Patients with vitamin D deficiency who received vitamin D supplements had a reduced need for pain relief and lower levels of fatigue in palliative cancer treatment, a randomized and placebo-controlled study shows. Among patients with cancer in the palliative phase, vitamin D deficiency is common. Previous studies have shown that low levels of vitamin D…

If the cerebral hemispheres of the forebrain fail to divide properly in an unborn child, this results in holoprosencephaly. A team has discovered candidate genes that can positively influence the severity of this congenital malformation of the forebrain. The exact causes of HPE are not yet fully understood. In addition to environmental pollutants and illness…

Opioid use among psychiatric hospital patients needs to be addressed through an integrated approach to managing mental illness, pain and substance use, a new study has found. The study found that 7.5 per cent of 165,434 patients admitted to psychiatric hospitals in Ontario between 2006 and 2017 had used opioids in the year prior to…

A new study found that methamphetamine use was associated with more than twice the risk for dropping out of treatment for opioid-use disorder. She would start the patients on buprenorphine, a medication to treat opioid use disorder, but they would often drop out. So she and colleagues wanted to see if this was a common…

Results suggest that simple measures, such as depression care administered by phone, can make a big difference for patients recovering from heart failure. The Hopeful Heart Trial is the first study to apply a ‘blended’ collaborative care approach to treating heart failure and depression, whereby investigators trained medical nurses to deliver depression and heart failure…

Scientists have used human skin cells to create what they believe is the first cerebral organoid system, or ‘mini-brain,’ for studying sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD). CJD is a fatal neurodegenerative brain disease of humans believed to be caused by infectious prion protein. The researchers hope the human organoid model will enable them to evaluate potential…

Students in Pennsylvania school districts that participated in Communities that Care (CTC) coalitions were significantly less likely to use alcohol or marijuana, or to engage in delinquent behavior than those in non-CTC districts, according to a recent study. Penn State researchers analyzed data from 388 Pennsylvania school districts collected during at least one year from…

Approximately 23,700 children in the U.S. undergo invasive mechanical ventilation for acute respiratory failure annually. Although most survive, little is known if they have worse long-term neurocognitive function than children who do not undergo such procedures. There are concerns about neurotoxic effects of critical illness and its treatment on the developing brain. Therefore, infants and…

While no medically recognized treatment exists for long COVID, exercise may break the vicious cycle of inflammation that can lead to developing diabetes and depression months after a person recovers from the virus. «We know that Long COVID causes depression, and we know that it can increase blood glucose levels to the point where people…

Researchers have found small clusters of cells in the brain that identify locations where tumors could become malignant. The study, which has been published in Neuro-Oncology Advances today, analysed pieces of living human brain tissue from 20 people undergoing brain tumour surgery at King’s College Hospital, the largest neuro-oncology centre in Europe. The researchers found…