Drug Database
ME

megestrol (Apetrol ES / megestrol, LG Chem)

✓ Approved

LG Chem Ltd. · PGR · Small Molecule

What is megestrol?

megestrol is a small molecule developed by LG Chem Ltd.. It is approved for therapeutic indications via oral (po).

Drug Profile

Brand NamesApetrol ES, megestrol, LG Chem
CompanyLG Chem Ltd.
Drug ClassSmall Molecule
Molecular TargetPGR
RouteOral (PO)
StatusApproved
Sources: ClinicalTrials.gov, LG Chem Ltd.

Mechanism of Action

Molecular Targets

megestrol acts on 1 molecular target:

PGRprogesterone receptor (NR3C3, PR)
Want deeper analysis?Noah AI can explain complex mechanisms and compare to similar drugs.

Therapeutic Indications

megestrol is developed for 1 unique indication across 1 therapeutic area.

Therapeutic AreaConditionPhase
Metabolism and nutrition disordersCachexia✓ Approved

Related Research Articles

PubMedBMC public health2026-10-15

Healthy living awareness among health sciences students in Turkey: a cross-sectional study.

Yalcin Gulcan Ciftcioglu GC

Health sciences students need strong health awareness to promote healthy lifestyles. This descriptive cross-sectional study aimed to assess the level of awareness about healthy living among students enrolled in health sciences programs in Turkey. It also examines the differences according to demographic and academic variables. The research was conducted with 493 students from health sciences departments at various universities in Turkey between January and March 2023. Data were collected through an online survey consisting of a demographic information form and the Healthy Living Awareness Scale (HLAS), which consists of a 15-item, 5-point Likert scale with four sub-dimensions. The normality of numerical data was calculated using the Shapiro-Wilk test. We also used independent samples t-test and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) to compare group differences. A p-value of < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. The mean total HLAS score was 56.43 ± 10.84, representing a moderate level of awareness about healthy living among participants. Significant differences were found in HLAS scores across age groups (p = 0.003) and academic departments (p = 0.014). Also, higher grade levels were associated with significantly increased scores in total HLAS and its sub-dimensions, including change, socialization, and responsibility (p < 0.05). Among the sub-dimensions, the highest scores were observed in the change domain, which was followed by socialization, responsibility, and nutrition. Awareness levels were moderate, and increased with academic progression. Research indicates that increasing the strength of undergraduate curriculum has potential for improving future health care providers' understanding of how to live a healthy lifestyle.

PMID 42875752
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PubMedHead & neck2026-10-15

Impact of Surgical Airways on Location of Death, Healthcare Utilization, and Costs Among Patients With Head and Neck Cancer: A Population-Based Study.

Pickett A Travis AT, Webber Colleen C, Pugliese Michael M, Dover Katie K et al.

Patients with surgical airways experience barriers to high quality end-of-life (EOL) care. Recognizing differences in healthcare utilization and location of death among patients with surgical airways may inform improvements in EOL care delivery. This study aimed to compare location of death and selected aspects of healthcare in the last 90 days of life between head and neck cancer (HNC) patients with and without a surgical airway. Retrospective decedent cohort study of health administrative data from the Institute of Clinical Evaluative Sciences in Ontario, Canada of individuals with HNC who died between January 1, 2008, and December 31, 2018. The exposure group included those with a total laryngectomy any time prior to death or emergency tracheostomy within 90 days prior to death. Primary outcomes included location of death and length of stay in hospital, palliative care encounters, and burdensome transitions of care in the last 90 days of life. Secondary outcomes included healthcare costs during the last 90 days of life. Patients with surgical airways (n = 1280, 7.8%) were more likely to die in a subacute care center (OR = 1.51 [95% CI: 1.26-1.81], p < 0.001) than those without surgical airways. There were no significant differences between the groups for deaths occurring in acute care (OR = 1.11 [95% CI: 0.97-1.27], p = 0.14) or long-term care settings (OR = 0.85 [95% CI: 0.62-1.16], p = 0.30). In the last 90 days of life, they spent more time in acute care hospitals (6.37 days [95% CI: 5.40-7.39], p < 0.001), had higher odds of experiencing burdensome transitions (OR = 1.46 [95% CI: 1.29-1.67], p < 0.001) and had greater costs associated with their care (mean cost ratio = 1.43 [95% CI: 1.36-1.51], p < 0.001). However, after adjusting for covariates, there was no statistically significant difference in palliative care involvement between patients with and without surgical airways (OR = 1.14 [95% CI: 0.98-1.31], p = 0.09). Patients with surgical airways were more likely to die in subacute care centers and experienced increased healthcare utilization, including longer hospital stays, higher rates of burdensome transitions, and greater costs in the last 90 days of life. There was no statistically significant difference in palliative care involvement between groups after adjustment. These findings should be interpreted with caution, as adjustment for disease stage and tumor site was not possible due to missing data. Further research is needed to better understand the underlying drivers of these differences and their implications for EOL care.

