Author: healthadmin

Recent research shows that grandparents’ physical and mental health significantly predict how much time they spend caring for their grandchildren, but the reverse is not necessarily true. The researchers found that grandmothers served as a primary measure of couples’ caregiving habits, and that individuals’ health conditions determined both partners’ involvement. The study was published in The Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences. Elderly people often intervene to help raise new generations. Caregiving patterns within families vary widely based on cultural expectations, economic needs, and the physical availability of the older person. Researchers want to know how…

Astellas Pharma is staring down a $6 billion patent cliff for its prostate cancer treatment Xtandi and aims to counter the inevitable decline in revenue with a 200 billion yen ($1.3 billion) cost-cutting program included in a new five-year strategic plan. However, CEO Naoki Okamura says, “It’s not just about saving costs or reducing headcount.” The Tokyo-based pharmaceutical company has launched a series of cost optimization initiatives. In an interview with Fierce, Okamura said that while some low-hanging fruit can have an immediate impact on a company’s bottom line, more systemic changes will take time to fully mature. As a…

The American Medical Association (AMA) announced a number of policies at its annual conference of delegates. Among the policies voted on by members were a future waiver of Medicaid work requirements, a new stance on public health, and additional safeguards for the use of artificial intelligence by health plans. Please read below Increased oversight and transparency into how health plans use AI tools AI was the focus of several new policies announced by organizations to address its increasing use in both clinical decision-making and health insurance coverage decisions. One policy opposes the use of autonomous or semi-autonomous AI systems as…

A group of partners has launched a turnkey program to help pharmacies implement remote patient monitoring (RPM) and receive reimbursement. The partnership is between telehealth infrastructure provider OpenLoop, RPM platform Tenovi, and RxHealing, which provides operational support to RPM pharmacies. The goal of this program is to enable pharmacies, especially rural independent pharmacies, to supervise and support chronically ill patients between scheduled visits. There is no cost for pharmacies to set up the program, executives said. The program will initially bill Medicare Part B, with commercial expansion planned. “This is very seamless and out-of-the-box,” OpenLoop co-founder and CEO Jon Lensing…

New research suggests that variables related to socio-economic status (SES), such as increased stress and decreased sleep, have a strong relationship with children’s brain structure and function. “Previous studies have found that socioeconomics can influence brain structure and function, but[these authors]demonstrate these effects with remarkable magnitude and consistency,” Lucinda M. Sisk and Theodore D. Satterthwaite write in a related Perspective. Brain-wide association studies (BWAS) investigate how variations in brain structure and function across large populations are related to differences in behavior, mental health, or environmental exposures. Such studies often assess brain measures such as functional connectivity and cortical thickness, which…

A recent study presented at the European Obesity Conference suggests that combining weight loss drugs with behavioral programs reduces intrusive thoughts about food to a greater extent than behavioral therapy alone. The study results provide evidence that drugs known as glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists can help quiet the constant mental chatter about eating. Related research published in journals obesity We outline the creation of a new tool to measure these sustained thoughts. Many people trying to manage their weight report having a constant mental dialogue about what, when, and how much to eat. Scientists call this phenomenon food noise. This…

The Oncology Clinical Trials Alliance (Alliance) today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has accepted for review Genentech’s supplemental biological license application for the immunotherapy atezolizumab (Tecentriq®) for the treatment of patients with stage III colon cancer deficient in deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) mismatch repair (dMMR). The application is supported by results from the Phase III Alliance ATOMIC (A021502) trial, sponsored by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and conducted in partnership with Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, and the German group Arbeitsgemeinschaft Internistische Onkologie (AIO). This study demonstrated that adding atezolizumab to standard chemotherapy after surgery significantly…

New data released Thursday suggests the prevalence of drinking during pregnancy has increased in recent years. Approximately 15% of pregnant adults reported current alcohol use (drinking in the past 30 days) between 2021 and 2024, according to national survey data published in a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 13.5% of women reported similar drinking between 2018 and 2020. The numbers, while lagging behind current trends, are indicative of an ongoing health problem that experts say has received little attention because drinking during pregnancy is generally considered a thing of the past. “Alcohol consumption during pregnancy…

Kidney transplantation remains the most effective treatment for end-stage kidney disease, but a severe shortage of donor organs continues to limit access for millions of patients worldwide. Demand for kidney transplants is expected to reach 5 million patients by 2030, but with only a portion of that demand currently being met, researchers are exploring innovative approaches to producing transplantable organs. In a study published today, stem cell reportShunsuke Yuri of the National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology and Ayako Isoya of the Nara Institute of Science and Technology have succeeded in producing rat-derived kidneys in mice using a technique known…

The same memory can feel vivid and accessible one moment, and stubbornly out of reach the next, even if the memory itself is intact. A research team led by Professor Hiroshi Nomura of the Institute for Brain Science, Graduate School of Medical Science, Nagoya City University has identified a neural mechanism that may explain this variation. This study shows that slow spontaneous fluctuations in brain histamine neurons help control moment-by-moment memory access. If the activity of histamine neurons was high just before the memory cue, the mice were more likely to express the learned memory. The same cues were less…