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.
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...
The neuroscience of motivation: what orexin neurons reveal about staying the course
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Researchers at Nagoya University identified orexin-producing neurons as the brain's apparent mechanism for deciding whether a reward is worth pursuing. Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the study suggests these cells are doing Read More...
At-home urine test spots bladder cancer in nine of ten cases
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM In an NHS trial of nearly 1,000 patients across seven hospitals in England and Scotland, an at-home urine test detected 92 percent of bladder cancer cases. When the result came back negative, there was better than a 99 percent chance the patient was in the Read More...
Statins reduce heart attack risk in healthy adults over 70, decade-long trial confirms
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM A decade-long clinical trial of nearly 10,000 adults aged 70 and over has found that daily statins reduce the risk of a first major cardiac event by 30 percent, with no significant increase in serious side effects. The study was published in the New England Read More...
How to choose a fertility clinic: what reproductive endocrinologists look for
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM There's a lot tangled up in choosing a fertility clinic. Some of it is practical: where is it, what does it cost, what are their numbers. Some of it is harder to put into words, like whether you feel genuinely seen and supported through a process that's Read More...
Maternal RSV vaccine cuts newborn ICU admissions in half
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Good news! In the UK, only 63 infants were admitted to intensive care with RSV infection last winter, which is down from 131 the year before. Same 20 hospitals, same surveillance system. The UK Health Security Agency published its first full-year results on Read More...