#medical crisis

[littleghoulghost]

Had my biopsy, preliminary examination showed no sign of Lymphoma. They believe it's probably a bad fungal infection, but further testing will give us a definitive answer. There are signs of Histoplasmosis, which is a fungus found in the soil of the US midwest. But its believed I've had it for years since I grew up a farm kid. There's also thoughts I may have fibrosis, but at least it's not cancer. So I'm not dying yet folks!

[reasoningdaily]

Fake Brazilian doctor treated 30 patients at hospital before revealing she bought $8 degree online

A Brazilian woman pretending to be a doctor treated nearly 30 patients at a hospital before she revealed she purchased an online degree for $8.

Mirian Santana, 27, was arrested Monday — her first day on the job at a facility in Coroados, São Paulo.

By the time she was placed in cuffs, she had already treated 30 adults and children, according to G1.

Other health care professionals became suspicious and checked her registration number, which belonged to an actual doctor.

When confronted at the hospital, Santana admitted to buying the document online, the local outlet said.

She later told police that she was a speech therapist earning around $802 a month. Police did not confirm her profession, according to G1.

Santana was arrested for illegal exercise of a profession, ideological forgery, use of a false document, danger to life and attempted embezzlement.

The alleged criminal was taken to Tupi Paulista, where she will be held while Civil Police investigate, according to G1.

[santaclaralocalnews]

The Bay Area is home to some of the best children’s hospitals in the country, attracting families from all over the world who are dealing with life-threatening illnesses. Many of these families are far from home and far from the support systems that they need to help manage the battle they are facing. That’s where There With Care comes in. Read complete news with svvoice.com.

[dearyallfrommatt]

I can tell you what's happening in Mississippi. Hospitals, especially ones in rural areas, are closing at a dizzying pace. Some places in the Delta are two hours away from emergency medical care. Even for the ones that stay open, funds are getting slashed and there's no room for advancement. My cousin's daughter works in administration and pretty much any similar job she'd take in another facility would be a pay cut of at least twenty grand.

And then there's the fact that most people can't afford insurance that fully covers them and their families. The state government actively fights against expanding Medicare and thinks it's more important to get people off of it than worry about helping folks. We are among the highest in the nation in uninsured people and medical debt, as well.

Doctors and hospitals and nurses are overwhelmed. It takes forever to get an appointment or to receive meds or even medical equipment in the mail because they're all overwhelmed. No one has the money for anything and it isn't like we're getting healthier. The people that run things don't give enough of a shit because they've never given that much of a shit for hoi polloi, and the rest of us are too damn beaten down by the state being itself.

That's what's wrong with Mississippi. It doesn't have to be this way, either.

Why would you listen to a Red State on health care? The evidence is in. They lost. AGAIN.

[reasonsforhope]

"A large clinical trial in South Africa and Uganda has shown that a twice-yearly injection of a new pre-exposure prophylaxis drug gives young women total protection from HIV infection.

The trial tested whether the six-month injection of lenacapavir would provide better protection against HIV infection than two other drugs, both daily pills. All three medications are pre-exposure prophylaxis (or PrEP) drugs.

Physician-scientist Linda-Gail Bekker, principal investigator for the South African part of the study, tells Nadine Dreyer what makes this breakthough so significant and what to expect next.

Tell us about the trial and what it set out to achieve

The Purpose 1 trial with 5,000 participants took place at three sites in Uganda and 25 sites in South Africa to test the efficacy of lenacapavir and two other drugs.

Lenacapavir (Len LA) is a fusion capside inhibitor. It interferes with the HIV capsid, a protein shell that protects HIV’s genetic material and enzymes needed for replication. It is administered just under the skin, once every six months.

The randomised controlled trial, sponsored by the drug developers Gilead Sciences, tested several things.

The first was whether a six-monthly injection of lenacapavir was safe and would provide better protection against HIV infection as PrEP for women between the ages of 16 and 25 years than Truvada F/TDF, a daily PrEP pill in wide use that has been available for more than a decade.

Secondly, the trial also tested whether Descovy F/TAF, a newer daily pill, was as effective as F/TDF...

The trial had three arms. Young women were randomly assigned to one of the arms in a 2:2:1 ratio (Len LA: F/TAF oral: F/TDF oral) in a double blinded fashion. This means neither the participants nor the researchers knew which treatment participants were receiving until the clinical trial was over.

In eastern and southern Africa, young women are the population who bear the brunt of new HIV infections. They also find a daily PrEP regimen challenging to maintain, for a number of social and structural reasons.

During the randomised phase of the trial none of the 2,134 women who received lenacapavir contracted HIV. There was 100 percent efficiency.

By comparison, 16 of the 1,068 women (or 1.5%) who took Truvada (F/TDF) and 39 of 2,136 (1.8%) who received Descovy (F/TAF) contracted the HIV virus...

What is the significance of these trials?

This breakthrough gives great hope that we have a proven, highly effective prevention tool to protect people from HIV.

There were 1.3 million new HIV infections globally in the past year. Although that’s fewer than the 2 million infections seen in 2010, it is clear that at this rate we are not going to meet the HIV new infection target that UNAIDS set for 2025 (fewer than 500,000 globally) or potentially even the goal to end Aids by 2030...

For young people, the daily decision to take a pill or use a condom or take a pill at the time of sexual intercourse can be very challenging.

HIV scientists and activists hope that young people may find that having to make this “prevention decision” only twice a year may reduce unpredictability and barriers.

For a young woman who struggles to get to an appointment at a clinic in a town or who can’t keep pills without facing stigma or violence, an injection just twice a year is the option that could keep her free of HIV.

What happens now?

The plan is that the Purpose 1 trial will go on but now in an “open label” phase. This means that study participants will be “unblinded”: they will be told whether they have been in the “injectable” or oral TDF or oral TAF groups.

They will be offered the choice of PrEP they would prefer as the trial continues.

A sister trial is also under way: Purpose 2 is being conducted in a number of regions including some sites in Africa among cisgender men, and transgender and nonbinary people who have sex with men.

It’s important to conduct trials among different groups because we have seen differences in effectiveness. Whether the sex is anal or vaginal is important and may have an impact on effectiveness.

How long until the drug is rolled out?

We have read in a Gilead Sciences press statement that within the next couple of months [from July 2024] the company will submit the dossier with all the results to a number of country regulators, particularly the Ugandan and South African regulators.

The World Health Organization will also review the data and may issue recommendations.

We hope then that this new drug will be adopted into WHO and country guidelines.

We also hope we may begin to see the drug being tested in more studies to understand better how to incorporate it into real world settings.

Price is a critical factor to ensure access and distribution in the public sector where it is badly needed.

Gilead Sciences has said it will offer licences to companies that make generic drugs, which is another critical way to get prices down.

In an ideal world, governments will be able to purchase this affordably and it will be offered to all who want it and need protection against HIV."

-via The Conversation, July 3, 2024

[meramyst18]

If you ever feel depressed about climate change (which I felt like that many many times), and you feel that no matter what you do it will not matter, so at the end, why should try? Just remember that that is exactly what big corporations want. If they don't have people speaking out and holding them accountable for what they're doing, then they're just gonna keep messing up the planet and fill their pockets even more.

Right now, more than ever, giving up is not something we can do. Not everything is lost, but the media doesn't show that because that will encourage people to actually do something.

It's easier to say "you know what, stop trying because the planet is gonna die anyways, duh" instead of saying "many governments are transitioning to clean energy, suing polluting companies, making more environmental advances, and cleaning up the oceans, so you should too!"

The media wants to discourage you, and if you are one of the influencers or people saying "give up", you are part of the problem too.

Keep fighting, keep recycling, keep thrifting, keep boycotting greed corporations, keep eating less meat, keep informing and most importantly, keep being hopeful! Hope, love and compassion are our stronger weapons, never forget that.

[punkitt-is-here]

some photos from the DnD games ive been playing recently

[triptychofvoids]

the beach episode

[mothsakura]

artstyle crisis with grandpa.....................................

[littleghoulghost]

Just wanted to let everyone know that I'm still taking asks, but I've had a health crisis today. It'll take longer to get to them, but I'll get to them eventually. I'm going to very open and honest about what's going on.

