A 16-year-old white girl was referred to the retina clinic by her pediatric ophthalmologist for evaluation of a worsening unilateral central scotoma with colorful edges in the setting of new subretinal fluid seen on OCT.
She denied eye pain, worsening photophobia, flashes or floaters. She also denied recent illness or systemic symptoms including fevers, rashes, mouth sores, hair loss, abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, chest pain, shortness of breath or joint swelling. Ocular history was significant for high myopia and chronic mild photophobia. Medical history was significant for

NEW ORLEANS — Surgeon volume may not impact infection risk in patients undergoing primary total knee arthroplasty, according to results presented here.
“Surgeon volume at our institution was not predictive of periprosthetic joint infection and superficial surgical site infection,” Geoffrey H. Westrich, MD, FAAOS, co-chairman of the Infection Control Committee at Hospital for Special Surgery, told Healio about results presented at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Annual Meeting. “It was all of our infection prevention work that is done through the Infection Control Committee and

Women who entered menopause prematurely had a greater lifetime risk for developing coronary heart disease vs. those who entered it later, a new analysis showed.
“When menopause happens before age 40, women still have more than half of their life expectancy ahead of them,” Priya M. Freaney, MD, an assistant professor of medicine in the division of cardiology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, said in a press release. “Understanding their cumulative lifetime risk of blockage-related heart disease is critical.”
According to the release, the average age of menopause in the U.S.

Wearing weighted vests while exercising has become one of the most popular fitness trends in recent years.
The trend of walking with a weighted vest or backpack, also known as rucking, originates from military training, and is an effective, scalable, simple way “to build strength and endurance at the same time,” according to GORUCK, a rucking website. But it has suddenly skyrocketed in popularity. In fact, one market research report estimates the global market for adult weighted vests will grow from the $199 million figure in 2024 to $313 million by 2031.
“The idea is that wearing a weighted

Fatigue, cognitive changes and sleep disturbances were as important to patients with early Parkinson’s disease as symptoms that impact tremor, balance, gait and other motor functions, according to data published in The Journal of Neurology.
These findings represent the first longitudinal mixed-methods study of patient priorities during the early stages of disease, Jennifer R. Mammen, PhD, associate professor, Dartmouth College of Nursing and Health Sciences, and colleagues wrote.
Conducted as a pre-competitive initiative led by the Critical Path Institute (C-Path) in Tucson, Arizona, the

In this Nourish to Flourish column, Susan Weiner, MS, RDN, CDN, CDCES, FADCES, talks with Diana Monaco, RDN, CDN, FAND, about important updates and practical takeaways from the newly released 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
Weiner: What are the most significant changes in the 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans compared with prior editions? Why are these changes considered a major shift in federal nutrition policy?
Monaco: The new Dietary Guidelines for Americans are a historic reset that prioritizes whole, nutrient-dense foods, shifting away from ultraprocessed foods. This

vMed, Cedars-Sinai’s 8th Annual Virtual Medicine Conference, is taking place March 25-26 in Los Angeles.
With a focus on the digital tools shaping the present and future of health care, the conference is a place for physicians and technologists to collaborate and discuss how cutting-edge technologies can improve patient care and outcomes.
Healio is an official media partner of the vMed conference. The Healio team will provide coverage from the meeting, including exclusive interviews with the presenters.
We spoke with Brennan Spiegel, MD, MSHS, vMed founder and director of health services

Implementation of a race-neutral eGFR equation contributed to more than 20,000 wait-time modifications and more kidney transplants for Black transplant candidates, according to study data published in JAMA Internal Medicine.
Before 2021, Black individuals were assigned higher eGFR values compared with other groups based on results of two major population cohort studies: the 1999 Modification of Diet in Renal Disease study and the 2009 Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaborative (CKD-EPI) study, according to Rohan Khazanchi, MD, MPH, a resident in combined internal medicine and pediatrics

PHILADELPHIA — Among patients with asthma who received four doses of depemokimab over 2 years, the annualized exacerbation rate was low, according to a poster presented at the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology Annual Meeting.
Notably, the FDA approved depemokimab (Exdensur, GSK) as an add-on maintenance treatment in patients aged at least 12 years with severe asthma and an eosinophilic phenotype in December 2025.
“These findings will provide reassurance to practicing clinicians that this novel ultra-long-acting anti-IL5 agent has sustained efficacy and safety, and there

PHILADELPHIA — Among children, adolescents and adults with peanut allergy, a once-daily peanut sublingual immunotherapy tablet was well tolerated up to the highest dose in an up-dosing regimen, according to phase 1/2 trial data.
These data were presented at the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology Annual Meeting.
“There’s an unmet need for a simple, convenient, user-friendly and safe treatment for peanut allergy that doesn’t have considerable restrictions on daily life,” Edwin H. Kim, MD, MS, FAAAAI, associate professor of pediatrics, division chief of pediatric allergy and