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In adults with chronic hepatitis B infection receiving viral suppression therapy, coupling an investigational small interfering RNA therapy with an immunomodulator led to substantial declines in blood levels of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), according to a randomized phase II trial. (Haelle, 12/4)

Beta-blocker therapy was associated with a lower annualized hazard of receiving a clinical diagnosis of Huntington's disease and a slower rate of symptom worsening, observational data showed. (George, 12/2)

The hormone leptin was discovered 30 years ago to much fanfare. Scientists hoped that leptin, which regulates body fat, could pave the way for obesity treatments. The results in mice were hailed as “miraculous,” and Amgen licensed the hormone for $20 million from Rockefeller University. But its initial promise failed to pan out, as treatments mimicking leptin in the body didn’t spur weight loss. New data, published today in the journal Science Translational Medicine, may cast the hormone in a new light. (Oza, 12/4)

Today JAMA published a research letter spotlighting the steep decline in cervical cancer deaths in women younger than 25 in recent decades, a finding that highlights the importance of promoting human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination. (Soucheray, 11/27)

Fractures that occurred at any prior time in adulthood were associated with fracture risk in older adults, a cohort study indicated. In fact, a first fracture in younger adulthood was linked with the greatest increased risk. Compared with no fracture, any non-high-trauma fracture during ages 20 to 39 years was associated with a more than twofold greater risk of fracture in older patients following their first osteoporosis assessment. (Monaco, 12/2)

Globalization, urbanization, and climate change have significantly raised the risk of "explosive, unpredictable" outbreaks of the mosquito-borne disease chikungunya, which disabled millions and likely amassed close to $50 billion in healthcare and disability-related costs in 110 countries from 2011 to 2020, researchers report in BMJ Global Health. (Van Beusekom, 12/4)

A study of sex-based differences in the risk of COVID-19 pneumonia finds that men were more likely to develop the complication than women (12.0% vs 7.0%) during the declared pandemic period and the early months of the endemic phase of the disease in Mexico. (Van Beusekom, 11/27)