VirtualClinic

Patients with a history of long-term opioid use for chronic pain have an elevated risk for cancer, according to this propensity-score-matched, population-based cohort study.

Specifically, the incidence rate ratio for lung, colorectal, breast, prostate, head and neck, pancreatic, gastric, esophageal, and ovarian cancers and for hepatocellular carcinoma were higher in patients with than without a history of long-term opioid use...medscape.com, Long-term Opioid Use a Risk Factor for Cancer, Abdullah Hashmi, MD, Apr, 2022

Some of the key results of the study included:

There were no notable differences in demographic characteristics, medical history, or social history between the two groups.

The difference in crude cancer incidence between the opioid group and the control group was significant (P < .001).

On multivariate Cox regression analysis, the adjusted hazard ratio was 2.66 for the opioid group compared with the control group (P < .001).

Long-term opioid use was shown to be a risk for these cancers: lung (incidence rate ratio [IRR],1.87), hepatocellular carcinoma (IRR, 1.97), colorectal (IRR, 2.39), breast (IRR, 2.43), prostate (IRR, 2.00), head and neck (IRR, 1.79), pancreatic (IRR, 1.87), gastric (IRR, 2.43), esophageal (IRR, 2.43), and ovarian (IRR, 2.33).

Can bursts of activity of only 10 minutes or less really help improve your health and fitness? Even when U.S. government guidelines recommend 2½ to 5 hours of moderate exercise per week?

BA.2, the Omicron subvariant, has led to an increase in cases across European countries in recent weeks. U.S. officials are closely watching Germany, Italy, and the U.K. to track recent trends.

https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20220321/health-official-preparation-not-panic-next-covid-wave

Results from a study of 195 countries and territories estimates that by 2050, 153 million people are expected to have dementia worldwide – up from 57 million in 2019. In the United States, the number is expected to increase 100%, from an estimated 5.3 million in 2019 to 10.5 million in 2050.

https://lnkd.in/g-YJhQqC

Granddaughters and great granddaughters of men who started to smoke ci******es before puberty are apt to have more body fat than expected.

https://myhealth.md/when-young-boys-smoke-more-body-fat-in-granddaughters-great-granddaughters/

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A genetic risk factor could explain why some people lose their senses of smell and taste when they get infected with COVID-19, according to a new study published in the journal Nature Genetics.



https://www.mdedge.com/hematology-oncology/article/250852/covid-19-updates/study-finds-genetic-factor-covid-smell-and-taste?ecd=WNL_eve_220119_mdedge

People who have had prior SARS-CoV-2 infection report significantly more symptoms of cognitive dysfunction and specifically executive dysfunction than people in the general population with no such infection.

COVID affects executive functioning in young to middle-age adults: Study “COVID is not ‘one and done.’ It can have lasting and quite subtle and damaging effects on the human body.”

Patients with cancers who could be treated with targeted drugs are sometimes not being tested for genetic mutations and other biomarkers that would identify them as candidates.

https://lnkd.in/gpURAHqi

Biomarker Underutilization Means Missed Opportunities in Cancer Tumor testing for biomarkers lags behind clinical guidelines, which is preventing patients with cancer from receiving targeted therapies that could improve outcomes.

Scientists at the University of Vermont, Tufts University, and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University have discovered an entirely new form of biological reproduction—and applied their discovery to create the first-ever, self-replicating living robots...Team builds first living robots—that can reproduce.

https://wyss.harvard.edu/news/team-builds-first-living-robots-that-can-reproduce/?utm_source=SilverpopMailing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily%20Gazette%2020211201%20(1)

Team builds first living robots—that can reproduce AI-designed Xenobots reveal entirely new form of biological self-replication—promising for regenerative medicine

GOP embraces natural immunity as substitute for vaccines.

Scientists acknowledge that people previously infected with COVID-19 have some level of immunity but that vaccines offer a more consistent level of protection. Natural immunity is also far from a one-size-fits-all scenario, making it complicated to enact sweeping exemptions to vaccines.



https://www.aol.com/news/gop-embraces-natural-immunity-substitute-153213875-171048894.html

If used early in the course of illness, participants who used zinc under their tongue or as a nasal spray 1.8 times more likely to recover before those who used a placebo.

On the downside, there were more side effects among those who used zinc, including nausea or stomach upset, mouth irritation, or soreness from lozenges. The risk for a serious problem, such as loss of smell or copper deficiency, was low.

https://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/news/20211109/does-zinc-help-treat-colds