Hacker News with Generative AI: Medical Research

Once-Weekly Semaglutide in Adults with Alcohol Use Disorder: A RCT (jamanetwork.com)
In this randomized clinical trial, relative to placebo, low-dose semaglutide reduced the amount of alcohol consumed during a posttreatment laboratory self-administration procedure.
New Brunswick has no mystery neurological disease, scientific study concludes (cbc.ca)
A new scientific study has found no evidence of a mystery brain disease in New Brunswick, says a report published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, known as JAMA.
Vagus Nerve Stimulation Erases PTSD: Study (neurosciencenews.com)
In a first-of-its-kind clinical study, scientists at The University of Texas at Dallas and Baylor University Medical Center showed that patients with treatment-resistant PTSD were symptom-free up to six months after completing traditional therapy paired with vagus nerve stimulation (VNS).
Effects of lifestyle changes on cognitive impairment due to Alzheimer's (2024) (biomedcentral.com)
We report the first randomized, controlled trial showing that an intensive multimodal lifestyle intervention may significantly improve cognition and function and may allay biological features in many patients with MCI or early dementia due to AD after 20 weeks.
Ovarian Tissue Freezing Could Prevent Menopause–Possibly Forever (2024) (medicine.yale.edu)
Most women agree that menopause has its advantages and disadvantages. Some relish the end of menstruation and concerns about unplanned pregnancies, while others dread the possibililty of hot flashes, moodiness, and other unpleasant symptoms. What some women consider a brief and barely noticeable phase in their lives can evolve into lasting changes and discomfort for others.
Effects of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation on sleep bruxism (nlm.nih.gov)
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) on patients with sleep bruxism (SB).
Origins of common lung cancer that affects smokers discovered (medicalxpress.com)
The "cell of origin" of the second most common lung cancer and the way that it becomes dominant in the lung have been discovered in a new study in mice and humans by researchers at UCL, the Wellcome Sanger Institute and the University of Cambridge.
Medicine Spares Cancer Patients from Grisly Surgeries and Harsh Therapies (nytimes.com)
For a limited group of cancer patients who have solid tumors in the stomach, rectum, esophagus and other organs, an immunotherapy trial offered stunning results.
In kids, EEG monitoring of consciousness safely reduces anesthetic use (news.mit.edu)
Newly published results of a randomized, controlled clinical trial in Japan among more than 170 children aged 1 to 6 who underwent surgery show that by using electroencephalogram (EEG) readings of brain waves to monitor unconsciousness, an anesthesiologist can significantly reduce the amount of the anesthesia administered to safely induce and sustain each patient’s anesthetized state.
My fight to unlock cannabis and psychedelic drugs for use in medical research (nature.com)
From the earliest days of her career, physician Sue Sisley has been passionate about caring for US military veterans.
Methylene Blue Address Vascular-Hypometabolism in Alzheimer's Disease (gethealthspan.com)
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is often associated with amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles, yet growing evidence supports a vascular-hypometabolism hypothesis in which cerebral hypoperfusion and mitochondrial dysfunction—particularly at the level of cytochrome c oxidase—drive early disease processes.
Sham Surgery (wikipedia.org)
Sham surgery (or placebo surgery) is a faked surgical intervention that omits the step thought to be therapeutically necessary.
Strong humming for one hour daily to terminate chronic rhinosinusitis (2006) (nlm.nih.gov)
Strong humming for one hour daily to terminate chronic rhinosinusitis in four days: a case report and hypothesis for action by stimulation of endogenous nasal nitric oxide production
Cluster headaches are 'the most painful condition on the planet' (theguardian.com)
The condition is more excruciating than childbirth or gunshot wounds, but little understood. An online community of ‘clusterheads’ are self-experimenting with psilocybin – with promising results
Clinical trial: novel nutritional formula treats gut microbial overgrowth (medicalxpress.com)
Cedars-Sinai researchers have developed a novel nutritional formula, mBiota Elemental, a palatable elemental diet (PED) that reduces the abundance of key gut microbiome taxa and improves symptoms in patients with small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) and intestinal methanogen overgrowth (IMO).
Study Reveals an Amount of Plastic in the Arteries of Stroke Patients (businessinsider.com)
Tiny, microscopic bits of plastic have been found almost everywhere researchers look — including throughout the human body.
Marijuana hospital visits linked to dementia diagnosis within 5 years – a study (cnn.com)
Cigarette smoking: an underused tool in high-performance endurance training (nlm.nih.gov)
The review paper is a staple of medical literature and, when well executed by an expert in the field, can provide a summary of literature that generates useful recommendations and new conceptualizations of a topic. However, if research results are selectively chosen, a review has the potential to create a convincing argument for a faulty hypothesis. Improper correlation or extrapolation of data can result in dangerously flawed conclusions.
A unique sound alleviates motion sickness (nagoya-u.ac.jp)
A research group led by Takumi Kagawa and Masashi Kato at Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine has discovered that using “a unique sound stimulation technology”—a device that stimulates the inner ear with a specific wavelength of sound—reduces motion sickness.
Popular CT Scans Could Account for 5% of All Cancer Cases a Year (ucsf.edu)
Computed tomography (CT) scans may account for 5% of all cancers annually, according to a new study out of UC San Francisco that cautions against overusing and overdosing CTs.
Differentiation of human dental pulp stem cells into neuron-like cells (biomedcentral.com)
Human dental pulp stem cells (hDPSCs) constitute a promising alternative for central nervous system (CNS) cell therapy.
Phase I/II trial of iPS-cell-derived dopaminergic cells for Parkinson's disease (nature.com)
Parkinson’s disease is caused by the loss of dopamine neurons, causing motor symptoms.
New strategy may enable cancer monitoring from blood tests alone (medicalxpress.com)
A new, error-corrected method for detecting cancer from blood samples is much more sensitive and accurate than prior methods and may be useful for monitoring disease status in patients following treatment, according to a study by Weill Cornell Medicine and New York Genome Center investigators.
The unusual genetic inheritance that could change Alzheimer's treatment (nature.com)
The genes of a Colombian woman who beat the odds might lead to a new way to tackle the disease.
The Silencing of Scientific Curiosity (maryannedemasi.com)
As a scientific writer and researcher, I’ve witnessed the decline of medical journals firsthand. Once forums for open debate and intellectual rigour, they’ve morphed into gatekeepers, more concerned with preserving a narrow orthodoxy than pursuing truth.
Human teeth grown in a lab for first time (independent.co.uk)
Scientists have successfully grown human teeth in a lab for the first time, according to a new study.
Radiation from CT scans could account for 5% of all cancer cases a year (medicalxpress.com)
Radiation from CT scans may account for 5% of all cancers annually, according to a new study out of UC San Francisco that cautions against overusing and overdosing CTs.
'Low-sugar' vaccine can provide broad immunity against coronavirus variants (medicalxpress.com)
Sugar coatings aren't only for candies; they also help viruses, like the ones that cause COVID-19, hide from their hosts' immune system. Now, researchers have developed a universal vaccine that targets coronaviruses and the sugars that they use as cover.
The overlooked psychedelic that may help treat traumatic brain injury (bigthink.com)
A powerful psychedelic long used in African rituals shows surprising promise for treating traumatic brain injury and PTSD.
At-home saliva test for prostate cancer better than blood test, study suggests (theguardian.com)
An at-home spit test appears to perform better at predicting prostate cancer risk than the current frontline test, a study suggests.