Video Laryngoscopy Wins for Tracheal Intubation on the First Try
Use of video rather than direct laryngoscope led to better rates of successful tracheal intubation on the first attempt for critically ill patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) or emergency department, the randomized DEVICE trial found. In the unblinded multicenter study, which was stopped early for efficacy at an interim analysis, the rate of […]
Nivolumab-AVD Boosts PFS in Untreated Hodgkin Lymphoma
CHICAGO — Adding the immune checkpoint inhibitor nivolumab (Opdivo), rather than brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris), to a standard chemotherapy backbone reduced the risk of disease progression or death in newly diagnosed adults and adolescents with advanced-stage classical Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL), according to the SWOG S1826 trial. Patients in the phase III study received six cycles of […]
Buprenorphine for Chronic Pain, Not Full Agonist Opioids, New VA Guidance Says
Buprenorphine, rather than a full agonist opioid, should be used for patients taking daily opioids for chronic pain, given its lower risk for overdose or misuse, new guidelines from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Department of Defense (DoD) recommended. But “the guideline development group does not recommend use of opioid analgesics in the […]
More Harm Reduction, Less Abstinence-Only in COVID Messaging, Experts Say
More attention to harm reduction — rather than totally abstaining from risky behaviors — would improve messaging on the COVID-19 pandemic, Amesh Adalja, MD, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, said Wednesday. “A lot of COVID-19 was abstinence-only” when it came to behavior, Adalja said during an online briefing sponsored […]
Risky food-finding strategy could be the key to human success: Creative free time may have come from big meals that could be shared
It’s a cold and rainy Sunday afternoon: would you rather be running after tasteless wild berries, or curled up on your couch with fuzzy socks and a good book? You might not have had that choice if our ancestors had not taken a big gamble with their food. A new study published in Science on […]
Can a Doctor Have a Personality?
Can doctors have personalities? I get this question a lot, or, rather, I get told by patients as a running joke that physicians typically lack the fun gene. Understandably, we have dedicated our youth to the medical profession and have missed out on most of our 20s and 30s by completing rigorous training and building […]