All posts tagged: Medicine

Transforming veterinary medicine with the One Health approach

Transforming veterinary medicine with the One Health approach

The field of veterinary medicine is evolving rapidly, expanding beyond traditional animal health concerns to play a critical role in global One Health initiatives. The concept of One Health recognises that human, animal, and environmental health are interconnected, requiring multidisciplinary collaboration to tackle emerging health threats. A recent study from the Western College of Veterinary Medicine (WCVM) at the University of Saskatchewan highlights groundbreaking research projects that are addressing major challenges in public health, antimicrobial resistance, reproductive health, and zoonotic diseases. Supported by nearly CA $1.47m in research funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, these projects are at the forefront of integrating veterinary and human medicine. In this article, Innovation News Network provides an in-depth technical analysis of the WCVM’s One Health research initiatives, outlining their implications for veterinary medicine, global health, and biomedical advancements. Key research areas in One Health The WCVM’s One Health research integrates expertise from veterinary, human, and environmental sciences. The study highlights the following major research areas: Investigating the health effects of vaping on foetal development One of …

Scientists Discover “Zombie” Fungus That Seizes Control of Spiders, Suggest It Be Used for Human Medicine

Scientists Discover “Zombie” Fungus That Seizes Control of Spiders, Suggest It Be Used for Human Medicine

What could go wrong? Zombie Spiders While filming a TV documentary inside an old Victorian gunpowder store in Northern Ireland, scientists made an intriguing discovery: cave spider “zombies” that were infected by a “Last of Us”-like fungus. In a study published last month in the journal Fungal Systematics and Evolution, as spotted by Live Science, scientists detailed the discovery of a “novel species” of fungus that infects “cave-dwelling, orb-weaving spiders,” called Gibellula attenboroughii — a name in honor of British biologist and natural historian David Attenborough. The scientists concluded that the “infected spiders exhibit behavioral changes similar to those reported for zombie ants,” referring to an insect-pathogenic fungus that forces infected ants to leave their canopy nests and head to areas that are more suitable for fungal growth. The way G. attenboroughii spreads is just as chill-inducing. The study authors suggest the fungus forces the infected spiders to crawl to more open areas where air currents can then disperse the spores — a fascinating new discovery fit for a dystopian TV series. Assuming Control Study …

Matthew Perry Foundation launches addiction medicine fellowship | Ents & Arts News

Matthew Perry Foundation launches addiction medicine fellowship | Ents & Arts News

The Matthew Perry Foundation has set up an addiction medicine training fellowship, 15 months after the former Friends star died of a ketamine overdose. Established with Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), the Matthew Perry Foundation Fellowship in Addiction Medicine allows a doctor to join MGH’s Addiction Medicine Fellowship for the 2025-26 academic year. Dr Sarah ‘SK’ Kler, a resident at MGH, will take up the role in June, tasked with studying addiction treatment and working toward providing addiction care in future work, the foundation said on Instagram on Tuesday. Instagram This content is provided by Instagram, which may be using cookies and other technologies. To show you this content, we need your permission to use cookies. You can use the buttons below to amend your preferences to enable Instagram cookies or to allow those cookies just once. You can change your settings at any time via the Privacy Options. Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to Instagram cookies. To view this content you can use the button below to allow Instagram …

A Popular Decongestant Doesn’t Work. The FDA Is Finally Doing Something About It

A Popular Decongestant Doesn’t Work. The FDA Is Finally Doing Something About It

In a long-sought move, the US Food and Drug Administration on Thursday formally began the process of abandoning oral doses of a common over-the-counter decongestant that the agency concluded last year is not effective at relieving stuffy noses. Specifically, the FDA issued a proposed order to remove oral phenylephrine from the list of drugs that drugmakers can include in over-the-counter products—also known as the OTC monograph. Once removed, drugmakers will no longer be able to include phenylephrine in products for the temporary relief of nasal congestion. “It is the FDA’s role to ensure that drugs are safe and effective,” Patrizia Cavazzoni, director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said in a statement. “Based on our review of available data and consistent with the advice of the advisory committee, we are taking this next step in the process to propose removing oral phenylephrine because it is not effective as a nasal decongestant.” For now, the order is just a proposal. The FDA will open up a public comment period, and if no comments …

The Floating Doctors: Mobile medicine comes to Panama’s jungles | Health

The Floating Doctors: Mobile medicine comes to Panama’s jungles | Health

‘A true blessing’ At the conclusion of the second day of the clinic, the tired volunteers walk down a muddy hill to bathe in the cold waters of a nearby river, as there are few available showers in the village. They towel off, have a warm dinner and string up their hammocks for a final night. Over the past two days, beneath the tropical heat and rain, they saw 133 patients and provided assistance and treatment for a number of maladies, from lesions and diarrhoea to fevers, cysts and pregnancy concerns. “As a doctor, you’re always facing an uncertain and challenging environment where you’re questioning yourself,” says Dr Geoff McCullen, an orthopaedic surgeon and professor at the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine. “This week, I think our students learned they can face uncertainty, they can face challenges, manage these complexities simultaneously and be decisive about what a patient needs.” Iryna Hrynyk, a Floating Doctors volunteer from the United States, and Federico Criado Rota, a volunteer from Argentina, attend to a patient with …

