#health & medicine

In a Long-Awaited Move, FDA Enforces Trial Result Transparency

After years of limited oversight, the FDA sent warnings to more than 2,200 clinical trial sponsors about missing results, which were supposed to be uploaded to an official public database. Experts have pushed for greater transparency.

Undark · EN

AI and Virtual Reality Enter the Therapist’s Office

Some experts say that deepfake technology and other AI tools could help tackle treatment-resistant conditions like anorexia and prolonged grief. But plenty of questions remain, including whether there could be damaging side effects and whether the therapy is even effective.

Undark · EN

Interview: The Nerve That Could Transform Medicine

Kevin Tracey, a researcher and neurosurgeon whose team discovered the vagus nerve’s link to the immune system more than two decades ago, has developed an electrical implant to stimulate the nerve in an effort to help rheumatoid arthritis sufferers who currently have difficulty taking medications.

Undark · EN

Could an Amazonian Highway Open a Pandora’s Box of Pathogens?

Brazil has plans to repave a neglected 550-mile road in the South American rainforest to help connect the region and boost economic growth. But some scientists are concerned the project — which would likely increase access between humans, livestock, and wildlife — might be a biosecurity risk.

Undark · EN

After Cancer, a Complex Aftermath for Survivors

Around 70 percent of people with cancer today will live for more than five years after their diagnosis. They’re likely to find that life after cancer is complicated — marked by health risks and chronic illnesses — and that their primary care doctors may be ill-equipped to help them navigate it.

Undark · EN

Body Snatchers and the Murky Process of Whole-Body Donation

Opinion | Each year, more than 20,000 people in the U.S. donate their bodies to science after death. But the programs that handle whole-body donations lack oversight, with inconsistencies in standards of consent, transparency, and accountability. The result is reminiscent of the body-snatching practices of years past.

Undark · EN

A proof-of-concept test can spot bladder cancer in urine

Using a proof-of-concept test to analyze fragments of RNA in urine, researchers can detect cases of bladder cancer.

Science News · EN