Clinical

A clumsy metaphor, not a diagnosis: Language psychiatry often uses can hinder patient progress, argues paper
In psychiatry, patients are commonly diagnosed with major depression and told it is due to an imbalance in their brain serotonin. But explanations like this that are 'more false than true' according to Dr. Kenneth S. Kendler, are the wrong route.
There are more than 100 autoimmune diseases, and they mostly strike women. Here’s what to know
New research is raising the prospect of treatments that might do more than tamp down symptoms.

Global tuberculosis diagnoses rise to a record, but deaths fall, WHO reports

About 8.3 million people across the globe were reported as newly diagnosed with TB in 2024.
The U.S. FDA removes a long-standing warning from hormone-based menopause drugs

Dr. Steven Fleischman, president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, said the warnings have created a lot of hesitancy among patients.
A study questions melatonin use and heart health but don’t lose sleep over it

Doctors have long known that too little or interrupted sleep raises the risk of heart disease. But heart experts say this kind of so-called observational study can’t prove that melatonin use plays any role—instead of the insomnia patients were trying to treat.
How Canada can regain its measles elimination status

On Monday, the Pan American Health Organization revoked the measles-free status Canada has had since 1998 because an outbreak of the virus across several provinces has lasted for more than a year.
Canadian patients and physicians get a new accurate, one-stop database for cancer clinical trials

Canadian Cancer Society and Quebec Clinical Research Organization in Cancer (Q-CROC) launch a reliable source for cancer trials being carried out in Canada. It even includes a staffed hotline.
4 research-backed ways to beat the winter blues in the colder months

In Canada, about 15% of the population experience the winter blues, while 2%-to-6% experience seasonal affective disorder.
POP QUIZ: Drug-induced maculopathy

A recent study integrated pharmacovigilance data with nationwide health claims to reveal four drugs with the greatest elevated risk of maculopathy, potentially leading to visual impairment.
Blood thinners no longer needed for many with irregular heart beats, study suggests

Researchers behind the study published in the New England Journal of Medicine say the discovery could potentially alter the clinical care of millions of people around the world.