Ed Cara's discussions

No, that’s on me! A press release did report that she was now tracheostomy-free, but I couldn’t get in touch with the authors directly until after publication. Have since updated to include their comments. Read more

An average 25% weight loss is definitely enough to make most people with mild to moderate obesity get close to or reach normal BMI, let alone any overweight person.   Read more

It’s usually the doctors themselves who decide to write it up, with the permission of the patient. Although at least one journal I know will actually ask the patient to provide their own separate perspective, and it’s not unprecedented for the patient to be a co-author too!  Read more

Apologies if I confused you, Qiviut. But no, that’s not what the study is saying. The average weight loss of the treatment group over the whole 84-week-long study was 25%. But the researchers also looked at the percentage of ppl who achieved certain benchmarks in each group. So about 75% of this group achieved at… Read more

In most deaths, kidney failure was the leading cause of death (or at least the reason that scientists chose to euthanize), but it’s likely that much of this failure was due to immune issues. In humans, donated organs also tend to wear out faster than usual even with meds since the immune system still attacks it. Read more

From my reading of it, the ones that lived the longest did receive a combo of anti-rejection meds along with the highly modified pig kidneys. Read more

Ah, thanks for catching that---did mean to write leaves and roots there. Have now fixed. Read more

Thanks for catching that! Have since fixed the link Read more

I would not be surprised if there are preventative heart effects not strictly related to weight loss from these drugs. But yes, a big chunk of this benefit is likely from losing weight. Read more

Lol, thanks for catching typo; have now fixed. Read more

That was a question they studied, yes! Per the trial data, less than 0.5 of women partners reported a burning sensation after having sex with men who used it. So does seem to be a very low risk there. Read more

Thanks for catching that! Have fixed typo Read more

Yes, the last point is right on the money; they’re engineered to not survive in the body at all, so they ideally shouldn’t replicate. The second strain can replicate, but it’s intended to only be able to do so inside a solid tumor and should die once enough of the cancer is killed off. Read more

You’re totally right; have fixed the wording. Thanks for catching! Read more

That fungus is based on one that attacks ants/insects, but this might be an even further leap for a pathogen to successfully make. Again, very likely a fluke, but it’s not great to see happen either. Read more

Yeah, there’s definitely a lot of complex science involved in this. But one key factor is that the donated thymus has been cultured and processed to make it safer. The team’s research in patients has shown that the T-cells “trained” by this donated thymus are friendly both to the new host and the donor’s body. Read more

I was also thinking of T-VEC, an approved oncolytic treatment that’s been referred to as a vaccine since it has a secondary effect of triggering an immune response. And I know Cuba has developed what they’ve called a lung cancer vaccine that’s approved in some countries, though it’s still only been studied in early… Read more

Did link to the study flyer, but probably easy to miss, so here it is for anyone curious: https://hopeclinic.emory.edu/_includes/documents/shigellaflyer.pdf Read more

Thanks for catching, should be fixed now! Read more

Yeah, so the process, as described by the scientists, goes like this: Normally, nutrient-carrying algae are eaten by predators, which then goes up the chain. But when the viruses infect algae, the infected algae die and burst open, releasing these nutrients into the water, which are then taken up by other grazers, not… Read more