Medical Bulletin 30/March/2023

Here are the top medical news for the day:

Novel drug combination shows positive results for HPV-negative patients with advanced head and neck cancer

Head and neck cancer is a deadly form of cancer that arises in the lining of the mouth and throat. Worldwide more than 700,000 people were diagnosed with head and neck cancer in 2021. The disease is caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV) or environmental carcinogens, including the regular use of tobacco or alcohol. When the cancer comes back after curative treatment, patients have an overall survival of less than two years.

A new combination drug treatment showed promising results in patients with pan-refractory, recurrent/metastatic head and neck cancer, according to a study published today in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Reference:

Randomized Phase II Trial of Ficlatuzumab with or without Cetuximab in Pan-Refractory, Recurrent/Metastatic Head and Neck Cancer,Journal of Clinical Oncology

Your heart’s shape matters: study

Investigators from the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai have discovered that patients who have round hearts shaped like baseballs are more likely to develop future heart failure and atrial fibrillation than patients who have longer hearts shaped like the traditional Valentine heart.

Their findings, published in Med-Cell Press’ new peer-reviewed medical journal-used deep learning and advanced imaging analysis to study the genetics of heart structure. Their results were telling.

“We found that individuals with spherical hearts were 31% more likely to develop atrial fibrillation and 24% more likely to develop cardiomyopathy, a type of heart muscle disease,” said David Ouyang, MD, a cardiologist in the Smidt Heart Institute and a researcher in the Division of Artificial Intelligence in Medicine. 

Reference:

Deep learning-enabled analysis of medical images identifies cardiac sphericity as an early marker of cardiomyopathy and related outcomes,Med,doi 10.1016/j.medj.2023.02.009

Study finds COVID-19 during pregnancy may increase obesity risk in children

More than 100 million COVID-19 cases have been reported in the United States since 2019, and there is limited information on the long-term health effects of the infection. Pregnant women make up 9% of reproductive-aged women with COVID-19, and millions of babies will be exposed to maternal infection during fetal development over the next five years.

Children born to mothers who had COVID-19 during pregnancy may be more likely to develop obesity, according to a new study published in the Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

Reference:

THE ENDOCRINE SOCIETY, JOURNAL: The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism

Two subtypes of insulin-producing cells discovered

ß cells are critical guardians of the body’s metabolic balance. They are the only cells capable of producing insulin, which regulates blood sugar levels by designating dietary sugar for immediate use or storage.

In Type 1 diabetes, ß cells are attacked by the body’s own immune system, rendering them unable to produce insulin.

Type 2 diabetes arises from insulin resistance; the resulting excess blood sugar from a person’s diet causes ß cells in the pancreas to work overtime. Eventually, ß cells can no longer keep up and blood sugar concentrations can rise to dangerously high levels.

Both diseases are treated by enhancing insulin action, either by providing insulin itself, or by augmenting its activity and release into the blood. Some people with Type 1 diabetes may elect to have a ß cell transplant, an experimental procedure in which functioning cells from a donor are implanted into the pancreas.

Reference:

Epigenetic dosage identifies two major and functionally distinct β cell subtypes,Cell Metabolism,doi 10.1016/j.cmet.2023.03.008