Medicine, General & Internal

Article Medicine, General & Internal

Global burden of bacterial antimicrobial resistance in 2019: a systematic analysis

Christopher J. L. Murray, Kevin Shunji Ikuta, Fablina Sharara, Lucien Swetschinski, Gisela Robles Aguilar, Authia Gray, Chieh Han, Catherine Bisignano, Puja Rao, Eve Wool, Sarah C. Johnson, Annie J. Browne, Michael Give Chipeta, Frederick Fell, Sean Hackett, Georgina Haines-Woodhouse, Bahar H. Kashef Hamadani, Emmanuelle A. P. Kumaran, Barney McManigal, Ramesh Agarwal, Samuel Akech, Samuel Albertson, John Amuasi, Jason Andrews, Aleskandr Aravkin, Elizabeth Ashley, Freddie Bailey, Stephen Baker, Buddha Basnyat, Adrie Bekker, Rose Bender, Adhisivam Bethou, Julia Bielicki, Suppawat Boonkasidecha, James Bukosia, Cristina Carvalheiro, Carlos Castaneda-Orjuela, Vilada Chansamouth, Suman Chaurasia, Sara Chiurchiu, Fazle Chowdhury, Aislinn J. Cook, Ben Cooper, Tim R. Cressey, Elia Criollo-Mora, Matthew Cunningham, Saffiatou Darboe, Nicholas P. J. Day, Maia De Luca, Klara Dokova, Angela Dramowski, Susanna J. Dunachie, Tim Eckmanns, Daniel Eibach, Amir Emami, Nicholas Feasey, Natasha Fisher-Pearson, Karen Forrest, Denise Garrett, Petra Gastmeier, Ababi Zergaw Giref, Rachel Claire Greer, Vikas Gupta, Sebastian Haller, Andrea Haselbeck, Simon Hay, Marianne Holm, Susan Hopkins, Kenneth C. Iregbu, Jan Jacobs, Daniel Jarovsky, Fatemeh Javanmardi, Meera Khorana, Niranjan Kissoon, Elsa Kobeissi, Tomislav Kostyanev, Fiorella Krapp, Ralf Krumkamp, Ajay Kumar, Hmwe H. Kyu, Cherry Lim, Direk Limmathurotsakul, Michael James Loftus, Miles Lunn, Jianing Ma, Neema Mturi, Tatiana Munera-Huertas, Patrick Musicha, Marisa Marcia Mussi-Pinhata, Tomoka Nakamura, Ruchi Nanavati, Sushma Nangia, Paul Newton, Chanpheaktra Ngoun, Amanda Novotney, Davis Nwakanma, Christina W. Obiero, Antonio Olivas-Martinez, Piero Olliaro, Ednah Ooko, Edgar Ortiz-Brizuela, Anton Yariv Peleg, Carlo Perrone, Nishad Plakkal, Alfredo Ponce-de-Leon, Mathieu Raad, Tanusha Ramdin, Amy Riddell, Tamalee Roberts, Julie VictoriaRobotham, Anna Roca, Kristina E. Rudd, Neal Russell, Jesse Schnall, John Anthony Gerard Scott, Madhusudhan Shivamallappa, Jose Sifuentes-Osornio, Nicolas Steenkeste, Andrew James Stewardson, Temenuga Stoeva, Nidanuch Tasak, Areerat Thaiprakong, Guy Thwaites, Claudia Turner, Paul Turner, H. Rogier van Doorn, Sithembiso Velaphi, Avina Vongpradith, Huong Vu, Timothy Walsh, Seymour Waner, Tri Wangrangsimakul, Teresa Wozniak, Peng Zheng, Benn Sartorius, Alan D. Lopez, Andy Stergachis, Catrin Moore, Christiane Dolecek, Mohsen Naghavi

Summary: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) poses a significant threat to global human health, and this study provides the most comprehensive estimates of AMR burden to date. By estimating deaths and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) associated with bacterial AMR in 204 countries and territories in 2019, the study highlights the impact of resistance and the leading pathogen-drug combinations contributing to it.

