Researchers at Yale School of Medicine have successfully treated patients with moderate to severe eczema using a rheumatoid arthritis drug recently shown to reverse two other disfiguring skin conditions, vitiligo and alopecia areata. The study is evidence of a potential new era in eczema treatment, they report.

Eczema (atopic dermatitis) is a chronic condition that causes severe itching and leaves the skin red and thickened. It can adversely affect sleep and quality of life. Standard treatments, such as steroid creams and oral medicines, commonly fail to relieve symptoms in patients with moderate to severe eczema.

Based on current scientific models of eczema biology, assistant professor of dermatology Dr. Brett King hypothesized that a drug approved for rheumatoid arthritis, tofacitinib citrate, would interrupt the immune response that causes eczema.

In the new study, King and his colleagues report that treatment with the drug led to dramatic improvement in six patients with moderate to severe eczema who had previously tried conventional therapies without success.

During treatment all six patients reported significant reduction in itch as well as improved sleep. The redness and thickening of the skin diminished, also.

King and fellow Yale dermatologist Dr. Brittany Craiglow had previously shown that tofacitinib citrate regrows hair in patients with an autoimmune-related form of hair loss called alopecia areata. They also published findings reporting the successful treatment of a patient with vitiligo, which can leave widespread irregular white patches all over the body.

The new study suggests that a change in the standard of care for eczema

If you are over age 75, and taking an anticoagulant, the old standard may be the gold standard, Mayo Clinic researchers and collaborators have determined.

In a study a team of researchers from Mayo Clinic, and other collaborators, showed that for older patients, particularly individuals greater than 75 years of age,  the risk of gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding is 3 to 5 times higher when taking newer anticoagulant medications dabigatran or rivaroxaban compared to when using warfarin.

One of the most common reasons people take anticoagulant medication

Carestream is partnering with leading orthopedic and sports medicine specialists to develop a new three-dimensional medical imaging system (not available for commercial sale) for capturing images of patient extremities (knees, legs, feet, arms and hands). Initial clinical studies will focus on the advantages of using cone beam CT (CBCT) technology in the diagnosis and treatment of knee injuries. This system is designed for use by orthopedic surgeons. Imaging systems based on CBCT technology for use in treating orthopedic conditions

A new study at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has linked two seemingly unrelated cancer treatments that are both now being tested in clinical trials.

One treatment is a vaccine that targets a structure on the outside of cancer cells, while the other is an altered enzyme that breaks apart RNA and causes the cell to commit suicide.

The new understanding could help both approaches, says UW-Madison professor of biochemistry Ronald Raines, who has long studied ribonucleases

Lightly stimulating the brain with electricity may improve short-term memory in people with schizophrenia, according to a new study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

The procedure, known as transcranial direct current stimulation, involves placing sponge-covered electrodes on the head and passing a weak electrical current between them. It is widely regarded as safe, and the procedure is being studied as a treatment for depression and Alzheimer