In Global News: Cardiac Surgery and Cognitive Decline, Lessons From Pet Medicine, and Inhaled mRNA

Patient Care and General Interest
Ireland’s Cabinet is expected to consider opt-out organ donation legislation this spring.
A veterinarian in Colorado, USA, discusses the potential for learning about novel interventional cardiology devices by studying their use in veterinary medicine.
The US Congenital Heart Futures Reauthorization Act, which increases the federal funding available for studying congenital heart disease, was signed into law at the end of 2018.
 
Drugs and Devices
Pembrolizumab, an anti-PD-1 therapy from Merck, received three new approvals for use in advanced non-small cell lung cancer from the Japan Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency.
Boston Scientific has acquired the company Millipede, adding the investigational IRIS Transcatheter Annuloplasty Ring System for mitral regurgitation to its line of products.
 
Research, Trials, and Funding
Researchers from California, USA, found that cardiac surgery and cardiac catheterization are associated with similar levels of cognitive decline.
Researchers from Switzerland reported encouraging midterm outcomes from the TriValve Registry of transcatheter interventions for tricuspid regurgitation.
An inhalable formulation of messenger RNA was developed by researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the USA, who postulate that it could contribute to new therapies for diseases like cystic fibrosis.