Medical News Bulletin - Edition 3

Artificial Intelligence in Medicine

Google has announced an Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning model which can identify and highlight medicines mentioned in doctors' prescriptions. It will act as an assistive technology for digitizing handwritten medical documents. Reports suggest that the feature will allow users to capture or upload an image on the app. After processing the image, AI will detect the medicines in the prescription. The feature is currently under development as a prototype. 

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Another COVID-19 wave?

India has recently reported four cases of a new corona strain - Omicron sub-variant BF.7. It is the same Covid variant that has led to the surge in infections in China and several other countries including Germany, Belgium, France, Denmark, the US and the UK. Therefore, the Health Ministry has asked all state governments to gear up to test samples as fears grow of another wave after a rise in cases in China and other countries.

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Mixopathy to set back healthcare

The Ministry of Health has revisited their plan to set up integrative medicine or “Mixopathy” which refers to mixing of all systems of medicine. The government plans on setting up a different integrative medicine division in medical colleges and hospitals across India. The IMA has resisted the decision stating it is “impossible” to mix different systems of medicine without “catastrophic fallout on patient care and safety”. 

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Treatment For Hemifacial Spasms

As per a recent study that was published in the Journal of the Association of Physicians in India, Periodic Botulinum Toxin injections is a safe and effective treatment  for patients with Hemifacial Spasms (HFS) in the Indian population. The study has determined that Botulinum toxin therapy can notably enhance the quality of life of HFS patients and also has very mild, reversible, well tolerated and local adverse effects.

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Gene Therapy for Bladder Cancer

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently gave a nod to an innovative gene therapy called Adstiladrin. It is designed to work for patients with high-risk non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) that have not responded to the standard treatment. The approval has offered healthcare a ground-breaking for patients.

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Vacant PG seats in Govt Medical Colleges

The President of the Federation of All India Medical Association  (FAIMA) has requested an urgent round of NEET PG Counselling as about 300 postgraduate seats in government medical colleges across India are still vacant. 

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With your NEET SS exam preparations, it is arduous to keep track of the latest happenings in the medical field. That's why we created this medical news bulletin for people who are interested in the latest health care news. Check back here when you have questions, or just need to stay updated with the latest developments in your specialty.