I went to the emergency room today for severe pain, and they ran a huge amount of tests. I have a mass in my chest, and when I breathe my lungs rub against it causing pain. They're going to do a biopsy, it could be an autoimmune thing. But it could also be a form of lymphoma.

So I'm keeping everyone in my life up to date, and I wanted it to include all my followers. Medical bills are probably going to be insane, if you want to help out you can go to my Kofi. It's not required for your asks to be answered, it'll never be required.

But I wanted everyone to know why things are going to be slow going for a while. It's definitely going to be a very wild ride of figuring out what's going on.

[rottenpumpkin13]

I feel like being angsty. And since you mentioned crate training earlier, how do you think that went with Sephiroth when he was growing up before Rhadore? I'd imagine that Hojo did a number on him back when he was still young and vulnerable. But would Hojo risk the health and safety of what is essentially the most endangered species on Gaia just to be THAT much of an abusive asshole? There's only so much abject misery a small child can physically take. Was Hojo capable of showing mercy?

Hojo once said "Better to scar the mind than mar the flesh" when talking about Aerith, and that perfectly encapsulates how he treats the specimens he finds physically valuable, but wants to bend into submission. There's no way he didn't test Sephiroth's physical limits when he was still very young, learning exactly how far he could push him and to what extent.

This is what involved the significant experimentation and pain, which is where the medical abuse came in (if square makes this canon I'll combust).

I think Hojo tested Sephiroth's endurance and inflicted pain to conduct further tests, but never aimed for physical abuse that would "scar the flesh" because he viewed Sephiroth as something precious that he couldn't risk harming too much. But it's in the way a scientist views his most prized, successful experiment—one he owns, not in a fatherly way. What makes it tragic is how closely these two povs intertwine 🫠 ANYWAY.

I think he used of a form of psychological conditioning (abuse, in this case) similar to crate training, keeping everything within the boundaries of what Sephiroth could endure. He controlled aspects of Sephiroth's life, like how long he could go without food or water to test his limits. By confining Sephiroth and regulating every aspect of his existence—food, water, bathroom breaks, sleep, etc—Hojo could've easily bent Sephiroth into submission.

Food Control: Restricting access to food would lead to hunger, making him more compliant out of desperation. The tragic part is that Sephiroth's Jenova cells give him an incredible capacity to go without food, water, and sleep (see: Nibelheim). Just imagine how long that poor child must've gone without food/ water at a time.

Sleep Deprivation: Limiting sleep would cause fatigue, confusion, weaken his will and ability to resist, which would effectively make him easier to influence.

Isolation: Confining him to a small room deprived him of human interaction and likely exacerbated feelings of loneliness that were already there. This would cause him to become more helpless and eventually dependant on Hojo. DEPENDANT ON HOJO.

Bathroom Restrictions: I don't even want to touch this one, you get the picture. Think losing further control of his own body.

Positive reinforcement: I think I mentioned this in the other post, but in crate training, they give dogs a reward, something to encourage the behavior the trainer wants and to make compliance easy. This would work well on Sephiroth given how it's clear he deprived him of comfort, but I think what Hojo "rewarded" Sephiroth was the locket with Lucrecia's photo. Although now that I think about it, if this is the case, it's really unlikely he gave it to him out of nowhere. Sephiroth would have had to work for it.

I'm now even more depressed, thanks Alto 😂

Honestly even if Hojo was able of showing mercy to other people, children, his own child, he didn't see Sephiroth like that. He wasn't a son. He wasn't a person. He ingrained it into Sephiroth's head that he was nothing more than a weapon for Shinra, a lap dog as Genesis would later put it. And where do you put dogs? Right here:

[alwaysbewoke]

[catwouthats]

MOTHER FUCKER BART SPENT ALL THOSE YEARS LOOKING FOR YOU!!!

WHAT DO YOU MEAN????????

[jjcre8]

✩˚｡⋆ 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐒 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐀𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐇𝐎𝐒𝐏𝐈𝐓𝐀𝐋.

