A new study shows that receiving an updated COVID vaccine reduced people’s risk of severe disease and death in all age groups.
💉Reduced people’s risk of ER by 29%
💉Reduced risk of hospitalisations by 39%
💉Reduced the risk of death by 64%
💉Vaccination was effective in all age groups and “in persons with or without major chronic conditions.”
Just 21 percent of the adult U.S. population got vaccinated against COVID last year—a proportion that has been steadily declining. With less vaccine-induced immunity, Perlman says, more people “would benefit even more from getting vaccinated this year.”
Immune-checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) confer remarkably durable clinical benefit in many patients with DNA mismatch repair-deficient (MMRd) tumours.
MMRd tumours are thought to be responsive to ICIs because they harbour many single-base substitutions and frameshift mutations, which, if expressed, have the potential to encode tumour-specific immunogenic neoantigens.
Immune-mediated killing of MMRd cancer cells can be orchestrated by various effector cells, enabling MMRd tumours to respond to ICIs despite major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I loss.
Most patients with MMRd tumours derive benefit from ICIs, although a substantial number have primary resistance and many more develop acquired resistance.
Many potential predictors of response and resistance to ICIs are under active investigation, but none are currently ready for clinical implementation.
The accurate diagnosis of MMRd status is an important determinant of ICI response. This is best achieved through a multimodal approach that involves immunohistochemical analysis of mismatch repair protein expression and microsatellite profiling.
MMRd seems to be acquired early during oncogenesis and is followed by the progressive accumulation of mutations and neoantigens, which ultimately predispose to immune sensitivity.
Ideally, all patient care should be patient-centred, focusing on individual preferences, needs, and values, but the term “patient-centred care” highlights a shift from older, more physician-driven models to a partnership where the patient is a key decision-maker. This approach ensures care is coordinated, respectful, and empowering, leading to better patient satisfaction and health outcomes.
What Patient-Centred Care Entails
Respect for Values and Needs: Healthcare professionals respect and respond to a patient’s unique values, preferences, and needs.
Shared Decision-Making: Patients are actively involved in care planning and decisions, rather than having a one-size-fits-all solution imposed on them.
Holistic Approach: Care extends beyond symptoms to include emotional, social, and spiritual concerns, recognising the whole person.
Clear Communication: Information is shared clearly and openly, enabling patients to be informed and engaged.
Coordination and Integration: Care is coordinated across different providers and settings to ensure a seamless experience.
Why It’s a Shift from the Past
Past vs. Present: Historically, healthcare often followed routines and practices deemed most appropriate by professionals, with patients expected to conform.
Empowerment: Patient-centred care empowers individuals, giving them a say in their health and promoting greater responsibility for their well-being.
Benefits of Patient-Centred Care
Improved Outcomes: Patients who are more engaged and informed tend to have better health outcomes.
Increased Satisfaction: Patients are more likely to be satisfied with their care when they feel their needs and preferences are met.
Enhanced Engagement: Patients feel more motivated to make healthy lifestyle choices when they are active participants in their care.
Greater Independence: By enhancing the quality of care, patients can often remain independent for longer.
About 5–20% of patients who undergo colonoscopy, in the days and weeks following the procedure, develop various symptoms (abdominal pain, bloating, and bowel alteration) mainly related to dysbiosis(imbalance in bacterial composition) induced by the propaedeutic intestinal preparation.
Conclusion: more prospective multi-arm case-control studies on large case series are certainly needed to establish the real efficacy and necessity of probiotic treatments after colonoscopy. There is a wide variability of proposed treatments that have not been compared with each other and no cost-effectiveness analysis is yet available in the literature. Therefore, we are still far from being able to suggest a routine probiotics treatment after colonoscopy.
If you live with Lynch syndrome, regular bowel screening is one of the most effective ways to reduce your risk of bowel (colorectal) cancer and catch problems early. The NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme has produced a clear, plain-English leaflet, Helping You Decide, to walk you through the offer and help you choose what’s right for you.
Why we offer colonoscopies to people with Lynch syndrome
For people with Lynch syndrome, regular screening by having a colonoscopy has been shown to reduce the chance of becoming seriously ill or dying from bowel cancer, as well as reducing the chance of bowel cancer developing in the first place.
This is because screening through a colonoscopy can detect bowel cancer when it is at an early stage when treatment is more likely to be effective. It can also help to find polyps. These are small growths on the lining of the bowel. Polyps are not cancers but may develop into cancers over time. Polyps can be easily removed, which reduces the risk of bowel cancer developing.
Your clinical genetics team will continue to help you manage your other Lynch syndrome needs and risks (such as gynae and skin checks).
Systems reward efficiency, clinicians are pressed for time, and communication is often reduced to extracting the minimum information needed to move forward.
Listening may seem simple, but in practice it is fragile. Systems reward speed, clinicians are pressed for time, and patients quickly learn when their voice is secondary.
For patients, listening is never a “soft skill.” It is the difference between being treated as a case and being recognised as a person. It is the thread that connects trust, safety, and healing.
For patients, listening isn’t an extra. It isthe care.
New UK Cancer Genetics Group(UKCGG) gene specific guidance to incorporate updated advice about risk-reducing aspirin. For families with Lynch syndrome.
Treating disease without attending to illness may succeed clinically but fail humanly. To practise medicine is not only to chart what the body endures, but to bear witness to what the person carries—and to recognise that both records belong in the same story.
Lynch Syndrome Ireland 