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Medscape
10 hours ago
- Health
- Medscape
Oseltamivir Decreases Hospital Mortality Risk of Influenza
Treating patients with severe influenza with oseltamivir in the first 2 days after hospital admission was associated with a lower in-hospital mortality risk, earlier discharge, and lower readmission rate compared with supportive care, new data indicated. The additional evidence supports current guideline recommendations to treat all people hospitalized with influenza with an antiviral agent, regardless of how long they have been ill. The study, led by Anthony D. Bai, MD, assistant professor of infectious diseases at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, was published on June 10 in JAMA Network Open. Reduced Mortality Risk Each year, influenza causes 12,200 hospitalizations and 3500 deaths in Canada. It causes between 140,000 and 810,000 hospitalizations and 12,000 to 61,000 deaths in the United States. And despite guidelines in both countries that recommend treatment for all entering the hospital with influenza, clinical practice varies widely, Bai told Medscape Medical News . The researchers' study found that in Ontario, 30% of clinicians were not treating this population with oseltamivir. Researchers examined data from the General Medicine Inpatient Initiative database, which includes internal medicine and intensive care unit (ICU) patients admitted to participating hospitals in Ontario. Data included demographics, diagnoses, interventions, discharge, readmission, medication orders, and bloodwork results. The cohort study included 11,073 patients (average age, 72.6 years). Researchers found an adjusted risk reduction of 1.8% for in-hospital mortality when oseltamivir was given, compared with supportive care median length of stay was 4.4 days and 4.9 days in the oseltamivir and supportive care groups, respectively. After discharge, 645 patients (8.5%) in the oseltamivir group and 336 patients (9.8%) in the supportive care group were readmitted, with an adjusted risk difference of -1.5%. 'Some clinicians believe there won't be much benefit to treatment with oseltamivir,' said Bai, likely because of the dearth of evidence supporting the guidelines. 'There's been a lot of controversy about the benefit of oseltamivir in the outpatient population, where a recent meta-analysis showed it didn't really prevent hospitalizations. But there is a signal that it decreased in-hospital mortality. If a similar benefit is proven in a future randomized, controlled trial, it would add a lot of convincing evidence that there's a significant benefit to oseltamivir treatment.' The expanded version of the large RECOVERY randomized, controlled trial in the United Kingdom looks at that question, he noted. But until results are available, 'we should go by the current guideline recommendations.' Remaining Questions Wendy Sligl, MD, professor of critical care medicine and infectious diseases at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, told Medscape Medical News that the 1.8% in-hospital mortality reduction may seem small. 'Keep in mind, this is in all hospitalized patients, which includes a spectrum of disease severity from those not needing supplemental oxygen to those on a ventilator.' She pointed out that less than 10% of the patients in this study were admitted to the ICU. The number needed to treat is an important consideration with these results, she pointed out. 'Given this mortality reduction, you would need to treat approximately 55 patients to prevent one death. When the outcome is as devastating as death, and the drug is relatively safe and inexpensive, treatment seems reasonable, given even a small reduction in mortality.' Sligl also noted the need for high-quality evidence from randomized, controlled trials, including RECOVERY, in hospitalized patients with influenza. 'In addition, the most severe patients, those in the ICU with respiratory failure requiring high-flow oxygen or mechanical ventilation, should be specifically studied.' Beyond whether antiviral therapy is beneficial, she said, other questions remain, such as which antiviral is best and at what dose and duration. Other questions include whether an antiviral therapy should be used alone or in combination with another antiviral therapy and at what time in which patients. 'The best quality data we have for the treatment of influenza are in healthy outpatients, where treatment has been shown to reduce symptom severity and duration. Data for antiviral use in hospitalized patients with influenza are largely observational, suggesting a small mortality benefit with treatment,' Sligl explained. In the current study, she noted, 'target trial emulation with propensity scoring helped to minimize bias, which is a methodologic strength.' No funding source for this study was reported. Bai and Sligl reported having no relevant financial relationships.
