INNOVATIONS & DISCOVERIES IN MEDICINE IN THE PAST 5 YEARS - UNIZIK SUN

2010

·         In October, 2010, Sir Robert G. Edwards was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for development of  in vitro fertilization.

2011

·         In October, 2011, Bruce A. Beutler and Jules A. Hoffmann are awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for their discoveries concerning the activation of innate immunity"
In addition, Ralph M. Steinman was posthumously awarded the prize "for his discovery of the dendritic cell and its role in adaptive immunity"

2012.

·         In January, 2012, Schizophrenia was renamed in South Korea from jungshinbunyeolbyung (mind-split disorder), to johyeonbyung (attunement disorder)

·         On May 22, 2012, the United States preventive services task force released a guideline advising against routine screening for prostate cancer using the prostate-specific antigen test, concluding that the benefits of the testing outweighs the harms, and sparking a debate about the use of the test.

·         In October, 2012, Sir John B. Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent"

·         On October 26, 2012, the National People's Congress of China passed new mental health laws.

 2013

·         On April 14, 2013, the first kidney grown in a rat in vitro in the U.S. was published.

·         On May 1, 2013, China signed a new mental health law into effect.

·         On May 18, 2013, the psychiatry manual DSM-5 was formally published, revising definitions for a wide range of psychiatric illnesses, including a new definition for autism spectrum disorder and substance use disorder

·         On May 29, 2013 results of a phase 3 study for the first vaccine for enterovirus 71, one cause of hand foot mouth disease, were published, showing a 90% statistically significant efficacy 

·         On July 3, 2013, a study was published documenting the first human liver grown from stem cells in Japan

·         On October 7, 2013, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to James E. Rothman, Randy W. Schekman, and Thomas C. Südhof for research on cell vesicles.

2014

·         Heart Transplant From A Cadaver

When it comes to body transplants, it’s pretty much a necessity that the donor is alive, but this year all that changed. In October, a team of Australian scientists made history when they revived dead hearts from cadavers and successfully transplanted them into awaiting patients.

·         Measles Vaccine Makes Cancer Undetectable

2014 has seen a lot of innovations in cancer treatment, but one of the most remarkable was seen in May, when a measles vaccine overdose made one woman’s blood cancer go into complete remission. Stacy Erholz was injected with a truly tremendous amount of the measles vaccine, a treatment which ended up targeting and killing her blood cancer.

·         Surgeons Use 3D Printer To Perform World’s First Skull Transplant

The year was great for 3D technology, as we’ve learned that it can not only help make our lives easier, but also help make them longer. In May, a team of surgeons from the Netherlands performed the world’s first complete skill transplant using a plastic tailor-made 3D-printed piece.

·         Lab-Grown Vaginas

This year doctors revisited four teenage girls who were fitted with the world’s first lab-grown vaginas, and reported that they are still enjoying normal, pain-free function. The lead researcher Dr. Anthony Atala explained in the press release. "This may represent a new option for patients who require vaginal reconstructive surgeries.”

·         Prosthesis Which Converts Muscle Signals Into Movement

2014 saw the arrival of the most complex prosthesis technology to date. In May, the Food and Drug Administration approved the marketing of the first prosthetic arm that translates electrical signals from people’s muscles to help them perform tasks with the upmost accuracy. The arm, known as the DEKA Arm System, controls movement via electromyogram electrose.

·         Legally Blind Can See With Bionic Eye

The bionic eye was dramatically improved in 2014, allowing the legally blind to do finally see, as they had long dreamed.

The bionic eye, known as the Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System, was approved by the FDA in 2013, but this year engineers further improved its visual system. It is the world’s first implanted device to treat people with retinitis pigmentosa, one of the leading causes of blindness. The bionic eye consists of a device implanted into the eye, a video camera in a pair of glasses, and a video processing unit carried by the patient.

·         Longest-Ever Preservation of Lungs Outside The Body

Transplant specialists at University Hospitals Leuven in Belgium were able to preserve donor lungs outside of a human body for a full 11 hours, the longest time in medical history. The feat was possible thanks to OCS LUNG, a perfusion-based machine that supplies the quarantined lungs with a continual, refreshing supply of oxygen.

·         The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2014 was divided, one half awarded to John O'Keefe, the other half jointly to May-Britt Moser and Edvard I. Moser "for their discoveries of cells that constitute a positioning system in the brain".

SOURCES: WIKIPEDIA AND MEDICAL DAILY

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VIDEO: Chaos in church as pastor’s wedding is stopped by 3 women who have kids for him

There was commotion at a pastor’s wedding at the Nairobi Pentecostal church in Kenya when three women and a man sought to stop the ceremony.

The complainants, accompanied by two children stormed the church to stop the ceremony.

After a closed-door meeting, the presiding pastor decided to go ahead with the wedding as the complainants were escorted out of the church.

29-year-old undergraduate who dumped Medicine for Mass Communication after 10 years

What could make a student abandon Medicine for Mass Communication, having spent 10 years trying hard at the former? This is the big question our intern, Godwin Simon attempted to answer, when he went after Ismaila Mansur Akolade, a 100 level Mass Communication student of the University of Lagos now in his 10th year as an undergraduate.

ISMAILA Mansur Akolade as a 100 level student of Mass Communication at the University of Lagos is by all means expected to be a freshers and a green horn in the university affairs, but his mature outlook, carriage and composure suggest clearly that he is he is none of the sort. As if to confirm this writer’s suspicion, a reliable source, who is close to Ismaila disclosed he had indeed spent a whopping ten years at the University of Ilorin, studying Medicine before quitting barely two weeks to the commencement of his final qualification examination.

