Medical Bulletin 3/May/2023

Here are the top medical news for the day:

Risk of rehospitalization in younger women after heart attack nearly double that of men: Study

A new NIH supported study found that women aged 55 years and younger have nearly double the risk of rehospitalization in the year immediately after a heart attack compared to men of similar age. Higher rates of risk factors such as obesity, heart failure, and depression among women most likely contributed to the disparity.

The findings suggest a need for closer health monitoring of the approximately 40,000 American women aged 18 to 55 years who have heart attacks each year following hospital discharge, and a better understanding of the reasons behind the different outcomes. The study was published today in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Reference:

Sex Difference in Outcomes of Acute Myocardial Infarction in Young Patients. Journal of the American College of Cardiology. doi: 10.1016/j.jacc.2023.03.383

Study shows cannabis to help with pain, improve sleep and lift brain fog in cancer patients

New University of Colorado Boulder research suggests that cancer patients who use cannabis to address their symptoms have less pain and sleep better. But they also experience another, unexpected, benefit: After a few weeks of sustained use, they seem to think more clearly.

“When you’re in a lot of pain, it’s hard to think,” said senior author Angela Bryan, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at CU Boulder and a cancer survivor. “We found that when patients’ pain levels came down after using cannabis for a while, their cognition got better.”

The small but groundbreaking study, published April 26 in the journal Exploration in Medicine, is among the first to assess how cannabis bought over the counter at dispensaries-rather than government supplied or synthetic cannabis - impacts cancer symptoms or chemotherapy side- effects.

Reference:

Cannabis use in cancer patients: acute and sustained associations with pain, cognition, and quality of life,Exploration of Medicine, DOI 10.37349/emed.2023.00138

Novel method to test cancer drug toxicity

A new study from researchers at Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University and Tufts Medical Center reports that heart tissue obtained through organ donations from dogs dying of other causes are a promising platform for testing cancer drug toxicity, offering scientists a new alternative.

For people with cancer, chemotherapy saves lives, but for some patients, the treatment comes with a side effect-heart damage. Screening cancer drugs for cardiotoxicity has been an ongoing challenge as heart cells don’t naturally grow in a dish, requiring researchers to do this critical testing using cardiac tissue from rodent models.

Reference:

Using cultured canine cardiac slices to model the autophagic flux with doxorubicin,PLoS ONE, DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0282859

Genetic mutations that contribute to adult epilepsy identified in new study

A new study by investigators from Mass General Brigham, in collaboration with colleagues at Boston Children’s Hospital, sheds new light on the role of somatic mutations in TLE - DNA alterations that occur after conception - and suggests the potential of using existing cancer therapies to treat TLE that is resistant to anti-seizure medications. Their results are published in JAMA Neurology.

Epilepsy affects approximately 1-in-26 people and the most common form, known as temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), often cannot be adequately treated with anti-seizure medications. Patients with this form of epilepsy may require neurosurgery to provide relief from seizures. The condition’s origins and progression are not well understood, and it has been unclear if genetic mutations may contribute to TLE.

Reference:

Khoshkhoo S et al. “Contribution of Somatic Ras/Raf/Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase Variants in the Hippocampus in Drug-Resistant Mesial Temporal Lobe Epilepsy” JAMA Neurology DOI: 10.1001/jamaneurol.2023.0473