In Global News: Cardiac Regeneration in Pigs, Health Effects of Marijuana Use, and Running to Reduce Aortic Stiffness [1]
Patient Care and General Interest
As state-specific regulations around marijuana change in the US, physicians and surgeons express concern about the dearth of information about the potential long-term harmful effects of smoking the drug [3].
A teenage heart transplant recipient has partnered with a chef to create a heart-healthy cookbook [4].
A genetically-engineered bacteriophage infusion is used to treat a lung transplant recipient’s drug-resistant infection [5] in London, UK.
Patients don’t understand their implanted pacing devices as well as they think they do, and they also want to know more about their devices [6].
Australian professional golfer Jason Day has partnered with AstraZeneca to raise awareness of biomarker testing for lung cancer [7], following his mother’s diagnosis of late stage cancer.
Drugs and Devices
A medical device alternative summary reporting program from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will be shut down [8], and past records will be made publicly available.
The US FDA has issued a safety communication [9], alerting providers that the batteries in certain pacemakers or cardiac resynchronization therapy pacemakers from Medtronic can fail early [10].
Research, Trials, and Funding
Research presented at the recent Annual Meeting of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery in Toronto, Canada, evaluated the use of an ultrasonic vessel-sealing device in minimally invasive lobectomy [11].
Healthy novice runners who trained for their first marathon showed a reduction in aortic stiffness [12], say researchers from University College London.
Researchers from London report in Nature the usage of microRNA to induce cardiac regeneration after heart attack in pigs [13].