Psychedelic Medicine Has a Therapy Problem

Psychedelic Medicine Has a Therapy Problem

On Friday, the fledgling field of psychedelic medicine suffered a major setback. The FDA declined to approve MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD, instead asking the drugmaker Lykos Therapeutics to conduct another clinical trial to better show that the treatment is safe and effective. The agency’s full reasoning was shared only in a private letter to the company, but an advisory committee previously raised concerns about missing data on adverse events, accusations of misconduct that endangered patients, and concern that participants knew whether they received the drug or the placebo. The FDA’s decision, its first on a psychedelic drug, will likely only delay psychedelic medicine’s official debut in mainstream medicine. Lykos plans to ask the agency to reconsider. But even this initial rejection could prompt major shifts in how researchers, drug companies, and regulators deal with a poorly understood and hotly contested part of psychedelic therapy—the therapy itself. To many proponents of psychedelics, the combination of therapy and drugs has the greatest potential to change how the U.S. deals with mental health. Friday’s rejection highlights the difficulty …

Elon Musk’s Neuralink Had a Brain Implant Setback. It May Come Down to Design

Elon Musk’s Neuralink Had a Brain Implant Setback. It May Come Down to Design

Rather than building a device from the ground up, Synchron and Paradromics have taken inspiration from previous medical devices. Paradromics’ design, for instance, is based on the Utah array but makes some key improvements. It’s wireless, for one, and it has 421 electrodes on the end of tiny wires that sit in the brain tissue. Those wires are all much smaller than the shanks of the Utah array, Angle says. Synchron’s device, meanwhile, is a hollow mesh tube that resembles a heart stent. Instead of going into the brain directly, it’s inserted into the jugular vein at the base of the neck and pushed up against the cortex. Synchron has implanted 10 participants with its device so far, with one surpassing three years with it. (Arbaugh’s implant is still working after 100 days). Banerjee says the company has not seen a decline in signal quality or performance yet. Andrew Schwartz, a professor of neurobiology at the University of Pittsburgh who builds brain-computer interfaces, also speculates that Neuralink’s design may have caused the implanted threads to …

Medicine shortages in England ‘beyond critical’, pharmacists warn | Health

Medicine shortages in England ‘beyond critical’, pharmacists warn | Health

Drug shortages in England are now at such critical levels that patients are at risk of immediate harm and even death, pharmacists have warned. The situation is so serious that pharmacists increasingly have to issue “owings” to patients – telling someone that only part of their prescription can be dispensed and asking them to come back for the rest of it later, once the pharmacist has sourced the remainder. Hundreds of different drugs have become hard or impossible to obtain, according to Community Pharmacy England (CPE), which published the report. Widespread and often long-lasting shortages posed “immediate risks to patient health and wellbeing” and caused distress, it said. “The medicine supply challenges being faced by community pharmacies and their patients are beyond critical,” said Janet Morrison, CPE’s chief executive. “Patients with a wide range of clinical and therapeutic needs are being affected on a daily basis and this is going far beyond inconvenience, leading to frustration, anxiety and affecting their health. “For some patients not having access to the medicines they need could lead to …

Patients forced into ‘pharmacy bingo’ – as survey says medicine shortages ‘beyond critical’ | UK News

Patients forced into ‘pharmacy bingo’ – as survey says medicine shortages ‘beyond critical’ | UK News

People are having to play “pharmacy bingo” – going from shop to shop to find stocks – as medicine shortages are worsening, experts have said. Health leaders say some patients are even having to “ration” their drugs, with a new poll suggesting shortages are a “daily occurrence” for many of England’s pharmacies. Treatments for ADHD, diabetes and epilepsy are among those affected this year, according to trade body Community Pharmacy England. Its survey of more than 6,000 pharmacies and 2,000 staff found shortages are “wreaking havoc” on patients. Nearly all (97%) of staff said patients were being inconvenienced, while 79% said health was being put at risk. Some 98% said they were also giving out more “I owe yous” – where they can only fulfil part of the prescription. Nearly all (99%) pharmacies reported supply problems at least weekly, and 72% said they were having “multiple issues a day”. Another survey last month, by the Nuffield Trust thinktank, said drug shortages had more than doubled between 2020 and 2023 and that Brexit was likely to …

Google DeepMind’s Groundbreaking AI for Protein Structure Can Now Model DNA

Google DeepMind’s Groundbreaking AI for Protein Structure Can Now Model DNA

Google spent much of the past year hustling to build its Gemini chatbot to counter ChatGPT, pitching it as a multifunctional AI assistant that can help with work tasks or the digital chores of personal life. More quietly, the company has been working to enhance a more specialized artificial intelligence tool that is already a must-have for some scientists. AlphaFold, software developed by Google’s DeepMind AI unit to predict the 3D structure of proteins, has received a significant upgrade. It can now model other molecules of biological importance, including DNA, and the interactions between antibodies produced by the immune system and the molecules of disease organisms. DeepMind added those new capabilities to AlphaFold 3 in part through borrowing techniques from AI image generators. “This is a big advance for us,” Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google DeepMind, told WIRED ahead of Wednesday’s publication of a paper on AlphaFold 3 in the science journal Nature. “This is exactly what you need for drug discovery: You need to see how a small molecule is going to bind to …