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THURSDAY, Sept. 15, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Skin cancer patients appear to fare better if they receive immunotherapy before their cancers are surgically removed, a pair of clinical trials show.In fact, some do so well that their immune system essentially dissolves their tumors, potentially removing the need for surgery, researchers said.About half of skin cancer patients who received the immunotherapy drug cemiplimab (Libtayo) had a complete response to the medication, meaning doctors could find no cancer cells left at the tumor site following the advance treatment, according to one of the clinical trials.Additionally, two patients were able to keep an eye because advance immunotherapy reduced the tumor size and allowed for less extensive surgery, said lead researcher Dr. Neil Gross,...

THURSDAY, Sept. 15, 2022 (American Heart Association News) -- One Sunday morning at church, Alejandra Rosales Murillo and her four sisters were sitting with their parents when one of the girls noticed their father's face was drooping.She whispered the news to their mom, Maria Rosales Murillo. She leaned toward her husband, Jose Rosales Campos, and asked if something was wrong."It's probably Bell's palsy again," he said. A year earlier, he'd had a short bout with the condition, which can cause temporary facial weakness.As the information was whispered to each member of the family, the commotion caught the attention of a guest preacher. He stopped his sermon to ask if everything was OK. Jose nodded yes. The preacher then led the congregation in a prayer for Jose and cut the service...

THURSDAY, Sept. 15, 2022 (HealthDay News) – The end of the COVID-19 pandemic is in sight, the leader of the World Health Organization declared Wednesday, with deaths at their lowest level worldwide since the new coronavirus first began to spread in March 2020.However, the death rate is relatively flat and not yet at their lowest level in the United States, experts note. About 11,000 people around the world died from COVID during the week of Sept. 5 through Sept. 11. That was a drop of 22% from the previous week, the WHO reported. Weekly case numbers also fell the previous week, by 28%, to about 3.1 million. "We have never been in a better position to end the pandemic," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during a Wednesday briefing. "We are not there yet, but the end...

THURSDAY, Sept. 15, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Professional fighters take a lot of knocks to the head, but a new study suggests they may find themselves thinking more clearly again after they retire.Many studies have pointed to the perils of repeated blows to the head in sports like boxing and football. Repetitive head impacts, as researchers call them, can damage the brain and eventually cause problems ranging from dimmed memory and concentration to chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).CTE is an incurable, progressive form of brain degeneration that can cause memory loss, confusion, and mood and behavioral problems like depression, anxiety and aggression. It was first described a century ago in boxers, when it was dubbed "punch drunk syndrome."These days, it's recognized that...