Androgen Deprivation Tied To Greater Heart Failure Risk In Prostate Cancer Patients,

reports a large study of Asian men found that “long-term use of androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) dramatically elevated the risk of heart failure over the course of 1 year follow-up in men with prostate cancer, compared with non-ADT users.” The research found that “the incidence of heart failure was 72% higher among ADT users compared with non-users, at an adjusted hazard ratio of 1.72 (95% CI 1.08-2.73).” The findings were published in the Journal of Clinical Pharmacology. https://www.medpagetoday.com/hematologyoncology/prostatecancer/76178

Novel Antibiotic Effective in Urogenital, Rectal Gonorrhea Single-dose zoliflodacin less effective against pharyngeal infections

https://www.medpagetoday.com/infectiousdisease/stds/76184?xid=nl_mpt_DHE_2018-11-08&eun=g721819d0r&pos=11&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily%20Headlines%202018-11-08&utm_term=Daily%20Headlines%20-%20Active%20User%20-%20180%20days

AHA: Late Meals Linked to HTN, Prediabetes Risks seen in study of Hispanic and Latino Americans

Eating a late dinner may contribute to cardiometabolic risk in American Hispanics and Latinos, a population-based study found. People who consumed at least 30% of their energy after 6 pm had 23% higher odds of hypertension (OR 1.23, 95% CI 1.05-1.44) and 19% higher odds of prediabetes (OR 1.19, 95% CI 1.03-1.37) compared with those who ate less in the evening. But eating in the evening was not associated with overweight, obesity, or central adiposity in the study by Nour Makarem, PhD, of Columbia University in New York City, and colleagues slated for presentation here at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions, which begin Saturday. Late eaters had higher levels of the following, compared with other participants: Fasting glucose (93.7 versus 93.0 mg/dL; P=0.001) Insulin levels (12.4 versus 11.6 mU/L; P=0.003) Score on the Homeostatic Model Assessment of Insulin Resistance (HOMA-IR; 2.9 versus 2.7; P=0.001) Systolic blood pressure (BP; 118.7 versus 117.5 mm Hg; P=0.004) Diastolic BP (72.2 versus 71.0 mm Hg; P<0.0001) These data are from "the first population-based study to demonstrate that consuming a larger proportion of energy in the evening may be associated with reduced glycemic control and higher odds of prediabetes and hypertension in US Hispanics [and] Latinos," the investigators noted. https://www.medpagetoday.com/meetingcoverage/aha/76164?xid=nl_mpt_DHE_2018-11-07&eun=g721819d0r&pos=&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily%20Headlines%202018-11-07&utm_term=Daily%20Headlines%20-%20Active%20User%20-%20180%20days

Supermarket Produce Harbors Antibiotic-Resistance Genes

https://www.technologynetworks.com/applied-sciences/news/supermarket-produce-harbors-antibiotic-resistance-genes-311522?utm_campaign=Newsletter_TN_BreakingScienceNews&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=67300627&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9jY6FcoMlplY2TGESbMFtQ412Pbyr6qTRgg0hJtaWe2ipv3npfUU3mwsqCXTpXJtJwZh9MRkLEnUSAavvhTRwb1BYZaw&_hsmi=67300627

