In Global News: Recommendation to Reclassify Surgical Staplers, Defining Cardiogenic Shock, and Weighing In on E-Cigarettes

Patient Care and General Interest

A new study looking a dietary protein sources and LDL cholesterol levels calls into question the idea that white meat is more heart healthy than red meat.

An expert consensus document on cardiogenic shock provides a standardized vocabulary for diagnosis and outlines best practices for treating patients.

Drugs and Devices

A US Food and Drug Administration panel recommended reclassifying surgical staplers to class II medical devices as the agency acknowledged a greater number of device malfunction reports than had been publicly disclosed.

Research, Trials, and Funding

The European Respiratory Society says that the strategy of tobacco harm reduction using e-cigarettes should not be used as a population-based approach for tobacco control, citing a lack of evidence that they reduce nicotine dependence and the potential for health risks that are not yet known.

In related news, researchers from the UK report that e-cigarettes improved rates of tobacco cessation, while researchers from the US find that e-cigarette flavorings have negative effects on endothelial cell function.

Researchers at Imperial College London in the UK have developed a small patch of stem cells that can be sewn to the heart, and in rabbits the patches integrated and improved heart function after experimental myocardial infarction.

Interim results from a trial on immune checkpoint inhibitors given before surgery to patients with resectable lung cancer suggest the treatment was well-tolerated and may provide benefit to these patients.