Archive for category: News

USA: A recent clinical trial has shown that Lorundrostat, a novel aldosterone synthase inhibitor, significantly lowers blood pressure in patients with uncontrolled and treatment-resistant hypertension. The study, which assessed both the efficacy and safety of lorundrostat, presents encouraging prospects for individuals who have struggled to achieve blood pressure control with conventional antihypertensive treatments.

A new study published in the journal of Cureus showed that more than one-third of people with diabetes have silent myocardial ischemia (SMI), which frequently goes undiagnosed because of its lack of symptoms and restrictions on standard screening.

One of the main causes of elevated cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in individuals with diabetes is silent myocardial ischemia (SMI), a disease that is commonly underdiagnosed. Chronic hyperglycemia, oxidative stress, endothelial dysfunction, and low-grade inflammation further predispose diabetics to SMI, while the lack of common symptoms like angina (especially in diabetics with altered pain perception due to autonomic neuropathy) makes ischemic episodes invisible.

However, because of its lack of symptoms and the limits of routine screening, it frequently goes unnoticed despite its grave effects. This illuminates the critical need for proactive risk stratification and focused diagnostic techniques. Thus, to improve early identification through targeted risk stratification and inform customized screening strategies to lower cardiovascular events in this high-risk group, Hafiz Abdul Manan and team carried out this study to ascertain the prevalence and important risk factors linked to SMI in diabetic adults.

From May 2020 to May 2021, Jinnah Hospital in Lahore hosted this cross-sectional research. Time and budget constraints led to the convenient sampling of 162 diabetic individuals aged ≥40 years, with ≥5 years of diabetes and no history of coronary artery disease. A review of the participants’ medical histories, physical examinations, lab tests (lipid profile, HbA1c), and cardiac evaluations (resting ECG, exercise stress testing, and myocardial perfusion imaging) were all performed.

A total of 61 (37.65%) of the diabetic patients had SMI. A number of independent predictors of SMI were found using multivariate logistic regression analysis, including smoking, high blood pressure, dyslipidemia, diabetes that has been present for more than 10 years, and inadequate glycemic management.

Growing older was also strongly linked to a higher risk of SMI, with a noticeable increase in prevalence seen beyond the age of 55. In order to prevent negative cardiovascular outcomes, our findings emphasize the high prevalence of silent myocardial ischemia in diabetics and the significance of identifying critical indicators to assist early identification, focused screening, and risk-based treatment techniques.

Overall, this study finds a number of important characteristics, such as poor glycemic control, long-standing diabetes, hypertension (HTN), dyslipidemia, smoking, and advanced age, that contribute to the alarming prevalence of SMI in diabetic patients.

Source:

Abdul Manan, H., Chishti, H. R., & Hewlett, F. D. (2025). Prevalence and predictors of silent myocardial ischemia in diabetic patients. Cureus. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.82407

A new study led by researchers at Mass General Brigham suggests a nasal spray developed to target neuroinflammation could one day be an effective treatment for traumatic brain injury (TBI). By studying the effects of the nasal anti-CD3 in a mouse model of TBI, researchers found the spray could reduce damage to the central nervous system and behavioral deficits, suggesting a potential therapeutic approach for TBI and other acute forms of brain injury. The results are published in Nature Neuroscience.

“Traumatic brain injury is a leading cause of death and disability-including cognitive decline-and chronic inflammation is one of the key reasons,” said lead author Saef Izzy, MD, FNCS, FAAN, a neurologist and head of the Immunology of Brain Injury Program at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH), a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system. “Currently, there is no treatment to prevent the long-term effects of traumatic brain injury.”

The study examines the monoclonal antibody Foralumab, made by Tiziana, which has been tested in clinical trials for patients with multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, and other conditions.

“This opens up a whole new area of research and treatment in traumatic brain injury, something that’s almost impossible to treat,” said senior author Howard Weiner, MD, co-director of the Ann Romney Center for Neurologic Diseases at BWH. “It also means this could work in intracerebral hemorrhage and other stroke patients with brain injury.”

Multiple experiments were done in mouse models with moderate-to-severe traumatic brain injury to explore the communication between regulatory cells induced by the nasal treatment and the microglial immune cells in the brain. Over time, researchers were able to identify how they modulate immune response.

“Modulating the neuroinflammatory response correlated with improved neurological outcomes, including less anxiety, cognitive decline, and improved motor skills,” Izzy said.

In addition to assessing the effects of the treatment, the research team was able to learn about immune response over time and compare the immune responses and effects of TBI in the mice.

The next step in the research is to translate the findings from preclinical models to human patients.

“Our patients with traumatic brain injury still don’t have an effective therapeutic to improve their outcomes, so this is a very promising and exciting time to move forward with something that’s backed up with solid science and get it to patients’ bedsides,” said Izzy.

Once in the clinical setting, Weiner said the hope is this treatment could be used on a variety of traumatic brain injury patients, including football players with repetitive concussions.

