Medical Bulletin 22/August/2023

Here are the top medical news of the day:

Prostate cancer drug potential against COVID

At the outset of the COVID pandemic, men appeared to suffer higher rates of severe illness and death, leading researchers to suspect a link between androgen receptors—which bind to hormones like testosterone--and SARS-CoV-2 viral infection.

This observation spurred Michigan Medicine researchers to look into a drug in development to treat prostate cancer called proxalutamide, which works by blocking an enzyme called transmembrane protease, serine 2 that is regulated by androgen receptors, as a potential therapeutic for COVID.

Reference: “Proxalutamide reduces SARS-CoV-2 infection and associated inflammatory response,” PNAS. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2221809120

Blood test may predict future heart, and kidney risk for Type 2 diabetics

A simple blood test may predict the risk of progressive heart and kidney disease in people with Type 2 diabetes and kidney disease, according to new research published in the American Heart Association’s journal Circulation.

Lead author James Januzzi said, “High levels of certain biomarkers are indicators of heart and kidney complications and may help predict future risk of disease progression. Treatment with canagliflozin, a sodium glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitor, lowered biomarker levels and reduced the risk of hospitalization for heart failure and other heart complications in people at the highest risk.”

Reference: Cardiorenal Biomarkers, Canagliflozin, and Outcomes in Diabetic Kidney Disease: The CREDENCE Trial, Circulation, DOI 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.123.065251

Previously depressed patients continue to focus on negative

People who have recovered from a major depressive episode, when compared with individuals who have never experienced one, tend to spend more time processing negative information and less time processing positive information, putting them at risk for a relapse, according to research published by the American Psychological Association.

For this paper, researchers conducted a meta-analysis of 44 studies involving 2081 participants with a history of major depressive disorder and 2285 healthy controls. All studies examined participants’ response times to negative, positive or neutral stimuli.

Reference: “Biased Cognitive Control of Emotional Information in Remitted Depression: A Meta-Analytic Review,” by Alainna Wen, PhD, University of California, Los Angeles; Ethan Fischer, BSc, and Lira Yoon, PhD, University of Maryland Baltimore County; and David Watson, PhD, University of Notre Dame. Journal of Psychopathology and Clinical Science, https://doi.org/10.1037/abn0000848