Medical Bulletin 23/January/2023

Here are the top medical news for the day:

Modified bacteria to tackle drug-resistant lung infections

Researchers have designed the first ‘living medicine’ to treat lung infections. The treatment targets Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a type of bacteria which is naturally resistant to many types of antibiotics and is a common source of infections in hospitals.

The treatment involves using a modified version of the bacterium Mycoplasma pneumoniae, removing its ability to cause disease and repurposing it to attack P. aeruginosa instead. The modified bacterium is used in combination with low doses of antibiotics that would otherwise not work on their own.

Reference:

Dr. Ariadna Montero Blay et al, Engineered live bacteria suppress Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection in mouse lung and dissolve endotracheal-tube biofilms, Nature Biotechnology,doi 10.1038/s41587-022-01584-9

Nab-paclitaxel does not extend survival in biliary tract cancer; though has benefits for some

Adding nab-paclitaxel to a standard treatment of gemcitabine plus cisplatin does not significantly extend median overall survival (OS) time for patients with advanced biliary tract cancers, although it may provide a benefit for subsets of patients with locally advanced disease or gallbladder adenocarcinoma.

These results are from the phase 3 S1815 trial conducted by the SWOG Cancer Research Network. SWOG S1815 was designed as a randomized phase 3 trial to compare this nab-paclitaxel combination to the standard gemcitabine-cisplatin regimen to determine whether it would extend survival times in a larger group of patients newly diagnosed with advanced BTCs.

Reference:

Rachna Shroff et al,NIH/National Cancer Institute, Celgene

Stage 4 pancreatic cancer survival improves by a 4-drug chemotherapy regimen

A four-drug chemotherapy regimen provided longer overall survival than a two-drug combination in a Phase 3 clinical trial for metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. The study is believed to be the first metastatic pancreatic cancer study in nearly a decade to have a positive endpoint for overall survival.

For the study, 770 patients were randomly assigned to one of two chemotherapy regimens. Patients in the four-drug group had an overall survival of 11.1 months, compared with 9.2 months for those in the two-drug arm.

Reference:

NAPOLI-3: A Randomized, Open-label Phase 3 Study of Liposomal Irinotecan + 5-fluorouracil/leucovorin + Oxaliplatin (NALIRIFOX) versus Nab-paclitaxel + Gemcitabine in Treatment-naïve Patients with Metastatic Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma (mPDAC),UN

Orienteering can train the brain, may help fight cognitive decline: Study

The sport of orienteering, which draws on athleticism, navigational skills and memory, could be useful as an intervention or preventive measure to fight cognitive decline related to dementia, according to new research from McMaster University.

Researchers hypothesized that the physical and cognitive demands of orienteering, which integrates exercise with navigation, may stimulate parts of the brain that our ancient ancestors used for hunting and gathering. The brain evolved thousands of years ago to adapt to the harsh environment by creating new neural pathways.

Reference:

Jennifer Heisz et al,Orienteering experts report more proficient spatial processing and memory across adulthood,PLoS ONE