By Alison Freeman
A little girl who has spent most of her life in hospital is back home after a heart transplant.
Last October Beatrix, now two, was the face of a photo campaign raising awareness of child organ donation.
Her parents Cheryl and Terry were asking families to consider the “unthinkable” and donate their child’s organs. Read the full story in BBC News.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
New York Times bestselling author of Part of Your World and Food Network champion Abby Jimenez is back with another smash hit–Yours Truly. In this riveting romance, Dr. Briana Ortiz’s life is quickly changing. She gets a divorce, her brother is in kidney failure, and the promotion she wants might go to a new doctor, Dr. Jacob Maddox. Just when she’s decided to hate Dr. Maddox, he donates a kidney to her brother and changes the course of their relationship forever. Read the full Q&A from the National Kidney Foundation.
Accepting the scars and a new physique wasn’t easy
By Lara Govendo
After I had a double-lung transplant six years ago due to cystic fibrosis (CF), it was hard to look at myself in the mirror.
I would stare at my stapled chest, and feelings of disbelief and grief would bubble to the surface like never before. Thoughts raced through my mind: What will people say when they see my scars and disfigured chest? How will I ever feel comfortable in my own body again?
Read the complete article in Cystic Fibrosis News Today.
By Regina Shaffer
As little as one alcoholic drink per day is associated with a linear increase in systolic BP, even for people without hypertension, data from a meta-analysis of international studies show.
“We found no beneficial effects in adults who drank a low level of alcohol compared to those who did not drink alcohol,” Marco Vinceti, MD, PhD, professor of epidemiology and public health at University of Modena Medical School and Reggio Emilia University in Italy, said in a press release. Read the full article in Healio.