LANCET (2022)

Article Medicine, General & Internal

Covid-19 Vaccine Effectiveness against the Omicron (B.1.1.529) Variant

N. Andrews, J. Stowe, F. Kirsebom, S. Toffa, T. Rickeard, E. Gallagher, C. Gower, M. Kall, N. Groves, A-M O'connell, D. Simons, P. B. Blomquist, A. Zaidi, S. Nash, N. Iwani Binti Abdul Aziz, S. Thelwall, G. Dabrera, R. Myers, G. Amirthalingam, S. Gharbia, J. C. Barrett, R. Elson, S. N. Ladhani, N. Ferguson, M. Zambon, C. N. J. Campbell, K. Brown, S. Hopkins, M. Chand, M. Ramsay, J. Lopez Bernal

Summary: A large case-control study in England found that immunity to the Omicron variant was very low and less than that to the Delta variant 20 weeks after the second vaccine dose, regardless of the initial vaccine type. A booster dose of one of the mRNA vaccines improved efficacy to approximately 65%, but protection waned over a 10-week period.

NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE (2022)

Article Medicine, General & Internal

Cancer statistics in China and United States, 2022: profiles, trends, and determinants

Changfa Xia, Xuesi Dong, He Li, Maomao Cao, Dianqin Sun, Siyi He, Fan Yang, Xinxin Yan, Shaoli Zhang, Ni Li, Wanqing Chen

Summary: The study compared the latest cancer profiles, trends, and determinants between China and the USA in 2022. China has a higher incidence of lung cancer, while the USA has more cases of breast cancer. Recent years have seen a significant decrease in lung and colorectal cancer rates in the USA, while liver cancer rates have slightly increased. In China, rates for stomach, liver, and esophageal cancer have decreased gradually, but colorectal cancer rates have increased for the whole population.

CHINESE MEDICAL JOURNAL (2022)

Article Medicine, General & Internal

Monkeypox Virus Infection in Humans across 16 Countries - April-June 2022

John P. Thornhill, Sapha Barkati, Sharon Walmsley, Juergen Rockstroh, Andrea Antinori, Luke B. Harrison, Romain Palich, Achyuta Nori, Iain Reeves, Maximillian S. Habibi, Vanessa Apea, Christoph Boesecke, Linos Vandekerckhove, Michal Yakubovsky, Elena Sendagorta, Jose L. Blanco, Eric Florence, Davide Moschese, Fernando M. Maltez, Abraham Goorhuis, Valerie Pourcher, Pascal Migaud, Sebastian Noe, Claire Pintado, Fabrizio Maggi, Ann-Brit E. Hansen, Christian Hoffmann, Jezer I. Lezama, Cristina Mussini, AnnaMaria Cattelan, Keletso Makofane, Darrell Tan, Silvia Nozza, Johannes Nemeth, Marina B. Klein, Chloe M. Orkin

Summary: This report describes 528 cases of monkeypox in 16 countries. Common clinical findings include rash, mucosal lesions, fever, lethargy, and lymphadenopathy. Few patients required hospitalization.

NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE (2022)

Article Medicine, General & Internal

Molnupiravir for Oral Treatment of Covid-19 in Nonhospitalized Patients

A. Jayk Bernal, M. M. Gomes da Silva, D. B. Musungaie, E. Kovalchuk, A. Gonzalez, V Delos Reyes, A. Martin-Quiros, Y. Caraco, A. Williams-Diaz, M. L. Brown, J. Du, A. Pedley, C. Assaid, J. Strizki, J. A. Grobler, H. H. Shamsuddin, R. Tipping, H. Wan, A. Paschke, J. R. Butterton, M. G. Johnson, C. De Anda

Summary: This study found that early treatment with molnupiravir reduced the risk of hospitalization or death in at-risk, unvaccinated adults with Covid-19.

NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE (2022)

Article Medicine, General & Internal

Oral Nirmatrelvir for High-Risk, Nonhospitalized Adults with Covid-19

Jennifer Hammond, Heidi Leister-Tebbe, Annie Gardner, Paula Abreu, Weihang Bao, Wayne Wisemandle, MaryLynn Baniecki, Victoria M. Hendrick, Bharat Damle, Abraham Simon-Campos, Rienk Pypstra, James M. Rusnak

Summary: In high-risk, unvaccinated adults, treatment of Covid-19 with nirmatrelvir plus ritonavir can significantly reduce the risk of hospitalization and death, with good safety profile.

NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE (2022)

Correction Medicine, General & Internal

Omicron SARS-CoV-2 variant: a new chapter in the COVID-19 pandemic (vol 398, pg 2126, 2021)

Abdool S. S. Karim, Abdool Q. Karim

LANCET (2022)

Article Medicine, General & Internal

Early Remdesivir to Prevent Progression to Severe Covid-19 in Outpatients

R. L. Gottlieb, C. E. Vaca, R. Paredes, J. Mera, B. J. Webb, G. Perez, G. Oguchi, P. Ryan, B. U. Nielsen, M. Brown, A. Hidalgo, Y. Sachdeva, S. Mittal, O. Osiyemi, J. Skarbinski, K. Juneja, R. H. Hyland, A. Osinusi, S. Chen, G. Camus, M. Abdelghany, S. Davies, N. Behenna-Renton, F. Duff, F. M. Marty, M. J. Katz, A. A. Ginde, S. M. Brown, J. T. Schiffer, J. A. Hill

Summary: In symptomatic, nonhospitalized high-risk Covid-19 patients, a 3-day course of remdesivir significantly reduced the risk of hospitalization or death compared to placebo, with acceptable safety profile.

NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE (2022)

Article Medicine, General & Internal

Comparative analysis of the risks of hospitalisation and death associated with SARS-CoV-2 omicron (B.1.1.529) and delta (B.1.617.2) variants in England: a cohort study

Tommy Nyberg, Neil M. Ferguson, Sophie G. Nash, Harriet H. Webster, Seth Flaxman, Nick Andrews, Wes Hinsley, Jamie Lopez Bernal, Meaghan Kall, Samir Bhatt, Paula Blomquist, Asad Zaidi, Erik Volz, Nurin Abdul Aziz, Katie Harman, Sebastian Funk, Sam Abbott, Russell Hope, Andre Charlett, Meera Chand, Azra C. Ghani, Shaun R. Seaman, Gavin Dabrera, Daniela De Angelis, Anne M. Presanis, Simon Thelwall

Summary: The Omicron variant shows lower severity compared to Delta, especially in terms of hospital admission and death, with significant variations by age. Unvaccinated cases experience a larger reduction in intrinsic severity, while vaccinated cases experience reduced vaccine effectiveness. Booster vaccination with mRNA vaccines provides over 70% protection against hospitalization and death in breakthrough Omicron infections.

LANCET (2022)

Article Medicine, General & Internal

Neoadjuvant Nivolumab plus Chemotherapy in Resectable Lung Cancer

Patrick M. Forde, Jonathan Spicer, Shun Lu, Mariano Provencio, Tetsuya Mitsudomi, Mark M. Awad, Enriqueta Felip, Stephen R. Broderick, Julie R. Brahmer, Scott J. Swanson, Keith Kerr, Changli Wang, Tudor-Eliade Ciuleanu, Gene B. Saylors, Fumihiro Tanaka, Hiroyuki Ito, Ke-Neng Chen, Moishe Liberman, Everett E. Vokes, Janis M. Taube, Cecile Dorange, Junliang Cai, Joseph Fiore, Anthony Jarkowski, David Balli, Mark Sausen, Dimple Pandya, Christophe Y. Calvet, Nicolas Girard

Summary: In patients with resectable non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), neoadjuvant nivolumab plus chemotherapy resulted in significantly longer event-free survival and a higher percentage of patients with a pathological complete response than chemotherapy alone.

NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE (2022)

Article Medicine, General & Internal

Trastuzumab Deruxtecan in Previously Treated HER2-Low Advanced Breast Cancer

Shanu Modi, William Jacot, Toshinari Yamashita, Joohyuk Sohn, Maria Vidal, Eriko Tokunaga, Junji Tsurutani, Naoto T. Ueno, Aleix Prat, Yee Soo Chae, Keun Seok Lee, Naoki Niikura, Yeon Hee Park, Binghe Xu, Xiaojia Wang, Miguel Gil-Gil, Wei Li, Jean-Yves Pierga, Seock-Ah Im, Halle C. F. Moore, Hope S. Rugo, Rinat Yerushalmi, Flora Zagouri, Andrea Gombos, Sung-Bae Kim, Qiang Liu, Ting Luo, Cristina Saura, Peter Schmid, Tao Sun, Dhiraj Gambhire, Lotus Yung, Yibin Wang, Jasmeet Singh, Patrik Vitazka, Gerold Meinhardt, Nadia Harbeck, David A. Cameron

Summary: Trastuzumab deruxtecan demonstrated significantly longer progression-free and overall survival compared to physician's choice chemotherapy in patients with HER2-low metastatic breast cancer.

NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE (2022)

Article Medicine, General & Internal

Relatlimab and Nivolumab versus Nivolumab in Untreated Advanced Melanoma

Hussein A. Tawbi, Dirk Schadendorf, Evan J. Lipson, Paolo A. Ascierto, Luis Matamala, Erika Castillo Gutierrez, Piotr Rutkowski, Helen J. Gogas, Christopher D. Lao, Juliana Janoski De Menezes, Stephane Dalle, Ana Arance, Jean-Jacques Grob, Shivani Srivastava, Mena Abaskharoun, Melissa Hamilton, Sarah Keidel, Katy L. Simonsen, Anne Marie Sobiesk, Bin Li, F. Stephen Hodi, Georgina Long

Summary: LAG-3 and PD-1 are two distinct inhibitory immune checkpoints that contribute to T-cell exhaustion. The combination of relatlimab and nivolumab has been shown to be safe and effective in previously treated melanoma patients, and this study aimed to evaluate its safety and activity in previously untreated melanoma patients. The results demonstrated that the combination therapy provided a greater benefit in terms of progression-free survival compared to nivolumab alone, without any new safety signals.

NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE (2022)

Article Medicine, General & Internal

Early assessment of the clinical severity of the SARS-CoV-2 omicron variant in South Africa: a data linkage study

Nicole Wolter, Waasila Jassat, Sibongile Walaza, Richard Welch, Harry Moultrie, Michelle Groome, Daniel Gyamfi Amoako, Josie Everatt, Jinal N. Bhiman, Cathrine Scheepers, Naume Tebeila, Nicola Chiwandire, Mignon du Plessis, Nevashan Govender, Arshad Ismail, Allison Glass, Koleka Mlisana, Wendy Stevens, Florette K. Treurnicht, Zinhle Makatini, Nei-Yuan Hsiao, Raveen Parboosing, Jeannette Wadula, Hannah Hussey, Mary-Ann Davies, Andrew Boulle, Anne von Gottberg, Cheryl Cohen

Summary: According to data analysis from South Africa, individuals infected with the omicron variant have a lower likelihood of hospitalization compared to those infected with non-omicron variants. Furthermore, individuals infected with the omicron variant have a lower odds of severe disease compared to individuals infected with the earlier delta variant.

LANCET (2022)

Article Medicine, General & Internal

Tirzepatide Once Weekly for the Treatment of Obesity

Ania M. Jastreboff, Louis J. Aronne, Nadia N. Ahmad, Sean Wharton, Lisa Connery, Breno Alves, Arihiro Kiyosue, Shuyu Zhang, Bing Liu, Mathijs C. Bunck, Adam Stefanski

Summary: In this 72-week trial in participants with obesity, once-weekly doses of 5 mg, 10 mg, or 15 mg of tirzepatide provided substantial and sustained reductions in body weight, and improvements in cardiometabolic measures were also observed.

NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE (2022)

Article Medicine, General & Internal

Dapagliflozin in Heart Failure with Mildly Reduced or Preserved Ejection Fraction

S. D. Solomon, J. J. McMurray, B. Claggett, R. A. de Boer, D. DeMets, A. F. Hernandez, S. E. Inzucchi, M. N. Kosiborod, C. S. P. Lam, F. Martinez, S. J. Shah, A. S. Desai, P. S. Jhund, J. Belohlavek, C-E Chiang, C. J. W. Borleffs, J. Comin-Colet, D. Dobreanu, J. Drozdz, J. C. Fang, M. A. Alcocer-Gamba, W. Al Habeeb, Y. Han, J. W. Cabrera Honorio, S. P. Janssens, T. Katova, M. Kitakaze, B. Merkely, E. O'Meara, J. F. K. Saraiva, S. N. Tereshchenko, J. Thierer, M. Vaduganathan, O. Vardeny, S. Verma, V. N. Pham, U. Wilderang, N. Zaozerska, E. Bachus, D. Lindholm, M. Petersson, A. M. Langkilde

Summary: The study shows that SGLT2 inhibitors are effective in reducing the risk of hospitalization for heart failure and cardiovascular death among patients with chronic heart failure and a left ventricular ejection fraction of 40% or less. However, whether they are effective in patients with a higher left ventricular ejection fraction remains uncertain.

NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE (2022)

Review Medicine, General & Internal

Duration of effectiveness of vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 disease: results of a systematic review and meta-regression

Daniel R. Feikin, Melissa M. Higdon, Laith J. Abu-Raddad, Nick Andrews, Rafael Araos, Yair Goldberg, Michelle J. Groome, Amit Huppert, Katherine L. O'Brien, Peter G. Smith, Annelies Wilder-Smith, Scott Zeger, Maria Deloria Knoll, Minal K. Patel

Summary: This study systematically reviewed the duration of protection provided by COVID-19 vaccines against various clinical outcomes. The findings indicate that the effectiveness or efficacy of the vaccines decreased from 1 to 6 months after full vaccination, but remained high against severe disease. Evaluating the effectiveness or efficacy of vaccines beyond 6 months is crucial for updating vaccine policies.

LANCET (2022)

Article Medicine, General & Internal

Lecanemab in Early Alzheimer's Disease

Christopher H. van Dyck, Chad J. Swanson, Paul Aisen, Randall J. Bateman, Christopher Chen, Michelle Gee, Michio Kanekiyo, David Li, Larisa Reyderman, Sharon Cohen, Lutz Froelich, Sadao Katayama, Marwan Sabbagh, Bruno Vellas, David Watson, Shobha Dhadda, Michael Irizarry, Lynn D. Kramer, Takeshi Iwatsubo

Summary: Lecanemab, a humanized monoclonal antibody, reduced amyloid markers and showed improvement in cognition and function in early Alzheimer's disease patients. However, it also resulted in adverse events. Longer trials are needed to determine its efficacy and safety in early Alzheimer's disease.

NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE (2023)

Article Medicine, General & Internal

PD-1 Blockade in Mismatch Repair-Deficient, Locally Advanced Rectal Cancer

Andrea Cercek, Melissa Lumish, Jenna Sinopoli, Jill Weiss, Jinru Shia, Michelle Lamendola-Essel, Imane H. El Dika, Neil Segal, Marina Shcherba, Ryan Sugarman, Zsofia Stadler, Rona Yaeger, J. Joshua Smith, Benoit Rousseau, Guillem Argiles, Miteshkumar Patel, Avni Desai, Leonard B. Saltz, Maria Widmar, Krishna Iyer, Janie Zhang, Nicole Gianino, Christopher Crane, Paul B. Romesser, Emmanouil P. Pappou, Philip Paty, Julio Garcia-Aguilar, Mithat Gonen, Marc Gollub, Martin R. Weiser, Kurt A. Schalper, Luis A. Diaz

Summary: This study found that mismatch repair-deficient, locally advanced rectal cancer is highly sensitive to PD-1 blockade. Additionally, no adverse events of grade 3 or higher have been reported, and no cases of progression or recurrence have been observed. Longer follow-up is needed to assess the duration of response.

NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE (2022)

Letter Medicine, General & Internal

Effectiveness of BNT162b2 Vaccine against Omicron Variant in South Africa

Shirley Collie, Jared Champion, Harry Moultrie, Linda-Gail Bekker, Glenda Gray

Summary: Preliminary data from a test-negative study design in South Africa showed that two doses of the BNT162b2 vaccine had an efficacy of 50 to 70% against hospitalization caused by the omicron variant in Gauteng province.

NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE (2022)

Article Medicine, General & Internal

Axicabtagene Ciloleucel as Second-Line Therapy for Large B-Cell Lymphoma

F. L. Locke, D. B. Miklos, C. A. Jacobson, M-A Perales, M-J Kersten, O. O. Oluwole, A. Ghobadi, A. P. Rapoport, J. McGuirk, J. M. Pagel, J. Munoz, U. Farooq, T. van Meerten, P. M. Reagan, A. Sureda, I. W. Flinn, P. Vandenberghe, K. W. Song, M. Dickinson, M. C. Minnema, P. A. Riedell, L. A. Leslie, S. Chaganti, Y. Yang, S. Filosto, J. Shah, M. Schupp, C. To, P. Cheng, L. Gordon, J. R. Westin

Summary: This international phase 3 trial showed that axicabtagene ciloleucel therapy significantly improved event-free survival and response in patients with early relapsed or refractory large B-cell lymphoma compared to standard care, despite the expected high-grade toxic effects.

NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE (2022)