Leader Live
18 hours ago
- Leader Live
Chinese student who raped 10 women is ‘one of the most prolific predators'
Zhenhao Zou, 28, drugged and raped 10 women in London and China. He kept a trophy box of women's belongings and filmed nine of the rapes on women as they lost consciousness. Three of the 10 victims have been identified, prosecutors say, but Metropolitan Police detectives fear he could have targeted dozens more women. Sentencing Zou at Inner London Crown Court on Thursday, Judge Rosina Cottage told him he would serve 22 years and 227 days before he was eligible for parole, taking into account time spent on remand. The judge said the defendant is a 'very bright young man' who used a manipulative 'charming mask' to hide that he is a 'sexual predator'. She said that Zou 'planned and executed a campaign of rape', treating the women 'callously' and as 'sex toys' for his own pleasure, which had 'devastating and long-term effects'. The judge told the court that Zou has a 'sexual interest' in 'asserting power and control over women', adding that the victims were 'pieces in an elaborate game' for the defendant, who has 'no understanding of the meaning of consent'. Zou was unmoved in the dock as he heard his sentence. Detective inspector Richard Mackenzie told reporters outside the court: 'The sheer scale of his offending, which spanned two countries, makes him one of the most prolific predators we have ever seen.' After a month-long trial, Zou, who was most recently living in Elephant and Castle, south-east London, was found guilty of raping three women in London and another seven in China between September 2019 and May 2023. He was convicted of 11 counts of rape, with two of the offences relating to one victim. Zou was also convicted of three counts of voyeurism, 10 of possession of an extreme pornographic image, one of false imprisonment and three of possession of a controlled drug with intent to commit a sexual offence, namely butanediol. Prosecutors said Zou appeared to be 'a smart and charming young man', but was in fact 'a persistent sexual predator, a voyeur and a rapist'. He comes from a wealthy family, affording a Rolex, a wardrobe of designer clothes, cosmetic procedures such as a hair transplant and facial surgery, and thousands in monthly rent while living in London as an international engineering student. Zou, who also used the name Pakho online, befriended fellow Chinese students on WeChat and dating apps before inviting them for drinks and drugging them at his flats in London or an unknown location in China. The student first moved to Belfast in 2017 to study mechanical engineering at Queen's University before heading to London in 2019 to do a master's degree and then a PhD at University College London (UCL). His crimes began to be uncovered in November 2023, when a woman went to police to allege she had been attacked by Zou. There was not enough evidence to bring a criminal charge over the claim, but when Zou's phone was seized, officers found disturbing videos of him raping unconscious women, and pipettes and sedating drugs were discovered in his flat. One of the identified women was raped after Zou pushed her to drink excessive amounts of alcohol and would not let her leave his flat in Elephant and Castle in May 2023. She said in her victim impact statement: 'I have lost faith in human beings, I have no trust in others. Before this incident, I was not aware that a human could do such evil things. When I meet with strangers, I get flashbacks of what he did.' A second identified woman, who is now living in China, was also raped by Zou in his student flat near Russell Square in October 2021 when she was unconscious, the court heard. She said: 'I know words will never fully convey the depth of this wound. But one thing is certain, what happened that night is etched into my soul forever. 'His face, his expression – they will never leave me. I will never forgive him.' Scotland Yard said 24 women came forward following publicity in the media around Zou's trial to say they think they may have been attacked by him. Prosecutors say among them was a victim in China, known as Female D. In her statement, she wrote of being 'trapped in self-blame', 'gagged by shame' and being 'haunted' by nightmares of what happened. Commander Kevin Southworth, of the Metropolitan Police said: 'I hope the fact Zou can no longer harm others serves as a small amount of comfort to the women who have suffered immeasurably. 'I would also like to take this opportunity to stress that our investigation remains open and we continue to appeal to anyone who may think they have been a victim of Zou. 'Please come forward and speak with our team – we will treat you with empathy, kindness and respect.' Saira Pike, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said that Zou is a 'serial rapist and a danger to women'. She added: 'I'd like to take this opportunity to once again express my heartfelt thanks to the courageous women who came forward to report Zou's horrific crimes. 'They have been incredibly strong and brave – there is no doubt that their evidence helped us to secure his conviction, and the life sentence handed to him today.' Zou's case has chilling parallels with Reynhard Sinaga, 41, who was jailed for life in January 2020 at Manchester Crown Court after being found guilty of 159 counts of sexual offences against 48 different men. He also befriended his victims and invited them back to his flat, before drugging and sexually assaulting them. There was also the case of serial killer Stephen Port, who received a whole life term after raping and murdering four men with overdoses of the sedative drug GHB, and drugging and sexually assaulting seven others who survived.
