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Clinical Briefs

In this section: A new Parkinson's treatment, type 2 diabetes treatment, and morphine for dyspneic acute heart failure patients.

Zoster Vaccine Recombinant Adjuvanted (Shingrix)

Shingrix is indicated for the prevention of herpes zoster in adults ≥ 50 years of age.

Researchers have determined that persons with diabetes or inflammatory bowel disease — or people who have received recent antibacterial therapy — may exhibit very different microbiota profiles. Unfortunately, no one really knows what these differences mean in terms of your overall health.

Is a Dabigatran Reversal Agent Effective?

A pragmatic clinical study of idarucizumab for counteracting the effects of the oral anticoagulant dabigatran showed rapid and complete reversal of its effects in patients with major bleeding or urgent surgery, without any adverse safety concerns.

Can Medical Therapy Improve Functional Mitral Regurgitation?

Among patients who presented with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction and severe functional mitral regurgitation, mitral regurgitation improved in 38% of patients with medical management. Improvement in mitral regurgitation was associated with increased survival.

Neurologic Complications of Checkpoint Inhibitors

Anti-programmed death 1 antibodies (checkpoint inhibitors) have become a mainstay in the treatment of many types of cancers, and now are known to cause frequent neuromuscular adverse effects that can cause severe disability or death if not recognized or treated promptly.

Systemic Immune Activation and the Course of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Activation of the immune system has been recognized in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and immune activation may influence the course of the disease and the speed of progression.

Optimizing Brain Oxygen in Severe Traumatic Brain Injury

In a Phase II, single-blind, randomized, multicenter trial, the use of intraparenchymal brain tissue oxygenation monitoring reduced brain tissue hypoxia in patients with severe traumatic brain injury.

MRI-guided FUS Thalamotomy for Medically Refractory Parkinson’s Tremor

This study comparing 20 individuals who received MRI-guided focused ultrasound thalamotomy with seven individuals who received sham treatment showed improvements in Parkinson’s disease tremor. Side effects were similar to prior studies of this technology for essential tremor, with ataxia and limb/orofacial paresthesias being most common.

Neurologic Consequences of Zika Virus Infection

Neurologic sequelae of Zika virus infections include Guillain-Barré syndrome, encephalitis, transverse myelitis, and chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy.