March 31, 2017
(The New Yorker) – The next day, a doctor inserted a feeding tube through Georgi’s nostril. “He showed no resistance,” Soslan said. “Nothing.” Georgi was given a diagnosis of uppgivenhetssyndrom, or resignation syndrome, an illness that is said to exist … Read More
March 31, 2017
(Nature) – On 28 March, the same team carried out a procedure that sounds similar, but with an important twist. This time, the retinal repair cells were made using iPS cells from an anonymous donor. There are many things to … Read More
March 31, 2017
(Quartz) – On the five Greek islands where more than 13,000 migrants and refugees have remained trapped since March 2016, a mental-health crisis is raging. The confinement and conditions in detention camps have a particularly devastating effect on the 5,000-plus … Read More
March 31, 2017
(Vox) – While much of the reporting on the opioid crisis has (rightly) focused on the anguish of addiction and overdose, this statistic conveys the kind of secondary effects that these types of epidemics can have. It’s not just that … Read More
March 31, 2017
(U.S. News & World Report) – The Republican-controlled Arizona Legislature on Wednesday approved a measure requiring doctors who perform abortions to try to revive fetuses if they show any sign of life and to have needed life-saving equipment on hand. … Read More
March 31, 2017
(Yahoo! News) – Dutch doctors have come out against a controversial proposed law that would allow assisted suicide for those who feel their lives are complete, and not just for people in unbearable suffering. “Such a radical proposal is not … Read More
March 31, 2017
(The Economist) – Attempted suicide, as well as “any act towards the commission” of suicide, has for years been a crime in India. But on March 27th the Lok Sabha, India’s lower house, passed a package of mental-health reforms, among … Read More
March 30, 2017
(Medical Xpress) – Cases of depression have ballooned almost 20 percent in a decade, making the debilitating disorder linked to suicide the leading cause of disability worldwide, the World Health Organization said Thursday. By 2015, the number of people globally … Read More
March 30, 2017
(STAT News) – Of the many mysteries that remain about the Zika virus and its attack on the Americas, perhaps the most puzzling one relates to the bizarre distribution of babies born with Zika-induced microcephaly. After so many such births … Read More
March 30, 2017
(The Economist) – South Sudan is not alone. According to the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS Net), run by the American government, 70m people around the world will need food assistance this year, a level it says is “unprecedented … Read More
March 30, 2017
(The Economist) – KEEP a tomato cool in a refrigerator and it will stay fresh far longer than it would at room temperature. Accidentally freeze it, though, and you will reduce it to a disgusting mush. A similar problem plagues … Read More
March 30, 2017
(Bloomberg) – Doctors are on the cusp of launching the first new male contraceptive in more than a century. But rather than a Big Pharma lab, the breakthrough is emerging from a university startup in the heart of rural India. … Read More
March 30, 2017
(Medscape) – Burnout among physicians is rampant. One-third to one-half of practicing physicians meet the criteria for burnout, and in a large study conducted by the Mayo Clinic, 53% of medical students showed signs of burnout. In addition, 300 to … Read More
March 30, 2017
(Sydney Morning Herald) – NSW Stem Cell Network director Bernie Tuch said Australia risked being left behind if it did not allow scientists to press forward on research involving human embryos, which were now allowed in the UK, Sweden and … Read More
March 30, 2017
(Dutch News) – The Dutch health council is recommending that the law covering human embryos be changed to allow the creation of embryos for research. Currently, embryos can be used for research purposes if they are left over after fertility … Read More
March 29, 2017
(New York Times) – Hospitals in the United States are accredited by the Joint Commission, which periodically makes unannounced inspections, spending several weeks assessing whether the staff is following best practices. Now a new study suggests that when the inspectors … Read More
March 29, 2017
(BBC) – Measles is spreading across Europe wherever immunisation coverage has dropped, the World Health Organization is warning. The largest outbreaks are being seen in Italy and Romania. In the first month of this year, Italy reported more than 200 cases. Romania … Read More
March 29, 2017
(CNN) – Now, a new study in the journal JAMA Psychiatry looks beyond the total number of overdose deaths to get a better picture of how heroin use patterns have changed since 2001. Since then, the number of people who … Read More
March 29, 2017
(BBC) – Two anti-abortion activists who secretly recorded conversations with Planned Parenthood have each been charged with 15 felonies in California. David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt filmed undercover videos of themselves trying to buy foetal tissue, California Attorney General Xavier … Read More
March 29, 2017
(New Scientist) – A GROUP of charities, led by Médecins Sans Frontières, is fighting to have a drug’s patent revoked by the European Patent Office. Sofosbuvir can cure hepatitis C in just three months, but costs up to €55,000 for … Read More
March 29, 2017
(World Health Organization) – WHO today launched a global initiative to reduce severe, avoidable medication-associated harm in all countries by 50% over the next 5 years. The Global Patient Safety Challenge on Medication Safety aims to address the weaknesses in … Read More
March 29, 2017
(STAT News) – On Tuesday night — after decades of false starts, struggles to persuade disbelieving colleagues, and a tortuous path through the maze of drug discovery — Swiss drugmaker Roche Holding AG announced that the Food and Drug Administration … Read More
March 29, 2017
(The Atlantic) – Conservative Catholics and left-wing feminists often find each other on opposite sides of political debates, especially when it comes to what women should do with their bodies. Yet in Europe, there is a reproductive rights issue on … Read More
March 29, 2017
(The Guardian) – The neoliberal Indian economic miracle is reaching beyond the employment of local labour in call centres and factories and into the extraction of biological vitality. The issues of worker rights and safety that continue to plague outsourced … Read More
March 29, 2017
(The Washington Post) – “Unlike a business, a student’s sex life does not operate on a 9-5 schedule, and because of this, access to emergency contraceptives should not operate on a schedule,” Riback, a government and politics major from Baltimore, … Read More
