Dec 03
The idea that Viagra helps out athletes has been around for years now, but is there a scientific consensus on it? More »
Dec 01
Google adds medication to the Knowledge Graph, might ease our minds through search
Posted in: Today's Chili 
It’s no secret that many of us turn to Google searches for medical advice, much to the chagrin of doctors who have to contend with periodic bad attempts at self-diagnosis. Google might not have a cure for hypochondriacs, but it can stop all of us from taking risks at the pharmacy: it’s adding medicine to the Knowledge Graph. Search for medication and the side results panel will bring up data from the Department of Veterans Affairs, the FDA and the National Library of Medicine. Apart from a very top-level summary of a drug’s role, the Knowledge Graph will show alternative names, related drugs and (most importantly) risks. The search firm is quick to warn that it’s not giving us a license to prescribe our own treatment — we’ll want to talk to someone who swore the Hippocratic Oath, if there’s more than a headache. The depth of Google’s new search tool could still do more to assuage worried patients than a pill bottle label.
Source: Inside Search
Nov 30
Until now, scientists have relied on embryos or complex techniques using skin cells to create stem cells. Now, though, a team from Cambridge University has manged to create them from the blood of a patient—which could make regenerative medicine a more real possibility than ever. More »
Nov 27
Cancer survivors have long reported that chemotherapy changes their brains for the worse, leaving them with memory loss and an inability to concentrate. And now there’s firm evidence from West Virginia University School of Medicine that proves the existence of what has long been known as Chemo Brain. More »
Nov 27
Sure, explosions in cinema are great—they propel cars over otherwise impassable chasms and give heroes something to resolutely walk away from. In real life, explosions of any appreciable size are terrifyingly deadly. This is what really happens when you’re too close to the blast. More »
Nov 27
The advent of cochlear implants in the 1970s and ocular implants in the early 2000s revolutionized hearing and vision loss treatment by circumventing damaged organs with digital prostheses that directly stimulated neural pathways. But these devices have been poor substitutes for the real thing. That is, until now. More »
Nov 26
Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, though most famous for his invention of the corn flake, also ran a very successful holistic sanitarium where the ill and infirmed would subject themselves to his unique medical practices. Our friends at Oobject have assembled 15 of the strangest restorative devices to ever come out of Battle Creek, MI. More »
Nov 25
Most of the attention surrounding 3D printers in medicine has focused on patching up our outsides, whether it’s making skin to heal wounds or restoring the use of limbs. The Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine has just detailed a technique that could go considerably deeper. By mixing natural gel put through an inkjet printer with thin and porous polymer threads coming from an electrospinner, researchers have generated constructs that could be ideal for cartilage implants: they encourage cell growth in and around an implant while remaining durable enough to survive real-world abuse. Early tests have been confined to the lab, but the institute pictures a day when doctors can scan a body part to produce an implant that’s a good match. If the method is ultimately refined for hospital use, patients could recover from joint injuries faster or more completely — and 3D printers could become that much more integral to health care.
Via: Gizmag
Source: Institute of Physics
Nov 23
Whoever Wears This Rocket-Powered Prosthetic Ankle Is Guaranteed Olympic Gold
Posted in: Today's Chili
When the International Olympic Committee approved the prosthetic blades that replace Oscar Pistorius’s artificial legs when running, they set a precedent that could be hard to manage down the line. What was the committee’s criteria for approving them, and why should one prosthetic be allowed and not another? There’s no definitive answer yet, but it’s a safe bet that a rocket-powered prosthetic ankle probably won’t make the cut. More »
Nov 23
Medical imaging’s come a long way in the past few decades—but it’s now so good that doctors can use it to tell the difference between a baby opening its mouth and it yawning. More »
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