Centre (PMCC) cardiologist Dr. Dinesh Thavendiranathan point to the benefit of using a more sensitive test to detect heart function issues early, so cancer patients don't have to fight heart failure too.

Researchers from the University of Nottingham have discovered a novel antiviral property of a drug that could have major implications in how future epidemics / pandemics - including Covid-19 - are managed.