Centro Medico Lachesi

Categoria: Cytogenetics

  • New Shingles Vaccine: What You Need To Know

    New Shingles Vaccine: What You Need To Know

    Unlike some vaccines, there’s been so much demand for the new shingles vaccine Shingrix that it’s not always easy to find. It was approved in 2017, and the CDC recommends the vaccine for adults 50 and older to prevent this painful, blistering illness. It is being used in place of the previous vaccine, Zostavax.

    More than a year later, doctors say they are learning more about how it works, its safety risks, and how it compares to Zostavax.

    How effective is Shingrix?

    “It’s just remarkable,” says Wilbur Chen, MD, an associate professor of medicine at the Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health, University of Maryland School of Medicine. “It has performed better than I expected.”

    The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) hasn’t confirmed whether the vaccine is safe for people who have a weakened immune system because of a disease or medicine.

    “The big concern among certain groups of doctors is that they don’t want to evoke a reaction that might, for example, in a transplant patient result in a rejection of the transplant,” Schaffner says. “They want to make absolutely sure the vaccine is safe.” Another worry is that taking drugs that weaken the immune system might make the shingles vaccine less effective.

    ACIP is discussing how to give the vaccine to people with a weakened immune system. It’s important for this group to be protected because they’re at higher risk for shingles and its complications.

  • Racial Bias Seen in Heart Transplants

    Racial Bias Seen in Heart Transplants

    Racial bias among health care providers limits black Americans’ odds of receiving a heart transplant, a new study finds. Researchers asked 422 U.S. physicians, nurses and other hospital decision-makers to review the hypothetical cases of black men and white men with heart failure and to decide if the patients should be referred for a heart transplant.

    The hypothetical cases had identical medical and social history. Race was the only difference among them. Individually, there were few racial differences in participants’ transplant recommendations.

    But when a subgroup of 44 discussed the cases together — more closely simulating how such decisions are actually made — there was racial bias, according to the University of Arizona researchers. In the group discussion, black patients were considered less healthy, less likely to comply with follow-up care recommendations and less trustworthy than white patients.

    This meant that black patients were more likely to be recommended for mechanical pump devices instead of heart transplants, especially if the healthcare provider was older than 40.

  • Exercise Can Help Prevent Depression

    Exercise Can Help Prevent Depression

    Getting more exercise could help ward off depression, even if you have a genetic risk for it, new research shows.

    For the study, researchers analyzed data from nearly 8,000 people and found that those with a genetic predisposition were more likely to be diagnosed with depression over the next two years.

    But that was less likely for people who were more active at the study’s start, even if they had an inherited risk. Higher levels of physical activity helped protect even those with the highest genetic risk for depression, the investigators found.

    Our findings strongly suggest that, when it comes to depression, genes are not destiny and that being physically active has the potential to neutralize the added risk of future episodes in individuals who are genetically vulnerable.

    Karmel Choi

    Both high-intensity exercise (such as aerobics, dance and exercise machines) and lower-intensity activities (such as yoga and stretching) were associated with a reduced risk of depression, the findings showed. Adding four hours of exercise a week could lower the risk of a new episode of depression by 17%, according to the study published Nov. 5 in the journal Depression and Anxiety.

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