Neurology News

• Statins Again Linked to Lower COVID-19 Mortality Although it's observational, "I would say this is the most reliable study on statins in COVID-19 to date, with the results adjusted for many confounders, including socioeconomic factors...."
  Medscape Medical News, July 23, 2021
• CLARIFY Confirms Meds, Watchful Waiting in Angina, Stable CAD Few cardiovascular events and favorable evolution of angina in most patients allows for a watchful waiting strategy before failure of medical management is declared, the authors say.
  Medscape Medical News, July 23, 2021
• Meet the Patients Who Helped Run a Big Aspirin Trial
  WebMD Health News, July 23, 2021
• Strong Support for Causal Role of Cannabis in Schizophrenia The long-observed association between cannabis use and schizophrenia is likely partially causal in nature, but some are less convinced.
  Medscape Medical News, July 23, 2021
• More Evidence Ties Hearing Loss to Increased Dementia Risk An impaired ability to hear speech in a noisy environment is linked to a significantly increased risk for subsequent dementia, a large population-based study shows.
  Medscape Medical News, July 23, 2021
• Antipsychotic Safe, Effective for Dementia-Related Psychosis Pimavanserin sustains a significant reduction of psychosis relapse in patients with dementia -- and without harmful side effects, new longer-term data from the phase 3 HARMONY trial suggest.
  Medscape Medical News, July 22, 2021
• CDC Panel Updates Info on Rare Side Effect After J&J Vaccine The ACIP discussed slightly higher rates of the rare side effect of Guillain-Barré syndrome after the J&J vaccine, and presented reaffirming evidence of the vaccine's effectiveness against variants.
  Medscape Medical News, July 22, 2021
• Common Parasite Now Tied to Impaired Cognitive Function Previous research has linked toxoplasmosis to psychiatric conditions. This latest study suggests that the infection may also have a negative impact on cognition.
  Medscape Medical News, July 22, 2021
• Twofold Increased Risk for Death From COVID-19 in Psych Patients Patients with a mental illness, particularly a psychotic or mood disorder, are twice as likely to die after infection with SARS-CoV-2 compared with those without a psychiatric diagnosis.
  Medscape Medical News, July 22, 2021
• Concussion Cases From Rugby 'Could Be Underestimated' New evidence has emerged that contact sports such as rugby could be associated with changes in brain structure among players.
  Medscape News UK, July 22, 2021
• Alert FDA OKs Spinal Cord Stimulation for Diabetic Neuropathy Pain The approval is specific for the treatment of chronic pain associated with painful diabetic neuropathy in those whose pain is refractory or who can't tolerate medical treatment.
  FDA Approvals, July 21, 2021
• Analysis Supports CAC for Personalizing Statin Use In patients with intermediate risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease along with risk-enhancing factors, coronary artery calcium scoring may help calculate their need for statin therapy.
  Medscape Medical News, July 21, 2021
• Can Heparin Play a Role in Stopping COVID-19 Variants? Researchers in Australia have found that heparin-like molecules may block the binding of the SARS-CoV-2 virus to human cells.
  Medscape Medical News, July 21, 2021
• 'New' Natriuretic Peptide Shows Unique Biomarker Potential With at least one practical advantage over other natriuretic peptide biomarkers, CNP is being explored as a predictor of cardiac and renal risk and as a treatment target.
  Medscape Medical News, July 21, 2021
• Five Risk Factors May Predict Thrombus on LAA Occlusion Implants Some are known, some are new, and when pulled together to create a new clinical risk score, patients deemed at high risk showed a twofold increased rate of this worrisome complication.
  Medscape Medical News, July 21, 2021
• Prevalence of Dementia Before Age 65 Much Higher Than Expected The global burden of dementia that occurs before age 65 is much higher than previous estimates suggest. The new findings are critical to ensuring adequate health resources for these patients.
  Medscape Medical News, July 20, 2021
• AHA Concerned, Others Pleased by Price Transparency Penalty Hike CMS intends to raise the stakes to compel compliance with a mandate for disclosure of hospital prices, with a proposed annual penalty of as much as $2 million for larger organizations.
  Medscape Medical News, July 20, 2021
• Psychiatric Genomics Has a Diversity Problem Genetic investigations are aiming for a broader understanding of what causes psychiatric disease than was possible with the Euro-centric efforts of the past.
  Medscape Medical News, July 20, 2021
• Four Companies on Verge of Settling US Opioid Lawsuits The three biggest US drug distribution companies and the drugmaker Johnson & Johnson are on the verge of a $26 billion settlement covering thousands of lawsuits over the toll of opioids nationwide.
  Associated Press, July 20, 2021
• Lower Post-TAVR Mortality Seen on DOAC vs VKA When OAC Indicated Survival and bleeding risk were superior on the newer class of drugs after TAVR in a registry study of almost 9000 patients with an approved indication for oral anticoagulation.
  Medscape Medical News, July 20, 2021