News & Updates

Nearly half of all rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients suffer comorbidity, which has a negative impact on quality of life and mortality. At a recent scientific symposium, Professor Peter Taylor from the University of Oxford in Oxford, UK emphasized the importance of monitoring, preventing, and treating comorbidities in RA while Professor Christopher Edwards from the University Hospital Southampton in Southampton, UK focused on the impact of mental health in RA. The symposium was organized by Fresenius Kabi and held under the auspices of the Singapore Society of Rheumatology. Dr Lian Tsui Yee from Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Singapore chaired the event.

Long-term postmarketing data for adjunctive brivaracetam show that its use helps improve seizure control in patients with various epilepsy syndromes, even in those with prior exposure to levetiracetam. However, psychobehavioural adverse events (AEs) occur in one out of ten patients.

Bias and misconceptions about liver transplantation persist for patients with alcohol- (ALD) and obesity-related liver disease (OLD), a study has found.

Leaving out the use of external beam parametrial boost (EBPB) for locally advanced cervical cancer does not seem to negatively affect local control or survival in the era of image-guided brachytherapy, results of a study have shown. This then supports a reduced need for standardized use of parametrial boost.

In individuals receiving disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs* (DMARDs) for inflammatory rheumatic diseases** (IRD), humoral response remained satisfactory following administration of the second dose of the Pfizer mRNA vaccine against SARS-CoV-2, a study suggests.

Hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy (HAIC) with fluorouracil, leucovorin and oxaliplatin (FOLFOX) as first-line treatment significantly improves overall survival (OS) vs transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) in patients with large, unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), a phase III trial in China has shown.

Some patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) may achieve symptom reduction, particularly diarrhoea, on a gluten-free diet, and who these patients are may be identified by using the antigliadin immunoglobulin G (IgG) as a biomarker, according to a study.

Among healthy individuals, a fasting plasma glucose (FPG) concentration within the range of 90–99 mg/dL increases the risk of type 2 diabetes, a new Japan study has found.

Intravitreal bevacizumab (IVB) injections induce short-lived visual benefit but ease the need for vitrectomy in proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) patients with vitreous haemorrhage (VH) who had undergone prior complete panretinal photocoagulation (PRP), a recent study has found.