Medicine
From advancements in the fight against malaria to new cancer treatments, to novel medical technologies, find all positive news about incredible medical breakthroughs and life-saving technology from all corners of the globe.
Personalized brain therapy hits 68 percent remission for PTSD
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM A newly FDA-cleared treatment for PTSD reported 68 percent remission in clinical trials. The best-performing approved medications for the condition top out at around 10.9 percent. The treatment, called Magnetic e-Resonance Therapy (MeRT), was developed by Read More...
New research identifies the exact spot where Alzheimer's protein tangles lock in
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Researchers at Northwestern University and UC Santa Barbara identified a specific contact point on tau proteins where the misfolding that drives Alzheimer's disease begins. The finding, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Read More...
Why October is the best time to get your flu shot this year
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Flu season usually builds in late fall, but this year it's getting a jump start. During the week ending September 26, 3.4 percent of respiratory samples tested by clinical labs came back positive for flu, according to CDC data. That's roughly seven times the Read More...
How a simple urine test could spare most women from invasive womb cancer procedures
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Researchers at the University of Manchester developed a non-invasive womb cancer test that correctly identified most cancers and returned a negative result for 93 percent of women who did not have the disease. The test uses urine and vaginal fluid samples, Read More...
Pomegranates and berries produce a gut metabolite that may improve IBD outcomes
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Gut bacteria that break down compounds in pomegranates, walnuts, and berries produce a metabolite called urolithin A. New research from the University of Louisville shows this compound can activate a protective pathway in intestinal cells that repairs the gut Read More...
Can dogs sniff out cancer? New AI study shows promise
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM A company in India is reporting more than 90 percent accuracy in detecting seven types of cancer from breath samples. The diagnostic engine is artificial intelligence, trained on data from dogs. The 15 dogs at Dognosis, a startup based near Bengaluru, are Read More...
The world's first solar ambulance just completed its first real-world test in rural Kenya
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM The question most ambulances are designed to answer is how fast a patient can reach a hospital. In the Narok region of Kenya, where long distances and unreliable electricity make quality healthcare difficult to access, that question has no good answer. The Read More...
Heart failure and valve disease spotted in seconds by new AI ECG tool
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM In a trial of 67,000 patients, an AI tool identified heart failure in up to 81 percent of cases and heart valve disease in up to 90 percent, all from a standard electrocardiogram (ECG): a test that has been in clinical use for a century but, until now, Read More...
New heart attack guidelines correct decades of under-diagnosis in women
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM The world's four leading cardiovascular health organizations just agreed on a universal heart attack definition for the first time. The announcement came at the European Society of Cardiology congress in Munich and includes two changes that matter especially Read More...
A simpler path to treating degenerative blindness: photoswitchable eye drops
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Scientists at the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia developed light-activated compounds that restored light perception and visually guided behavior in blind animal models, without gene therapy, implants, or specialized equipment. Two of the most Read More...