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.

Over a 5-year period, patients who presented with basilar artery stroke between 6 to 24 hours after symptom onset were randomized to thrombectomy plus medical therapy or medical therapy alone. The thrombectomy group had a greater chance of survival and of achieving good functional status (using a modified Rankin scale) at 90 days, but suffered more procedural complications and cerebral hemorrhages.

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.

In this multicenter study, adult patients with status epilepticus were randomized into levetiracetam (LEV) or fosphenytoin (FPHT) as a second-line treatment after diazepam. The authors conclude that LEV may be recommended as a second-line treatment for SE along with phenytoin/FPHT.

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.