When patients hear the term “palliative care,” they may associate it with end-of-life care. This misconception extends to many clinicians in kidney care as well, according to researchers who spoke with Healio | Nephrology News & Issues.
“When I talk about palliative care to my colleagues in nephrology or in other fields, they think of hospice and they’ll say, ‘Oh, my patient’s not there yet,’” Annie Liu, DO, MPH, MS, physician scientist at Mass General Brigham, told Healio | Nephrology News & Issues. “I often hear these terms, palliative care and hospice care, used interchangeably —

Patients with moderate to severe atopic dermatitis who responded well to tralokinumab at 16 weeks continued to experience positive effects for up to 120 weeks, according to a poster presented at the Maui Derm meeting.
Clinicians may be able to use these findings to predict which patients will have long-term success with their treatment, Andrew Blauvelt, MD, MBA, owner of Blauvelt Consulting, LLC and colleagues wrote.
“Tralokinumab (Adbry, LEO Pharma) is a monoclonal antibody that targets IL-13, or interleukin 13, and interleukin 13 is a key cytokine in the pathogenesis of atopic dermatitis —

Economic instability and discrimination were associated with higher odds for long COVID among children and adolescents, according to a study published in JAMA Pediatrics.
However, economic instability was only linked to higher odds when paired with food insecurity, the researchers noted.
The findings were based on data from the RECOVER Pediatric Observational Cohort Study, which assessed whether adverse social determinants of health contributed to the risk of pediatric long COVID.
“There are several studies out there that suggest that chronic stress from discrimination, as well as poverty and

SAN DIEGO — Oral fenebrutinib was noninferior to IV ocrelizumab in reducing disability progression in primary progressive MS, with favorable outcomes observed as early as week 24, according to a presenter at ACTRIMS.
“In contrast to relapsing MS, for which multiple treatments are approved, there is a paucity of treatments for progressive MS,” Amit Bar-Or, MD, director of the Center for Neuroinflammation and Neurotherapeutics at the University of Pennsylvania, told Healio.
Bar-Or and colleagues sought to examine the performance of fenebrutinib (Genentech), an oral Bruton tyrosine kinase

About 70% of individuals with obsessive compulsive disorder reported experiencing aggressive obsessions during their lifetime, according to a systematic review and meta-analysis published in Journal of Psychiatric Research.
Aggressive obsessions were also the most prevalent and distressing symptom for 28% of patients with OCD.
“Aggressive obsessions are ego-dystonic fears that are broad ranging, from fears of unintentionally harming others to fears of intentionally harming loved ones,” lead study author Emily Fawcett, PhD, RPsych, associate professor of psychology at the Memorial

An investigational stent retriever device delivered successful revascularization in more than 85% of patients with primary distal vessel occlusion ischemic stroke at 24 hours, researchers reported at the International Stroke Conference.
In addition, no symptomatic intracranial hemorrhages occurred among participants assigned to distal vessel revascularization with the investigational device (Tigertriever 13, Rapid Medical).
“The intent was to identify an unmet need of a population that is roughly 25% of all ischemic strokes that have historically been undertreated, as we only had one treatment

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — Diet, followed by supplementation, can play a large role in treating hair loss, according to a speaker at South Beach Symposium.
Hair loss affects 50% of men before age 50 and 50% of women during their lifetime, according to Glynis Ablon, MD, FAAD, associate clinical professor at University of California, Los Angeles, and owner of Ablon Skin Institute & Research Center. It is increasingly diagnosed at younger ages, with approximately 25% of men reporting early hair loss in their 30s, Ablon said.
“I see kids who are 16 and 17 years old experiencing hair loss, and I do

Older women who are current smokers have increased risk for any fracture compared with women who never smoked, according to data published in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research.
In a prospective cohort study conducted in Sweden, current smokers had 35% higher risk for any fracture, 36% greater risk for major osteoporotic fractures and more than double the risk for hip fractures than those who never smoked.
“Our results demonstrate that smoking is a clinically relevant risk factor for fracture, and that the risk may be at least partly reversed if smoking is stopped,” Mattias Lorentzon, MD,

In 2015, Cleveland Clinic introduced the Orthopaedic Outcome Measurement and Evaluation program to analyze patient-reported outcome measures and recommend personalized care to improve postoperative outcomes.
Today, the mission continues, according to Nicholas S. Piuzzi, MD, director of Cleveland Clinic Adult Reconstruction Research and co-director of the Musculoskeletal Research Center.
“When the orthopedics department began collecting patient data back in 2015, we affirmed our dedication to helping patients make their voices heard,” Piuzzi said in a press release.
According to the

The FDA granted orphan drug designation to deupirfenidone, also known as LYT-100, for treating patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, according to a press release from PureTech Health.
The release also stated that deupirfenidone (PureTech Health) received the same designation from the European Commission.
Healio previously reported on the randomized, double-blind, active- and placebo-controlled, dose-ranging phase 2b ELEVATE IPF study of deupirfenidone. Between baseline and 26 weeks, researchers observed that patients receiving three daily doses of 825 mg deupirfenidone had a