Implantation of a defibrillator early after myocardial infarction (MI) in high-risk patients reduced the risk of sudden cardiac death, but there was a reciprocal increase in the risk of nonsudden cardiac death. Overall mortality was not affected by early defibrillator implantation, and therefore this intervention cannot be recommended after MI in high-risk patients.

The authors examined microRNA expression in specimens of tumor and normal liver tissue from patients with hepatocellular carcinoma and observed a higher level of expression of miR-26 in liver tissue in women than in men and a lower level of expression in tumor tissue than in normal liver tissue. Patients whose tumors had low miR-26 expression had shorter survival but a better response to interferon therapy.

There is no effective therapy for Mansonella perstans, a cause of lymphatic filariasis. In this study, patients were randomly assigned to receive treatment with doxycycline for 6 weeks, targeting the endosymbiont wolbachia, or no treatment. M. perstans microfilaremia was undetectable at 12 months in 67 of 69 treated patients (97%), as compared with 10 of 63 untreated patients (16%).

Autoantibodies against osteoprotegerin, blocking the inhibitory effect of osteoprotegerin on signaling by the receptor activator of nuclear factor κB, were identified in a man with celiac disease who presented with severe osteoporosis and high levels of markers of bone turnover. The osteoporosis did not respond to treatment of his celiac disease but was completely reversed by bisphosphonate therapy.