medical breakthrough

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First Drug for Severe Food Allergies Is Approved

FDA says Xolair can help people with allergies to milk, eggs, nuts, other sources

(Newser) - A medication used to treat asthma can now be used to help people with food allergies avoid severe reactions, says the FDA. Xolair, the brand name for the drug omalizumab, became the first medication approved to reduce allergic reactions caused by accidental exposure to food triggers, per the AP . Patients...

Scientists Find Way to Sneak Alzheimer's Drug Into Brain

Researchers able to slip meds through temporary gap in the blood-brain barrier

(Newser) - Scientists have found a way to help Alzheimer's drugs seep inside the brain faster—by temporarily breaching its protective shield. The novel experiment was a first attempt in just three patients. But in spots in the brain where the new technology took aim, researchers say it enhanced removal of...

Here Are 5 of 2023's Biggest Medical Breakthroughs

Alzheimer's meds, an OTC birth control pill, RSV vaccines all make ABC's list

(Newser) - If looking back at 2023 brings forth visions of dumpster fires in your head, take heart: There were some pretty amazing accomplishments over the past 12 months, notably on the health and science front. ABC News compiles some of the year's biggest medical breakthroughs, including a "significant milestone"...

Novel Treatment Saves Girl From Rare Disorder

Ayla Bashir of Ottawa was treated in the womb for Pompe disease, which claimed her sisters

(Newser) - Ayla Bashir is a perfectly normal 16-month-old toddler in Ottawa, all thanks to a novel treatment for a rare genetic disease that claimed the lives of two sisters, reports the CBC . Ayla became the first child in the world to be treated in the womb for severe infantile Pompe disease,...

Researchers Make 'Breakthrough' SIDS Finding
Researchers Make
'Breakthrough' SIDS Finding
new study
May 12, 2022 4:47 PM CDT

Researchers Make 'Breakthrough' SIDS Finding

Babies who die of the syndrome have lower levels of a particular enzyme, says new study

(Newser) - A researcher who lost her own child to SIDS has made a discovery that could help other parents avoid the same fate. A team led by Australian scientist Carmel Harrington has found that babies who die of sudden infant death syndrome have low levels of a particular enzyme, reports Australia'...

Race to Develop Insulin Brought Out Worst in Some Scientists

A century later, some researchers are best remembered for their belligerent quest for glory

(Newser) - Of the roughly 420 million humans who live with diabetes, some 150 million rely on insulin "to live a full and healthy life," per Diabetes Canada. Few if any know names like Frederick Banting or John Macleod, though they were the two men who received the Nobel prize...

Implant Results in Dramatic First for Paralyzed Man

Italian test subject with severed spinal cord learns to walk again

(Newser) - A 30-year-old Italian man whose spinal cord was severed in a motorcycle accident is doing something unexpected: walking. Michel Rocatti is able to do so thanks to an implanted device called a spinal cord stimulator that sends electrical signals to his legs, reports NBC News . As the BBC describes it,...

Surgeons Give Maryland Man Genetically Edited Pig Heart

Patient is still alive three days after first-of-its-kind transplant operation

(Newser) - A month ago, the outlook was extremely bleak for 57-year-old Maryland handyman David Bennett—he needed a new heart, but didn't qualify for a donor organ. At least, not from a human. Bennett, who had terminal heart disease, is now part of medical history after the first successful transplant...

First Country Approves Pfizer Vaccine

UK to begin vaccinations 'within days'

(Newser) - British officials authorized a COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use on Wednesday, greenlighting the world's first shot against the virus that's backed by rigorous science and taking a major step toward eventually ending the pandemic. The go-ahead for the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech comes as the virus...

Researchers Say They've Just Proved HIV Is Curable
Results of Mice Study
Bring Big HIV News
new study
Jul 3, 2019 11:58 AM CDT

Results of Mice Study Bring Big HIV News

Researchers eradicated HIV from the DNA of 9 infected mice

(Newser) - Researchers tell CNBC they have for the first time shown "that the HIV disease is a curable disease" A study published Tuesday in Nature Communications details how they got to such a statement: essentially by putting the brakes on HIV's spread in mice and then editing it out...