Model Identifies Potentially Unsafe Restaurants

Foodborne illnesses are common, costly, and land thousands of Americans in emergency rooms every year. This new technique, developed by Google, can help restaurants and local health departments find problems more quickly, before they become bigger public health problems,” said corresponding author Ashish Jha, K.T. Li Professor of Global Health at Harvard Chan School and director of the Harvard Global Health Institute. The study was published online November 6, 2018 in npj Digital Medicine. Foodborne illnesses are a persistent problem in the U.S. and current methods by restaurants and local health departments for determining an outbreak rely primarily on consumer complaints or routine inspections. These methods can be slow and cumbersome, often resulting in delayed responses and further spread of disease. To counter these shortcomings, Google researchers developed a machine-learned model and worked with Harvard to test it in Chicago and Las Vegas. The model works by first classifying search queries that can indicate foodborne illness, such as “stomach cramps” or “diarrhea.” The model then uses de-identified and aggregated location history data from the smartphones of people who have opted to save it, to determine which restaurants people searching those terms had recently visited. Health departments in each city were then given a list of restaurants that were identified by the model as being potential sources of foodborne illness. The city would then dispatch health inspectors to these restaurants, though the health inspectors did not know whether their inspection was prompted by this new model or traditional methods. During the period of the study, health departments continued to follow their usual inspection procedures as well. In Chicago, where the model was deployed between November 2016 and March 2017, the model prompted 71 inspections. The study found that the rate of unsafe restaurants among those detected by the model was 52.1% compared with 39.4% among inspections triggered by a complaint-based system. The researchers noted that Chicago has one of the most advanced monitoring programs in the nation and already employs social media mining techniques, yet this new model proved more precise in identifying restaurants that had food safety violations. In Las Vegas, the model was deployed between May and August 2016. Compared with routine inspections performed by the health department, it had a higher precision rate of identifying unsafe restaurants. When the researchers compared the model with routine inspections by health departments in Las Vegas and Chicago, they found that the overall rate across both cities of unsafe restaurants detected by the model was 52.3%, whereas the overall rate of detection of unsafe restaurants via routine inspections across the two cities was 22.7%. https://www.technologynetworks.com/tn/news/model-identifies-potentially-unsafe-restaurants-311504?utm_campaign=Newsletter_TN_BreakingScienceNews&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=67300627&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9jY6FcoMlplY2TGESbMFtQ412Pbyr6qTRgg0hJtaWe2ipv3npfUU3mwsqCXTpXJtJwZh9MRkLEnUSAavvhTRwb1BYZaw&_hsmi=67300627

Janssen Pharmaceuticals Recalls Two Oral Contraceptive Formulations Due To Instruction Errors.

reports, “Janssen Pharmaceuticals has issued a voluntary recall involving two of its oral contraceptive formulations because the patient information inside the affected packages does not include appropriate instructions for the dispenser included in the products.” This could possibly result in women “mistakenly taking an inactive ‘reminder’ pill instead of an active pill, potentially leading to breakthrough bleeding or an unintended pregnancy.” Issued Nov. 2, the “pharmacy-level recall...affects one lot of Ortho-Novum 1/35 (norethindrone/ethinyl estradiol) tablets and two lots of Ortho-Novum 7/7/7 (norethindrone/ethinyl estradiol) tablets.” https://login.medscape.com/login/sso/getlogin?urlCache=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubWVkc2NhcGUuY29tL3ZpZXdhcnRpY2xlLzkwNDQ1MA==&ac=401

The Reasons for Hemispheric Dominance in the Brain

The left and the right hemispheres specialise in different tasks. However, it has not yet been fully understood how one hemisphere assumes dominance over the other when it comes to controlling specific functions. Biopsychologists at Ruhr-Universität Bochum describe their latest findings in the journal Cell Reports, published online on 30 October 2018. Dr. Qian Xiao and Professor Onur Güntürkün have demonstrated in pigeons that the dominance is caused by slight differences in temporal activity patterns in both hemispheres. Novel research approach The two hemispheres are connected via thick nerve fibre bundles, so-called commissures. “In the past, it had been assumed that the dominant hemisphere transmits inhibitory signals to the other hemisphere via the commissures, thus suppressing specific functions in that region,” explains Onur Güntürkün. However, the interactions that take place between the two hemispheres are excitatory, as well as inhibitory. “This is why it has remained a mystery where, exactly, functional brain asymmetries stem from,” says Güntürkün. The result is: if both brain hemispheres compete for control, the left hemisphere is able to delay the activity of neurons in the right hemisphere. “The right hemisphere simply acts too late to control the response,” describes Onur Güntürkün. The researchers demonstrated that the neurons in the left and the right hemispheres are also capable of synchronising their activity in principle. A question of timing “These results show that hemispheric dominance is based on a sophisticated mechanism,” concludes Onur Güntürkün. “It does not hinge on one general inhibitory or excitatory influence; rather it is caused by minute temporal delays in the activity of nerve cells in the other hemisphere.” https://www.technologynetworks.com/neuroscience/news/the-reasons-for-hemispheric-dominance-in-the-brain-311426?utm_campaign=Newsletter_TN_BreakingScienceNews&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=67264197&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_Sih3gqTpwedSkWt2Zn6IcMG2c63OpUXBj1-k7HrCVCFEq5ybwZPb0-Lnl7DYiMfGjnzFc9_uDf35auRphsZsYppaarg&_hsmi=67264197