#medical-research

#medical-research

WASHINGTON President Joe Biden on Monday nominated cancer specialist Dr. Monica Bertagnolli to become director of the National Institutes of Health.Bertagnolli is a cancer surgeon and researcher who last fall became the first female head of the NIH's National Cancer Institute.If confirmed by the Senate, she would become the second woman named permanent director of the NIH, one of the world's leading biomedical research agencies.

Early next year, a radical new treatment for Parkinson's disease involving tissue transplants will receive its first trial with patients  including a group from the UK.Stem cells grown in the laboratory and transformed into nerve cells will be used to replace those destroyed by the disease.It is hoped that these will stop the spread of debilitating symptoms.

Two brothers who transform their mother's house into a Christmas lights extravaganza each festive season are celebrating after raising more than 100,000 for charity.Lee and Paul Brailsford have been decorating their mother Rosemary's home in Brentry, Bristol, since 1994.They began fundraising for local charities after receiving a large amount of interest in their huge display from neighbours and local fans, who travel to see it each Christmas.

Explorer Sir David Hempleman-Adams has become the first person to be awarded Polar Medals by two monarchs for his expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic.Sir David's first medal was awarded by the late Queen for services to the UK in the field of polar research for work in both regions up to 2012.The King has awarded him the second bar to his Polar Medal for his work in the Arctic and Antarctic up to 2022.

Artificial intelligence (AI) could create dystopia if advancements in the technology are not managed properly, but its usefulness should not be overlooked, a Government minister has said.Paul Scully, minster for tech and digital economy, told the TechUK Tech Policy Leadership Conference on Tuesday that there should not just be a focus on a Terminator-style scenario.

Menopause treatments will be revolutionised by a drug that acts directly on the brain to prevent hot flushes, leading doctors have predicted.Speaking after the US approved the first non-hormonal menopause drug, made by Astellas Pharma, experts said the treatment could be transformative for the hundreds of thousands of women in the UK for whom hormone replacement drugs (HRT) are not suitable.

Protesters lie on the ground holding cardboard signs shaped like tombstones in front of the Marriott Fort Lauderdale Airport as the Florida Board of Medicine meets inside on Aug 5, 2022.On the agenda is a discussion about a proposed rule by the DeSantis administration to ban doctors from performing gender-affirming surgeries or providing puberty blockers to transgender minors.

May 11, 2023 - How is the human lifespan being shortened by epidemics such as COVID-19 and the opioid crisis, and what kind of health policies can help mitigate the problem?These were the main questions addressed at the 7 th Cutter Symposium, held on May 5 at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Over 40 leading scientists have resigned from the prestigious journal Neuroimage last month, protesting an inequitable publishing model built on gatekeeping and false scarcity .Academic publishing is fundamental to the advancement of modern science.It facilitates expert collaboration and testing, ideally leading to new innovation, including life-saving medical research .

Keir Starmer should pledge 11bn towards building BritGPT and a national artificial intelligence (AI) cloud in the next Labour manifesto or risk the UK falling ever further into dependence on American tech companies, an affiliated thinktank has said.Labour for the Long Term, which campaigns within the party for it to adopt long-termist policies that mitigate dangers such as pandemics, climate breakdown, and AI extinction, argues in a report that the 1bn pledged by the government in the 2023 budget is not enough to protect Britain's future independence.

Consider a new digital privacy fear unlocked.As Wired reports, a facial recognition search site called PimEyes, which claims to create biometric human "faceprints," has been using stolen photos of dead people to train its algorithms.According to the report, Cher Scarlett, a software engineer and writer, made the discovery while searching the site for images of herself.

The number of EU students enrolling in British universities has more than halved since Brexit with sharp declines in scholars from Italy, Germany and France, figures reveal.Brexit is seen as the primary deterrent, with home fees and student finance no longer available to EU students who do not already live in the UK with settled or pre-settled status.

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sir Keir Starmer has said transforming medical research will be key to boosting Scotland's economy ahead of a visit north of the border.The Labour leader will visit the medical research hub in Edinburgh's BioQuarter on Thursday.

Sign up for a full digest of all the best opinions of the week in our Voices Dispatches email Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter Scientists have launched a clinical trial to assess a potential new treatment for endometriosis the first in four decades.Researchers from the universities of Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Birmingham plan to see whether the drug, dichloroacetate, can help manage pain among those with the condition.

Artist Bryce Cobbs stands next to the drawing he created of Henrietta Lacks, which was unveiled in Roanoke, Va., on Monday.The drawing will be used in the design process of a larger-than-life bronze statue.Matt Gentry/The Roanoke Times via AP A statue of Henrietta Lacks, a Black woman whose cells were taken without her consent and subsequently used in several major medical breakthroughs, will be built in her hometown in Roanoke, Va.

Transgender powerlifter JayCee Cooper has won her discrimination lawsuit against USA Powerlifting (USAPL), a competitive federation that had banned her and other trans people from competing.Cooper sued USAPL in January 2021, saying that its policy violates Minnesota's Human Rights Act, a law that explicitly forbids transgender-based discrimination.

The UK government has boasted of £14.8m in annual business savings and increased exports to South Korea after finalising a data adequacy agreement with Seoul, having previously secured an agreement in principle in July.Having now completed a full assessment of South Korea's personal data legislation, the government said it was confident that the country had strong privacy laws in place to protect data transfers into its territory, while upholding the rights and protections of the UK citizens to whom the data pertains.