#new wonder drug to treat cancer

[dailyhogwartsgazette]

Breakthrough Cancer Treatment: UK Scientists Unveil Remarkable New Drug

Scientists in the United Kingdom have made a groundbreaking discovery with a new drug that promises a revolutionary breakthrough in the treatment of a hard-to-manage and aggressive form of cancer. The development, hailed as “truly wonderful,” comes from researchers at Queen Mary University London, who have reported that their innovative treatment has quadrupled three-year survival rates and…

[feminismisstillahatemovement]

In 2017 I interviewed Bernadette Wren, then head of psychology at the Tavistock Gids clinic, and asked what effect puberty blocking drugs have on the adolescent brain. Looking highly uncomfortable, she replied that the evidence so far was only anecdotal but that the clinic would study its patients “well into their adult lives so that we can see”.

Even back then, before whistleblowers had exposed the rush to medically transition children, it was alarming to hear that heavy-duty GnRH agonists such as triptorelin — used to treat advanced prostate cancer and “chemically castrate” sex offenders — were being prescribed to arrest puberty in hundreds of children as young as 11.

Moreover, they were being used “off-label” before any clinical trials. And the long-term study Wren promised never materialised: Gids (the Gender Identity Development Service) routinely lost touch with patients, and the 44 it did follow reported little long-term mental health improvement.

This shocking chapter in medical history, where the ideological objectives of trans rights campaigners trumped the welfare of disturbed children, is coming to an end worldwide. The decision by NHS England effectively to ban the prescription of puberty blockers comes after the Cass review noted these drugs could “permanently disrupt” brain development, reduce bone density and lock children into a regime of cross-sex hormones requiring life-long patienthood.

NHS England unites with other national health services including those in Finland, France, Sweden and, most notably, the Netherlands — where the “Dutch protocol”, a regime of early blockers then hormones, was devised in 1998 — in pulling back from prescribing them.

Even in the United States, where a toxic combination of extreme activism and medical capitalism has pushed child gender medicine to grotesque extremes, with double mastectomies performed on 14-year-old girls, there is some retrenchment.

Leaks from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, the body which formulates guidance on “trans healthcare”, reveal doctors perplexed at how they should explain to an 11-year-old child that drugs will render them infertile. Crucially, liberal media such as The New York Times are now reporting grave medical misgivings about child transition, once dismissed as a culture-war issue for the Republican right.

Yet the question remains: how was this ever allowed to happen? For years, puberty blockers were cheerily billed as a mere “pause button”. In 2014, Dr Polly Carmichael, the last head of Gids before the Cass review ordered its closure, went on CBBC in a show called I Am Leo, saying of blockers: “The good thing is, if you stop the injections, it’s like pressing ‘start’ and the body carries on developing as it would if you hadn’t started.”

The BBC permitted her to make this unevidenced claim to an impressionable audience of six to 12-year-olds. Imagine hearing this as a developing girl, freaked out by your new breasts and periods. No wonder Gids referrals subsequently rocketed.

Carmichael failed to mention that she did not know if pressing “restart” on puberty is always medically possible — it is not — and in fact, almost every child Gids put on blockers went on to irreversible cross-sex hormones.

After years in a Peter Pan state while their peers developed, they understandably felt there was no way back and forged on with treatment. Yet if allowed to experience natural puberty, almost 85 per cent of gender dysphoria cases resolve themselves.

Nor did Carmichael tell CBBC kids that the blockers-hormones combination, if taken early enough, not only results in sterility but kills the libido so that a young person will never experience an orgasm.

At the 2020 judicial review brought by a former Tavistock clinician and Keira Bell, the brave young detransitioner rushed onto hormones by Gids, judges expressed astonishment at Gids’s lack of an evidence base.

Reporting on this issue for seven years, I too have been struck by a complete clinical incuriosity. Not only was data not collected, but those who queried treatments or pressed for evidence faced angry condemnation. Perhaps activists knew what research might find because one long-term Finnish study, recently reported in the BMJ, destroyed the myth used to justify blockers: that a child will commit suicide if denied them.

The Finns found that “gender-affirming care” does not make a dysphoric child less suicidal. Rather, such children had the same suicide risk as others with severe psychiatric issues. In other words, changing bodies does not fix troubled minds.

Yet even after NHS England’s announcement, activists refuse to heed the now-overwhelming evidence. In its response, Stonewall persists with the myth that puberty blockers “give a young person extra time to evaluate their next steps”.

Many questions remain unanswered: will private clinics still be permitted to prescribe puberty blockers; and is Scotland’s Sandyford child gender clinic still determined to close its ears to all evidence? Plus, we have few details on how the NHS’s new “holistic” treatment for gender-questioning children will operate when it opens next month.

This repellent experiment — in which girls who like trucks or little boys who dress as princesses, and who invariably grow up to be gay, are corralled inexorably down a road towards life-changing treatments — belongs in the book of medical disgraces. As do the cheerleaders who raised money for Mermaids and those who persecuted whistleblowers or damned journalists asking questions as transphobic.

In 50 years, chemically freezing the puberty of healthy children with troubled minds will be regarded with the same horrified fascination as lobotomies — which, never forget, won the Portuguese neurologist Antonio Egas Moniz the 1949 Nobel prize.

--------------------

{Article source (behind paywall)}

[sitepathos]

Wow, I loved chapter 11! Would be funny if batfam discovered a cure for cancer trying to figure out how to deal with the mold, was just a thought that stuck in my head when I read the description 'benign tumor'. Would also be a good way for batfam to start dealing with the PR nightmare this is turning into. Has Bruce been trying to fuck over Lex? Also was wondering if maybe Gould made any bonds in the four years back home? Is there any jealousy rising in batfam from a brotherly or fatherly bond they discover, or has he mostly been keeping to himself? Either way, I'm excited to see what's coming up with this next confrontation, hope the inspiration narwhal visits you!

Yeah, I can see them using their discoveries to change public opinion about them.

Now, they know the Megamycete is similar to a benign cancer that eradicates native cells and replaces them with unstable mold versions, but since they only have the one sample of your blood (and it’s kinda lost all viability due to the batter of tests its been subjected to), they’re still far from discovering any usable weapon to attack the Megamycete at the cellular level.

While their tests have yielded nothing to combat the mold, their failures have led to the discovery of a treatment that’s highly effective against actual cancers, tumors, and viral infections. Bruce had the data forwarded to Wayne Pharmaceuticals to begin development of new medicines based off their work, leading to several new drugs being developed that promise to either treat several incurable diseases and illnesses or eliminate them altogether.

It definitely makes people see Bruce Wayne more favorable, but not enough to reverse all the bad publicity done to his company. He’s also made several attempts to get back at Lex for his actions at the gala, both as CEO of Wayne Enterprises by showing him up in business and as Batman by exposing his less-than-legal activities.

He’s actually very grateful to you (despite the fact you’re infected by some sentient mushroom) since it’s helped complete many projects the pharmaceutical division has been working on for years, which will help countless people in the long run.

But make no mistake, he fully intends to find a way to purge the Megamycete from your body. He says it’s because it’s dangerous and that it’s making you act out, but it’s because it gives you the power to oppose him and fight back when he tries to bring you back to Gotham. Let’s be honest, Bruce Wayne is a massive control freak and is used to being the one in total control of every situation and the smartest person in the room and he can’t stand it when he doesn’t have something under control.