His days at the University of Ilorin, the source said was characterised by serial failure, which inevitably put him at the bottom of the class, hence his decision to quit at the eleventh hour. Curiously, Ismaila is not sitting at the bottom nor struggling in his new endeavour as he currently sit in the first class category with a Grade Point Average of 4.71

.In an exclusive interview with our reporter, Ismaila revealed that his action was triggered by his passion for the journalism profession, which he said is parallel to the wish of his father for him. He noted that his dream was never to become a doctor, but was forced into an unholy matrimony with the profession by his father who sees the medical profession as prestigious and thus wants ‘the best’ for his son.“Principally, my action was due to the fact that I never wanted to be a doctor.

I was initially in medical school because I had to follow my father’s bidding. He wanted me to become a doctor but when I discovered after 10 years that it was not going to work and that my professional life was going to be nastier and more horrible, I took the decision to leave and follow my dreams. I refused to be held down by the medical certificate because I reasoned that if I should write the final examination, it might make me drift away from my dream of studying Mass Communication.” He said.He recalled his days at the University of Ilorin Medical School, which he described as ‘horrible’ and ‘nasty,’ noting that he was a very terrible student and had a very negative reputation. He said,“Perhaps, I was the most unserious medical student UNILORIN has ever come across. I spent 10 years in the medical school, four of which was due to failure. I repeated class in 200, 300, 500, and 600 levels respectively.

After the whole saga, especially when I came to study Mass Communication, I discovered that my failure was not due to an inability or mental incapacity to handle medicine; it was because I was just never interested in it.”He revealed that the reason for his passion for the journalism profession was his talent and propensity which he believes would thrive and gain relevance only if allowed to be expressed as a journalist.His words: “There is this Law-Mass Communication dichotomy. People thought I was leaving medicine for an equally ‘prestigious’ course like Law. You know the way society view it especially in Nigeria: If my son is not a doctor, he should be a lawyer, engineer or accountant. Having analysed both law and medicine, I discovered common characteristics in them. First of all are the rules. I won’t call myself a lawless person, but I am someone who likes to be free. I don’t like dress codes, neither do I fancy uniforms.

When I was in the medical school, there was a rule that you must be in a particular shirt at a particular time and other dress codes. I don’t like conventions.”“I am not an undisciplined person, but I hate being caged by unnecessary shackles of profession. This sharply differs from my current course. Mass Communication is everything. Look at the issue of beats; if you are an aviation reporter, you look more like a pilot when you start talking. In Mass Communication, you are a complete human being. You can be here and there. I love the professional plurality and intellectual freedom obtainable in it. I felt that this course is more of me than law.”He said his father was embittered by his decision to quit medicine after all his investment into the profession. He however said he was encouraged to embark on his mission after seeing the movie titled, ‘Three Idiots,’ which triggered the instinct of resoluteness in him and taught him that life is predominantly about risk taking.According to him, “I will not want to feel the way my father felt when I left. If I put myself into his shoes, I won’t want a son to do to me what I did to my father. However, I got the inspiration from the movie to dare and to take a seemingly difficult action, more especially because life is risk taking and not about the present alone. The lessons from that movie contributed 40 per cent to my final decision. I believe strongly that if I graduate from UNILAG, become a world class journalist and achieve greatness in the profession; my father will be one of those who will celebrate with me.”Ismaila admitted that it was not easy for him to start afresh and adapt since he had spent most of his years studying science-based subjects in secondary school. Sitting down to deal with arts-based subjects, he said, was difficult but the determination to succeed made him to withstand the avoidable failure that stared him in the face.“I was driven by passion. I went to settle with all relevant books. I did extensive reading and I also had a friend who taught me mathematics. When the result came out, it was excellent. I actually had distinction in all my papers.” He said.He recognised the contributions of his lecturers in Mass Communication department, to his quick adaptation to life on campus, saying that their words of encouragements, have helped him to quickly overcome his medical school trauma, and helped him to re-orientate towards excellence.“These lecturers of mine are beyond just lecturers for me. They are my advisers, comforters and encouragers. Those that heard my story assured me that I can still bounce back and be great in life. With this, I was able to re-think and desire to be studious.

Thank God the results are reflecting my efforts Ismaila said the 10-year experience has redefined him and has taught him a lot of lessons, which he wishes to use to educate the younger ones to forestall falling victim of such unpalatable experience.He appealed to parents to always consider the interest and ability of their children rather than imposing professions on them.In his words, “Parents should allow their children to express themselves. That parents are privileged to give birth to children does not give them absolute control over their destinies. Parents can only guide their children. Children should be allowed to have more input on how they would live their lives. Parents should not play God with the future of their children. Your child doesn’t know how to write or speak English very well but he is very exceptional in Mathematics and you insist he should go and study law! He has a special ability in writing poems and mind-bogging articles but poor in calculations, yet you said he must be an engineer! Parents should stop acting against the natural talents and propensities of their children.”He also challenged young ones to hold their destinies in their hands to avoid being swayed unnecessarily. “If you don’t make a decision for yourself, someone will make it for you. Don’t abandon your future in the hands of anybody. Do your own research and know the movers and shakers in your profession of interest, so as to inspire you the more. Young ones should not leave everything in the hands of their parents. It is noteworthy that he who pays the piper dictates the tune, especially when the piper has not decided the exact tune to play.
source: the nation