Starting today, California is taking a stand against thirdhand smoke. While most people are well aware of the health threat of secondhand smoke — what you inhale from someone smoking a cigarette nearby — “thirdhand smoke” is much less discussed. But it may actually be more toxic. It can certainly have a very real effect … Read more
A grandmother has been given a “second chance at life” after undergoing a world-first heart valve operation. Julia Butterworth, 53, had two valves in her heart replaced in 2007 after doctors detected a murmur in the organ. Despite being monitored, the gran-of-four underwent another operation in 2022 to replace two more valves, and a third … Read more
Professor Richard Scolyer had earned a reputation as a world leading pathologist when he was diagnosed with an incurable brain tumor in June. The 56-year-old, who has been recognized for his pioneering melanoma research, knew the cancer diagnosis meant “certain death.” Now he’s acting as “guinea pig” and undergoing world-first treatment in an attempt to … Read more
A man in India caught a plant fungal disease in a world-first case of human infection. Medics at the Consultant Apollo Multispecialty Hospitals in India wrote in the journal Medical Mycology Case Reports that the 61-year-old patient came to the hospital with complaints of a recurring couch, hoarseness of voice, difficulty swallowing, a sore throat … Read more
A 5lb newborn boy with a life-threatening heart defect received a world-first partial heart transplant using living tissue that may never need to be replaced. North Carolina child Owen Monroe, who is now four months old, was born with his two main arteries — the aorta and pulmonary artery — fused together in a condition … Read more