PMID 42876170
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PubMedFrontiers in microbiology2026-10-15

Grazing intensity shapes soil fungal diversity and co-occurrence networks across soil depths.

Shi Jincheng J, Su Yao Y, Wang Fei F, Wang Qianju Q et al.

Grazing is an important disturbance affecting grassland ecosystems in agro-pastoral ecotones, yet its effects on soil fungal diversity and co-occurrence networks across vertical soil profiles remain unclear. We selected a typical grassland at the junction of the Loess Plateau and the Mongolian Plateau in northern China and established four grazing intensities: ungrazed control (CK), light grazing (LG), moderate grazing (MG), and heavy grazing (HG). Soil samples were collected from three layers (0-2, 2-10, and 10-20 cm). Soil physicochemical properties, high-throughput sequencing, co-occurrence network analysis, and structural equation modeling (SEM) were used to examine fungal community responses and their potential associated pathways. Grazing intensity and soil depth significantly influenced soil physicochemical properties and fungal community composition. Fungal α-diversity exhibited soil layer-dependent responses to grazing intensity, with light and moderate grazing maintaining higher fungal richness in surface soils than heavy grazing, whereas fungal richness responses differed among deeper soil layers. Factorial PERMANOVA showed significant effects of grazing intensity (R 2 = 0.145, P = 0.043) and soil depth (R 2 = 0.151, P < 0.001) on fungal community composition, whereas their interaction was not significant. Co-occurrence network analysis revealed variation in fungal network organization among grazing intensities, with moderate grazing associated with higher network connectivity and heavy grazing associated with higher network modularity. Piecewise structural equation modeling further indicated indirect associations between grazing intensity and fungal diversity involving vegetation biomass, soil resources, soil pH, and microbial biomass. Overall, our findings demonstrate that grazing effects on soil fungal communities are strongly soil layer-dependent and are shaped by interactions among plant inputs, soil environmental conditions, and microbial processes. This study provides insights into the ecological consequences of grazing intensity and the mechanisms underlying fungal community responses in agro-pastoral ecotone grasslands.

PMID 42876798
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PubMedFrontiers in nutrition2026-10-15

Effects of temperature fluctuations on quality deterioration and flavor evolution of pre-packaged tofu during cold-chain logistics.

Zhao Dan D, Wu Jie J, He Chengjun C, Cao Yin Y et al.

To investigate the effects of temperature fluctuation during cold chain logistics on quality deterioration and flavor evolution of pre-packaged tofu. This study simulated stable cold chain (CK) and two temperature fluctuation modes (T1 and T2), and systematically analyzed the microbial changes, spoilage metabolism, water status, texture properties, and volatile flavor composition of tofu under different storage conditions. The results showed that temperature fluctuation significantly accelerated the quality deterioration of pre-packaged tofu, with T1 treatment exhibiting the most notable promoting effect. Compared with the CK group, temperature fluctuation promoted the increase of total viable count and psychrotrophic bacterial count, while also accelerating the accumulation of total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N), thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS), and spoilage-related biogenic amines. After 35 days of storage, total bacterial count of the T1 group reached 6.52 lg CFU/g, and the contents of TVB-N and TBARS increased to 7.20 mg/100 g and 0.726 mg/100 g, respectively. Moreover, temperature fluctuations reduced the water-holding capacity of tofu, altered water distribution, and decreased hardness, springiness, chewiness, and resilience. Low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (LF-NMR) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) analyses further indicated that temperature fluctuations changed the internal water distribution of tofu. Electronic nose, gas chromatography-ion mobility spectrometry (GC-IMS) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analyses showed that temperature fluctuations reshaped the volatile flavor profile of tofu and promoted the formation of aldehydes, acids, and nitrogen-containing volatile compounds. In summary, temperature fluctuations during cold-chain storage were associated with greater microbial proliferation, lipid oxidation-related changes, altered water distribution, texture deterioration, and pronounced changes in the volatile flavor profile of pre-packaged tofu. This study provides the theoretical basis to optimize cold chain transport conditions and the quality control of tofu.