Thanks to the Megamycete, you’re not only stronger than him, but smarter, too.

This is a huge no-no and he’ll stop at nothing to correct the situation, under the guise of “helping” you and “bring you back home.”

As for the second part of your ask, I’ve had several people ask about the reader dating/marrying people and making friends; I’ve even made a post about Eveline from Resident Evil 7 being your adoptive daughter, but I don’t have any plans on making a canon family and friends for the reader in the series.

Believe me, you want a family and friends. You’d love to find a man who will give you the love you were denied for so long and maybe even adopt a child (although several people asking about kids has made me think you’d be capable of carrying biological children since you can alter your body due to the Megamycete), but after all that you endured at Wayne Manor, you think you have too much emotional baggage to properly care for a family (not to mention the whole Megamycete situation) and you’re just subject your potential family and friends to the same treatment you were given for most of your life.

Right now, you’re working on yourself. You moved back to Goodsprings immediately after graduating and turned your childhood home into a home you’re really proud of and now with the ulcers of Salvage Rights, you’re seeing a small fortune building before your eyes (of course, you still have most of the money you got from Lex for seeking WE secrets).

Of course, Bruce and his children had to show up out of nowhere and reset all the progress you made in the last four years and making people stare at you every time you walk into a room and whisper about you when they think you can’t hear them.

So, any plans you had on making a family and finding friends are on hold for right now. You just have to take care for your little bat problem.

But, let’s say you did have a family and friends. That not long after you moved to Goodsprings, you made a few friends either in town or in the surrounding area, which eventually lead to you finding a boyfriend and after two years of dating, you got married (Alfred attended, he wouldn’t miss it for the world).

Now, he didn’t tell them about the wedding at the time, but after the four year mark of you leaving Gotham, he reminded them that you exist and dropped the bombshell that you’re married.

This leads to every one of them going berserk.

You’re married?! And they weren’t invited to the wedding?!

They immediately dislike your husband, Bruce especially since he has the insane belief that as your father, any man should ask for his blessing to date/marry you (of course he’d turn down any request before it even leaves the man’s mouth).

“There’s no man in this world that’s good enough for you, Y/N. Besides, you only need me and your brothers.”

Damian is in the same boat as he believes very few are worthy enough of joining the Wayne legacy.

“Our bloodline is a sacred one, brother, and we must be selective of who is a part of it. If you insist on finding a mate, I’m sure Father would be capable of finding one for you. But you needn’t worry over that, I’m more than capable of continuing the family in his stead.”

Dick would lose his shit if he hears that you have a husband.

“He just proposes to you? Without asking to meet your family? That’s very suspicious, baby bird! He clearly wants to take you away from us!”

Jason would be silent during the entire ordeal, but he’d stand there, glaring at you poor husband and showing off the gun he has on his hip, filled with real bullets.

Tim’s immediately researching the shit out of this guy, going back to his birth and will use anything and everything he finds to convince you that he’s unfit for you and you should divorce him.

“He got a speeding ticket when he was 16, Y/N! He clearly lives on the edge and doesn’t care about respecting the law! …Why are you staring at me like that for?”

Steph is actually kinda proud of you for causing this kind of chaos in the family. She’s always pulling stunts that cause Bruce’s hair to turn grey and loves messing with everyone, but what you’ve done is nothing short of astounding in her eyes. Of course, she’s just as opposed to the marriage as the others and wants you to divorce your husband and move back home at once.

“Y/N, if you wanted to drive Bruce into an early grave, you could’ve just done what I did and wreck the Batmobile. Hey, we can do that when we get back home!”

Cass actually understands the desire to find love and create a family; thanks to Bruce, she knows what a family is (a lesson you were never taught) and wishes she could find someone to spend her life with. But thanks to her upbringing and her vigilante lifestyle, she knows that’s a pipe dream. Besides, Bruce and her siblings are more than enough.

However, that doesn’t mean she supports the marriage; in fact, she opposes it and believes you must divorce your husband and come home right away. People can’t be trusted and the world is too dangerous. You need to come home where they can protect you.

And god help you if you say your new friends are more like your siblings than them.

As expected, Damian doesn’t take the news well and accuses them of trying to take his place as your true brother (this delusional bastard really believes that after everything, the two of you can really be brothers).

But I think Dick would take the news worse than him; he takes his role as the elder brother of the Wayne children seriously and he doesn’t like the thought of you seeing someone other than him as your big brother. He’d probably cry and beg you to take it back, say you were just lying to hurt him, anything! Just say you don’t see anyone as a big brother!

Lastly, if you have any children, be it through adoption or biological, they immediately stake a claim on them and try to bring them into the family.

That just leaves you, fighting these delusional freaks tooth and nail to keep your friends and family safe. If your husband is a meta, he’ll try to join in, but you insist on dealing with them yourself. You know they’ll use any dirty trick they can find against your husband and you’d rather not put him in any more danger than you have already.

Plus, if anyone has the right to kill them, it’s you. After all they put you through, you’re determined to be the one that finally puts an end to the Bats.

[bloopinggenius]

☆𝐓𝐨 𝐁𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝☆| Yautja x 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳 | M/M/M/M/M x Reader

Chapter 𝐈 | Chapter 𝐈𝐈

ᴡᴀʀɴɪɴɢs**ᴄʜɪʟᴅʜᴏᴏᴅ ᴛʀᴀᴜᴍᴀ,ᴄʜɪʟᴅ ᴀʙᴜsᴇ,ᴅᴇᴘʀᴇssɪᴏɴ,ᴍᴇɴᴛɪᴏɴs ᴏғ ʀᴀᴄɪᴀʟ sʟᴜʀs

╔═══*.·:·.☽✧ ✧☾.·:·.*═══╗

Love was an emotion that Ryia hadn't experienced. She thought that she had from her friends at school, but from what she gathered on the internet and other people, it wasn't. She hadn't felt that sense of warmth through her body when she thought of her friends and she sure didn't from her parents. Her relationship with them was something she would never pray upon her biggest enemy.

When you think of parents, you think of the people who love you, who would protect you in the most dire of situations, sometimes even lay their life down for you but not for Ryia. At the tender age of four, her drug-addict of a mom had burnt her tiny body with scalding hot water almost every three days. It was a hiding game for Ryia. She would be in hiding until she got hungry then proceed to the kitchen to get something to eat, only to not make it out in time where her, already high, mother would find her and beat her. Her father was an absent father. He left the family when Ryia was 2. Now him and his new family are living the high life. Almost every month, they were travelling. Ryia always wondered if that's the reason why her mom abused her. Maybe her mother wanted to travel the world and live the lavish life. But she also couldn't understand why she was being abused. The urge to know the reason of her miserable lifestyle was greater than anything. Sometimes she thought that she was the reason that her mother's dream was hindered. Ryia learnt to look after herself from then on. She went to school with such eagerness, knowing that one day she'd graduate and leave home.

And she did.

Come gradution day and she had graduated and was off to uni on a scholarship. Heaven knows she worked her ass off to become the doctor she was. Even through this, she still helped her mother when she was diagnosed with lung cancer until she passed. Ryia didn't feel anything for the woman, heck she didn't even prepare a funeral. She simply sent her aunt an email regarding her mother's passing and left them to do the rest.

