Bridging the Representation Gap in Biomedical Research
“We hope that students come out of our program feeling like they’re part of a community. Many of us feel inadequate or struggle in some way during graduate school—it can be a challenging time. I want to build a community that our students can always come back to for support,” says Elana Ehrlich, Ph.D., the co-director of the Bridges to the Doctorate Research Training Program (B2D) at Towson University in Towson, Maryland, alongside Michelle Snyder, Ph.D..
The Towson B2D is one of several NIGMS-supported B2Ds, which are dedicated to developing a diverse pool of well-trained biomedical scientists who will transiti...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - August 30, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Chrissa Chverchko Tags: Being a Scientist Training Source Type: blogs
Better Health Care Tests, Faster
This article looks at some specific problems and solutions.
Speeding up Test Development
We’ve seen with COVID-19 how quickly a virus can evolve and how hard it is to design both tests and vaccinations that accommodate different variants. Virax Biolabs uses data from the World Health Organization and others to develop tests quickly. For instance, new viral variants tend to spread in the southern hemisphere before hitting the northern hemisphere in our Winter, so Virax can check existing data to prepare better tests for the North.
The company is developing a T-cell diagnostics and profiling platform called Virax Immu...
Source: EMR and HIPAA - June 13, 2023 Category: Information Technology Authors: Andy Oram Tags: Health IT Company Healthcare IT Hospital - Health System Interoperability CLIA COVID-19 Hydreight Immunexpress ixlayer Laboratories Labs Rolland Carlson Sepsis Sepsis Lab Tests Septicyte Shane Madden testing Tomasz George Source Type: blogs
NLM ’s Groundbreaking Work to Prevent Cervical Cancer
Cervical cancer is highly preventable—but only if you live in a place where there’s access to the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine and routine gynecological screening. Recent advances in vaccines protecting against HPV infection, which is the primary cause of the cancer, and improved cervical screening tests promise a future with a significantly reduced prevalence of… (Source: NLM In Focus)
Source: NLM In Focus - February 13, 2020 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Posted by NLM in Focus Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
Vaccines for women: Before conception, during pregnancy, and after a birth
The rise of vaccine-preventable illnesses, such as measles and hepatitis, in the United States and around the globe has been alarming in recent years. For women — especially those hoping to become pregnant, as well as women who are pregnant or have recently had a baby — vaccines can be a worrisome topic. There are many misconceptions about vaccine safety in and around pregnancy that can lead to confusion and unnecessary fear of a lifesaving medical tool. As a practicing ob/gyn, I often discuss vaccines with my patients and help them sort out fears versus facts.
Which vaccines should you consider before conception?
The ...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - January 10, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Ilona T. Goldfarb, MD, MPH Tags: Health Parenting Pregnancy Vaccines Women's Health Source Type: blogs
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(see:Startup uses phone, light and AI to detect cervical cancer)Israeli startup MobileODT has created the Eva System, which uses an Automated Visual Evaluation (AVE) algorithm that it says can detect cervical cancer by simply examining an image of the cervix (Courtesy) Israeli startup MobileODT has created the Eva System, which uses an Automated Visual Evaluation (AVE) algorithm that it says can detect cervical cancer by simply examining an image of the cervix (Courtesy) Israeli start-up MobileODT says it can detect cervical cancer more accurately and inexpensively than the standard colposcopy method used today, by creatin...
Source: Lab Soft News - April 17, 2019 Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Bruce Friedman Source Type: blogs
Cervical screening: implementation guide for primary HPV screening
Public Health England -This guidance is to aid local providers of the NHS Cervical Screening Programme in implementing high-risk human papillomavirus testing. It includes information on: roles and responsibilities; service reconfiguration; screening tests; quality assurance; training; protocols for screening; protocols for referral to colposcopy; and centralisation of screening laboratories.GuidancePublic Health England - publications (Source: Health Management Specialist Library)
Source: Health Management Specialist Library - February 1, 2019 Category: UK Health Authors: The King ' s Fund Information & Knowledge Service Tags: Local authorities, public health and health inequalities Source Type: blogs
myLAB Box STI at-home Test Kits. Interview with Lora Ivanova, Co-Founder and CEO at myLAB Box
myLAB Box, a healthcare company based in California, has developed and pioneered an at-home sexually transmitted disease (STD) testing service. With the number of STDs rising, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that nearly 20 million new STDs occur annually in the US, and half of these are in people aged 15 to 24.
STDs are often symptomless, but can have significant consequences. For instance, an estimated 24,000 women become infertile every year because of undiagnosed STDs. An estimated 80% of sexually active people will have a human papillomavirus (HPV) infection at some point in their lives, and HP...
Source: Medgadget - November 7, 2018 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Conn Hastings Tags: Exclusive Medicine Public Health Reproductive Medicine Source Type: blogs
MKSAP: 34-year-old man with slow-growing lesions
Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians.
