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COVID Long-Haulers in Rural America Need More Support

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— From a larger disease burden to fewer resources, these communities are struggling

Today, as with every third Thursday of November, the U.S. is celebrating National Rural Health Day, honoring the commitment of the health providers who steward the health of the one in five Americans who live in rural communities. At the same time, this occasion should remind us that over the past nearly 3 years, these hard-working professionals have been caring for rural communities in increasingly diminished health. Once a haven from cities devastated in the first months of the pandemic, rural areas have outpaced urban areas in COVID-19 mortality rates. And as the earlier surges of the pandemic recede, a new concern is emerging: a mismatch between the burden of long COVID in rural communities and the resources available to address this complex public health challenge. Read the full article in MedPage Today.

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Poll: Nearly 40% of US residents deal with declining mood in winter

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According to a recently released survey, 38% of Americans revealed their overall mood declines in the winter but added that traditions related to the upcoming holidays impacts their mood positively.

Results of the latest Healthy Minds Poll from the American Psychiatric Association, which was conducted online by Morning Consult from Oct. 19-21 among 2,211 U.S. adults, found that 24% of Americans report that they generally feel depressed in the winter.
Read the full story in Healio.

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Study demonstrates unexpected electrical changes in first successful transplant of genetically-modified pig heart

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Ten months after transplanting the first genetically-modified pig heart into a human patient, University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) researchers continue to report on new findings from the landmark transplant. Their latest study demonstrates for the first time that unexpected electrical changes occurred in the pig heart transplanted into the patient David Bennett. The findings were presented at the American Heart Association (AHA) meeting this past weekend. Read more in News Medical Life Sciences.

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Understanding Your Anti-Rejection Drugs After Transplant

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Managing your health after transplant can feel like a full-time job, especially in the beginning. And when it comes to caring for your new kidney, medications play no small part. Taking immunosuppressant (anti-rejection) drugs keeps your transplanted organ protected and healthy.

Whether you recently received a new kidney or are years out from your transplant, it’s always a good idea to take another look at these medications. Tapping the knowledge of two experts, we review the role immunosuppressants play, the different types available, and the best way to manage side effects. Read the full story on CareDx.com.

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Greater rise in CVD risk factors seen for women during menopause vs. same-age men

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Levels of cholesterol, triglycerides and other serum components that indicate CVD risk increased for women in Japan who underwent menopause in the past 15 years, according to longitudinal data published in Menopause.

“Cross-sectional studies have shown that cardiovascular risk factors such as blood pressure, serum total cholesterol, [and] high-density lipoprotein cholesterol … before menopause age differed from those after menopause age, and concordantly, cohort studies have reported that women who experienced early menopause, a short reproductive period or bilateral ovariectomy had higher overall mortality and increased risk and mortality from cardiovascular disease,” Saki Teramura, MSc, of the department of public health medicine at the University of Tsukuba in Japan, and colleagues wrote.  Read more in Healio.

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Short and Long-Term Outcomes of Kidney Transplant Recipients Diagnosed With COVID-19 Infection: A Single-Center Observational Study

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Abstract

Purpose: Kidney transplant recipients (KTRs) are at an increased risk of severe disease and death caused by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection. There is a paucity of information on the evolution of graft function among hospitalized KTRs who overcome the infection.

Methods: The study included adult KTRs at a single transplant institute who were diagnosed with COVID-19 and needed hospitalization between March 15, 2020, and January 15, 2021. We analyzed patient demographics, comorbid risk factors, and inpatient clinical courses for patients who were able to recover from the infection. Kidney function was analyzed pre-infection, during initial hospitalization, and up to 12 months post-infection. Read the full study in Cureus.

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Wearable technology shows promise in assessing physical activity, cough in cystic fibrosis

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Patients receiving treatment for cystic fibrosis wore actigraphy sensors and cough monitoring systems for the majority of a 12-week period, according to a poster presented at the North American Cystic Fibrosis Conference.

“Overall, we noted high adherence to the use of an actigraphy watch and a cough sensor monitor during this 12-week study of people with cystic fibrosis on commercial Trikafta,” Andrew T. Braun, MD, MHS, assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health and director of the UW Health adult cystic fibrosis program, told Healio. Read the full story in Healio.

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30 Days of PH: A Lung Transplant Gave Me a New Lease on Life

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This is Justin Anthony’s story:

I can hardly recognize the man I used to be. The past few months have changed me physically, mentally, and emotionally. I tried to brave it out, hold on to hope, and pray for a miracle.

A few months ago, my doctors advised that oral pulmonary hypertension medication was no longer working. I had to move on to infusions of Remodulin (treprostinil) or be listed for transplant. Each option posed its own challenges. Read the full story from Pulmonary Hypertension News.

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VUMC adopts updated kidney function equation to better guide patient care decisions

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by Jill Clendening

In July 2020, Vanderbilt University Medical Center was one of the first institutions in the United States to remove race from an equation used to estimate kidney function through the calculation of an estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), and in December the Medical Center will again update the equation used for calculating eGFR with the goals of improving health equity and better guiding patient care decisions. Read the full story in the VUMC Reporter.

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Study Uncovers Mechanism Behind Primary Graft Dysfunction

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Northwestern Medicine scientists have discovered the pathways through which autoantibodies – immune proteins that mistakenly attack a person’s own body – leak out of blood vessels and cause primary graft dysfunction in some lung transplant recipients, according to findings published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation (JCI).

Primary graft dysfunction (PGD) is a potentially lethal injury to fragile transplanted lungs that occurs in the first days after a transplant operation and affects more than half of lung transplant recipients. The condition is the leading cause of early post-transplantation morbidity and mortality. Read the full article from Northwestern Medicine News Center.

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