Recurrence

• Data Summaries from Key Studies:
  Subgroup Analyses from the TIMELESS Trial, by Gregory Albers, M.D., presented and simultaneously published in the NEJM.
• Key imaging criteria: target mismatch ratio of ≥1.8, mismatch volume of ≥15 mL, and ischemic core volume
• Data showed a median reduction of 30 minutes per patient from door-to-mechanical thrombectomy (MT) after the integration of RapidAI.
• “In the world of AI, clinical validation is paramount to instill confidence in clinician decision-making,” said Karim Karti, CEO of RapidAI.

• The paper demonstrates how agreement-level data can be used to study drivers of aggregate negotiated wage growth, as well as monitor the breadth of wage increases and account for time-varying factors such as one-off payments, when assessing wage pressures.
• Lastly, the paper shows that the new indicators can provide reliable signals about current and future developments of wage pressures in the euro area while also serving as important cross-checking tools for negotiated wage growth forecasts.

• Around one in seven Australians take antidepressants; more than 3.5 million of us had them dispensed in 2021–22.
• Guidelines mostly recommend antidepressants for more severe depression and anxiety but not as first-line treatment for less severe depression.
• So why are so many Australians taking antidepressants and why are prescriptions rising?

Enter the antidepressant ‘blockbusters’

• In the 1990s, pharmaceutical companies heavily promoted new selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) antidepressants, including Prozac (fluoxetine), Zoloft (sertraline) and Lexapro (escitalopram).
• These drugs were thought to be less dangerous in overdoses and seemed to have fewer side effects than the tricyclic antidepressants they replaced.
• Pharmaceutical companies marketed SSRIs energetically and often exaggerated their benefits, including by paying “key opinion leaders” – high-status clinicians to promote them.

Why are antidepressants prescribed?

• GPs also prescribe antidepressants to patients experiencing distress but who don’t have a psychiatric diagnosis.
• Another, who cried when informed she had breast cancer, was immediately offered a prescription for antidepressants.

• Most patients believe antidepressants restore a chemical imbalance that underpins depression.
• Antidepressants are emotional (and sexual) numbing agents – sometimes sedating, sometimes energising.
• Around half of users have impaired sexual function and for some, this sexual dysfunction persists after stopping antidepressants.

How long do people take antidepressants?

• Around half of patients who start antidepressants don’t like them and stop within weeks.
• Of those who do take them for months, many continue to use them indefinitely, often for many years.
• Read more:
  Antidepressants can cause withdrawal symptoms – here’s what you need to know

We need to adjust how we view mental distress

• Overprescribing antidepressants is a symptom of our lack of attention to the social determinants of mental health.
• GPs also need to ensure they discuss with their patients the potential adverse effects of antidepressants, and when and how to safely stop them.
• But the fundamental problem is social and can only be properly addressed by meaningfully addressing inequality and changing community attitudes to distress.

Jon Jureidini receives research funding from MMRF. He is affiliated with Critical Psychiatry Network Australasia.

• SEATTLE, Feb. 07, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Atossa Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATOS), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing innovative medicines in areas of significant unmet medical need in oncology with a focus on breast cancer, today announced that the (Z)-endoxifen arm of the ongoing Phase 2 I-SPY 2 clinical trial has fully enrolled.
• In the study, (Z)-endoxifen, Atossa’s proprietary Selective Estrogen Receptor Modulator (SERM), is being evaluated as a neoadjuvant treatment for newly diagnosed estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) invasive breast cancer.
• “Estrogen receptor positive breast cancer accounts for over 80% of all breast cancer diagnoses and unfortunately, the current neoadjuvant treatment options for these patients are sub-optimal.
• The (Z)-endoxifen treatment arm, which enrolled 20 patients, is part of the I-SPY 2 Endocrine Optimization Pilot Protocol (EOP).