Category: Negative news

New drug for and 2nd and 3rd line treatment of Kidney cancer

Advanced Kidney cancer can be kept under control for long periods with current treatments.

Combination of immunotherapy and agents targeting VEGF are commonly used in 1st line treatment of advanced Kidney cancers.

For those patients who cancers stop responding to these above treatments, there is good news.

A new agent targeting cancers in a different way has become available recently and updated results are very encouraging.

This new drug called Belzutifan targets a different weak spot in the cancer. Belzutifan has shown better cancer control rates when compared to another drug called Everolimus.

Belzutifan results are being presented at ESMO congress in Barcelona

Belzutifan will become a standard of care in this setting now

Reference

ESMO news. Belzutifan Shows a Significant Benefit Over Everolimus in Patients with Advanced Clear Cell RCC After Both ICI and Antiangiogenic Therapies

NEJM Belzutifan versus Everolimus for Advanced Renal-Cell Carcinoma

Disclaimer: Please note – This blog is NOT medical advice. This blog is NOT a expert medical opinion on various topics. This blog is purely for information only and do check the sources where cited. Please DO consult your own doctor to discuss concerns and options relevant to you. The views expressed in this blog are NOT, in any way whatsoever, intended to be a substitute for professional advice. The blog is NOT previewed, commissioned or otherwise endorsed, in any way, by any organisation that the author is associated with. The views expressed in this blog likely represents some of the author’s personal views held at the time of drafting the blog and MAY CHANGE overtime, particularly when new evidence comes to light.

Is over thinking and over sharing negative events – bad for mental health ?

Yes, a recent study suggests that contrary to popular opinion, trying to forget bad news is better than openly talking about it.

More than 50 years back, many people particularly, British people were advised to keep a stiff upper lip and carry on with their life and not dwell or over share their negative experiences. Then came the American way of Psychotherapy which encouraged everyone to talk about bad things that happened to them.

Men, in particular, were also encouraged to openly talk about their emotions. This was widely accepted as the right thing to do by almost all psychologists and psychiatrists.

Contrary to this widely accepted view, now a new study has shown that the old British stiff upper lip of keeping your emotions in check and carrying on with life is probably better.

The British Royal family, particularly, the Late queen was often accused of not showing enough emotions in Public. This study proves that she is probably right and is having the last laugh !!

So it may be perfectly reasonable not to talk and dwell on bad news and getting on with life.

Mentally suppressing bad news may be not be harmful. Pushing away bad memories can fade them and improve your mental health.

Obviously, one cannot read too much into one study and we have to hope that other studies would confirm or refute this study.

References

Telegraph: A stiff upper lip could make you happier. 21 Sept 2023.

Scientific American. Suppressing an Onrush of Toxic Thoughts Might Improve Your Mental Health.

Science Daily. Suppressing negative thoughts may be good for mental health after all, study suggests.

Can Therapy Be Harmful? 2021.

NHS PTSD treatment

Journal Reference:

2023: Zulkayda Mamat, Michael C. Anderson. Improving mental health by training the suppression of unwanted thoughts. Science Advances, 2023; 9 (38) DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adh5292

2015: Steenkamp MM, Litz BT, Hoge CW, Marmar CR. Psychotherapy for Military-Related PTSD: A Review of Randomized Clinical Trials. JAMA. 2015 Aug 4;314(5):489-500. doi: 10.1001/jama.2015.8370. PMID: 26241600.

2009: Berk, M., & Parker, G. (2009). The Elephant on the Couch: Side-Effects of Psychotherapy. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 43(9), 787–794. https://doi.org/10.1080/00048670903107559

Disclaimer: Please note- This blog is NOT medical advice. This blog is NOT a expert medical opinion on various topics. This blog is purely for information only and do check the sources where cited. Please DO consult your own doctor to discuss concerns and options relevant to you. The views expressed in this blog represent the author’s personal views held at the time of drafting the blog and may change overtime, particularly when new evidence comes to light. The blog is NOT previewed, commissioned or otherwise endorsed by any organisation that the author is associated with. The views expressed in this blog are NOT, in way whatsoever, intended to be a substitute for professional advice.

Coffee and dementia: Good or bad ?

Bad !

According to a recent large study which analysed ‘habitual coffee consumption in 398,646 UK Biobank participants aged 37–73 years’.

The study found that “High coffee consumption was associated with smaller total brain volumes and increased odds of dementia”.

In particular, consumption of >6 cups/day was associated with 53% higher odds of dementia compared to consumption of 1–2 cups/day.

A word of caution applies to all ‘food and disease’ association reports. Almost every week there are newspaper reports of studies exploring associations between “various food/drink” with “various diseases”. Some of them are conflicting and confusing with a positive study followed by a negative study !

This study report is no different in that respect.

A previous review published in 2017 concluded that ‘Drinking Coffee was often associated with Health benefits than harm for a range of health outcomes’.

The 2017 review in particular concluded that ‘Coffee consumption reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease’.

So how to make sense of these two conflicting study reports ?

A 2021 negative report versus a 2017 positive report.

One can look for quality of studies, pedigree of authors and further confirmatory studies .

But there are no easy answers.

Everything in moderation is perhaps the most sensible thing when it comes to Food and Drink.

References

High coffee consumption, brain volume and risk of dementia and stroke. Nutritional Neuroscience.
An International Journal on Nutrition, Diet and Nervous System. Published online: 24 Jun 2021
https://doi.org/10.1080/1028415X.2021.1945858

BMJ Minerva.
Calcification in arteries . . . and other stories
BMJ 2021; 374 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n1901 (Published 05 August 2021)
Cite this as: BMJ 2021;374:n1901

BMJ. Coffee consumption and health: umbrella review of meta-analyses of multiple health outcomes
BMJ 2017; 359 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.j5024 (Published 22 November 2017)
Cite this as: BMJ 2017;359:j5024

Disclaimer: Please note – This blog is NOT medical advice. This blog is NOT a expert medical opinion on various topics. This blog is purely for information only and do check the sources where cited. Please DO consult your own doctor to discuss concerns and options relevant to you. The views expressed in this blog are NOT, in way whatsoever, intended to be a substitute for professional advice. The blog is NOT previewed, commissioned or otherwise endorsed, in any way, by any organisation that the author is associated with. The views expressed in this blog likely represents some of the author’s personal views held at the time of drafting the blog and MAY CHANGE overtime, particularly when new evidence comes to light.