PMID 42876557
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PubMedFrontiers in psychology2026-10-15

Caregiver burden and perceived community support as correlates of family quality of life among caregivers of individuals with autism spectrum disorder in Saudi Arabia.

Ain Ghaniah G

Families raising a member with autism spectrum disorder face continuing psychological, financial, and logistical demands that can compromise family quality of life, yet Gulf-region evidence on the joint contribution of caregiver burden, perceived support, digital competence, and service accessibility remains scarce. This cross-sectional, exploratory study examined family quality of life and the incremental contribution of these factors among 294 caregivers with complete family-quality-of-life (FQoL) data, drawn from 416 survey respondents caring for an individual with autism spectrum disorder across the five administrative regions of Saudi Arabia between March and April 2026. Participants completed an Arabic questionnaire battery comprising a 25-item family quality of life measure structured on the five Beach Center domains but administered with frequency anchors, together with three measures developed for this study: caregiving difficulties, perceived support from caregiver and online communities, and self-rated digital competence, and a nine-item service accessibility composite. Family quality of life was moderate to good overall (mean = 3.77, standard deviation = 0.30). In hierarchical regression analyses, the final model accounted for 35.7% of the variance in family quality of life within this sample and under this specification. In the primary hierarchical regression model, perceived community support (standardized coefficient = 0.39), caregiver burden (-0.26), and the presence of a comorbid condition (-0.13) were independently associated with family quality of life; the comorbidity association, however, was less robust when professional caregivers were excluded. Self-rated digital competence, service accessibility, household income, educational attainment, and caregiver-reported autism severity were not independently associated with family quality of life once the other variables were included. Family quality of life differed between the mild and moderate caregiver-reported severity groups, but the study provides no reliable evidence concerning the severe group because only 10 participants (3.4%) were so classified, and severity carried no association in the adjusted model. Because the design was cross-sectional, all five composites were developed for this study and none is independently validated, two of them fall below conventional reliability thresholds, and the sample was a non-probability online sample, these findings are exploratory associations that require replication rather than estimates of determinants of family quality of life.

PMID 42876933
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PubMedCurrent opinion in pediatrics2026-10-15

Using informatics to understand pediatric allergic diseases.

Grunewald Matthew M, Grundmeier Robert W RW, Gabryszewski Stanislaw J SJ

Recent advances in the power, utility, and accessibility of artificial intelligence (AI) have enabled new methods of investigation in the biomedical sciences and opportunities to transform clinical workflows. As allergic conditions are among the most common chronic diseases affecting children, pediatric allergy represents a promising area for AI-augmented informatics methods to support molecular discovery, early identification, risk stratification, treatment customization, and longitudinal monitoring, as reviewed herein. Recent pediatric allergy studies have applied informatics and AI methodologies across various data sources, including molecular and multiomic data, structured and unstructured electronic health record data, environmental exposures, diagnostic images, remote monitoring devices, and patient- and clinician-facing AI tools. Primarily still in the research phase, these approaches include biomarker discovery, disease phenotyping, risk stratification, prediction modeling, remote monitoring, and emerging chatbots for allergy education. Although still relatively nascent within pediatric allergy, AI-augmented informatics shows promise for extracting usable information from complex data and developing tools aimed at personalizing disease detection and management. Most applications remain investigational, and continued progress will require transparency, rigorous validation, generalizability across diverse populations and health systems, feasibility of workflow integration, privacy protection, and longitudinal oversight to ensure continued safety and effectiveness.

PMID 42876409
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