Matthew Gavidia

A special, noncontact boxing program was shown to potentially improve quality-of-life (QOL) and likelihood of exercise among patients with Parkinson disease compared with those who did not participate, according to preliminary study findings originally to be presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s 72nd Annual Meeting.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, patients, as well as their physicians, have been put at risk while seeking or providing other healthcare. While several barriers to care have inhibited telehealth in the past, recent actions by CMS, HHS, and other governing bodies have sought to expand its availability nationwide. NYU Langone Health's telehealth service Virtual Urgent Care connects members with clinicians via phone or tablet to provide care without potential coronavirus exposure.

Toddlers with reported diminished sleep duration and quality during infancy had a greater likelihood of emotional and behavioral problems, with associations proving strongest for internalizing and dysregulation symptoms, according to study findings.

Patients with Parkinson disease were found to be more likely to experience vision and eye issues, such as blurry vision, dry eyes, trouble with depth perception, and problems adjusting to rapid changes in light, compared with people without the disorder, according to study findings.

In 11 patients with severe cases of COPD and hypercapnic respiratory failure, lung volume reduction coil treatment was associated with significant decreases in carbon dioxide levels and improvement in quality-of-life and respiratory function tests, according to study findings.

In children and adolescents with sickle cell disease, those who lacked ample vitamin D were hospitalized more often, had longer hospital stays, and made more frequent visits to the emergency department, according to study findings.

Utilizing the latest information provided by the World Health Organization and CDC on the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, the American Academy of Ophthalmology issued a set of guidelines recommending protection for the mouth, nose, and eyes when caring for patients potentially infected with the virus.

Cataract surgery was associated with an increase in melatonin secretion, according to new study findings; melatonin secretion has been linked to depression, diabetes, cognitive impairment, and breast cancer.

Isatuximab-irfc, sold as Sarclisa, in combination with pomalidomide and dexamethasone, was approved this week by the FDA for the treatment of adults with relapsed refractory multiple myeloma who have received at least 2 prior therapies.

Improved sleep patterns were linked with potential risk reductions of heart attacks, strokes, and other cardiovascular diseases, with additional associations found in helping women achieve and maintain a healthier body weight, according to preliminary research to be presented at American Heart Association's Epidemiology and Prevention | Lifestyle and Cardiometabolic Health Scientific Sessions 2020.

The implementation of integrated care conferences, a daily meeting for providers to share information, can significantly reduce the length of hospital stays in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) by up to 67%, according to study findings.

Sleep duration among adolescents aged 9 to 11 was shown to influence elements of mental health, including depression, anxiety, impulsive behavior, and cognitive performance, according to study findings.

For patients undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation, higher diversity of intestinal microbiota at the time of neutrophil engraftment was linked with lower mortality, according to study findings published today.

In nonprofit hospitals within states that expanded Medicaid, significant decreases in uncompensated care was reported, with additional increases in unreimbursed Medicaid expenses indicating that Medicaid expansion had no substantial effect on community benefit spending.

In a preliminary study to be presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s 72nd Annual Meeting, researchers found that patients with Parkinson disease who participated in a table tennis exercise program once a week for 6 months exhibited an improvement in their motor skills.

The decline can be attributed to long-term drops in death rates for the 4 major cancers—lung, colorectal, breast, and prostate.

Higher out-of-pocket (OOP) drug costs for 3 common neurologic conditions—Parkinson disease, Alzheimer disease, and peripheral neuropathy—were associated with lower medication adherence among patients, which can potentially intensify symptom burden and result in higher costs.

Sickle-cell trait (SCT) and disease (SCD) among African American patients were associated with faster kidney function decline, with SCD contributing to a more rapid decline, according to study findings.

Statin use was linked with a significant reduction in the risk of hospitalized exacerbations after an initial hospitalized exacerbation among patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), including specified frequent exacerbators, according to study findings.

In new guidelines issued today by the American Academy of Neurology (AAN), researchers provide sleep intervention recommendations to families, neurologists, and other healthcare providers in making decisions on the best treatments available for children and teens with autism.

Dose reduction of biologics adalimumab, etanercept, and ustekinumab was not shown to be as effective as providing the usual doses for treatment of psoriasis, according to study findings published today.

Based on positive data from the phase 3 CANDOR study presented at the 2019 American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting, Janssen announced yesterday the submission of a supplemental biologics license application to the FDA seeking approval of daratumumab in combination with carfilzomib and dexamethasone for relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma.

Compared with standard care, patients with Parkinson disease and related disorders who received palliative care exhibited improved quality of life and better symptom burden at 6 months after intervention, according to study findings.

In-home noninvasive positive pressure ventilation via bilevel positive airway pressure devices exhibited lower risk of mortality, fewer patients with all-cause hospital admission, and less need for intubation, but had no significant difference in quality-of-life for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and hypercapnia, according to study findings.

In a meta-analysis comparison of biologics and oral treatments for moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, results suggest that brodalumab, guselkumab, ixekizumab, and risankizumab-rzaa were associated with the highest response rates in both short-term and long-term therapy.

A novel protein misfolding cyclic amplification technology was able to distinguish between 2 progressive neurodegenerative diseases, Parkinson disease (PD) and multiple system atrophy, signaling potential improvements in diagnosis of PD.

Using a deep learning–based model to characterize sleep staging, researchers were able to accurately and automatically detect patients with and without obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), but accuracy decreased with increasing OSA severity, according to study findings.

Among patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), heart failure, stroke, and myocardial infarction were highly associated with an increased risk of death. Mortality risk was more strongly associated with the use of long-acting muscarinic antagonists and N-acetylcysteine compared with the lesser risk from inhaled corticosteroids, beta-blockers, and acetylsalicylic acid, according to study findings.

A. Mark Fendrick, MD, director of the Center for Value-Based Insurance Design (V-BID) at the University of Michigan and co-editor-in-chief of The American Journal of Managed Care®, and Suzanne F. Delbanco, PhD, executive director of Catalyst for Payment Reform, discuss V-BID X for employers, a plan constructed through benefit-design and payment reform that works to promote high-value services and deter low-value care.

Researchers from the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) estimate that if hospital unit prices matched physician office (PO) prices of cancer drugs, holding drug mix and treatment intensity constant, commercial insurers would have saved $9766 (45%) per user of these medicines in 2016, with statistically significant relative differences ranging from 128.3% (nivolumab) to 428% (fluorouracil).