Health radar: Nobel Prize for Medicine celebrates Covid-19 vaccines

Hungarian Katalin Karikó and American Drew Weissman made history by helping to save millions and millions of lives in pandemic.

Thanks to his discoveries in the laboratory, the result of years of work (sometimes discredited in academia), it was possible to develop the messenger RNA vaccinesessential for the containment and prevention of Covid-19.

The duo, working at the University of Pennsylvania, in the United States, discovered a way to introduce specific RNAs — small particles that give genetic instructions to cells — without causing undesirable reactions in the body.

The method was used to create the first vaccines of this type, decisive in controlling the health crisis, and opened an avenue for new vaccines and therapies against diseases such as cancer. A feat recognized by the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in this year. Science that excites!

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Past: 200 years of The Lancet

On October 5, 1823, English surgeon Thomas Wakley founded the The Lancetone of the longest-lived and most respected medical journals today.

The title refers to the lancet, an instrument that was used at the time in procedures such as bloodletting. The British newspaper has followed the most notable advances in the area and today, with a range of publications, addresses the main public health challenges.

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Future: catching Parkinson’s through the eye

Scientists from University College London, in the United Kingdom, have just proven that eyeball scanningtargeting changes in the retina, would help to detect the Parkinson’s disease up to seven years before symptoms such as stiffness and involuntary tremors.

The revelation reveals the possibility of using other means to carry out an early diagnosis of the condition.

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+ Also read: Parkinson’s disease can be detected early by smartwatches

A place: in the Amazon, the Indigenous DNA was shaped by Chagas disease

The secular coexistence with Chagas diseasea disease caused by a parasite transmitted by insects such as barber exerted selective pressure on the people originating from the current north of Brazil to the point of interfering with their genes.

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This is what a team from USP revealed, pointing to a modification in DNA that gave these people greater resistance to the disease.

One fact: 80% of hair transplant patients have genetic hair loss

This is what a survey by the Brazilian Association of Hair Restoration Surgery indicates, which still estimates the number of similar procedures performed in the country in 2022 at 6,000.

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The majority of beneficiaries suffered from hair loss for genetic reasons. The techniques of hair transplant They have evolved a lot and today offer a more relaxed post-operative period.

One sentence: Boris Groys

“A healthy person’s decision to ignore all reasonable advice and take the risk of death is admired by our society. Sick people are supposed to choose life, but healthy people are encouraged to choose death. In a war, this becomes obvious. But we also admire the intense work effort that can harm the Worker’s health. And we admire those who practice sports and adventures that can lead to death (…) What is favorable to the symbolic body can ruin the physical body. Improving social status (…) often means investing energy in something that ruins our health.”

Boris Groys, German philosopher, in the book Philosophy of Care (Âyiné)