From then on, Ryia mingled around with people who treated like she was the scum of the earth and even had one of her exes call her racial slurs when the relationship ended.

However Ryia was numb to all her bad luck. She never smiled and rarely laughed. Sometimes, looking at her reflection after taking a warm shower, it looked like she was looking through herself, an empty shell with the remnants of it's contents a ghostly appearance. Even with all the money she had, she wasn't happy.

════ ⋆ ⋆ ════

Her life was like this until 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 day. The day she met 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺.

It was a chilly night, Ryia reading a book in the quiet of her bedroom. She had been reading Romeo and Juliet. The story not really interesting her. She was just trying to get a feel of their love; trying to gauge what it's like to be in love. She wasn't dumb. She knew lovers never fell this fast in love; she simply was trying to understand 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲.

She was so focused in reading her book. So intrigued at the way Shakespeare interpreted love. But nothing could have taken all of her focus to the point that she didn't hear the rumble of an engine outside her house. An engine? Why would there be an engine outside at this time? It was very late into the night, the moonlight stretching itself across her room creating a soft halo around her. She was incredibly startled. Confused and wary, she walked up to window to inspect her backyard. Her chocolate brown eyes scoped the area to find nothing.

Nothing in sight. As she turned to leave, she spotted something. The smallest thing ever, she wasn't even sure she would have seen it, but she did. Under the shadows of the tall trees that surrounded her backyard, she spotted wavy air.

Wavy air. Like the skeptic she is, she blinked, several times but the image never left her sight. She was scared. What could have been going on in her backyard at this time. But with the smallest, ant size of bravery, she decided to go check it out. She hoped that with her knowledge of black people dying first in movies, this wouldn't be that scenario. Walking downstairs was hilarious to her. She didn't crack a smile, no, but she did think that whatever she was doing in that moment was the exact thing the killed the dumbest people in movie.

'But this is real life', she thought. Just to protect herself though, she turned on the living room and kitchen lights. You never know what's lurking in the dark. Ryia walked into the kitchen and opened the cabinet above her stove. She got out a flashlight, the thickest skillet she could find, you know just in case and a large pocket knife. You never know where danger lurks.

After acquiring her items, Ryia cautiously walked out the back door to her backyard. The soft rumbling of the engine had stopped so she turned on the flashlight and walked in the direction that she saw the mysterious 'wavy air'. As she walked closer, flashlight helping with her vision, she noticed the waviness got taller and wider. The more she looked, the more she noticed that something was concealed there but she didn't want to admit it to herself. 'It couldn't be invisible, could it?', her thoughts questioning what she saw. All around her she could her a soft trilling sound. The rapid clicks reminding her of a woodpecker. As she reached out in front of her to feel the mystery object, she felt herself being pushed to the ground at breakneck speed; all her safety objects being thrown out of her hands. Everything was muddled for a second. It took a minute to recover and when she held herself up on her elbows, she looked around frantically. Wondering what the hell was going on, she grabbed the closet thing to her which was her flashlight and searched her backyard.

Ryia got up slowly, sitting on her legs before quickly crawling towards her things so she could return home. Whatever the hell was going on she was leaving it to God and running for her life. After getting back up, she turned towards her house ready to run, only to see the same waviness in front of her. Looking to her left she saw the same one still concealed under the trees. What could possibly be in front of her?

She heard the clicking again only this time it felt like it was two steps in front of her. Her head turned towards the sound slowly and what she saw made her drop her items once again. What was once air, was now something that could only exist in horror movies. In front of her, she saw a massive eight-foot tall humanoid creature. It had a huge crest at the top of it's forehead, two golden deepset eyes, no nose but four crab-like fingers on it's mandible. This creature was fucking huge. It's skin was a chestnut brown with black spotting. It looked like all it ever did was workout it's whole life with it's jacked body. It's taut muscles a canvas with the moonlight enhancing the dips of the muscles on it's torso. It wore silver armor, the most pristine she had ever seen. Nothing seemed off about this alien and she was so close to passing the fuck out.

What she didn't expect was to see four more appear behind the brown one. Each with their own bulky bodies made to perfection. At this point, she knew she was a goner. Each creature was around the same height. At the sight of them, she took a step back. At that moment her life literally flashed before her eyes. It wasn't like her life was special anyway. She knew what she was about to do was stupid but she did it anyway. Or attempted to. She turned on her heels and got two steps away before she was grabbed by her arm and thrown towards the other four. Her body slammed into the floor but it wasn't enough to injure her terribly. Her black curls were a mess around her face and her vision was blurry. She saw the tanned creature walk towards her and that was the last thing she saw.

════ ⋆ ⋆ ════

Ra'kar was the leader of his ship. His ship consisted of himself and four other yautja, all of which are his family. He was nine-hundred and sixty five. Culturally, he was an Elder.

His members were made up of his blood brother, Va'tha and three cousins, T'edqah, Vikap and An'tui. They were currently on a hunt. A forest was their destination but their engine became faulty so they had an emergency stop. Where they wanted to land had looked to be some sort of land near a lake but it happened to belong to a human. They hadn't known that the land was occupied so imagine their surprise when the tiny human emerged from her home in scared curiousity.

Her black locks framed her face and fell down her back in soft curls while she used the light-emitting device to help with her vision. She wasn't small by human standards looking to be atleast 5'11. She was curvy but fit and soft looking. One thing was odd though. Her skin was covered in darker patches and scars howerer that didn't take away from her beauty. Her black skin glowed in the soft glow of the moonlight. She cautiously approached the ship but Vikap being the rebel he is, knocked her to ground. She was frantic for sure, his bio-mask showing her vitals escalating. The five of them jumped down from the trees with such gracefulness, walking towards the fallen human.

Ra'kar was ahead of them, only a few steps away from her and grabbed her before she could escape throwing her towards the others. He didn't mean to throw her hard judging by the way she passed out by their feet. They were all confused at how fragile she was.

An'tui was the youngest and was quiet; very rarely socialising with others. "I think you went a little overboard brother", the burgundy-coloured yautja said.

"What should we do with her?" Va'tha spoke up. The dark green yautja was seven-hundred and forty. Being the brother of an Elder had it's perks as he was a seasoned hunter with many trophies adorning his chamber. He had many strong pups and many more to come with all the females constantly flirting with him. It was uncommon however for pups to be so close like he was with Ra'kar. And he also had a secret; one that could get him outcast. It was wrong and considered unworthy for a yautja to mate or be in a relationship with a human. His hidden desire for humans was buried deep within him years ago but the mere sight of this human had his emotions swirling once again. But he could and would be able to handle his emotions.

"We could just leave her here and continue our journey." Vikap snarled out, glaring at the passed out human.

T'edqah, being the medic that he is, gently picked her up, " Let us take her back to the ship. I must examine her for any injuries as i'm assuming that your intentions were not to hurt her?" With a sigh, Ra'kar agreed and soon after they were on their way.

━━━━━━♡ ♡━━━━━━

Hey guys!!👋 Trying something new. I would really love to make this a series so comment down below and let me know if you guys love this and if I should continue.

