Health care

If 2022 was the year mpox infections exploded globally, 2023 was the year much of the world stopped paying attention.Yet Canadian researchers, in collaboration with scientists working on the ground in hot spots such as Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), are still shining a spotlight on the virus that sparked last year's unprecedented global outbreak — and one that still seems capable of new surprises. One joint Canadian-DRC research team, co-led by Jason Kindrachuk from the University of Manitoba, has…

When Reid DeSpiegelaere, chief development officer at Every Child Pediatrics, talks about his work’s mission, he points to the name of the nonprofit organization, Every Child Pediatrics. “We see every child,” DeSpiegelaere said. “We’ve never turned a child away.” That holds true regardless of a family’s ability to pay for medical services, from routine check-ups, vaccines and nutritional guidance to behavioral and mental health care. Every Child Pediatrics primarily sees kids who are uninsured or on Medicaid, offering a…

The number of people hospitalized with COVID is much lower than it was at the beginning of the year, but the disease remains a significant health threat. In September the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that everyone aged six months or older get one of the newly updated COVID vaccines, which protect against currently circulating variants of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID. But getting these shots into the arms of children has proved difficult.Throughout much of the U.S.—and in rural areas,…

Medical technology startup Inito on Thursday said it has raised $6 million in a Series A funding round led by Fireside Ventures.The Bengaluru-based company, launched in 2015, helps women track fertility hormones and provides personalised analytics on reproductive health through its flagship product, the Fertility Monitor.Elevate Your Tech Prowess with High-Value Skill CoursesOffering CollegeCourseWebsiteMITMIT Technology Leadership and InnovationVisitIIM KozhikodeIIMK Advanced Data Science For ManagersVisitIndian School…

November 15, 20234 min readMost hospitals typically test people for drugs that drove overdoses 15 to 20 years ago. We need a national system for expanded testing to help patients get the treatment they need todayBy Eric D. Wish, Amy Billing & Erin Artigiani Hospitals link people to treatment in their time of greatest need. That includes drug overdoses, which now kill more than 100,000 people in the U.S. every year.However, the standard hospital urine drug tests often do not detect fentanyl, which today is the leading…

She sits before me in tears, a positive pregnancy test on the counter in front of us. It’s not that my patient doesn’t want a fourth child. But she is haunted by memories of her third cesarean section (C-section). Hours after her baby was delivered, she hemorrhaged and fell unconscious. Waking in the ICU, she learned she had been transfused several units of blood. Severe anemia and debilitating postoperative pain complicated her postpartum recovery. Now, she is terrified of another C-section—the delivery of a child…

At a time of unrelenting attacks on reproductive autonomy, the Food and Drug Administration’s decision on July 13 to approve a birth control pill for over-the-counter (OTC) use is an important advance toward providing people with tools to control their fertility. This includes preventing unwanted pregnancy. Having Opill, a safe, effective, easy-to-use birth control option available without a prescription is essential, because it so difficult for many people to get prescription birth control in the U.S. As researchers and…

Seven years after its launch, Elon Musk’s Neuralink company has finally secured approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to implant a computer inside a human brain. “We are excited to share that we have received the FDA’s approval to launch our first-in-human clinical study,” Neuralink tweeted on Thursday. “This is the result of incredible work by the Neuralink team in close collaboration with the FDA and represents an important first step that will one day allow our technology to help many people.”…

A shiny circular pin on my purse reads “I CARRY NALOXONE,” proclaiming that I am ready to respond to an opioid overdose—an event that kills over 180 people every day in this country. That means when someone stops breathing, turns blue and isn’t responsive after an overdose, I can administer naloxone to reverse another tragedy. I am neither a medical professional nor a trained EMT. Anyone can reverse an overdose in an emergency, along with calling 911 and giving rescue breaths. We could all be carrying this miracle drug…

Have you ever wondered if the data recorded by a wearable gives you insight into how your body is really performing? Research from Oura, created by data taken from the Oura Ring smart ring, shows wearables really can better inform you of your health, and even warn of oncoming infections. For its research, the team concentrated on its wearers who had a confirmed COVID-19 infection, and also tracked the body’s response to the COVID-19 vaccine. The results are interesting, as they show that — despite not being medical…