Every year, millions of people in the United States undergo CT scans. These scans are crucial for diagnosing various conditions, from injuries to cancer. However, there is a hidden danger: the radiation from these scans can increase the risk of developing cancer later in life. A recent study has shed light on this issue, estimating that the CT scans performed in 2023...

Biliary tract cancers, or BTCs, are a big challenge in medicine. These cancers are very aggressive and often go unnoticed until they are in an advanced stage. This makes them difficult to treat and gives patients a grim outlook. The usual method for detecting these cancers is a tool called endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography, or ERCP. This tool is not perf...

Imagine you're on a mission to find a tricky bacteria called H. pylori, which can cause stomach ulcers and even stomach cancer. Scientists have developed three tests to spot this bacteria in stool samples. These tests are like different tools in a detective's kit, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. They all aim to find H. pylori and figure out if it's resis...

In the heart of rural Burundi, community health workers (CHWs) play a crucial role in providing healthcare to remote communities. One of their biggest challenges is accurately diagnosing childhood illnesses, especially pneumonia, due to the lack of sophisticated diagnostic tools. To tackle this, a pilot study introduced multimodal handheld pulse oximeters to CHWs dur...

Have you ever heard of alopecia areata incognita? It's a tricky type of hair loss that mostly affects women between 20 and 40. The tough part? It looks like other hair loss conditions, making it easy to mix up. Doctors often have to rely on their clinical instincts, trichoscopy (using a special microscope), and tissue samples to make a diagnosis. But what if there w...