New US research presented to the American Heart Association found that intensive care admissions for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest rose steeply with outdoor heat. Compared with days reaching 85F, admissions were 45% higher at 91F and 102% higher at 98F. The analysis pooled data from 10 US health systems and accounted for humidity and air pollution. Women and older adults were affected most. Survival and neurological recovery among patients who reached hospital did not appear worse during heat waves, but the surge in critically ill arrivals puts pressure on limited ICU beds, equipment and staff.
A randomised trial called RESET for Remission found that a low-energy diet plus supervised exercise put type 2 diabetes into remission in 54% of younger adults after 24 weeks, against 4% in a usual-care group. Remission meant HbA1c below 6.5% without glucose-lowering medication for at least 12 weeks. The trial enrolled 96 people with early-onset type 2 diabetes and published its results in the Lancet Regional Health - Americas. Researchers said the programme is demanding, and that support will decide whether it works outside a trial.
Mice given an experimental compound that blocks an enzyme called AEP lived about 17% longer than untreated animals in a study published in iScience. Untreated mice averaged 24 months at death, treated mice 28, with all animals around 18 months old when the work began. The treated group also showed fewer signs of frailty, better results on exercise, strength and memory tests, and improved metabolic markers including insulin response. The authors argue that AEP sits at a junction of several ageing-related processes. No human trial has been run and the compound is a research tool, not a medicine.
Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration has proposed stricter sunscreen rules after a consumer report found that 16 of 20 popular sunscreens failed to meet their labelled SPF. Brands would have to test the finished product, not just the base formula, before listing it, retest it through its shelf life, and hand their SPF data to the regulator. Cosmetic sunscreens would face limits on SPF claims. The changes follow product withdrawals and will be introduced in stages. The regulator says it will not routinely check the data before products reach shelves.
A study of 12,772 adults in Brazil found that people who consumed the most low- and no-calorie sweeteners had a 62 percent faster decline in memory and thinking skills over about eight years, roughly 1.6 additional years of brain aging. Six of seven sweeteners examined were linked to faster cognitive decline, with the association strongest among people with diabetes. The work, published in Neurology, followed participants whose average age was 52 at the start and used dietary questionnaires to estimate intake of aspartame, saccharin, acesulfame-K, erythritol, xylitol, sorbitol and tagatose. The authors stress the finding shows association, not causation.
The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has passed 10,000 infections since it was declared in May, making it the fastest-growing outbreak on record. Government figures from 19 October showed 9,277 confirmed cases and 4,478 deaths across 64 of 167 health zones in eight provinces. The outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo virus, for which there is no approved vaccine or treatment, so tools used against earlier Zaire strain outbreaks do not apply. The WHO has declared a public health emergency. Cases have been imported to Kenya and Nigeria.
A twenty-year study of 28,512 US adults found that repeated exposure to outdoor heat-index conditions of 103F or higher was linked to higher dementia risk, while milder heat days were not. People with more than seven such days a year had a 23% higher hazard than those with almost none, and those with 0.4 to 1.8 days a year had a 14% higher hazard. The link was strongest in socially vulnerable neighbourhoods, at 40% against 11%, and in areas with less central air conditioning, at 36% against 13%. Heat exposure was counted over five-year windows as participants aged. The findings appear in the journal Alzheimer's & Dementia.
A personalized mRNA vaccine cut the risk of melanoma returning or the patient dying by 42% in a phase 3 trial, researchers reported at the European Society for Medical Oncology congress in Madrid. The trial, INTerpath-001, tested intismeran autogene with pembrolizumab in patients whose stage IIB to IV melanoma had been surgically removed. After a median follow-up of 24.6 months, the combination improved recurrence-free survival with a hazard ratio of 0.58. Results were released on 22 October after a leak, two days before the scheduled presentation, and are to be published in the New England Journal of Medicine. If approved, it would be the first mRNA cancer vaccine on the market.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo has reported 9,704 confirmed cases and 4,687 deaths in its Ebola outbreak, with eight provinces affected, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. The outbreak is caused by Bundibugyo virus, for which no vaccine or specific treatment is licensed. Nigeria reported a case on 20 October in a person with travel history to Uganda, and 44 contacts are being followed. Kenya confirmed one imported case and one death on 6 October. ECDC says the risk to the general population in Europe remains very low. Responders are tracing contacts across several borders in the region.
Adding a personalized cancer vaccine to standard immunotherapy after surgery cut the risk of melanoma returning or the patient dying by 42 percent in a phase 3 trial of 1,137 patients. The vaccine, intismeran, is built from each patient's own tumour and was given with pembrolizumab to people with stage IIB to IV melanoma at high risk of recurrence. Results were presented at the ESMO Congress by Professor Georgina Long of Melanoma Institute Australia. Patients who stayed recurrence-free beyond six months saw a 58 percent reduction. Side effects were mostly short-lived injection-site pain, headache and chills, and were not added to those of pembrolizumab.