Sweet love and Peace✌

[mindblowingscience]

A drug commonly used to treat type 2 diabetes could also effectively protect against colorectal cancer (CRC), based on a new analysis by researchers in the US. The drug in question is a class of medications known as glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists – more easily referred to as GLP-1 RAs. These medications, which include the widely-known 'wonder drug' sold under the commercial name Wegovy, have also previously been linked to weight loss and reducing the risk of cardiovascular problems.

Continue Reading.

[notbeingnoticed]

In 2017 I interviewed Bernadette Wren, then head of psychology at the Tavistock Gids clinic, and asked what effect puberty blocking drugs have on the adolescent brain. Looking highly uncomfortable, she replied that the evidence so far was only anecdotal but that the clinic would study its patients “well into their adult lives so that we can see”.

Even back then, before whistleblowers had exposed the rush to medically transition children, it was alarming to hear that heavy-duty GnRH agonists such as triptorelin — used to treat advanced prostate cancer and “chemically castrate” sex offenders — were being prescribed to arrest puberty in hundreds of children as young as 11.

Moreover, they were being used “off-label” before any clinical trials. And the long-term study Wren promised never materialised: Gids (the Gender Identity Development Service) routinely lost touch with patients, and the 44 it did follow reported little long-term mental health improvement.

This shocking chapter in medical history, where the ideological objectives of trans rights campaigners trumped the welfare of disturbed children, is coming to an end worldwide. The decision by NHS England effectively to ban the prescription of puberty blockers comes after the Cass review noted these drugs could “permanently disrupt” brain development, reduce bone density and lock children into a regime of cross-sex hormones requiring life-long patienthood.

NHS England unites with other national health services including those in Finland, France, Sweden and, most notably, the Netherlands — where the “Dutch protocol”, a regime of early blockers then hormones, was devised in 1998 — in pulling back from prescribing them.

Even in the United States, where a toxic combination of extreme activism and medical capitalism has pushed child gender medicine to grotesque extremes, with double mastectomies performed on 14-year-old girls, there is some retrenchment.

Leaks from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, the body which formulates guidance on “trans healthcare”, reveal doctors perplexed at how they should explain to an 11-year-old child that drugs will render them infertile. Crucially, liberal media such as The New York Times are now reporting grave medical misgivings about child transition, once dismissed as a culture-war issue for the Republican right.

Yet the question remains: how was this ever allowed to happen? For years, puberty blockers were cheerily billed as a mere “pause button”. In 2014, Dr Polly Carmichael, the last head of Gids before the Cass review ordered its closure, went on CBBC in a show called I Am Leo, saying of blockers: “The good thing is, if you stop the injections, it’s like pressing ‘start’ and the body carries on developing as it would if you hadn’t started.”

The BBC permitted her to make this unevidenced claim to an impressionable audience of six to 12-year-olds. Imagine hearing this as a developing girl, freaked out by your new breasts and periods. No wonder Gids referrals subsequently rocketed.

Carmichael failed to mention that she did not know if pressing “restart” on puberty is always medically possible — it is not — and in fact, almost every child Gids put on blockers went on to irreversible cross-sex hormones.

After years in a Peter Pan state while their peers developed, they understandably felt there was no way back and forged on with treatment. Yet if allowed to experience natural puberty, almost 85 per cent of gender dysphoria cases resolve themselves.

Nor did Carmichael tell CBBC kids that the blockers-hormones combination, if taken early enough, not only results in sterility but kills the libido so that a young person will never experience an orgasm.

At the 2020 judicial review brought by a former Tavistock clinician and Keira Bell, the brave young detransitioner rushed onto hormones by Gids, judges expressed astonishment at Gids’s lack of an evidence base.

Reporting on this issue for seven years, I too have been struck by a complete clinical incuriosity. Not only was data not collected, but those who queried treatments or pressed for evidence faced angry condemnation. Perhaps activists knew what research might find because one long-term Finnish study, recently reported in the BMJ, destroyed the myth used to justify blockers: that a child will commit suicide if denied them.

The Finns found that “gender-affirming care” does not make a dysphoric child less suicidal. Rather, such children had the same suicide risk as others with severe psychiatric issues. In other words, changing bodies does not fix troubled minds.

Yet even after NHS England’s announcement, activists refuse to heed the now-overwhelming evidence. In its response, Stonewall persists with the myth that puberty blockers “give a young person extra time to evaluate their next steps”.

Many questions remain unanswered: will private clinics still be permitted to prescribe puberty blockers; and is Scotland’s Sandyford child gender clinic still determined to close its ears to all evidence? Plus, we have few details on how the NHS’s new “holistic” treatment for gender-questioning children will operate when it opens next month.

This repellent experiment — in which girls who like trucks or little boys who dress as princesses, and who invariably grow up to be gay, are corralled inexorably down a road towards life-changing treatments — belongs in the book of medical disgraces. As do the cheerleaders who raised money for Mermaids and those who persecuted whistleblowers or damned journalists asking questions as transphobic.

In 50 years, chemically freezing the puberty of healthy children with troubled minds will be regarded with the same horrified fascination as lobotomies — which, never forget, won the Portuguese neurologist Antonio Egas Moniz the 1949 Nobel prize.

--------------------

{Article source (behind paywall)}

[saintmeghanmarkle]

I disagree with Sarah Vine's opinions on Harold in her latest DM piece: SARAH VINE: Happy 40th Harry. But has all the pain been for nothing? by u/Von_und_zu_

I disagree with Sarah Vine's opinions on Harold in her latest DM piece: SARAH VINE: Happy 40th Harry. But has all the pain been for nothing? Understandably, Harry is a wounded soul. [Nope. He has exceeded the Diana card limit in my opinion. He is not the only child ever to lose a parent.] But being in great pain [I think he is just a great jerk] does not confer the right to inflict the same on others – nor by doing so is your own suffering necessarily alleviated. [Harold's "suffering" is largely self inflicted. Choosing a bully for a wife. Choosing drugs as therapy. Being a self-absorbed spiteful bully himself. Etc.] Part of being a grown-up is realising this, and trying to end the cycle of unhappiness rather than perpetuate it. [Harold lives in a Never Neverland in his own mind. He never wants to grow up and take responsbility for anything.]Harry, though, has done the opposite. He has visited a terrible revenge on his father and the Queen, and turned on William and Kate for no obvious reason other than, perhaps, their decision to side with the King. [Um, hello. He is jealous of his brother and his wife. More sausages and all.]No wonder ­neither William nor Charles want to see him. In particular, Harry’s behaviour has been utterly toxic in light of the King and the Princess of Wales being treated for cancer. If he really is the kind, thoughtful soul his supporters claim, in his heart he must know this to be true. [Does he have a heart? I am uncertain.]And yet, while I despair of his methods and actions, part of me understands why he wanted to leave. [I do not think he intended to actually leave. He thought they would cave and beg him to come back on the terms he and his wife wanted because he and his wife are such hot stuff.] And though many sought to blame Meghan, I don’t believe it was ever really about her. It was about Harry and his damaged relationship with his family – and his desire to break his own generational curse. [Spare me the genetic pain. He is malevolent.] For that, I can’t help but grudgingly respect him. [R-E-S-P-E-C-T. That is not what it means to me.]It takes huge courage and determination to go against people’s expectations – and in Harry’s case, the nation’s. That he has done so is testament to his strength of character. [He has no strength or character in my opinion.] That he did it so viciously and so vindictively, though, is not.Should he be contemplating an ‘official’ return to the UK? [Shudder. No one wants him back.] I don’t think so. That would be a step backwards and mean all that pain was for nothing. [It would also mean he was wrong and he will never admit that to himself or anyone else. And what about his family's pain? ] He needs to find his own way forward. [Go to rehab Harold.] His decision not to update his autobiography, Spare, was a step in the right direction. [But was it a decision or a consequence of destroying all his materials?] But he’s got a long way to go to prove he has a new role to play without exploiting past capital. [He is still dining out on his family. He has nothing else to sell or offer.]Harry, I wish you the happiest of birthdays. May it mark the start of a new and more positive chapter in your life – and for all the royals. [Harold has his own chapter of joy?! How mindful! How demure!] Sarah - clue in! Harold is a loser! https://ift.tt/b4SZDmj post link: https://ift.tt/RktwY9f author: Von_und_zu_ submitted: September 15, 2024 at 05:13AM via SaintMeghanMarkle on Reddit disclaimer: all views + opinions expressed by the author of this post, as well as any comments and reblogs, are solely the author's own; they do not necessarily reflect the views of the administrator of this Tumblr blog. For entertainment only.

