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What arrives every Monday

These are real briefings CureSpy wrote for the week of 27 Sep – 3 Oct, for four of the conditions people follow: three with news, and one quiet week, which says so. Every sentence ends in its sources; open "See sources" under each to check them.

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Breast Neoplasms

27 Sep – 3 Oct

Checked Monday, October 5: 366 new research papers, results from 11 studies, and the US and EU medicine regulators.

Medicines aimed at what drives a cancer held it back for months

Three late-stage studies held advanced breast cancer back for longer. [1] [2] [3] In HER2-positive cancer, tucatinib was given on top of trastuzumab and pertuzumab. [1] It held the cancer back for 24.9 months, against 16.3 without it. [1] Serious side effects were more common: 55 of 326 people against 26 of 324. [1] The second was in ER-positive, HER2-negative cancer with an ESR1 change. [2] Giredestrant plus everolimus gave 10.0 months before growth, against 5.5. [2] The third was HER2-positive and had spread to the liver. [3] Disitamab vedotin gave 9.9 months, against 4.9 with lapatinib and capecitabine. [3]

After the breast is removed, three weeks of radiation matched five. [4] At ten years, cancer came back nearby in 12.0% against 10.3%, with severe harm rare in both. [4] Another took 196 people whose cancer had reached the brain. [5] It set targeted radiation against whole-brain radiation that spared the memory centre. [5] Six months on, the targeted group reported slightly fewer symptoms. [5]

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Smaller updates

  • Among women with extremely dense breasts, a reminder to the doctor got an MRI ordered for 145 of 359, against 81 of 343 with no reminder. [6]
  • Given before surgery for early HER2-negative cancer with a BRCA change, olaparib left no cancer to find in 68.0% of 25 women; with durvalumab added, 80.0% of 25. [7]
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Dementia

27 Sep – 3 Oct

Checked Monday, October 5: 396 new research papers, results from 2 studies, and the US and EU medicine regulators.

Pooled trials put small gains from antibody drugs beside brain-scan risks

Two pooled studies weighed the anti-amyloid antibody drugs for early Alzheimer's disease. [1] [2] They set gains for thinking against harm seen on brain scans. [1] [2] Across seven trials, aducanumab, lecanemab and donanemab slowed decline. [1] The gain was so small that a person may not notice it. [1] Brain swelling on scans, called ARIA, affected 23.9% of people on treatment against 1.9% on a dummy treatment. [1] A second review of 21 trials put it lower, at 5.4%, and mostly without symptoms. [2] Two copies of ApoE 4 raised the risk most. [2]

Help that is not a drug was pooled too. [3] [4] [5] Across twelve trials, teaching and skills programmes for family carers lowered their burden. [3] In 19 trials, adding exercise or gentle brain stimulation to memory training helped thinking and mood more than one alone. [4] A gentle scalp current, tACS, improved memory right after sessions in nine trials. [5] The gain did not last to follow-up. [5]

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Smaller updates

  • A study of dexmedetomidine for agitation in dementia stopped early for business reasons after 13 people had joined, so its posted results say little. [6]
  • In a 16-year Swedish study of 2993 older adults, more greenery within 100 metres of home went with fewer dementia diagnoses, most clearly in women. [7]
  • Eight weeks of supervised exercise, three times a week, built leg strength in 12 care-home residents with Alzheimer's as well as in 11 without. [8]
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Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1

27 Sep – 3 Oct

Checked Monday, October 5: 78 new research papers and the US and EU medicine regulators.

Low-dose IL-2 failed to protect insulin cells; automated insulin helped every age

Two studies tried to calm the immune attack behind type 1 diabetes. [1] [2] In 141 people diagnosed within three months, a year of low-dose interleukin-2 did not protect their insulin-making cells. [1] In a first small trial, 18 people were given a stem-cell infusion or a dummy one. [3] At 12 weeks they had better insulin-cell function and needed less insulin. [3] In high-risk children carrying the HLA-DR3-DQ2 pattern, two GAD-alum injections put off diagnosis. [2] The median wait was 9.0 years, against 3.4 with a dummy treatment. [2]

Automated insulin kept proving itself. [4] [5] [6] Pooling twenty-three studies in older or high-risk adults, time in range rose by 11.38%, about 2.7 hours a day. [4] In children under seven, three trials showed time in range rose 9.95% with no rise in ketoacidosis or severe lows. [5] In teens, a two-hormone system that needs no input from them lifted time in range from 61.3% to 74.9%. [6]

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Smaller updates

  • In 198 young people in Canada, open-source insulin systems built by the diabetes community matched a commercial one on blood-sugar control over 18 months. [7]
  • For young people whose blood sugar stayed high, monthly video visits tended to lower it more than remote data review, though nearly half dropped out. [8]
  • A New Zealand study of 315,789 children linked antibiotic courses in pregnancy and early childhood to a higher chance of type 1 diabetes, though the overall risk stayed small. [9]
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Progeria

27 Sep – 3 Oct

There were no significant new developments in Progeria this week. We'll keep monitoring the field and update you again in 7 days.

Checked Monday, October 5: 2 new research papers and the US and EU medicine regulators.

In lab-grown tissue, one edit to the DNA removed progerin, and the cells could fix damage again. [1] A second lab study found two tiny bits of RNA, sent out by cells in small bubbles, eased signs of ageing in blood-vessel cells. [2]

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