Episode 429: 436. postpartum burnout., asundexian, semaglutide and ETOH, neck infection, varenicline

Jafari K, et al. Risk factors for pediatric deep neck infection revisit after emergency department discharge for pharyngitis or localized neck symptoms. Ann Emerg Med 2026 May; 87:605. DOI: 10.1016/j.annemergmed.2025.10.007.

• In a “look-back” analysis of some 800 children admitted with deep neck infection, 18% had at least one ED discharge before admission. The most common discharge diagnoses were fever, pharyngitis/tonsillitis, and localized neck symptoms.
• In a “look-forward” analysis, 0.01% of about 400,000 children diagnosed with pharyngitis/tonsillitis and 0.07% of almost 60,000 children presenting with nontraumatic neck symptoms were subsequently admitted with a deep neck infection.

Klausen MK, et al. Once-weekly semaglutide versus placebo in patients with alcohol use disorder and comorbid obesity: A randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Lancet 2026 May 2; 407:1687.

• Heavy drinking decreased from 17 days per month at baseline to 13 with placebo and 10 with semaglutide — a significant 3-day difference.
• Days without any alcohol use in the past month increased from 9 at baseline to 11 with placebo and 12 with semaglutide, though this difference was not significant (P=0.051).

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2848777

Conclusions and Relevance In this RCT of 651 AWS, varenicline sampling was efficacious, with potentially superior outcomes compared with NRT.

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2848997

Conclusions and Relevance Among childbearing physicians in training, a parental support package significantly mitigated postpartum burnout.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42120723/

. These data demonstrate orforglipron's potential as a globally scalable option for minimizing weight changes after injectable therapy. Trial limitations include the absence of a comparator arm involving continued use of injectable obesity-management medications and the trial's 1-year duration.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42104164/

mong 263 clinicians (107 residents, 156 specialists), specialists scored higher than residents (median, 46 [IQR, 42-50] vs 41 [IQR, 36-46]; P < .001; r = 0.32). ChatGPT correctly diagnosed 53 of 61 cases (86.9%), Gemini 50 (82.0%), and Copilot 44 (72.1%). Both ChatGPT and Gemini exceeded the upper bound of the specialist population median 95% CI (47.17).

https://www.nejm.org/do/10.1056/NEJMdo008444/full/

Among patients with noncardioembolic ischemic stroke or high-risk TIA treated with antiplatelet therapy, asundexian at a daily dose of 50 mg resulted in lower risks of ischemic stroke and major cardiovascular events than placebo, without a higher risk of major bleeding.