[jcmarchi]

Engineers develop a vibrating, ingestible capsule that might help treat obesity

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/engineers-develop-a-vibrating-ingestible-capsule-that-might-help-treat-obesity/

Engineers develop a vibrating, ingestible capsule that might help treat obesity

When you eat a large meal, your stomach sends signals to your brain that create a feeling of fullness, which helps you realize it’s time to stop eating. A stomach full of liquid can also send these messages, which is why dieters are often advised to drink a glass of water before eating.

MIT engineers have now come up with a new way to take advantage of that phenomenon, using an ingestible capsule that vibrates within the stomach. These vibrations activate the same stretch receptors that sense when the stomach is distended, creating an illusory sense of fullness.

In animals who were given this pill 20 minutes before eating, the researchers found that this treatment not only stimulated the release of hormones that signal satiety, but also reduced the animals’ food intake by about 40 percent. Scientists have much more to learn about the mechanisms that influence human body weight, but if further research suggests this technology could be safely used in humans, such a pill might offer a minimally invasive way to treat obesity, the researchers say.

“For somebody who wants to lose weight or control their appetite, it could be taken before each meal,” says Shriya Srinivasan PhD ’20, a former MIT graduate student and postdoc who is now an assistant professor of bioengineering at Harvard University. “This could be really interesting in that it would provide an option that could minimize the side effects that we see with the other pharmacological treatments out there.”

Srinivasan is the lead author of the new study, which appears today in Science Advances. Giovanni Traverso, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at MIT and a gastroenterologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, is the senior author of the paper.

A sense of fullness

When the stomach becomes distended, specialized cells called mechanoreceptors sense that stretching and send signals to the brain via the vagus nerve. As a result, the brain stimulates production of insulin, as well as hormones such as C-peptide, Pyy, and GLP-1. All of these hormones work together to help people digest their food, feel full, and stop eating. At the same time, levels of ghrelin, a hunger-promoting hormone, go down.

While a graduate student at MIT, Srinivasan became interested in the idea of controlling this process by artificially stretching the mechanoreceptors that line the stomach, through vibration. Previous research had shown that vibration applied to a muscle can induce a sense that the muscle has stretched farther than it actually has.

“I wondered if we could activate stretch receptors in the stomach by vibrating them and having them perceive that the entire stomach has been expanded, to create an illusory sense of distension that could modulate hormones and eating patterns,” Srinivasan says.

As a postdoc in MIT’s Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Srinivasan worked closely with Traverso’s lab, which has developed many novel approaches to oral delivery of drugs and electronic devices. For this study, Srinivasan, Traverso, and a team of researchers designed a capsule about the size of a multivitamin, that includes a vibrating element. When the pill, which is powered by a small silver oxide battery, reaches the stomach, acidic gastric fluids dissolve a gelatinous membrane that covers the capsule, completing the electronic circuit that activates the vibrating motor.

In a study in animals, the researchers showed that once the pill begins vibrating, it activates mechanoreceptors, which send signals to the brain through stimulation of the vagus nerve. The researchers tracked hormone levels during the periods when the device was vibrating and found that they mirrored the hormone release patterns seen following a meal, even when the animals had fasted.

The researchers then tested the effects of this stimulation on the animals’ appetite. They found that when the pill was activated for about 20 minutes, before the animals were offered food, they consumed 40 percent less, on average, than they did when the pill was not activated. The animals also gained weight more slowly during periods when they were treated with the vibrating pill.

“The behavioral change is profound, and that’s using the endogenous system rather than any exogenous therapeutic. We have the potential to overcome some of the challenges and costs associated with delivery of biologic drugs by modulating the enteric nervous system,” Traverso says.

The current version of the pill is designed to vibrate for about 30 minutes after arriving in the stomach, but the researchers plan to explore the possibility of adapting it to remain in the stomach for longer periods of time, where it could be turned on and off wirelessly as needed. In the animal studies, the pills passed through the digestive tract within four or five days.

The study also found that the animals did not show any signs of obstruction, perforation, or other negative impacts while the pill was in their digestive tract.

An alternative approach

This type of pill could offer an alternative to the current approaches to treating obesity, the researchers say. Nonmedical interventions such as diet exercise don’t always work, and many of the existing medical interventions are fairly invasive. These include gastric bypass surgery, as well as gastric balloons, which are no longer used widely in the United States due to safety concerns.

Drugs such as GLP-1 agonists can also aid weight loss, but most of them have to be injected, and they are unaffordable for many people. According to Srinivasan, the MIT capsules could be manufactured at a cost that would make them available to people who don’t have access to more expensive treatment options.

“For a lot of populations, some of the more effective therapies for obesity are very costly. At scale, our device could be manufactured at a pretty cost-effective price point,” she says. “I’d love to see how this would transform care and therapy for people in global health settings who may not have access to some of the more sophisticated or expensive options that are available today.”

The researchers now plan to explore ways to scale up the manufacturing of the capsules, which could enable clinical trials in humans. Such studies would be important to learn more about the devices’ safety, as well as determine the best time to swallow the capsule before to a meal and how often it would need to be administered.

Other authors of the paper include Amro Alshareef, Alexandria Hwang, Ceara Byrne, Johannes Kuosmann, Keiko Ishida, Joshua Jenkins, Sabrina Liu, Wiam Abdalla Mohammed Madani, Alison Hayward, and Niora Fabian.

The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health, Novo Nordisk, the Department of Mechanical Engineering at MIT, a Schmidt Science Fellowship, and the National Science Foundation.

[bl0w-m3]

Marijuana was the best thing to ever happen to me.

I had never tried it recreationally, I was a troubled kid but I stayed generally away from drugs. Starting freshman year of high school I started getting flashbacks and was diagnosed with severe PTSD (recently updated in my case to C-PTSD). Due to these flashbacks and the paranoia and panic that followed, I was unable to stay in school or even function day to day. I spent my days terrified and defeated, almost failing out of school. I was self h@rming, attempting to end my life, I had lost all hope.