South Wales Guardian
a day ago
- South Wales Guardian
Chinese student who raped 10 women is ‘one of the most prolific predators'
Zhenhao Zou, 28, drugged and raped 10 women in London and China. He kept a trophy box of women's belongings and filmed nine of the rapes on women as they lost consciousness. Three of the 10 victims have been identified, prosecutors say, but Metropolitan Police detectives fear he could have targeted dozens more women. Sentencing Zou at Inner London Crown Court on Thursday, Judge Rosina Cottage told him he would serve 22 years and 227 days before he was eligible for parole, taking into account time spent on remand. The judge said the defendant is a 'very bright young man' who used a manipulative 'charming mask' to hide that he is a 'sexual predator'. She said that Zou 'planned and executed a campaign of rape', treating the women 'callously' and as 'sex toys' for his own pleasure, which had 'devastating and long-term effects'. The judge told the court that Zou has a 'sexual interest' in 'asserting power and control over women', adding that the victims were 'pieces in an elaborate game' for the defendant, who has 'no understanding of the meaning of consent'. Zou was unmoved in the dock as he heard his sentence. Detective inspector Richard Mackenzie told reporters outside the court: 'The sheer scale of his offending, which spanned two countries, makes him one of the most prolific predators we have ever seen.' After a month-long trial, Zou, who was most recently living in Elephant and Castle, south-east London, was found guilty of raping three women in London and another seven in China between September 2019 and May 2023. He was convicted of 11 counts of rape, with two of the offences relating to one victim. Zou was also convicted of three counts of voyeurism, 10 of possession of an extreme pornographic image, one of false imprisonment and three of possession of a controlled drug with intent to commit a sexual offence, namely butanediol. Prosecutors said Zou appeared to be 'a smart and charming young man', but was in fact 'a persistent sexual predator, a voyeur and a rapist'. He comes from a wealthy family, affording a Rolex, a wardrobe of designer clothes, cosmetic procedures such as a hair transplant and facial surgery, and thousands in monthly rent while living in London as an international engineering student. Zou, who also used the name Pakho online, befriended fellow Chinese students on WeChat and dating apps before inviting them for drinks and drugging them at his flats in London or an unknown location in China. The student first moved to Belfast in 2017 to study mechanical engineering at Queen's University before heading to London in 2019 to do a master's degree and then a PhD at University College London (UCL). His crimes began to be uncovered in November 2023, when a woman went to police to allege she had been attacked by Zou. There was not enough evidence to bring a criminal charge over the claim, but when Zou's phone was seized, officers found disturbing videos of him raping unconscious women, and pipettes and sedating drugs were discovered in his flat. One of the identified women was raped after Zou pushed her to drink excessive amounts of alcohol and would not let her leave his flat in Elephant and Castle in May 2023. She said in her victim impact statement: 'I have lost faith in human beings, I have no trust in others. Before this incident, I was not aware that a human could do such evil things. When I meet with strangers, I get flashbacks of what he did.' A second identified woman, who is now living in China, was also raped by Zou in his student flat near Russell Square in October 2021 when she was unconscious, the court heard. She said: 'I know words will never fully convey the depth of this wound. But one thing is certain, what happened that night is etched into my soul forever. 'His face, his expression – they will never leave me. I will never forgive him.' Scotland Yard said 24 women came forward following publicity in the media around Zou's trial to say they think they may have been attacked by him. Prosecutors say among them was a victim in China, known as Female D. In her statement, she wrote of being 'trapped in self-blame', 'gagged by shame' and being 'haunted' by nightmares of what happened. Commander Kevin Southworth, of the Metropolitan Police said: 'I hope the fact Zou can no longer harm others serves as a small amount of comfort to the women who have suffered immeasurably. 'I would also like to take this opportunity to stress that our investigation remains open and we continue to appeal to anyone who may think they have been a victim of Zou. 'Please come forward and speak with our team – we will treat you with empathy, kindness and respect.' Saira Pike, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said that Zou is a 'serial rapist and a danger to women'. She added: 'I'd like to take this opportunity to once again express my heartfelt thanks to the courageous women who came forward to report Zou's horrific crimes. 'They have been incredibly strong and brave – there is no doubt that their evidence helped us to secure his conviction, and the life sentence handed to him today.' Zou's case has chilling parallels with Reynhard Sinaga, 41, who was jailed for life in January 2020 at Manchester Crown Court after being found guilty of 159 counts of sexual offences against 48 different men. He also befriended his victims and invited them back to his flat, before drugging and sexually assaulting them. There was also the case of serial killer Stephen Port, who received a whole life term after raping and murdering four men with overdoses of the sedative drug GHB, and drugging and sexually assaulting seven others who survived.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Astronomers Suggest That Entire Stars Are Being Obscured by Giant "Lampshades" of Dark Matter
