by Iliyah Maddox | Jan 31, 2025 | engineering and tech, health and medicine
Dr Patrick O’Neill of Pfizer, Ireland, and Professor Jie Wu of the National University of Singapore, and their team, have made groundbreaking advancements in the synthesis of 1,2,3-triazole – a key building block in the manufacture of a life-saving antibiotic. Replacing traditional batch processes, they developed a safer, more efficient method using continuous flow chemistry, which addresses potential global supply chain vulnerabilities. This innovative approach eliminates hazardous intermediates, improves reaction safety, and ensures a stable supply of 1,2,3-triazole for global pharmaceutical production.
by Iliyah Maddox | Jan 30, 2025 | health and medicine
For a long time, deformities of the chest wall, such as pectus excavatum, a condition where the chest appears to have sunken, remained untreated or were treated using crude and invasive techniques. However, thanks to innovations led by surgeons such as Prof. Donald Nuss of Eastern Virginia Medical School, these procedures have undergone a remarkable transformation. Such work has shifted the paradigm from radical surgery to minimally invasive solutions, changing lives and restoring confidence for countless patients. Now, a Review Article published in the African Journal of Thoracic and Critical Care Medicine, and co-authored by Prof. Donald Nuss and Dr. Ivan Schewitz of the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the University of Pretoria, South Africa, charts the remarkable progress in treating pectus excavatum.
by Iliyah Maddox | Jan 29, 2025 | health and medicine, social and behavioural sciences
In many regions around the globe, common mental health issues are cloaked in secrecy by those who experience them, and are frequently stigmatized and misunderstood by others. This is a particularly serious issue in conservative communities, where cultural and religious values have significant effects on the provision and use of appropriate mental health care resources. In a new mini-review article published in the journal Frontiers in Public Health, Dr. Mabrouka Abuhmida, Dr. Wendy Booth and Dr. Felix Anyanwu of the University of South Wales in the UK, have explored this critical topic, revealing the damaging impact of stigma in such communities, and exploring new solutions to enable adequate mental healthcare in this context.
by Iliyah Maddox | Jan 22, 2025 | health and medicine
Imagine living with an illness that can sap your energy levels so completely that even day-to-day tasks, such as doing laundry, walking the dog, or even getting out of bed can be insurmountable challenges. To make matters worse, this illness is not well understood either by the public or by medical staff, and is often dismissed and stigmatised, making it difficult to find understanding or treatment. This is the unfortunate lived experience of many people with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (or ME/CFS for short). In a recent Communication article, researcher Caroline Kingdon of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and colleagues, discuss this misunderstood condition through the prism of the 2021 guideline for the treatment of those with ME/CFS, which have been published by the UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (or NICE for short). Their article aims to inform primary caregivers about the NICE guideline, and, happily, reveals that the new guideline prioritises an overdue shift toward compassionate and patient-focused care for ME/CFS.
by Iliyah Maddox | Jan 16, 2025 | biology, health and medicine
Sepsis is a critical illness that begins with a simple infection and degenerates into a severe and dysregulated immune response that affects the whole body. This significant immune reaction typically causes widespread inflammation and can progress very rapidly. This can result in serious damage to tissues and organs, potentially leading to organ failure and death. Despite the severity of sepsis and its frequent poor prognosis, effective treatments are still elusive, and many sepsis patients remain at high risk of death and serious complications. Part of the issue is the complex cascade of cellular and biochemical events that underlie sepsis, which has made it difficult to obtain a comprehensive overview of the illness from which to design an effective treatment. Dr. Roberta Martinelli, Executive Director of Stromal Immunology and Early Discovery, Discovery Immunology, Merck, and colleagues, have published a study in the journal iScience which reveals new insights into the complex biological milieu underlying sepsis, and uncovers pathways and potential treatment targets that could change how we diagnose and treat this life-threatening illness.
by Iliyah Maddox | Dec 18, 2024 | health and medicine
Cholangiocarcinoma is an aggressive cancer that begins in the bile ducts. While the cancer is relatively rare, affecting approximately 8,000 people in the United States each year, unfortunately, it is often undiagnosed until an advanced stage. This late diagnosis makes cholangiocarcinoma very challenging to treat, and less than 10% of patients survive for five years after diagnosis. Traditional anti-cancer treatments, such as chemotherapy, have only limited effectiveness in cholangiocarcinoma, and can cause serious side effects. Recently developed immunotherapy and targeted therapies have provided promising options for this difficult-to-treat disease. Dr. Kim Saverno of the Incyte Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company headquartered in the U.S., and the study’s co-authors, have been studying the real-world use of an FDA-approved targeted drug for cholangiocarcinoma called pemigatinib. Pemigatinib was approved by the FDA in 2020. It can be specifically used for cholangiocarcinoma patients who have genetic changes in a protein known as fibroblast growth factor receptor 2, or FGFR2 for short. Their study, to the best of our knowledge, is the first to examine pemigatinib’s use in real-world settings, and reveals information about treatment patterns, FGFR2 testing patterns, and effectiveness of pemigatinib for cholangiocarcinoma when used in everyday practice.
