Hacker News with Generative AI: Medicine

Microbe that infests hospitals can digest medical-grade plastic ― a first (nature.com)
A strain of bacterium that often causes infections in hospital can break down plastic, research published this week in Cell Reports reveals1.

Science, Medicine, Microbiology, Plastic Pollution

10 points by sharjeelsayed 19 hours ago | 0 comments

Will protein design tools solve the snake antivenom shortage? (owlposting.com)
There has been a fair bit of discussion over this recent ‘creating binders against snake venom protein’ paper from the Baker Lab that came out earlier this year, including this article from Derek Lowe.

Biotechnology, Science, Healthcare, Medicine

60 points by sebg 23 hours ago | 24 comments

Protein-slayer drugs could beat some of the cruellest cancers (nature.com)
Momentum is building for PROTAC treatments that eliminate disease-causing proteins, including those responsible for difficult-to-treat childhood cancers.

Cancer, Medicine, Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology, Treatment

23 points by gnabgib 2 days ago | 0 comments

The next superbug threat is already here. It's going to be harder to overcome (cnn.com)

Antibiotics, Medicine, Public Health, Bacteria, Disease

8 points by Teever 2 days ago | 1 comments

New studies offer insight into Lyme disease’s treatment, lingering symptoms (news.northwestern.edu)
Northwestern scientists have identified an antibiotic that cures Lyme disease at a fraction of the dosage of the current “gold standard” treatment and discovered what may cause a treated infection to mimic chronic illness in patients.

Medicine, Lyme Disease, Research

220 points by gmays 3 days ago | 153 comments

Psilocybin reduced depression symptoms as much as leading antidepressant (2021) (massivesci.com)

Mental Health, Psychedelics, Clinical Trials, Depression, Medicine

31 points by dp-hackernews 6 days ago | 7 comments

Scientists May Have Found a Natural Alternative to Ozempic (sciencealert.com)
Scientists may have identified a way to naturally regulate blood sugar levels and sugar cravings in a similar fashion to drugs like Ozempic.

Science, Medicine, Health, Diabetes

26 points by amichail 7 days ago | 9 comments

Blocking surprising master regulator of immunity eradicates liver tumors in mice (med.stanford.edu)
A protein identified nearly 40 years ago for its ability to stimulate the production of red blood cells plays a surprising, critical role in dampening the immune system’s response to cancer.

Cancer Research, Immunology, Medicine, Genetics

18 points by rbanffy 7 days ago | 2 comments

Universal Antivenom May Grow Out of Man Who Let Snakes Bite Him 100s of Times (nytimes.com)
Scientists identified antibodies that neutralized the poison in whole or in part from the bites of cobras, mambas and other deadly species.

Science, Medicine, Biology, Venom, Antivenom

44 points by ceejayoz 7 days ago | 20 comments

Snake collector's immunity quest opens path towards universal antivenom (theguardian.com)
Blood from man bitten hundreds of times by deadly species is used to create most broadly protective antivenom yet

Medicine, Biology, Snakes, Antivenom, Research

6 points by abeppu 7 days ago | 1 comments

The antibiotic that takes the bite out of Lyme (news.northwestern.edu)
Scientists from Northwestern University have identified that piperacillin, an antibiotic in the same class as penicillin, effectively cured mice of Lyme disease at 100-times less than the effective dose of doxycycline, the current gold standard treatment.

Science, Medicine, Lyme Disease

21 points by gnabgib 8 days ago | 1 comments

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.

Cancer Treatment, Immunotherapy, Medicine, Medical Research

8 points by bookofjoe 8 days ago | 1 comments

Albert Stevens, the most radioactive man (wikipedia.org)
Albert Stevens (1887–1966), also known as patient CAL-1 and most radioactive human ever, was a house painter from Ohio who was subjected to an involuntary human radiation experiment and survived the highest known accumulated radiation dose in any human.

Radiation, History, Science, Medicine

19 points by onychomys 8 days ago | 0 comments

Home washing machines fail to remove important pathogens from textiles (medicalxpress.com)
Health care workers who wash their uniforms at home may be unknowingly contributing to the spread of antibiotic-resistant infections in hospitals, according to a new study led by Katie Laird of De Montfort University, published in PLOS One.

Health, Science, Medicine, Antibiotic Resistance

131 points by bookmtn 9 days ago | 203 comments

Metagenomics test saves woman's sight after mystery infection (bbc.co.uk)
A 29-year-old doctor from Bristol has had her eyesight saved after a "game-changing" test identified a mystery infection that had plagued her health for five years.

Medicine, Genetics, Science, Health

204 points by neversaydie 9 days ago | 80 comments

The end of the 'Golden Hour' and the transformation of U.S. combat medicine (taskandpurpose.com)
During the post-9/11 wars, the US military came as close to perfecting near-immediate trauma care on the battlefield as the chaos of combat would allow.

