New UK CMO activity guidelines show every movement counts - GOV.UK

For the Cook Islands, emergencies do not always happen close to the capital. A cyclone, disease outbreak, or emergency can affect communities in the Pa Enua (outer islands), separated by hundreds of kilometres of ocean. When that happens, having the capacity to quickly deploy trained personnel, equipment, and supplies to provide an initial clinical response is essential. That is why the Cook Islands Medical Assistance Team (KukiMAT), the emergency medical team arm of Te Marae Ora (TMO) – Cook Islands Ministry of Health, has been steadily building its readiness to respond. Made up of doctors, nurses, public health professionals and support personnel, the team is preparing to be able to rapidly deploy wherever help is needed, whether in Rarotonga, the Pa Enua, and one day perhaps beyond the country’s shores. In Rarotonga, we met with Dr Deacon Teapa, Medical Specialist and Director of Hospital Health Services at TMO. He explained how important it was to build the capacity of their team to be able to respond to disasters and emergencies. He acknowledged the support of the World Health Organization (WHO) and other partners including the New Zealand Medical Assistance Team (NZMAT).

Bioengineer.org news storyFor people living with HIV, modern antiretroviral therapy can suppress the virus to levels below what standard laboratory tests can detect. Yet some patients on long-term treatment experience a curious phenomenon: a single test result showing a small, transient amount of virus in the blood, followed by an immediate return to undetectable levels. These events, known as viral blips, have puzzled clinicians and researchers for years, raising questions about whether they represent harmless statistical noise, brief bursts of viral production from hidden reservoirs, or early warnings of impending treatment failure. A new nationwide Swedish study, published in BMC Infectious Diseases, offers one of the most comprehensive answers to date. Drawing on the Swedish national InfCareHIV cohort, researchers analyzed data from 4,210 treatment-naïve adults who began antiretroviral therapy from 1 January 2007 onward, with follow-up data extracted through 30 September 2020. The median observation time was 5.5 years, with some individuals followed for as long as 13.7 years.

European Medical Journal news storyPeople living with HIV may experience subtle changes in heart muscle function even when conventional measures of cardiac performance remain normal, according to findings from a systematic review and meta-analysis. Researchers identified significantly impaired global longitudinal strain (GLS) among people with HIV compared with HIV-uninfected individuals, despite preserved left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) in both groups. The findings suggest that speckle-tracking echocardiography (STE) could provide additional information about early myocardial dysfunction in this population. Read the full news story here.

Among cancer patients, the high financial cost of cancer care is a prevalent problem. This financial burden is also associated with potentially harmful behavioral strategies that patients might use to cope with costs, such as delaying or forgoing treatment and skipping medications. Collectively, researchers refer to this impact as financial toxicity.