I started researching. We tried different medications and therapy’s but nothing was making any progress; anything and everything was a trigger, NOBODY even knew where to start let alone how to help. Until somebody very close to me recommended I try marijuana. And my life changed.

Within weeks of starting to use marijuana the flashbacks were decreasing from every few days, to once a week, to once every few weeks and so on until it was maybe one every few months. My paranoia and panic was easily calmed by a small dose. At first I was not even taking enough too become intoxicated, it was the bare minimum to give me my life back.

As I got older and found my career, it was clear I was not going to be able to pass drug tests, which really put my life on hold once again. I tried to get clean, but very quickly the stress, the flashbacks, and the fear came rushing back. Quitting simply wasn’t an option. At this time I was still under 18, so a medical marijuana card was out of the picture as well in my state. I wound up becoming hospitalized with extreme intractable nausea, another symptom the marijuana greatly helped with, and was lucky enough to meet with amazing doctors at a renowned children’s hospital, who worked as hard as they could to find a solution. Everybody was hesitant when my parents and I mentioned the fact that marijuana was what worked, and explained our predicament( which I would be happy to explain to anybody interested), and because I was just so lucky, the doctors gave me a prescription; not for a medical card, but for a medicine called Marinol, and small little pill with THC in it that they actually give to chemo patients to treat intractable nausea. It was a wonder drug for the past 5 years; it helped with my nausea and my PTSD without getting high in situations when I needed it, and it helped me pass drug tests while still being able to stay on my medicine (because yes, I 100% believe marijuana is medicine).

Recently, my insurance stopped renewing my marinol because they needed a diagnosis of cancer, and with a new job around the corner and my health just finally back on track, I was devastated.

Thankfully, after doing everything in my power, my paperwork has been sent in for a official medical marijuana card :)

Plant medicine saves lives in so many situations. I hope the stigma continues to decrease about the use of marijuana (and mushrooms, but that’s another subject) because it really can change lives.

[icanonlybe-human]

So. I had the appointment with the psychiatrist. She thinks that because I've been in and out of therapy since I was 14 and on meds since I was 15, that we need to try something different. It'd be a procedure that's aimed at resetting the brain, so the hope is that it'd get rid of the pathways the depression and anxiety have carved and allow me to start fresh and literally grow a new mindset. Not electroshock therapy but something with a similar outcome. But I'd have to be in hospital for 3 weeks. The aim is with this treatment to reset my brain, plus psychology and psychiatric and group therapy, that it'll help me get a better grasp on everything. She said that yes, we could try drugs, but since I've been so bad for so long, that it'd be better to do these 3 weeks of intense treatment, than spending months, possibly years trying to find the right meds for me. Plus I'll finally be able to work through my PTSD in a safe environment.

Aunty N has been really supportive of it all, and agrees that these 3 weeks for my health will probably be better in the long run. I told mum, and I could tell that she is probably going to dwell on it and get upset about it. But thankfully Dad is going home tomorrow so at least she'll have someone there to talk to about it. Because yes, I did tell Dad. His first thought was telling me how this would impact my career. I made sure to tell him that I only told work that it was "3 weeks of treatment for health problems I've been having recently". Work is fine with it, it's just figuring out the logistics of it since we're so busy with prints. I feel so guilty that all of this has happened when we need all hands on deck for prints, but even the big boss said that my health is more important in the long run. I feel pretty lucky to have a boss that is so understanding. I wonder if he'll be as understanding when I tell him I'm autistic.

But yeah. I'm sure some people reading this might be concerned about my well-being if they've been keeping up with my posts. Well, you can rest easy knowing that I'm finally getting the help I need.

I think the biggest part about all of this, is that I might potentially miss out on my nan's 90th birthday party, which we've spent weeks planning. I want to see her so bad, but there's a chance that if I ask if we can hold it off, I might miss this opportunity that has been plonked in my lap.

I don't know. I'm shocked but not. Upset that I'm that bad that one hour with a psychiatrist and she immediately said hospital. But also happy that she understood that I need something different. But mostly just scared. I don't cope well with change, and while I've done research into psych wards in the past, this is different. I've never seen a video explaining what to expect in the hospital I'm going to so I feel like I'm going in blind.

I'm also scared about the reaction of the family when they learn that I'm not coming to nan's birthday. My cousin, who is weeks away from dying from cancer is going, and yet I'm not. I wonder what Aunty N and mum and dad are going to tell everyone. I wonder if I could facetime in just to say happy birthday. But I also worry that people are going to treat me different when they learn I'm going to hospital for mental health. Stigma around this shit is no joke, which is my I made sure I told work it was just "health problems".

I have so many people supporting me in this, and yet I feel more alone and scared than ever. When I first heard the doctor suggest hospital, my brain did that hot tingly thing like it overheated or glitched for a second.

Sorry for the essay, it just feels like my brain is running at double time, and I needed to get it all out. I don't think this is even all of it, it's just what my mentally exhausted brain could come up with at this moment.

I can't believe this is actually happening to me.

[unitedstatesofworld]

The Groundbreaking Work of Dr. Osborne Charmaine on Tumors: A Beacon of Hope

Cancer—just the word itself is enough to send a chill down anyone’s spine. But amidst the complexity of tumors and the ongoing battle against this disease, certain names shine brighter than others. One of these luminaries is Dr. Osborne Charmaine Tumors, a trailblazing expert whose groundbreaking research on tumors has revolutionized the medical field. From innovative therapies to personalized care plans, Dr. Charmaine’s approach has redefined how we view and tackle tumors. Whether you’re a patient, a caregiver, or simply curious about advancements in cancer treatment!

The Story Behind Dr. Osborne Charmaine

A Journey of Determination

Dr. Osborne Charmaine didn’t stumble upon her expertise by accident. Growing up in a small town, she witnessed firsthand how cancer devastated her community. Determined to make a difference, she pursued her medical education with laser-sharp focus, eventually earning a doctorate in oncology.

Her early career was marked by relentless dedication. Working long hours in research labs and hospitals, she immersed herself in understanding the complexities of tumors. It wasn’t just a job; it was her mission.

Awards and Recognition

Over the years, her efforts have garnered widespread acclaim:

The Nobel Laureate in Medicine Nomination for her work in tumor-specific therapies.

The Oncology Pioneer Award for breakthroughs in early tumor detection.

Numerous speaking engagements at global cancer summits.

Dr. Charmaine’s name has become synonymous with hope and innovation.

Understanding Tumors: What Makes Dr. Charmaine’s Approach Unique?

Tumors: The Basics

Before diving into her methods, let’s take a moment to understand tumors. Essentially, tumors are abnormal cell growths that can be benign (non-cancerous) or malignant (cancerous). They can affect various parts of the body, causing a range of symptoms and complications.

Key points about tumors:

Benign tumors usually grow slowly and don’t spread.

Malignant tumors, on the other hand, invade nearby tissues and can metastasize (spread to other body parts).

Treatments often depend on factors like tumor type, size, location, and stage.

Dr. Charmaine’s Game-Changing Strategies

While traditional methods like chemotherapy and radiation have been mainstays in cancer treatment, Dr. Osborne Charmaine has introduced a more tailored approach:

1. Personalized Medicine

No two tumors are identical—Dr. Charmaine took this idea and ran with it. Using advanced genetic profiling, she tailors treatments to individual patients. This minimizes side effects and boosts effectiveness.

