Articles related to CLINICAL RESEARCH

Medical records of more than half a million individuals in the EU, UK, and US were evaluated. Apixaban was the most frequently prescribed direct oral anticoagulant (DOAC) for AFib. It was also associated with a lower incidence of GI bleed vs. the other DOACs.

Atrial fibrillation (AF) can be managed by either a rate control or a rhythm control strategy. Data as to whether rate control or a rhythm control provides better clinical outcomes have been mixed. Therefore, even if direct evidence from randomized clinical trials is lacking in many types of patients, given the unpredictable long-term adverse effects of atrial fibrillation, rhythm control is generally the goal.

In this meta-analysis including 340 patients across six clinical trials, ECT was more effective than ketamine in treating depression. There were no identified differences between the groups in terms of cognition, memory, or serious adverse events.

Prior research has revealed a potential link between damage to specific parts of the brain and repetitive addictive behaviors. In this report, with findings published in Nature Medicine, the investigators found that lesions that disrupted smoking and alcohol addiction behaviors occurred in many different brain locations and were characterized by a specific pattern of brain connectivity.

The findings point to the possibility of very early detection of dementias, when recruitment into preventive trials, drug trials, and implementation of preventive strategies to slow the disease have the most impact.

The researchers put a theory to the test by administering the compound CBL0137 to melanoma mouse models. This compound causes the same type of highly inflammatory cell death that the influenza virus causes, but it does so directly in cancerous tissue. The resulting antiviral response alerted the immune system. It heated up a “cold” tumor so that, when combined with immunotherapy, the host immune system recognized cancer as something to be destroyed.