Hunting for dark matter, the invisible substance thought to account for 85 percent of all mass in the cosmos, isn't easy. If it interacts with light at all, it does so incredibly weakly. Still, we can see its handiwork everywhere, with its gravitational pull determining the formation of everything from whole galaxies to individual stars. Now a team of astronomers is proposing a new technique for searching for dark matter — and it runs counter to its reputation as a completely invisible, light-inert presence haunting the universe. In a recent study published in the journal Physical Review Letters, the astronomers raise the possibility that clumps of the mysterious stuff could actually be acting as "lampshades" around stars, dimming their light just enough to be detectable by our present-day telescopes. "While we usually say dark matter does not interact with light at all, making it totally transparent and invisible, the truth is, it is allowed to interact with light a tiny bit," coauthor Melissa Diamond at Queen's University in Ontario, Canada, told "Dark matter might form large clumps or clouds, often called MACHOs," she continued. "There may be enough dark matter in these MACHOs that their weak interactions with light collectively block light from passing through the cloud, like how a lampshade blocks some but not all light from getting through." What dark matter actually is remains a mystery despite being a cornerstone of modern cosmology, but there are several strong candidates. The prevailing theory is that it's made of a hypothetical class of particles called weakly interacting massive particles, or WIMPs, which neither emit nor absorb light, don't interact with standard baryonic matter, and are slow and heavy enough to exert a powerful gravitational influence while clumping together. So far, experiments to detect WIMPs have been unsuccessful. For this latest study, the researchers explore another dark matter suspect called massive astrophysical compact halo objects, or MACHOs. Unlike other candidates, MACHOs are hypothesized, rather conveniently, to comprise ordinary matter. They aren't a substance hitherto unknown to science, but a hodgepodge of well-studied cosmic objects like ultra-dense neutron stars or black holes. Since these objects typically give off little to no light, that would explain why they go undetected by our telescopes, especially if they're isolated in the outskirts of their galaxy. Another key point is that MACHOs don't have to be the only type of dark matter out there — maybe it's a mix of WIMPs and other candidates. Astronomers have reported detections of MACHOs using a technique called gravitational microlensing. When the light from a background source is warped by the gravity of a massive object — like a MACHO — it gets bent in such a way that it acts like a natural lens, brightening the light. But this has its drawbacks. If the intervening object isn't massive enough, or if its matter is spread too thinly, then its lensing effect may be too slight to notice, Diamond explained. "This is where the lampshade effect can make a big difference," she told "While the clump might be too puffy to make for a good lens, it can still block some starlight, causing the star to dim instead of brightening." "The advantage of this technique is that it works for dark matter objects that are difficult or impossible to search for using available techniques," she added. And we can actually start looking for these lampshades now using surveys already available to us, like the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment — no new telescopes required. "This technique lets us get new use out of existing data, and lets us look for new types of MACHOs that microlensing surveys might not otherwise be sensitive to," Diamond told What makes this so exciting is that if these lampshade detections are borne out by the evidence, we'd gain a stronger idea of dark matter is, Diamond said. And if they aren't made, then we've narrowed down the list of dark matter candidates. As it stands, MACHO skeptics argue we haven't seen enough of these objects out there to account for all of dark matter. More on space: James Webb Peers Into Mysterious Haze Covering Pluto
Hindustan Times
a day ago
- Hindustan Times
Chinese student Zhenhao Zou jailed for life for raping 10 women; named 'most prolific predators' in UK
