Medical Bulletin 23/August/2022

Here are the top medical news for the day:

Effect of the early COVID-19 pandemic on cancer survivors

Recent research indicates that during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the proportion of working-aged U.S. adults without health insurance did not change despite increases in unemployment, and the prevalence of unhealthy behaviors decreased. The findings, which were published by Wiley online in CANCER, pertained to individuals with and without a history of cancer.

To investigate, Xuesong Han and her colleagues used data from the nationwide, population-based Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System—an annual household telephone survey-to examine changes in multiple health-related measures in 2020 among cancer survivors, comparing them with adults without a history of cancer. Specifically, they assessed health insurance coverage, access to care, employment, health behaviors, and self-reported health.

Ref:

"The first year of the COVID-19 pandemic and health among cancer survivors in the United States." Xuesong Han, Sylvia Kewei Shi, Jingxuan Zhao, Leticia M. Nogueira, Priti Bandi, Stacey A. Fedewa, Ahmedin Jemal, and K. Robin Yabroff. CANCER; Published Online: August 22, 2022 (DOI: 10.1002/cncr.34386).

How recovery progresses following inflammation triggered by injury or illness

A new study, led by researchers at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, published in Nature Communications, yields critical clues.The scientists identified universal features of the inflammatory responses of patients who successfully recovered after surgery or acute illnesses such as COVID-19, heart attack, and sepsis. These features, they discovered, include precise paths that white blood cell and platelet counts follow as they return to normal.

Because inflammation occurs in patients who are already sick, it can be a complicated process to study. Thus, the researchers knew that to isolate common features, they would need to study inflammatory recovery in a highly controlled setting."We needed to find a situation where everybody starts off in the same generally stable state of health, and then they all get a similar inflammatory stimulus at a specific time," explained first author Brody Foy, a research fellow in systems biology at HMS and Mass General.

Ref:

Brody Foy et al,Human Acute Inflammatory Recovery is Defined by Co‐Regulatory Dynamics of White Blood Cell and Platelet Populations,Nature Communications,DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-32222-2

Link between Dental biorhythm and adolescent weight gain

An international research team led by Dr Patrick Mahoney at Kent's School of Anthropology and Conservation discovered the biorhythm in primary 'milk' molars (Retzius periodicity [RP]) is related to aspects of physical development during early adolescence. A faster dental biorhythm produced smaller gains in weight and mass.

The first-of-its-kind research published by Nature Communications Medicine found that adolescents with a faster biorhythm (five or six-day cycle) weighed less, gained the least weight, and had the smallest change in their body mass index over a 14-month period compared to those with a slower biorhythm. Those with a slow biorhythm (seven or eight-day cycle) produced the greatest weight gain.

Ref:

Dr Patrick Mahoney et al,Dental biorhythm associates with adolescent weight gain,Communications Medicine,10.1038/s43856-022-00164-x

Link between cases of COVID-19 and viral loads in wastewater

In this study, the authors wanted to examine the association between clinically reported cases and viral loads in wastewater. They correlated the results of 360 samples collected from manholes in 7 distinct areas of the Village with confirmed COVID-19 cases obtained from the Organizing Committee, and with data of close contacts tests from a previous report.

The researchers found that SARS-CoV-2 was present in 151 wastewater samples—53 from the Olympics and 98 from the Paralympics. The number of confirmed cases was also higher in the Paralympics. The strongest correlation between SARS-CoV-2 RNA load in wastewater and the presence of clinical positive areas was found in areas that had maximum viral loads in wastewater in a three-day span.

Ref:

Masaaki Kitajima et al,Association of SARS-CoV-2 Load in Wastewater With Reported COVID-19 Cases in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Village From July to September 2021,JAMA Network Open,10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.26822