“We envision giving a nasal spray right there on the sidelines,” said Weiner. “It isn’t something we can do yet, but we see the potential.”

Reference:

Izzy, S., Yahya, T., Albastaki, O. et al. Nasal anti-CD3 monoclonal antibody ameliorates traumatic brain injury, enhances microglial phagocytosis and reduces neuroinflammation via IL-10-dependent Treg–microglia crosstalk. Nat Neurosci (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-025-01877-7

 A new study led by researchers at Yale University suggests that early-life exposure to two widespread environmental pollutants-small particle air pollution and outdoor artificial light at night-could increase the risk of pediatric thyroid cancer.

The study-a collaborative effort involving multiple Yale departments and institutions across the U.S.-found a “significant association” between exposure to ambient fine particulate matter air pollution (PM2.5) and outdoor artificial light at night (O-ALAN) and increased risk of papillary thyroid cancer in children and young adults up to 19 years old. The exposures occurred during the perinatal stage of life, typically defined as the time from when pregnancy occurs up to a year after birth.

“These results are concerning, especially given how widespread both of these exposures are,” said Dr. Nicole Deziel, PhD, MHS, an environmental epidemiologist with the Yale School of Public Health (YSPH) and the study’s lead author. “Fine particulate matter is found in urban air pollution due to automobile traffic and industrial activity, and artificial light at night is common, particularly in densely populated urban areas.”

The research team analyzed data from 736 individuals diagnosed with papillary thyroid cancer before age 20 and 36,800 matched control participants based on birth year. Using advanced geospatial and satellite modeling, the team assessed individual-level exposure to PM2.5 and O-ALAN based on residential location at birth. All of the study participants were from California.

The findings showed that for every 10 micrograms per cubic meter increase in PM2.5 exposure, the odds of developing thyroid cancer rose by 7% overall. The strongest association between exposure and thyroid cancer was found among teenagers (15–19 years of age) and Hispanic children. Similarly, children born in areas with high levels of exposure to outdoor light at night were 23–25% more likely to develop thyroid cancer, according to the study.

“Thyroid cancer is among the fastest growing cancers among children and adolescents, yet we know very little about what causes it in this population,” said Deziel, an associate professor of epidemiology (environmental health sciences) and co-director of the Yale Center for Perinatal, Pediatric, and Environmental Epidemiology. “Our study is the first large-scale investigation to suggest that these exposures early in life-specifically to PM2.5 and outdoor light at night-may play a role in this concerning trend.”

In addition to Deziel, the research team included experts from Yale’s Departments of Biostatistics, Chronic Disease Epidemiology, and Pediatrics, as well as researchers from the University of Southern California, UC Berkeley, and the American Cancer Society. Deziel and several of the study’s authors are affiliated with the Yale Cancer Center. The team’s collective expertise ranged from environmental exposure modeling and biostatistics to pediatric endocrinology and cancer epidemiology.

The impact of papillary thyroid cancer on children can be extensive.

Compared to adults, children are often diagnosed with thyroid cancer at more advanced stages with larger tumor sizes. Pediatric survivors of thyroid cancer can suffer aftereffects ranging from temperature dysregulation and headaches to physical disabilities and mental fatigue. The disease can interfere with important life milestones such as education, employment, and raising a family and it can contribute to feelings of anxiety and depression.

Both PM2.5 and O-ALAN are considered environmental carcinogens that have been shown to disrupt the body’s endocrine system, including thyroid function, in animals and adults. The particles associated with PM2.5 pose a threat because they are small enough to enter the bloodstream and can interfere with hormone signaling, including those involved in regulating cancer pathways. Outdoor artificial light at night has been shown to suppress melatonin and alter circadian rhythms, which can also influence hormone-regulated cancer pathways.

The current research raises important environmental justice concerns. Communities of color and lower-income populations are often disproportionately exposed to both air pollution and light pollution-inequities that may contribute to the higher thyroid cancer burden observed in Hispanic children.

The researchers emphasized that more work is needed to replicate and expand on their findings, ideally using improved exposure metrics and longitudinal designs.

“In the meantime,” Deziel noted, “our results point to the critical importance of addressing environmental factors in childhood cancer research. Reducing exposures to air pollution and managing light pollution could be important steps in protecting children’s health.”

Reference:

 Nicole C. Deziel, Rong Wang, Joshua L. Warren, Catherine Dinauer, Perinatal Exposures to Ambient Fine Particulate Matter and Outdoor Artificial Light at Night and Risk of Pediatric Papillary Thyroid Cancer, Environmental Health Perspectives, https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP14849.

Greece: Accurate blood pressure (BP) monitoring is essential for managing hypertension in patients undergoing hemodialysis. A recent study found that in hemodialysis patients, home blood pressure monitoring (HBPM) over a week was more accurate in detecting hypertension than routine BP measurements taken at dialysis centers.