From JAMA Cardiol ogy: A centralized, population health coordinator-led notification and clinical support pathway improved the initiation of antihypertensive therapy in patients with left ventricular hypertrophy.

Despite the recognition that poorly controlled hypertension leads to adverse cardiovascular events, there are often barriers in care systems that contribute to substandard recognition and treatment.¹⁹ Notably, prior work employing trained nonphysicians focused on closing gaps in cardiovascular disease management has yielded significant improvements in disease-specific metrics using remote, centralized interventions.^20-25 Similarly, there is a growing body of evidence demonstrating the effectiveness of clinician-directed support systems—often in the form of “nudges”—that have made meaningful advances in a variety of clinical outcomes.^26,27 Whether a methodologic approach combining clinician nudges with the support of trained nonphysicians can be applied to LVH-associated diseases—including hypertension—is unknown.

Accordingly, the NOTIFY-LVH pragmatic randomized clinical trial²⁸ sought to determine whether potentially underutilized echocardiogram data could be leveraged to improve patient care by augmenting the traditional ambulatory care framework. Specifically, this study tested whether a centralized clinical support pathway targeting clinicians of patients with LVH on their prior echocardiograms would increase the rate of treatment for hypertension and the earlier diagnosis of LVH-associated diseases.

Cases of the fungal infection Candida auris are rising rapidly and coming from more sources too, a new US study reveals.

C. auris was first reported in the US in 2016 and is considered an “urgent antimicrobial resistance threat” in hospitals, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Focusing on a large health system in Miami, Florida, the new research found that reported clinical cases had risen from 5 in 2019 to 115 in 2023 – a considerable jump of 2,200 percent in four years.

Investigators at Mass General Brigham have uncovered how resistance to chemotherapies may occur in some cancers. Researchers focused on a pathway that harnesses reactive oxygen species (ROS) to kill cancer cells. The study found that mutations to VPS35, a key player in this pathway, can prevent chemotherapy-induced cell death. These results, published in Nature, could help pinpoint treatment-resistant tumors.

“ROS play an important role in healthy and diseased cells, but pathways that sense and control cellular ROS levels are not well understood,” said corresponding author Liron Bar-Peled, Ph.D., of the Krantz Family Center for Cancer Research at Mass General Cancer Center (MGCC), a member of the Mass General Brigham health care system. “A clearer understanding of ROS could help us understand why chemoresistance occurs in some cases.”

Low concentrations of ROS are required for normal cell signaling, but higher levels of ROS can damage cells and contribute to diseases such as cancer and neurodegeneration. Researchers know that mitochondria play an important role in ROS production, but it has been unclear if ROS-sensing proteins influence the mitochondria. If they do, this could impact responses to some anti-cancer treatments.