Below is a list of sentence starters themed around being in the hospital. Sorted into categories of the hospital staff , the patient , & the loved ones. Feel free to change pronouns as needed. Do not add to the list , & always reblog from the source.

TW. HOSPITAL , MEDICAL EMERGENCIES , MEDICAL CRISIS , MEDICAL ENVIRONMENT.

𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐅𝐅.

“ I'm going to tell you what I tell every young doctor. Hopefully you'll be the first to listen. On your day off, get as far away from this place as you can. Go someplace where you feel most like yourself. ”

" You've been at it for hours. It's slowing down, you should go get some rest. "

" This place is like a madhouse. It's like everyone decided today was they day to get injured. "

" We're gonna make sure you're as comfortable as possible. You're in good hands. "

"It's going to be okay. We have some of the best doctors and nurses in the country working here.

" We'll, probably keep you overnight. Just to be safe. "

" I think it's best that we don't jump to conclusions just yet. "

" You suffered a major accident. You're lucky to be alive. "

" In my professional opinion ... Surgery is the best option I'm afraid. "

" It's a long shot but I think it's the best chance you have at a full recovery. "

" This isn't my first 48 hour shift ... I'll be fine. Promise. "

" Right now, we need to be talking about what to do, if they don't make it. "

" The surgery was a success! You can be happy to know you'll be back on your feet in no time. "

" It's not gonna be the same. You'll have to work harder ... But you'll live. "

" I became a doctor/nurse to save a life. So that's what I'm gonna do. "

" Sir/Ma'am?! You can't be back here! You need to be checked in to see any patients here! "

𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐏𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐓.

" I'm in this hospital bed. I'm barely conscious. Delirious. Drowning in my own blood. And all I can hear myself think is ' Today's the day. Today's the day you die ' "

“ I'm not gonna die in a hospital where the nurses aren't even hot. ”

" Is there anything else that you can do? "

" So what's the damage Doc? Am I gonna live? "

" I hate hospitals. It's nothing but people sitting around , waiting for some old guy to come give you the news you don't wanna hear. "

" I'm pretty sure it's a requirement that all hospitals serve crappy food. Don't be such a baby. "

" As soon as you get walking around, the sooner you can get out of here. Sound like a fair trade? "

" So that's it then? There's nothing you can do? "

" Can I at least get something besides pudding? "

" I hate hospitals. It's always so bleak.

" Listen, I appreciate everything you've done, but I'm fine. So draw up those discharge papers and I'll be on my way.

" I can't believe I'm finally getting out of here! "

" Give it to me straight Doc. How bad is it? "

" If I have to have another iv put in I'm gonna go crazy. "

" Can I at least get up and walk around? "

" I'm actually feeling really good this morning. "

" You guys really don't have to hang around here and watch me lay here feeling sorry for myself. "

" I'll be fine on my own. You guys shouldn't have to stay cooped up here too. "

" I just need something for the pain. An aspirin would be at least some help. "

𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐃 𝐎𝐍𝐄𝐒.

" They're gonna be okay … Right Doctor? "

" As soon as you get walking around, the sooner you can get out of here. Sound like a fair trade? "

" I'm not going anywhere. So stop insisting. I'm staying. "

" The doctor's said you'll be fine in a few days. Just gotta stay here and rest so they can an eye on you. "

" You've been out for a long time. "

" Had us worried for a second. Glad to see you're awake. "

" You were banged up pretty bad. "

" Doctor's say we're lucky we got you here when we did. Otherwise we could have lost you. "

" Don't scare me like that ever again. I thought I lost you. "

" You don't know how happy I am to see you awake. "

" It's gonna be okay. I'm gonna be right here when you get out. "

" You're gonna stay in that bed, and do what the doctor's said. I'm not taking no for an answer. "

" I'm gonna go down to the cafeteria. Want me to sneak something back for you? "

" I don't mind hanging around. I'd just be worrying about you at home. "

" I'm fine right here with you. So stop asking okay? "

" I'm right here with you. Okay? "

" We can get through this. "

[reasonsforhope]

"Since it was first identified in 1983, HIV has infected more than 85 million people and caused some 40 million deaths worldwide.

