‘An evil I’ve never seen before’: Doctors scramble to understand vaping-related lung disease

Thousands of people are experiencing severe pulmonary issues from vaping, and some are dying.

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  • Scientists now believe that the primary culprit in this health crisis is vitamin E acetate, though research continues for other toxic factors.
  • Vitamin E is a gooey thickener often used in black-market cannabis-based vaping products.
  • Vapers who feel like they may have pneumonia should consult a physician immediately.
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Detecting breast cancer 5 years before clinical signs

The possibility of an easy, non-invasive detection method arises.

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  • A blood test that spots breast cancer five years ahead of clinical signs could give new meaning to "early detection."
  • Auto-antibodies for tumor antigens predict the presence of the disease.
  • Researchers say the blood test could be clinic-ready in 4-5 years.
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Scientists find a marker for schizophrenia in human hair

Not only will this help diagnose schizophrenia earlier, but it also points to a possible cause of schizophrenia.

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  • Schizophrenia can be difficult to diagnose early, which is why it's important to identify physical markers that appear in schizophrenics but not the healthy population.
  • To determine this, researchers examined mice with schizophrenia-like symptoms and compared them to a healthy group. They found that the mice with schizophrenia-like symptoms had elevated levels of MPST, an enzyme that produces hydrogen sulfide.
  • Not only does this provide a biomarker for schizophrenia, but it also suggests that schizophrenia may come about due to what the researchers called "sulfide stress."
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Flu season is here. Researchers may have discovered a cure.

Ferrets are not humans, but this new drug is showing promise.

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  • Researchers at Georgia State University and Emory University tweaked an old drug and found great results.
  • None of the ferrets given EIDD-2801 twelve hours after infection developed the flu.
  • Those given the drug a day later developed less severe symptoms than the control group or those receiving Tamiflu.
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New capsule can orally deliver drugs that usually have to be injected

Could this be the beginning of the end of insulin injections?

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Many drugs, especially those made of proteins, cannot be taken orally because they are broken down in the gastrointestinal tract before they can take effect. One example is insulin, which patients with diabetes have to inject daily or even more frequently.

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