Internal Medicine Alert – November 15, 2020
November 15, 2020
View Archives Issues
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Antibiotic Use in COVID-19 Patients
Fifty-seven percent of patients with COVID-19 infection treated at 38 hospitals in Michigan received early empiric antibiotics, although researchers documented community-onset bacterial coinfection in only 3.5%.
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Oral Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide Antagonist for Migraine Prevention
Atogepant, an oral calcitonin gene-related peptide antagonist, was shown to be effective and safe for migraine prevention.
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Auditory Startle Response as a Predictor of Recovery from Coma
Preserved habituation of the auditory startle response, performed bedside, indicates intact cortical structures and cortico-cortical white matter tract connections. Preservation of this reaction in patients with unresponsive wakefulness can help distinguish the vegetative state from minimally conscious state and may even predict eventual awakening.
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Gut Microbiome in Patients at Risk for Parkinson’s Disease
Certain risk factors and prodromal markers of Parkinson’s disease (PD), such as constipation and rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder, are associated with specific bacterial compositions of the gut. However, the value of gut microbiome data to predict the risk of PD development needs further investigation.
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COVID-19 Vaccine Update
There are dozens of vaccine candidates undergoing investigation in human and animal trials. Only a few have reached Phase III testing. This is a closer look at those.
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Is There Right Ventricular Strain or Acute Pulmonary Embolism?
The ECG in the figure was obtained from a middle-age woman who presented with new dyspnea. Is the T wave inversion in the inferior leads a reflection of right ventricular “strain” from acute pulmonary embolism? If not, what else might cause these ECG findings?