• Medicine

    Dry needling trigger points

    01/02/2022 - By 

    Pain treatment sometimes involves teasing apart trigger points. Everyone has knots in their muscles that are irritatingly painful. Sometimes these pains appear a ways away from the actual issue – referred pain. While such myofascial pain can be treated by exercise, or massage, a less known treatment is dry needling – insertion of a needle in the trigger point itself and “loosening” it. I spoke to my physiotherapist, Auke Ham, who is an expert in this technique at his clinic. In this interview, he speaks about how he diagnoses pain, how he uses needles to lessen it and how effective…

  • Big Data - Medicine

    How CATs help machine learning diagnose disease

    07/11/2020 - By 

    CT scans and machine learning! Machine learning (ML) is everywhere, from your Netflix recommendations to a self-driving car. Also in medicine, ML can be used for many applications, including diagnosis of different diseases – here’s an earlier example that was featured about the brain tumors. Recently medical imaging has seen several algorithms outperforming, or performing on par with, human experts, see [1] for an overview.  To teach a ML algorithm to diagnose disease in a medical scan – for example, a magnetic resonance (MR) or a computed tomography (CT or CAT) scan, you need examples of scans with, and without,…

  • Medicine - Microbiology - Social science

    LGBTQI in the time of Corona

    03/06/2020 - By 

    Recognizing vulnerable communities in pandemics These times of lockdown due to COVID19 are tough for us all. There are some communities however, where there are specific fears and issues that affect them specifically. To look at the science of SARS-CoV2 and how it affects the LGBTQI community, specifically those who are HIV positive, I hosted a panel session as part of the Elsevier Pride ERG. My guests included Prof. Peter Reiss (University of Amsterdam), Dr. Kees Brinkman (OLVG hospital Amsterdam), Sebastiaan Verboekhout (PrEP Nu), and Dr. Peter Hayward (The Lancet HIV). Read the full story, and watch the video: ©…

  • Cell Biology - Medicine

    A model for cystic fibrosis

    23/04/2020 - By 

    A 3D model for CF could save lives. Cystic Fibrosis (CF) affects around 10,500 people in the UK. The genetic mutation that causes CF leads to the build-up of thick mucus in the airways of the lung. This mucus cannot be cleared without physiotherapy, and people with CF are vulnerable to respiratory infections that are difficult to treat with antibiotics. Various different microorganisms can coexist within the mucus and cause infection. To study infections of the CF lung we need accurate laboratory models. The problem is that bacteria behave differently when grown in artificial models, compared to inside a living…

  • Big Data - Medicine

    Brain tumors and AI

    01/04/2020 - By 

    Artificial intelligence squares off with human intelligence. Artificial intelligence or AI is the ability of a computer program or a machine to think and act like humans. A typical AI needs a base of knowledge to assess its environment and takes action to achieve success (1). Interestingly, it has paved its way into many areas of our everyday life already. For instance, these days in Google mails, we have the AI enabled Smart Compose option that inherently predicts our email text and response. Even our Gmail inbox uses AI powered algorithms to make sure our emails are categorized and do…

  • Medicine - Microbiology - Molecular Biology

    Oh My Corona

    14/03/2020 - By 

    A resource of sane, up-to-date websites on COVID19 It is hard to escape the Corona phenomenon in the media these days, as a deluge of news, blog posts (like this one), memes and jokes hit us left right and center. Along with this of course is the barrage of supposed miracle cures and dooms-day scenarios, which have people going off in a frenzy to hoard supplies like the zombie apocalypse is coming. I have compiled a list of websites below that give accurate, up-to-date and evidence based information on what is happening on the ground. First of all, what is…

  • Medicine - Molecular Biology

    Sugar and Cancer: Are they connected?

    18/02/2020 - By 

    What is the connection between sugar and cancer? Does sugar cause cancer? If one has cancer, does sugar contribute to its growth? This has been a debatable question for a very long time, but unfortunately  there are no simple answers to it. The question has merit, but at the same time it is fueled largely by misinterpreted science. Usually, when there’s sufficient oxygen, healthy cells utilise that to convert glucose (a basic sugar) into energy by the process of aerobic respiration. And when the oxygen is low, the cells use an alternative process, anaerobic respiration, to generate energy from sugar,…

  • Medicine - Molecular Biology

    The Burden of Generations

    26/01/2020 - By 

    The sins of the father revisited? I had the privilege recently of taking part in a family constellation exercise. The supposed objective of this is to uncover trauma or events experienced by previous generations, that have caused discordance in the family dynamic, which are then inherited by the present individual resulting in problems or difficulties. While this was entirely based on psychological concepts and maybe some pseudoscience (I went in with my usual dose of healthy skepticism), I was surprised to learn much later on that such a concept does exist biologically. It is called transgenerational inheritance. We all inherit…

  • Big Data - Medicine

    How big data can help us understand mental illness

    25/08/2019 - By 

    Big data could lead to personalized medicine. Although mental health is currently one of the top global health priorities, there has been no major progress in treating psychiatric disorders since the 60s. The available therapies are ineffective, and prophylaxis is practically non-existent. To find a way out of this deadlock, psychiatry needs to consider different research approaches. One of the major obstacles for moving psychiatry forward is the enormous inter-individual variability. Patients with somewhat similar symptoms receive the same diagnosis, although the symptoms might have very different biological backgrounds. This is comparable to including migraine, hypertension and brain cancer into…

  • Medicine

    Saving babies in Gambia

    15/06/2019 - By 

    Being a pediatrician in Gambia is a challenge. In a country like Gambia, where hospital infrastructure can be a challenge, medical professionals still work tirelessly to help those in need, especially the most vulnerable, the neonates. One such heroine is Dr. Uduak Okomo, a pediatrician and infectious disease epidemiologist. Uduak is affiliated with MRC unit The Gambia as well as the London school of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Recently Uduak was also one of the proud winners of the OWSD – Elsevier Foundation awards for Early career women scientists in the developing world. I had the honor of interviewing Uduak,…