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Veteran uses his own stem cells in transplant to stave off blood cancer, prolong life

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By Lisa Aubry

Within less than a year of his diagnosis, Ronney Hester pushed his multiple myeloma into complete remission, meaning all signs and symptoms of the blood cancer disappeared. With his fatigue and breathlessness out of the picture, the 62-year-old army veteran forged on, partnering with Loma Linda University Cancer Center’s Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT) program earlier this year to receive a transplant of his own stem cells. The transplant is intended to keep the cancer in remission and prolong his life for years to come. Read the full story from Loma Linda University Health.

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Should patients bundle COVID-19, flu and RSV vaccines into single visit?

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By Caitlyn Stulpin

This fall, older adults in the United States will have the opportunity to receive three vaccines to against fall and winter season respiratory illnesses — COVID-19, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus.

We asked Aaron E. Glatt, MD, MACP, FIDSA, FSHEA, chairman of the department of medicine and chief of the division of infectious diseases at Mount Sinai South Nassau and professor of medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, if physicians should encourage patients to bundle the three vaccines into a single visit. Read the full story in Healio.

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Make-A-Wish Participant and Kidney Transplant Recipient Experiences a Day as a Doctor

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By Kristin Samuelson

Twelve-year-old Melanie Rodriguez Romo has dreamed of becoming a doctor since she was just three. So much so that she requested it as her Make-A-Wish following a life-saving kidney transplant.

A team-effort between Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, the Make-A-Wish Foundation, the kidney and transplant teams at the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago and Lurie Children’s kidSTAR Medical Education Program, her wish was granted. Read the full story from Northwestern Medicine News Center.

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Like them or not, emoji and emoticons add information, context to clinical text messages

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By Jennifer Byrne and Colvin Halverson, PhD

As institutions increasingly make use of clinical texting applications, emoji and emoticons have become a common feature of medical communications.

However, some clinicians have given a “thumbs down” to emoji use in the context of medical practice, criticizing it as potentially unprofessional. Read the full article in Healio.

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MGH opens first-of-its-kind center to eliminate lifelong immunosuppression after organ transplant

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Reviewed by Lily Ramsey, LLM

Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), a founding member of the Mass General Brigham health system, officially opened the Legorreta Center for Clinical Transplant Tolerance, the first-of-its kind center in the world dedicated to preventing organ rejection after transplant surgery without the use of lifelong immunosuppressive medications. Immunosuppressive medications prevent the immune system from rejecting a transplanted organ, but come with serious side effects, increasing the chance of infections and other illnesses like cancer, diabetes, and heart disease. Read the complete article in News Medical Life Sciences.

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Success With HIV-to-HIV Kidney Transplants

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— All donors did well after nephrectomies, and all recipients continue to have functioning kidneys

By Valerie DeBenedette

Three people living with HIV had promising outcomes after donating kidneys to three others with HIV, according to a prospective study within the HOPE in Action Multicenter Consortium.

Among the three living donors, grade 3 or higher nephrectomy-related adverse events occurred in two donors after donation, including a medically managed ileus and a laparoscopically repaired incisional hernia, reported Christine Durand, MD, of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, and colleagues.
Read the complete article in MedPage Today.

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Medical Mystery: A Healthy Hiker Couldn’t Catch Her Breath

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It wasn’t a heart attack. So why was the active 59-year-old’s heart suddenly failing?

By Rachel Nania, AARP

About a month before Beth Ramsey started feeling crummy, she was hiking a glacier in Iceland. So, when she began having shortness of breath a few weeks after her 2022 trip, the then-59-year-old elementary school principal assumed it was bronchitis or another common illness. Read the full article from AARP.

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Researchers discover a novel pathway that minimizes liver injury during transplantation

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By University of California, Los Angeles

UCLA-led research describes the role that a protein called CEACAM1 plays in protecting the liver from injury during the transplantation process, potentially improving transplant outcomes. But the features that regulate this protective characteristic remain unknown.

In a study, published online Aug. 2 in Science Translational Medicine, a research team has identified the molecular factors at the root of this protection and shown how using molecular tools and alternative gene splicing can make CEACAM1 more protective, thus reducing organ injury and ultimately improving post-transplant outcomes. Read the full article in Medical Xpress.

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Should People Without Diabetes Use Glucose Monitors?

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— Trend boosted by health buffs on social media, but benefit for healthy adults is unclear

By Maja Clasen

Videos of health buffs sporting continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) have popped up all over social media, garnering millions of views with tutorials touting the devices’ potential for weight loss and improved metabolic health.

But while these new claims have generated interest in CGMs outside of their indicated use, is there any evidence of benefit for people without diabetes? Read the full article in MedPage Today.

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