Dear Reader: Sometimes I feel the need to absorb (& share) some Good News. Following are brief samples, various good news (Health) that I have read recently. I am not a health professional. I am happy to share here the information that I have researched & my own layperson conclusions; these may save you time in your own research efforts.
Many future medicines might lie under the sea awaiting human discovery. Because “marine organisms are constantly releasing invisible molecules under the ocean’s surface” & it is believed that some of these compounds could become new medicines. A new device has been developed that (in a way) may be able to sniff out these medicine opportunities in the seawater. Created: a new waterproof device “that could be easily handled by an underwater diver” that can perform such a sniffing (research) process.
[I think this good news; not everyone agrees ]: How long can humans live? Scientists in the fast-moving field of aging research think that we potentially could live much longer than we currently do. One expert on aging reportedly thinks that after some tweaks to our genetics, humans could live to be 1,000 years old or even older. Because if aging is programmed into our bodies, then scientists theoretically could (by tweaking aging-related genes) reprogram our cells, resulting in a much longer life.
A new (easier & less expensive to make!) vaccine from Oxford “has been shown to be … effective for the prevention of malaria in children …”. Reportedly, the World Health Organization (WHO) “officially recommended the R21/Matrix-M vaccine” recently. It is the second malaria vaccine recommended in ~ two years. It appears that we now have two new “safe and effective vaccines against malaria”.
During their scan of 27 million different molecules, a team identified some that work more effectively than two existing pain medications which can have side effects. So far the newly identified molecule(s) might outperform them without troublesome side effects. The older medications: gabapentin is used to treat pain & some dysfunctions (has been prescribed to ~ 50 million Americans), while pregabalin which can have even harsher side effects than gabapentin has been prescribed to nearly 10 million Americans. Research into the newly identified molecule continues, hoping to bring a new drug to clinical trials.
With a new minimally invasive procedure which can take under 10 minutes (no sedation necessary), scientists/doctors may now be able to cure the loss of smell known as parosmia. This condition has occasionally been found ongoing in patients after having COVID-19, with some of those patients continuing “to have these symptoms for months, or even years”. Parosmia was previously considered a relatively rare disorder, sometimes occurring e.g. “after brain trauma, brain surgery, stroke, viral syndromes, and with some head and neck tumors…”. The new procedure reportedly involves “injecting anesthetic directly into the stellate ganglion on one side of the neck to stimulate the autonomic nervous system”, & it has also been used in treatment of other conditions.
I find it ever hopeful that there are so many new (better health) developments these days.