In 1st Documented Case, Trans Woman Breastfeeds
In 1st Documented Case,
Trans Woman Breastfeeds
NEW STUDY
Feb 15, 2018 12:15 PM CST

In 1st Documented Case, Trans Woman Breastfeeds

It's 'a very big deal,' says one doctor

(Newser) - Though online forums suggest she's not the first to manage the feat, doctors are celebrating the case of a breastfeeding transgender woman, the first to be recorded in medical literature. The 30-year-old went to doctors at New York's Mount Sinai hospital with the intention of breastfeeding when her...

Doctors Thought He Had CTE. His Death Gave Confirmation
First CTE Diagnosis in
Living Patient Confirmed
NEW STUDY
Nov 16, 2017 9:29 AM CST

First CTE Diagnosis in Living Patient Confirmed

Fred McNeill's brain showed clumps of tau proteins before 2015 death

(Newser) - In a potentially groundbreaking first, doctors say they detected chronic traumatic encephalopathy, the degenerative brain disease associated with repeated head injuries, in a living patient. Just weeks after Boston University researchers announced CCL11 proteins in the brain could indicate CTE in living patients, researchers in Chicago say they identified CTE...

One Shot for All Vaccines? Study Holds Promise
Breakthrough Could
Transform Vaccine Shots
NEW STUDY
Sep 15, 2017 11:44 AM CDT

Breakthrough Could Transform Vaccine Shots

New technology would allow for a single childhood shot

(Newser) - Potential good news for kids—and the parents who hate to watch them squirm when faced with a needle. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a technology that could allow childhood vaccines—for everything from polio to measles, mumps, and rubella—to be combined into a single...

It's a Breakthrough Cancer Drug—And It'll Cost You

Novartis CEO stands by $475K charge for Kymriah

(Newser) - "The cancer world is forever changed." That's what a researcher is saying following the FDA's approval of America's first-ever treatment that genetically alters a person's cells to fight cancer. The customized treatment to be administered at certified medical centers involves drawing a patient's...

In Possible World First, Heart Surgery Saves Baby in Womb

Doctors in Canada perform in utero balloon atrial septoplasty

(Newser) - Doctors in Canada are patting themselves on the back after what is believed to be a first-of-its-kind heart surgery that saved the life of an unborn child. Halfway through her pregnancy, Kristine Barry of Barrie, Ont., learned her unborn son had a heart defect in which the two main arteries...

US Breakthrough in Womb Transplants Offers New Hope

1 of 4 living donor transplants at Baylor looks promising

(Newser) - America's first uterus transplant might have failed , but doctors are "cautiously optimistic" that one of the country's first living donor womb transplants could be a success. Surgeons at Baylor University Medical Center say they performed the living donor transplants on four women, aged 20 to 35—each...

Cancer Treatment Yields 'Unprecedented' Results

Advanced leukemia patients go into remission

(Newser) - They were leukemia patients with months to live and nothing to lose, so researchers tried a novel therapy involving the engineering of the patients' own cells. Result? For 94% of participants, their symptoms disappeared, reports the Guardian . For those with other types of blood cancers, the response rate was a...

Daily Injections Could Be Thing of Past for Diabetics

Novel new treatment for type 1 diabetes called 'very promising'

(Newser) - A new treatment going through clinical trials could mean the end of daily insulin injections for diabetics—and could even have huge benefits for people suffering from arthritis, cardiovascular diseases, and obesity, the Independent reports. "This could be a game-changer," one University of California, San Francisco, researcher says...

Scientists Might've Just Revolutionized Brain Medicine

Canadian scientists breach blood-brain barrier for first time

(Newser) - Inside your head, there's something called the blood-brain barrier—a natural defense system that keeps germs in your bloodstream from entering your brain. While it's great when it comes to preventing bacterial infections, the barrier makes treating some brain diseases impossible, since it prevents drugs from reaching the...

Man Gets First-of-Its-Kind Implant to Stop Back Pain

It confuses brain with electric currents to produce pleasant tingling instead of pain

(Newser) - Sixty-year-old Joe Grewal has had chronic back pain for half his life. Back surgery didn't help. Neither did a morphine implant. But this week he underwent a first-ever procedure that's left him "feeling great," reports the Australian Broadcasting Corporation . Doctors at Australia's Royal North Shore...

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