2. Immunotherapy Advocacy

Immunotherapy has been a hot topic, but Dr. Charmaine elevated it to new heights. By training the immune system to recognize and destroy tumor cells, she’s helped patients achieve long-term remission.

3. Early Detection Technologies

She’s also worked on groundbreaking diagnostic tools that detect tumors before they become life-threatening. Her motto? "Catch it early, treat it fast!"

Breakthrough Treatments Developed by Dr. Osborne Charmaine

Dr. Charmaine’s innovations aren’t just confined to theories—they’ve led to tangible treatments that save lives every day.

The Tumor Targeting Nanoparticle Therapy

Dr. Charmaine’s lab introduced nanoparticles designed to deliver chemotherapy drugs directly to tumor cells. This reduces damage to healthy cells, cutting down on harsh side effects like nausea and hair loss.

The “Charmaine Protocol”

This revolutionary treatment plan combines personalized medicine with lifestyle changes:

Customized dietary guidelines that inhibit tumor growth.

Stress management techniques to boost immunity.

Advanced drug cocktails tailored to the patient’s genetic profile.

Patients following this protocol have reported remarkable improvements in their quality of life.

Real Stories: Lives Changed by Dr. Charmaine

You might be wondering: Does all this sound too good to be true? Well, the proof lies in the countless lives Dr. Charmaine has touched.

Case Study 1: Emma’s Triumph

Emma, a 45-year-old mother of two, was diagnosed with stage 3 ovarian cancer. After enrolling in Dr. Charmaine’s clinical trial, her tumor shrank significantly, allowing her to return to a normal life.

Case Study 2: Robert’s Road to Recovery

Robert, a retired teacher, struggled with recurring lung tumors. Thanks to the Charmaine Protocol, he’s now in remission and spends his days teaching kids math—his true passion.

Common Questions About Tumors and Dr. Osborne Charmaine’s Work

1. What are some early signs of tumors?

Unexplained weight loss

Persistent fatigue

Unusual lumps or swelling

Changes in appetite

If you notice these symptoms, consult a doctor immediately.

2. How does Dr. Charmaine’s approach differ from traditional oncology?

Her focus on genetic profiling and immunotherapy makes her treatments more precise and less invasive.

3. Are her treatments accessible to everyone?

While some of her techniques are still in clinical trials, she’s committed to making them affordable and widely available.

Dr. Osborne Charmaine Tumors: What’s Next?

Pioneering Research on Tumor Prevention

Dr. Charmaine isn’t stopping at treatment—she’s diving into prevention. Her team is studying how lifestyle factors like diet, exercise, and stress affect tumor development.

Collaboration with Global Institutions

To expand the reach of her work, Dr. Charmaine collaborates with international research centers. Her goal? To make cutting-edge treatments accessible worldwide.

Conclusion

Dr. Osborne Charmaine Tumors research and treatment are nothing short of extraordinary. Her innovative methods, combined with her compassionate approach, have transformed the lives of countless patients. The fight against tumors is far from over, but with visionaries like Dr. Charmaine leading the charge, the future looks brighter than ever. Whether you’re directly impacted by cancer or simply inspired by stories of human resilience and innovation, one thing’s for sure: Dr. Osborne Charmaine is a name worth remembering.

[sweatytyphoondinosaur]

Ancient Remedies Revived Book : Natural Home Remedies

🌿 Unlock the secrets of ancient healing wisdom that have stood the test of time! Welcome to "Natural Home Remedies," where we explore powerful traditional cures that are making a remarkable comeback in our modern world.

The Power of Ancient Healing

Today, we're diving deep into the fascinating world of time-tested remedies that have been healing people for generations. From Egyptian healing practices to Traditional Chinese Medicine, these ancient solutions are now being validated by modern science.

Notable Ancient Remedies

Honey for Allergies Raw honey has been a trusted remedy in England for treating hay fever. Taking a daily spoonful can help reduce allergic reactions, working similarly to allergy shots while being completely natural and safe.

Natural Body Care Solutions Our ancestors discovered that tomato juice could effectively combat body odor. A 15-20 minute soak in bathwater mixed with tomato juice can work wonders for personal freshness.

Science-Backed Traditional Cures 🔬

Willow Bark to Aspirin One of the most successful ancient remedies is willow bark, which evolved into what we now know as aspirin. This remarkable medicine continues to reveal new benefits, from stroke prevention to potential cancer-fighting properties.

Artemisinin Breakthrough Modern science continues to validate ancient wisdom. Dr. Tu Youyou's Nobel Prize-winning discovery of artemisinin, an anti-malarial drug derived from traditional wormwood recipes, has saved millions of lives.

Simple Yet Effective Home Solutions 🏠

Natural Fever Management Try the wet sock treatment: Soak socks in cold water, wring them out, and wear them under dry wool socks. This method helps reduce fever while improving circulation throughout the body.

Sleep Enhancement Having trouble sleeping? Our ancestors used simple solutions like placing cut onions in a jar near the bed, using deep breathing techniques to promote better rest.

Why Ancient Remedies Matter Today 🌱

These time-tested solutions offer several advantages:

Natural and generally free from harsh chemicals

Often use readily available ingredients

Typically have fewer side effects

Cost-effective alternatives to modern medicines

Backed by generations of practical use

Modern Applications

Today's healthcare professionals are increasingly recognizing the value of ancient healing practices. Some traditional treatments, like leech therapy, are even making their way back into modern medicine for specific conditions.

Your Natural Healing Journey

Whether you're looking to supplement modern medicine or explore natural alternatives, ancient remedies offer a treasure trove of healing wisdom. Join us on "Natural Home Remedies" as we continue to explore these fascinating traditional cures and their applications in modern life.

Remember to hit subscribe 🔔 and turn on notifications to stay updated with more natural healing wisdom. Drop a comment below sharing your favorite traditional remedy, and don't forget to like this video if you found it helpful! 👍

[sa7abnews]

Heman Bekele Is TIME’s 2024 Kid of the Year

New Post has been published on https://sa7ab.info/2024/08/16/heman-bekele-is-times-2024-kid-of-the-year/

Heman Bekele Is TIME’s 2024 Kid of the Year

Heman Bekele whipped up the most dangerous of what he called his “potions” when he was just over 7 years old. He’d been conducting his own science experiments for about three years by that point, mixing up whatever he could get his hands on at home and waiting to see if the resulting goo would turn into anything.

“They were just dish soap, laundry detergent, and common household chemicals,” he says today of the ingredients he’d use. “I would hide them under my bed and see what would happen if I left them overnight. There was a lot of mixing together completely at random.”

But soon, things got less random. For Christmas before his 7th birthday, Heman was given a chemistry set that came with a sample of sodium hydroxide. By then, he had been looking up chemical reactions online and learned that aluminum and sodium hydroxide can together produce prodigious amounts of heat. That got him thinking that perhaps he could do the world some good. “I thought that this could be a solution to energy, to making an unlimited supply,” he says. “But I almost started a fire.”

