(BPT) - Rare diseases have long been difficult for doctors to diagnose and treat. Symptoms can be vague or confusing and the diseases are often not widely known. People living with rare diseases called primary immunodeficiencies (PIDs), including neutropenia, face challenges with diagnosis and treatment. Their journey to find answers may include years of infections and illness that seem to be unrelated. In fact, there are more than 400 genetic mutations that cause the immune system not to function properly, and misdiagnosis is common. A new website called www.IDYourPID.com harnesses the power of genetic testing advances to change that.
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How to navigate the likelihood ratios for mitral regurgitation presented by the physical exam, particularly auscultation, are the focus of this episode of AP Cardiology with host Andrew Perry, MD, joined by Shreyas Venkataraman, MBBS, of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and its Barnes-Jewish Hospital.
A transcript of the podcast episode follows:
Perry: Hi, everyone. Andrew here. Today is a continuation of the physical exam series with Shreyas Venkataraman, an internal medicine resident at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis. You will remember Shreyas from a previous episode discussing the physical exam related to aortic stenosis. Today we will be focusing on mitral regurgitation.
Image: Alamy
India, the world’s largest vaccine producer, is heading for an unusual problem of plenty with Covid-19 vaccines. At least 20 different Covid-19 vaccines are in various stages of development in the country while vaccine manufacturers have built a massive annual capacity exceeding 3 billion doses. Top industry officials predict that the prices of the vaccines are likely to crash in the next few months.
“Post June, the Covid-19 vaccine market is going to be like a sanitiser market. There will be too many vaccines available, and nobody would need to wait in a queue. It is going to be a problem of plenty,” says Dr Hemanth Nandigala, managing director of Virchow Biotech, a vaccine maker.
Scientists are researching the potential role a common antidepressant called fluvoxamine could play in preventing severe illness and lung damage in COVID-19 patients.
Qiankun Wang
A new study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis describes a strategy that could lead to therapies for clearing HIV infection. The video clip shows human immune cells. Those glowing green are infected with HIV. An important HIV protein is normally inactive when inside the cells. But when treated with a drug that activates the protein, tripping a newly identified natural alarm system that can detect the active protein, the infected cells self-destruct. The green glow, which labels the virus, disappears as the cells collapse over several hours in this time-lapse video.
Treatment for HIV has improved tremendously over the past 30 years; once a death sentence, the disease is now a manageable lifelong condition in many parts of the world. Life expectancy is about the same as that of individuals without HIV, though patients must adhere to a strict regimen of daily antiretroviral therapy, or the virus will come out of hiding and reactivate. Antiretrovir