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Denifanstat Shows Promise for Advanced Fatty Liver Disease
Denifanstat, an oral fatty acid synthase inhibitor, led to significant improvements in people with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH), according to study results published in The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology. The Phase IIb FASCINATE-2 trial found that people treated with denifanstat were more than twice as likely as placebo recipients to...
$13 Million Grant to Advance Liver Cancer Treatment Options
VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers were awarded a grant worth more than $13 million to study and advance treatment options for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the most common form of primary liver cancer, according to a VCU news release. Awarded by the National Cancer Institute, the five-year grant will support...
What’s New and What to Watch for in the Upcoming ACA Open Enrollment Period
It’s that time of year again: In most states, the Affordable Care Act’s annual open enrollment season for health plans begins November 1 and lasts through January 15. Current enrollees who do not update their information or select an alternative will be automatically reenrolled in their current plan or, if that plan is no longer available, into a plan with similar coverage.
Research in Context: Can We Slow Aging?
With advancing age comes an increased risk of disease and disability. As people live longer, they are more likely to develop at least one age-related disease. And as the global population gets older, the global burden of these diseases is expected to grow. Instead of treating each individual disease as it arises, a more effective way to reduce this burden would be to attack them at their common root: the aging process itself.
Trump Leads, and His Party Follows, on Vaccine Skepticism
More than four years ago, former President Donald Trump’s administration accelerated the development and rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine. The project, dubbed Operation Warp Speed, likely saved millions of lives. But a substantial number of Republican voters now identify as vaccine skeptics — and Trump rarely mentions what’s considered one of the great public health accomplishments in recent memory.
Chicago Marathon Runner Finishes Race Cancer-Free and With New Liver
One year after delaying a liver transplant to run the 2023 Chicago Marathon, Batbayar Tserendorj has a new liver, is cancer-free and completed the 2024 race, according to Northwestern Medicine (NM). Last year, Tserendorj then age 60, was living with liver cancer and on the waiting list for a new...
Low-Income Adolescents Are at Higher Risk for Fatty Liver Disease
Adolescents who grow up in low-income households or with a parent with a low education level and those who lack adequate health food have a significantly higher risk for metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), according to findings published in The American Journal of Gastroenterology. Latino teens may be especially at risk for fatty liver disease.
Older Men’s Connections Often Wither When They’re on Their Own
At age 66, South Carolina physician Paul Rousseau decided to retire after tending for decades to the suffering of people who were seriously ill or dying. It was a difficult and emotionally fraught transition. “I didn’t know what I was going to do, where I was going to go,” he...
First Wave of COVID-19 Increased Risk of Heart Attack, Stroke up to Three Years Later
Infection from COVID-19 appeared to significantly increase the risk of heart attack, stroke, and death for up to three years among unvaccinated people early in the pandemic when the original SARS-CoV-2 virus strain emerged, according to a National Institutes of Health (NIH)-supported study. The findings, among people with or without heart disease, confirm previous research showing an associated higher risk of cardiovascular events after a COVID-19 infection but are the first to suggest the heightened risk might last up to three years following initial infection, at least among people infected in the first wave of the pandemic.
October Is National Liver Awareness Month
For National Liver Awareness Month, the American Liver Foundation (ALF) encourages individuals to learn about their risk for liver disease, try liver-healthy diets and participate in free educational opportunities. “Taking care of your liver is essential to your life,” said ALF CEO Lorraine Stiehl, in a news release. “Many liver...
Vance-Walz Debate Highlighted Clear Health Policy Differences
Ohio Republican Sen. JD Vance and Minnesota Democratic Gov. Tim Walz met in an October 1 vice presidential debate hosted by CBS News that was cordial and heavy on policy discussion — a striking change from the September 10 debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.
Fewer Than Half of U.S. Jails Provide Life-Saving Medications for Opioid Use Disorder
A new look into addiction treatment availability in the U.S. criminal justice system reveals that fewer than half (43.8%) of 1,028 jails surveyed across the nation offered any form of medication for opioid use disorder, and only 12.8% made these available to anyone with the disorder. With two-thirds of people...
Spark Conversations This Liver Cancer Awareness Month
In recognition Liver Cancer Awareness Month, the Global Liver Institute (GLI) is promoting its #OctoberIs4Livers campaign to raise awareness about liver cancer, improve prevention, detection and treatment rates and more. Launched by GLI in 2018, #OctoberIs4Livers is the only global campaign working to enhance public education and improve liver health...
Tossed Medicine, Delayed Housing: How Homeless Sweeps Are Thwarting Medicaid’s Goals
Andrew Douglass shoved his clothes and belongings into plastic trash bags as five police officers surrounded his encampment — a drab gray tent overflowing along a bustling sidewalk in the gritty Tenderloin neighborhood, where homeless people lie sprawled on public sidewalks, sometimes in drug overdoses. Officers gave him a...
Vance Rewrites History About Trump and Obamacare
Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) on September 15 told viewers of NBC’s “Meet the Press” that former President Donald Trump built up the Affordable Care Act, even though Trump could have chosen to do the opposite. “Donald Trump had two choices,” Vance, Trump’s running mate, said. “He could...
National Organ Transplant System to End Contract Monopoly
In a historic step to modernize the United States’ organ transplant system and end the current contract monopoly, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced the first-ever multivendor contract awards, according to an HHS news release. This marks the...
As Interest From Families Wanes, Pediatricians Scale Back on COVID Shots
When pediatrician Eric Ball opened a refrigerator full of childhood vaccines, all the expected shots were there — DTaP, polio, pneumococcal vaccine — except one. “This is where we usually store our COVID vaccines, but we don’t have any right now because they all expired at the end of last year and we had to dispose of them,” said Ball, who is part of a pediatric practice in Orange County, California.
FDA Approves Nasal Spray Influenza Vaccine for Self or Caregiver Administration
[On September 20], the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved FluMist for self- or caregiver administration. FluMist is approved for the prevention of influenza disease caused by influenza virus subtypes A and B in individuals 2 through 49 years of age. FluMist is sprayed into the nose and has been...
Liver Cancer Screening Improved Survival for Adults Cured of Hep C
Ongoing liver cancer screening for older people with cirrhosis after they are cured of hepatitis C virus (HCV) leads to improved overall survival rates, according to a Yale School of Medicine study. In the United States, an estimated 2.4 million people are living with HCV, a known cause of hepatocellular...
Biden-Harris Administration Issues Proposed Rule to Expand Access to Life-Saving Organs for People with HIV
Today [September 12], the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH) and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), announce a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to amend the regulations implementing the National Organ Transplant Act of 1984. “All across...
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Hep is the go-to sources for educational and social support for people living with liver diseases like hepatitis C, hepatitis B, hepatitis A and NASH. Launched in 2010, the website is devoted to combating the stigma and isolation surrounding liver diseases, and offers news, in-depth reporting, educational tools, care resources, and peer-to-peer networking.
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