A 34-year-old man is evaluated for several slow-growing lesions on his penis. He first noticed the wart-like growths 3 years ago, and they have progressively enlarged. He was treated with topical cryotherapy six times and topical imiquimod over the past year without improvement; the lesions have continued to enlarge. Medical history is significant for HIV infection. Medications are tenofovir, emtricitabine, and efavirenz.
On physical examination, vital signs are normal. Multiple red to brown verrucous papules wi...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - October 20, 2018 Category: General Medicine Authors: < a href="https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/mksap" rel="tag" > mksap < /a > Tags: Conditions Infectious Disease Source Type: blogs
New Faster, Cheaper, Better Test Platform for Nucleic Acid Identification of Diseases
At the National University of Singapore, scientists have developed a portable, point-of-care nucleic acid test platform that can be used to diagnose a variety of diseases. It comes in the form of a cartridge that does not need to be kept refrigerated or handled specially in any other way and once used it provides results faster than existing methods.
Called enVision (enzyme-assisted nanocomplexes for visual identification of nucleic acids), the testing device has everything needed to perform the test and does not require any external heating elements or pumps, so can be used at the point of care. “Conventional technol...
Source: Medgadget - September 20, 2018 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Editors Tags: Diagnostics Genetics Materials Nanomedicine Pathology Source Type: blogs
MKSAP: 30-year-old woman with HIV infection
Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians.
A 30-year-old woman is evaluated in follow-up after being recently diagnosed with HIV infection. She is asymptomatic. Medical history is unremarkable, and she takes no medications; she has not yet started antiretroviral therapy. She received all scheduled childhood immunizations.
On physical examination, vital signs are normal. She has shotty cervical lymphadenopathy, but the examination is otherwise unremarkable.
Laboratory studies:
Absolute CD4 cell count
461/µL
HIV viral load
44,874 copies/mL
Hepatiti...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - August 20, 2018 Category: General Medicine Authors: < a href="https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/mksap" rel="tag" > mksap < /a > Tags: Conditions Infectious Disease Source Type: blogs
HPV Test Superior to Pap Smear for Detecting Precancerous Cervical Changes
A recent article indicated that HPV testing is superior to the Pap smear for detecting precancerous lesions of the cervical epithelium (see:HPV test is better than Pap smear at detecting precancerous cervical changes). Has the Pap smear outlived its usefulness in cancer screening programs? Below is a key passage from the article:A new study found that the HPV test was better than the Pap smear in detecting precancerous changes that can lead to cervical cancer. A test for HPV detects precancerous changes of the cervix earlier and more accurately than the Pap smear....The randomized, controlled study...showed that the human ...
Source: Lab Soft News - July 11, 2018 Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Bruce Friedman Tags: Cytopathology Healthcare Innovations Medical Research Public Health Surgical Pathology Source Type: blogs
The Luxury to Choose
By TRAVIS BIAS, MD
The 80 year-old woman lay on her mat, her legs powerless, looking up at the small group that had come to visit her. There were no more treatment options left. The oral liquid morphine we had brought in the small plastic bottle had blunted her pain. But, she would be dead in the coming days. The cervical cancer that was slowly taking her life is a notoriously horrible disease if left undetected and untreated and that is exactly what had happened in this case.
We had traveled hours by van along dirt roads to this village with a team of health workers from Hospice Africa Uganda, the country’s authority o...
Source: The Health Care Blog - February 25, 2018 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: John Irvine Tags: Uncategorized Gardasil Hospice Africa Uganda vaccines Source Type: blogs
Precision Medicine and Public Health (from Precision Medicine and the Reinvention of Human Disease)
Excerpted fromPrecision Medicine and the Reinvention of Human DiseaseDespite having the most advanced healthcare technology on the planet, life expectancy in the United States is not particularly high. Citizens from most of the European countries and the highly industrialized Asian countries enjoy longer life expectancies than the United States. According to the World Health Organization, the United States ranks 31st among nations, trailing behind Greece, Chile, and Costa Rica, and barely edging out Cuba [42]. Similar rankings are reported by the US Central Intelligence Agency [43]. These findings lead us to infer that acc...
Source: Specified Life - February 6, 2018 Category: Information Technology Tags: cancer cancer vaccines precision medicine prevention public health Source Type: blogs
MKSAP: 44-year-old woman with a painless right neck mass
Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians.
A 44-year-old woman is evaluated for a 2-month history of a painless right neck mass. Medical history is unremarkable, and she takes no medications. She is a lifelong nonsmoker.
On physical examination, vital signs are normal. A 5-cm right anterior neck mass is palpated. The remainder of the examination is unremarkable.
An initial CT scan of the neck shows a 4.5-cm, partially necrotic, right-sided lymph node. Asymmetric thickening of the right base of the tongue is also seen. Subsequent laryngoscopy shows an ulc...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - April 15, 2017 Category: Journals (General) Authors: < a href="http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/mksap" rel="tag" > mksap < /a > Tags: Conditions Infectious disease Source Type: blogs
