Articles related to CLINICAL STUDY

In the US, only two emergency contraceptive methods have been FDA approved: oral levonorgestrel and oral ulipristal acetate. However, the copper IUD appears to be an order of magnitude more effective than the approved methods and so copper IUD is often used. But women prefer the levonorgestrel IUD. This study looked to compare the two IUDs as emergency contraceptives. Among 711 women randomized to copper versus levonorgestrel IUDs, pregnancy rates were 1 in 317 in the levonorgestrel group and 0 in 321, equating to non-inferiority for the levonorgestrel IUD.

For the treatment of psychosis in schizophrenia, may an oral molecule constitute a new class of psychotropic drug with a non-D2-receptor binding mode of action? The purpose of a recent study was to answer that question, which Dr. Matt Birnholz delves into in this audio abstract.

This prospective cohort study measured cardiac arrhythmias in patients with chronic drug-resistant epilepsy. Using subcutaneous cardiac monitors programmed to record episodes of tachycardia, bradycardia, or asystole ≥3 seconds, 90% of study patients had episodes of sustained tachycardia, 25% had bradycardia and nearly 10% had asystole.

Researchers used retinal imaging to examine the eyes of 200 people with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) to see who had subretinal drusenoid deposits (SDDs). Patients were asked to fill out a questionnaire about their family history of cardiovascular disease. There were 97 SDDs and 103 drusen only among the 200 patients. 47 of the 200 patients had severe heart disease, and 40 of the 47 (86%) had SDDs. In comparison, 57 (43%) of the 153 AMD patients who did not have these severe diseases had SDDs. According to the researchers, AMD patients who had these severe cardiovascular diseases and strokes were nine times more likely to have SDDs than those who did not.

In a study of 844,000 children and adolescents without prior COVID infection, vaccine effectiveness was approximately 61% in children and 67% in adolescents versus the delta variant, but only approximately 16% and 26%, respectively, versus omicron.

Some experts responded to the recently published study, stating that “These authors have been pushing back against treating COVID as airborne for 3 years,” and that the study “will be used to justify policies of supplying healthcare workers … with inadequate protection.”