The genes necessary for the growth and survival of stem cells are influencing the biomaterials; on which they are culture, researchers at the University of Toronto have found. The study by researchers at the Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research found that different substrates; but used to coat the surface of the lab dish…
As an operating room technician, Sutton Dryfhout knew better than most what’s supposed to happen during a surgery. But it didn’t take special training for her to realize an operation two years ago to correct a lazy eye and remove a cyst had gone horribly wrong, she says, after a Chicago Ridge surgeon operated on…
When Ava Terranove began feeling oral pain last July, her parents took her to her regular dentist. The dentist determined that Ava, who has an autism-like condition, needed two root canal procedures to treat infected teeth. Because of her developmental disability, Ava, now 15, requires general anesthesia for non-routine dental work. The dentist, like most…
Medically-induced loss of consciousness (mLOC) during anesthesia is associated with a break-down of brain connectivity at the anatomical macro scale across cortical areas – yet what role brain micro circuitry plays in LOC remains unclear. How does our brain generate our consciousness? And why do we lose it during anesthesia? Influential theories suggest that consciousness…
Ketamine is commonly used in emergency medicine as an anesthetic drug. Later it was discovered to have rapid-acting antidepressant effects, but the mechanisms by which ketamine alleviates depression are still unknown. Ketamine, however, may not be the only drug having rapid antidepressant effects. A small clinical trial published in 2015 suggests that another anesthetic, nitrous…
Dr. Gary Andolfatto didn’t anticipate that furthering his pain management research would become a personal mission but he didn’t expect to injure himself either. On a sunny; snowy day in December 2015, the emergency room doctor took his bike for a spin in the forest; fell and broke his femur and then dragged himself for…
When Andolfatto, an emergency room doctor at Lions Gate Hospital; is discover by Lynn Canyon park rangers and loaded into an ambulance; his immediate need was pain control. Andolfatto was shocked when the paramedic riding in the back with him could only offer nitrous oxide, commonly referred to as laughing gas. Emergency room doctor “He…
Previous studies have shown that ketamine an anesthetic can rapidly reduce severe symptoms of major depressive disorder, particularly the occurrence of suicidal thoughts. However, researchers are still unsure how this substance acts in the brain to fight off depression or how to maintain its therapeutic effects in the long run. Rapidly reduce severe For this reason, a…
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today granted final approval of the first generic naloxone hydrochloride nasal spray; commonly known as Narcan, a life-saving medication that can stop or reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. The agency is also planning new steps to prioritize the review of additional generic drug applications; for products intended…
When you picture the drug ketamine, you might think of that stoner you knew in high school or a bunch of people popping pills in neon-lit clubs. But do you ever picture a dentist’s office? Ketamine is often used as an anesthetic for procedures on people’s teeth. And it’s a multi-tasker. The Food and Drug Administration…
The discovery of general anesthesia 170 years ago was a medical miracle, enabling millions of patients to undergo invasive, life-saving surgeries without pain. Yet despite decades of research, scientists still don’t understand why general anesthesia works. Now scientists think they have discovered part of the answer. In a study published online April 18 in Neuron; a Duke…
A new small-molecule drug produced a rapid antidepressant response similar to that of ketamine when tested in mice, a new Yale-led study published April 16 in the Journal of Clinical Investigation shows. The effects of the drug, called NV-5138, in rodent models mimicked the rapid actions of the anesthetic ketamine, a variation of which, Esketamine, was recently approved by…