FRIDAY, June 2, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- A new liver dialysis device might soon be able to save patients on the edge of death from liver failure, early clinical trial results show.The DIALIVE device safely improved organ function and alleviated symptoms in patients with acute-on-chronic liver failure, compared with others receiving standard care, the researchers reported.If the device proves out in a larger trial, it could provide patients with liver failure a lifeline at a time of immediate danger, said senior researcher Dr. Rajiv Jalan, a professor of hepatology at University College London (UCL), in the United Kingdom.“Liver failure is potentially reversible as the liver has enormous capacity for regeneration,” Jalan said. “Therefore, the aim of a liver dialysis machine is to...

FRIDAY, June 2, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Medicare will soon cover a new class of Alzheimer's drugs if they receive full approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, with some key limits.Along with being full approved, drug makers will also have to gather and keep data in a registry showing how the drugs are working in the real world, the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced Thursday.““Alzheimer’s disease takes a toll on not just the people suffering from the disease but also on their loved ones and caregivers in a way that almost no other illness does. CMS has always been committed to helping people obtain timely access to innovative treatments that meaningfully improve care and outcomes for this disease,” CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure...

FRIDAY, June 2, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- It may not be necessary for people who have prolapse surgery for pelvic floor disorders to wait to get started exercising again.A new study challenges standard restrictions, finding that those who resume exercising soon after the procedure do just as well as those who wait several weeks.“This study is a paradigm shift for urogynecologists — it is practice changing,” said senior study author Dr. Matthew Barber, chair of obstetrics and gynecology at Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, N.C. “For decades, surgeons have been instructing patients to avoid activity after reconstructive surgery, and we now know that is unnecessary,” Barber said in a Duke news release.“The findings of this study are consistent with trials in other...

FRIDAY, June 2, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Genetic mutations caused this latest bird flu season to become more severe, increasing the risk it poses to humans and other mammals, a new study finds.The H5N1 avian influenza virus gained the ability to severely infect the brains of mammalian test subjects like ferrets, researchers with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital found.That’s a notable departure from previous strains of the virus, the researchers said.“We haven’t seen a virus quite like this one,” said lead researcher Richard Webby, with the St. Jude department of infectious diseases, in Memphis, Tenn. “In 24 years of tracing this particular H5N1 flu lineage, we haven’t seen this ability to cause disease but also be maintained in these wild bird populations.”The H5N1...