Military, Medicine, War, History

13 points by PaulHoule 9 days ago | 2 comments

Ask HN: What Is the Hacker News for Medicine? (ycombinator.com)
Specifically in regards to interesting research, breakthrough, or even tidbits about medicine & human body.

Medicine, Research, Healthcare, Human Body, Community

7 points by reinaldnaufal 10 days ago | 7 comments

An end to all this prostate trouble? (yarchive.net)
The prostate gland causes entirely too many problems. In the US, prostate cancer kills about one man of every forty. “Benign prostate hyperplasia” (BPH) is even more common, affecting most men over age 60. It pinches the urinary tract, making it hard to urinate, and is constantly in danger of transforming from “benign” to “malignant”.

Health, Prostate Cancer, Medicine, Men's Health

791 points by bondarchuk 13 days ago | 315 comments

Sham Surgery (wikipedia.org)
Sham surgery (or placebo surgery) is a faked surgical intervention that omits the step thought to be therapeutically necessary.

Medicine, Placebo Effect, Medical Research

5 points by airstrike 13 days ago | 0 comments

'Vaguely Threatening': Federal Prosecutor Queries Leading Medical Journal (nytimes.com)
A federal prosecutor in Washington has contacted The New England Journal of Medicine, considered the world’s most prestigious medical journal, with questions that suggested without evidence that it was biased against certain views and influenced by external pressures.

Journalism, Medicine, Law, Politics

8 points by nxobject 14 days ago | 0 comments

Blocking a master regulator of immunity eradicates liver tumors in mice (med.stanford.edu)
A protein identified nearly 40 years ago for its ability to stimulate the production of red blood cells plays a surprising, critical role in dampening the immune system’s response to cancer.

Cancer, Medicine, Immunology, Mice, Research

10 points by geox 15 days ago | 0 comments

Why Do Most People Quit Ozempic After Two Years? (scientificamerican.com)
The class of weight-loss drugs including semaglutide, sold as Wegovy, have become immensely popular new treatments for obesity. One key factor in their effectiveness is that people need to take them indefinitely—but in practice, many don’t. A recent JAMA Network Open analysis found the vast majority of people quit taking these drugs within two years—such stops in treatment often reverses weight loss and health gains.

Obesity, Medicine, Healthcare, Weight Loss, Drugs

11 points by paulpauper 15 days ago | 1 comments

The disease-fighting promise of mRNA (phys.org)
In recent years, mRNA technology enabled the rapid development of vaccines to fight COVID-19, saving millions of lives.

mRNA Vaccines, COVID-19, Medicine, Science, Biotechnology

11 points by PaulHoule 17 days ago | 0 comments

What Is Death? (preservinghope.substack.com)
In the past few decades, medical science has rendered obsolete centuries of experience, tradition, and language about our mortality and created a new difficulty for mankind: how to die.

Death, Medicine, Language

6 points by paulpauper 22 days ago | 0 comments

AI-Designed Antivenoms: New Proteins to Block Deadly Snake Toxins (beehiiv.com)
AI-designed proteins can block toxins contained in the venom of cobras and other snakes.

Artificial Intelligence, Science, Medicine, Biology, Venom

103 points by Lol_arco 23 days ago | 25 comments

The most famous carbon dioxide absorber (howequipmentworks.com)
Unless you are an anaesthetist, you probably wouldn’t know what a carbon dioxide absorber is (red arrow below).

Medicine, Science, Equipment

178 points by bemmu 24 days ago | 74 comments

Political beliefs affect patients' trust in doctors, study finds (news.uoregon.edu)

Politics, Health, Science, Medicine, Trust

27 points by geox 25 days ago | 90 comments

Adipose tissue retains an epigenetic memory of obesity after weight loss (nature.com)
Reducing body weight to improve metabolic health and related comorbidities is a primary goal in treating obesity1,2.

Obesity, Health, Epigenetics, Science, Medicine

263 points by paulpauper 25 days ago | 325 comments

Childhood obesity requires early, aggressive treatment, new guidelines say (npr.org)
Children with obesity should be offered more intensive treatment options earlier, including therapy and medication, says the leading U.S. pediatricians group.

Health, Children, Obesity, Medicine, Guidelines

3 points by paulpauper 25 days ago | 0 comments

Five Takeaways from New Research About A.D.H.D (nytimes.com)
As diagnoses of A.D.H.D. and prescriptions for medications hit new record highs, scientists who study the condition are wrestling with some fundamental questions about the way we define and treat it.

Science, Health, Medicine

4 points by bookofjoe 26 days ago | 1 comments