Staying #Up2Date 🚨

1. Bilateral mastectomy in breast cancer 

This cohort study investigated whether bilateral (B/L) mastectomy to treat unilateral breast cancer reduces the 20-year risk of breast cancer mortality. Over 600K women with unilateral breast cancer were closely matched by treatment type and followed for 20 years. In the end, B/L mastectomy was associated with a statistically significant reduction of contralateral breast cancer risk but not breast cancer mortality. 

2. Methotrexate (MTX) for knee pain  

In this RCT, over 200 people with radiographic and symptomatic osteoarthritis (OA) were randomly assigned to oral MTX vs placebo to treat their knee pain using a numeric rating scale (NRS). In the oral MTX group, pain decreased from 6.4 (SD, 1.80) at baseline to 5.1 (SD, 2.32) and from 6.8 (SD, 1.62) to 6.2 (SD, 2.30) in the placebo group at six months follow-up. The primary intention-to-treat analysis showed a statistically significant pain reduction of 0.79 NRS points in favor of methotrexate (95% CI, 0.08 to 1.51; P = 0.030).

3. Hypertension in pregnancy 

A study looked at trends in hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) from 2012-2021. Out of 2 million births, the rate of HDP increased from 6.1% to 8.5%, including pre-existing hypertension (0.6% to 0.9%), gestational hypertension (3.9% to 5.1%), and preeclampsia (1.6% to 2.6%). Rates of C-section rose marginally for women with HDP from 42.0% in 2012 to 44.3% in 2021, as did acute renal failure (0.4% to 0.6%). Early preterm delivery and intrauterine fetal death trended downwards.

Putting Colonoscopies Behind Us?

How a new blood test is helping patients get to the bottom of their diagnosis.

What happened: The FDA has approved a blood test that could detect colorectal cancer.

Why it’s interesting: The blood test, Shield, is from Guardant Health, Inc, and was approved for screening adults aged 45 and older who are at average risk for colorectal cancer. The approval came after the clinical study produced promising results earlier this year. 

The study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine in March and found that the blood test correctly detected the disease in 83% of people who had cancer, but were not experiencing symptoms. Shield is available by prescription for those who meet the criteria and is expected to be covered by Medicare beneficiaries.

But: Despite the blood test being easy to do doctors say it doesn’t replace colonoscopies, as they detect colon cancer in its earliest and most treatable stages.

Shield was only able to detect cancers at Stage 2 or later and it was reported that the test wasn’t successful in detecting benign polyps. A New York doctor said people who are interested in taking the blood test should know that it has a 10% false-positive rate, meaning patients might find out their cancer free upon further testing, despite Shield’s results.

Bottom line: The blood test is a huge victory for patients with a family history of colorectal cancer, but until Shield can score a 100% on their test, patients will still have to spread ‘em.

Hot Off The Press

1: ❤️‍🩹 The US Congress is pushing bipartisan legislation — including the Kids Online Safety Act — to hold social media companies accountable for kids' mental health by enforcing a "duty of care" clause. It’s supported by health groups, but critics argue it might lead to overreach and censorship.

2: 🇺🇸 Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign is in full swing as the presumptive Democratic nominee. Early polling has suggested that she has a better chance than Biden at beating Trump in November, since the Trump campaign no longer has an “easy line of attack” (in other words, that Biden is old).

3: 👵 A study has suggested that a recently approved shingles vaccine may delay the onset of dementia. Researchers looked at more than 200,000 US cities and found that over 6 years, the risk of dementia was 17% lower in those who received the new, more effective vaccine, Shingrix, rather than Zostavax.

4: 🚬 A new study found that semaglutide (the ingredient found in Ozempic) may have the ability to help people quit smoking. Participants in the study who had both Type 2 diabetes and use tobacco found themselves craving smoking products less within 30 days of using the drug.

5:📱 A New York federal judge ruled that Customs and Border Protection can’t search traveler's phones without a warrant. The ruling only applies to New Yorks Eastern District, and comes after a man was forced to hand over his phone for inspection after his name triggered an alert on the Treasury Enforcement Communications System.

Notable Numbers 🔢

81%: the percentage of surveyed researchers who produced relevant negative results in their field. However, only 12.5% of respondents had the opportunity to publish these results - an article in Nature points out how this bias, over time, distorts the scientific record.

59,000: the number of participants in a meta-analysis across 25 countries that found 18.3% of doctors reported PTSD symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic.

17%: increase in energy used this summer compared to 2021. This is due to the heat wave many states in the US are experiencing, causing their air conditioners to work overtime. The Energy Information Administration says customers should expect their energy bills to be around $173.

Insight of the Week

You might be getting tired of all the Marvel movies, TV shows, merch, etc. (Or you might not be, and caught the latest Deadpool vs. Wolverine installment.)

If so, you may have contributed to the almost $440 million USD that the latest Deadpool movie has brought in. Pretty fair to say that Marvel’s decision to actively engage with promising stars has seriously paid off.

Source: Chartr Stories

Postcall Picks ✅

😭 Laugh: Gowning in the OR is a whole different experience from donning the white coat at the ceremony. 

📺 Watch: how tech doping is reshaping sports performance in the Olympics and take a deep dive into the balance between innovation and fairness in sports.

🦄 Femtech: Women’s health tech has just minted its latest unicorn, with Flo Health (a fertility-focused period tracking app) raising $200M in its series C.

Relax

First Question: Commonly includes LLQ pain, fever, elevated WBC

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