While medication known as pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, can significantly reduce the risk of getting HIV, it has to be taken every day to be effective. A vaccine to provide lasting protection has eluded researchers for decades. Now, there may finally be a viable strategy for making one.

An experimental vaccine developed at Duke University triggered an elusive type of broadly neutralizing antibody in a small group of people enrolled in a 2019 clinical trial. The findings were published today [May 17, 2024] in the scientific journal Cell.

“This is one of the most pivotal studies in the HIV vaccine field to date,” says Glenda Gray, an HIV expert and the president and CEO of the South African Medical Research Council, who was not involved in the study.

A few years ago, a team from Scripps Research and the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) showed that it was possible to stimulate the precursor cells needed to make these rare antibodies in people. The Duke study goes a step further to generate these antibodies, albeit at low levels.

“This is a scientific feat and gives the field great hope that one can construct an HIV vaccine regimen that directs the immune response along a path that is required for protection,” Gray says.

-via WIRED, May 17, 2024. Article continues below.

Vaccines work by training the immune system to recognize a virus or other pathogen. They introduce something that looks like the virus—a piece of it, for example, or a weakened version of it—and by doing so, spur the body’s B cells into producing protective antibodies against it. Those antibodies stick around so that when a person later encounters the real virus, the immune system remembers and is poised to attack.

While researchers were able to produce Covid-19 vaccines in a matter of months, creating a vaccine against HIV has proven much more challenging. The problem is the unique nature of the virus. HIV mutates rapidly, meaning it can quickly outmaneuver immune defenses. It also integrates into the human genome within a few days of exposure, hiding out from the immune system.

“Parts of the virus look like our own cells, and we don’t like to make antibodies against our own selves,” says Barton Haynes, director of the Duke Human Vaccine Institute and one of the authors on the paper.

The particular antibodies that researchers are interested in are known as broadly neutralizing antibodies, which can recognize and block different versions of the virus. Because of HIV’s shape-shifting nature, there are two main types of HIV and each has several strains. An effective vaccine will need to target many of them.

Some HIV-infected individuals generate broadly neutralizing antibodies, although it often takes years of living with HIV to do so, Haynes says. Even then, people don’t make enough of them to fight off the virus. These special antibodies are made by unusual B cells that are loaded with mutations they’ve acquired over time in reaction to the virus changing inside the body. “These are weird antibodies,” Haynes says. “The body doesn’t make them easily.”

Haynes and his colleagues aimed to speed up that process in healthy, HIV-negative people. Their vaccine uses synthetic molecules that mimic a part of HIV’s outer coat, or envelope, called the membrane proximal external region. This area remains stable even as the virus mutates. Antibodies against this region can block many circulating strains of HIV.

The trial enrolled 20 healthy participants who were HIV-negative. Of those, 15 people received two of four planned doses of the investigational vaccine, and five received three doses. The trial was halted when one participant experienced an allergic reaction that was not life-threatening. The team found that the reaction was likely due to an additive in the vaccine, which they plan to remove in future testing.

Still, they found that two doses of the vaccine were enough to induce low levels of broadly neutralizing antibodies within a few weeks. Notably, B cells seemed to remain in a state of development to allow them to continue acquiring mutations, so they could evolve along with the virus. Researchers tested the antibodies on HIV samples in the lab and found that they were able to neutralize between 15 and 35 percent of them.

Jeffrey Laurence, a scientific consultant at the Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) and a professor of medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College, says the findings represent a step forward, but that challenges remain. “It outlines a path for vaccine development, but there’s a lot of work that needs to be done,” he says.

For one, he says, a vaccine would need to generate antibody levels that are significantly higher and able to neutralize with greater efficacy. He also says a one-dose vaccine would be ideal. “If you’re ever going to have a vaccine that’s helpful to the world, you’re going to need one dose,” he says.

Targeting more regions of the virus envelope could produce a more robust response. Haynes says the next step is designing a vaccine with at least three components, all aimed at distinct regions of the virus. The goal is to guide the B cells to become much stronger neutralizers, Haynes says. “We’re going to move forward and build on what we have learned.”

-via WIRED, May 17, 2024