A Chinese PhD student, who is 'one of the most prolific predators' in the UK, has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 24 years. Zhenhao Zou, 28, drugged and raped 10 women in London and China. He kept a trophy box of women's belongings and filmed nine of the rapes on women as they lost consciousness. Three of the 10 victims have been identified, prosecutors say, but Metropolitan Police detectives fear he could have targeted dozens more women. Sentencing Zou at Inner London Crown Court on Thursday, Judge Rosina Cottage told him he would serve 22 years and 227 days before he was eligible for parole, taking into account time spent on remand. The judge said the defendant is a 'very bright young man' who used a manipulative 'charming mask' to hide that he is a 'sexual predator'. She said that Zou 'planned and executed a campaign of rape', treating the women 'callously' and as 'sex toys' for his own pleasure, which had 'devastating and long-term effects'. The judge told the court that Zou has a 'sexual interest' in 'asserting power and control over women', adding that the victims were 'pieces in an elaborate game' for the defendant, who has 'no understanding of the meaning of consent'. Zou was unmoved in the dock as he heard his sentence. Detective inspector Richard Mackenzie told reporters outside the court: 'The sheer scale of his offending, which spanned two countries, makes him one of the most prolific predators we have ever seen.' After a month-long trial, Zou, who was most recently living in Elephant and Castle, south-east London, was found guilty of raping three women in London and another seven in China between September 2019 and May 2023. He was convicted of 11 counts of rape, with two of the offences relating to one victim. Zou was also convicted of three counts of voyeurism, 10 of possession of an extreme pornographic image, one of false imprisonment and three of possession of a controlled drug with intent to commit a sexual offence, namely butanediol. Prosecutors said Zou appeared to be 'a smart and charming young man', but was in fact 'a persistent sexual predator, a voyeur and a rapist'. He comes from a wealthy family, affording a Rolex, a wardrobe of designer clothes, cosmetic procedures such as a hair transplant and facial surgery, and thousands in monthly rent while living in London as an international engineering student. Zou, who also used the name Pakho online, befriended fellow Chinese students on WeChat and dating apps before inviting them for drinks and drugging them at his flats in London or an unknown location in China. The student first moved to Belfast in 2017 to study mechanical engineering at Queen's University before heading to London in 2019 to do a master's degree and then a PhD at University College London (UCL). His crimes began to be uncovered in November 2023, when a woman went to police to allege she had been attacked by Zou. There was not enough evidence to bring a criminal charge over the claim, but when Zou's phone was seized, officers found disturbing videos of him raping unconscious women, and pipettes and sedating drugs were discovered in his flat. One of the identified women was raped after Zou pushed her to drink excessive amounts of alcohol and would not let her leave his flat in Elephant and Castle in May 2023. She said in her victim impact statement: 'I have lost faith in human beings, I have no trust in others. Before this incident, I was not aware that a human could do such evil things. When I meet with strangers, I get flashbacks of what he did.' A second identified woman, who is now living in China, was also raped by Zou in his student flat near Russell Square in October 2021 when she was unconscious, the court heard. She said: 'I know words will never fully convey the depth of this wound. But one thing is certain, what happened that night is etched into my soul forever. 'His face, his expression – they will never leave me. I will never forgive him.' Scotland Yard said 24 women came forward following publicity in the media around Zou's trial to say they think they may have been attacked by him. Prosecutors say among them was a victim in China, known as Female D. In her statement, she wrote of being 'trapped in self-blame', 'gagged by shame' and being 'haunted' by nightmares of what happened. Commander Kevin Southworth, of the Metropolitan Police said: 'I hope the fact Zou can no longer harm others serves as a small amount of comfort to the women who have suffered immeasurably. 'I would also like to take this opportunity to stress that our investigation remains open and we continue to appeal to anyone who may think they have been a victim of Zou. 'Please come forward and speak with our team – we will treat you with empathy, kindness and respect.' Saira Pike, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said that Zou is a 'serial rapist and a danger to women'. She added: 'I'd like to take this opportunity to once again express my heartfelt thanks to the courageous women who came forward to report Zou's horrific crimes. 'They have been incredibly strong and brave – there is no doubt that their evidence helped us to secure his conviction, and the life sentence handed to him today.' Zou's case has chilling parallels with Reynhard Sinaga, 41, who was jailed for life in January 2020 at Manchester Crown Court after being found guilty of 159 counts of sexual offences against 48 different men. He also befriended his victims and invited them back to his flat, before drugging and sexually assaulting them. There was also the case of serial killer Stephen Port, who received a whole life term after raping and murdering four men with overdoses of the sedative drug GHB, and drugging and sexually assaulting seven others who survived.
