Hepatitis cases and heart valve infection deaths tied to early OxyContin marketing

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain Decades after Purdue Pharma began to push physicians to prescribe addictive pain pills, the opioid crisis has been a slow-motion disaster, with overdoses destroying lives and families across the country. Now, it appears the consequences of those early marketing efforts are even more devastating. In a new study, researchers at the […]

Pierce County man believed to be first in state with fungus that can be deadly

TACOMA, Wash. — A potentially deadly fungus – still considered an emerging disease – has now appeared in Western Washington. The first case of Candida auris showed up last week in a patient in Pierce County, launching a public health investigation. The Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department (TPCHD) said the man was diagnosed with the fungus on July 13. The […]

Blood prick test shows promise for Alzheimer’s detection

SOUTHFIELD, Mich. (WXYZ) — This is very exciting because, currently, there is no single test for Alzheimer’s disease. A diagnosis is usually based on a few different types of assessments. For example, mental status testing, physical and neuropsychological exams, laboratory tests, and brain imaging. The study’s findings were presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference. […]

Cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy and risk of kidney function decline in type 1 and type 2 diabetes: findings from the PERL and ACCORD cohorts

Previous studies have suggested that cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy (CAN) may predict rapid kidney function decline among persons with diabetes. We analyzed the association between baseline CAN and subsequent glomerular filtration rate (GFR) decline among individuals with type 1 diabetes (T1D) from the Preventing Early Renal Loss in Diabetes (PERL) study (N=469) and with type 2 […]

Blood test shows promise in detecting Alzheimer’s

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (KCRG) – According to research reported at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference, a simple, finger-prick blood test is showing promise in its ability to detect Alzheimer’s disease. The study recruited 307 middle-aged to elderly patients. Researchers conducted cognitive testing and a CT scan for primary care physicians to look at and diagnose. At […]

First genetic clue why some people do not get sick from COVID

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain People who have a particular genetic variant are twice as likely to never get sick when they contract COVID-19, researchers said on Wednesday, offering the first potential explanation for the lucky group dubbed the “super dodgers”. Those who have two copies of the variant are eight times more likely to never […]

Thaddeus Beck: ‘I Wanted to Be the Best Oncologist, That’s It’

Thaddeus Beck, MD, FACP Thaddeus Beck, MD, FACP, a graduate of the University of Arkansas (UA) for Medical Science, had a simple goal when starting out his career. Beck wanted to be the best and did not know how far that dream would go. About 30 years ago, after completing a fellowship at Duke University […]

Fort Collins to spray after finding high number of West Nile-infected mosquitoes

A high number of West Nile virus-infected mosquitoes have been found in traps around Fort Collins, prompting the city to initiate spraying to reduce the chance of transmission to humans. An area of south Fort Collins that was found to have the most infected mosquitoes is scheduled to be sprayed on Sunday, July 23, according […]