After that, his parents kept a closer eye on him. As it turned out, having adults watching what he does is something that Heman, now 15, would have to get used to. These days, a whole lot of people are paying him a whole lot of attention. Last October, the 3M company and Discovery Education selected Heman, a rising 10th-grader at Woodson High School in Fairfax County, Virginia, as the winner of its Young Scientist Challenge. His prize: $25,000. His accomplishment: inventing a soap that could one day treat and even prevent multiple forms of skin cancer. It may take years before such a product comes to market, but this summer Heman is already spending part of every weekday working in a lab at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, hoping to bring his dream to fruition. When school is in session, he’ll be there less often, but will continue to plug away. “I’m really passionate about skin-cancer research,” he says, “whether it’s my own research or what’s happening in the field. It’s absolutely incredible to think that one day my bar of soap will be able to make a direct impact on somebody else’s life. That’s the reason I started this all in the first place.”

It’s that ambition—to say nothing of that selflessness—that has earned Heman recognition as TIME’s Kid of the Year for 2024. 

Born in Addis Ababa before emigrating to the U.S. with his family when he was 4, Heman recalls that some of his earliest memories were of seeing laborers working in the blistering sun, usually with no protection for their skin. His parents taught him and his sisters—Hasset, now 16, and Liya, now 7—to cover up, and explained the dangers of too much time outdoors without sunscreen or proper clothing.

“When I was younger, I didn’t think much of it, but when I came to America, I realized what a big problem the sun and ultraviolet radiation is when you’re exposed to it for a long time,” Heman says.

It didn’t take too long for him to start thinking about how he might help. A few years ago, he read about imiquimod, a drug that, among other uses, is approved to fight one form of skin cancer and has shown promise against several more. Typically, imiquimod, which can help destroy tumors and usually comes in the form of a cream, is prescribed as a front-line drug as part of a broader cancer treatment plan, but Heman wondered if it could be made available more easily to people in the earliest stages of the disease. A bar of soap, he reckoned, might be just the delivery system for such a lifesaving drug, not just because it was simple, but because it would be a lot more affordable than the $40,000 it typically costs for skin-cancer treatment.

“What is one thing that is an internationally impactful idea, something that everyone can use, [regardless of] socioeconomic class?” Heman recalls thinking. “Almost everyone uses soap and water for cleaning. So soap would probably be the best option.”

There was a long way to go between inspiration and application, however. Executing on his idea was more complicated than simply mixing the drug into an ordinary bar of soap, since any therapeutic power the imiquimod might confer would just be washed down the drain with the suds. The answer was to combine the soap with a lipid-based nanoparticle that would linger on the skin when the soap was washed away—much the way moisturizer or fragrance can stay behind after the suds are rinsed off.

Read More: What’s the Best Skin-Care Routine?

There was only so much brainstorming Heman could do on his own, however. Then, in 2023, he came across the 3M challenge and submitted a video explaining his idea. Soon, he received an invite to the company’s HQ in St. Paul, Minn., to deliver a pitch in front of a panel of judges. Before that day was out, he’d been named the winner. The $25,000 prize, he knew, would go a long way toward helping him afford to pursue his research, but he’d still need a professional lab in which to conduct the work. That opportunity arrived in February, when he attended a networking event hosted by the Melanoma Research Alliance, in Washington, D.C. There, he met Vito Rebecca, a molecular biologist and assistant professor at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore.

“I remember reading somewhere something about this young kid who had an idea for a skin-cancer soap,” says Rebecca. “It immediately piqued my interest, because I thought, how cool, him wanting to make it accessible to the whole world. And then, by complete serendipity at this Melanoma Research Alliance meeting, the CEO of the alliance introduced me to Heman. From the first conversation, his passion was evident. When I found out he lived very nearby in Virginia, I told him if he ever wanted to stop by the lab he’d be more than welcome.”

Heman took him up on that idea, and Rebecca agreed to sponsor Heman, acting as his principal investigator and inviting him to work at the Baltimore lab, toggling between benchwork and schoolwork back in Fairfax.

For close to half a year now, Heman and Rebecca have been running basic research on mice, injecting the animals with strains of skin cancer and preparing to apply the lipid-bound, imiquimod-infused soap and see what the results are. And though they’re getting ready to test it and a control against melanoma, Heman knows “there’s still a long way to go”—not just testing the soap, but also patenting it and getting FDA certification, which can take a decade altogether.

It is a measure of Heman’s enormous head start that when that decade passes, he will still be only 25 years old—the age at which medical students have not even completed their postgrad education. He’s making good use of that time. In addition to working on his idea, he’s promoting it. In June, he delivered a presentation before 8,000 people at Boston’s Tsongas Center, during a meeting of the National Academy of Future Physicians and Medical Scientists. “That was nerve-racking,” he says, “but it was fun.”

Read More: Scientists Are Finding Out Just How Toxic Your Stuff Is

Heman has fun in more conventional ways too. He’s part of the Woodson High School marching band, on both flute and trombone. He plays basketball, reads voraciously (especially fantasy, though he recently reread The Great Gatsby, which he describes as “a pretty good read”), and considers chess “a turn-my-brain-off-and-play kind of thing.”

He credits his family, particularly his parents, for setting the stage for his achievements. His mother Muluemebet is a teacher; his father Wondwossen is a human-resources specialist for the U.S. Agency for International Development. The example of their sacrifice, coming to an unfamiliar country in service of their children’s education, has imbued him with a love of learning and a commitment to pursuing the improbable—or even the seemingly impossible. Nor are his parents and Rebecca the only adults stewarding him on his long scientific journey. He is also aided by Deborah Isabelle, his mentor from 3M.

“I got really lucky,” says Isabelle. “Last year was my first year participating as a mentor in the Young Scientist Challenge, and I was paired with Heman. He’s an incredible, passionate, very inspiring young man.”

That doesn’t mean he doesn’t make mistakes—and Isabelle, for one, has been there to catch him when he falls.

“At one point when he was making the soap, things didn’t work the way he expected,” she says. “So I asked him, What didn’t work? What did you do? And we talked about it, and he’s like, ‘Wow, I didn’t exactly follow the directions.’ And so we had a conversation about that, and he was able to go up and figure out some things, and say, ‘OK, this is what I learned from that.’” 

That kind of trial and error will, Heman hopes, take him to the day that his health-giving soap can at last be used in early-stage cancers—including so-called cancer Stage 0, when there is just a small growth that has not yet had much effect on the surface of the skin—and then in later stages, when it would be an adjunct to other treatments.

For all of this, Heman remains humble about what he’s accomplished in just 15 years. “Anybody could do what I did,” he says. “I just came up with an idea. I worked towards that idea, and I was able to bring it to life.” But he confesses that he worries too: scientific breakthroughs seem to be coming faster and faster—in medicine, in engineering, in artificial intelligence—and he frets that people may have reached something of a saturation point.

“A lot of people have this mindset that everything’s been done, there’s nothing left for me to do,” he says. “To anybody having that thought, [I’d say] we’ll never run out of ideas in this world. Just keep inventing. Keep thinking of new ways to improve our world and keep making it a better place.” 

—With reporting by Julia Zorthian

[nathank77]

8/13/24

7:41 p.m Added to significantly

It took me awhile to answer that anon, who I do wonder who they are. It took me a while to compose what I wanted to say bc I have anxiety but it also prompted a thought I've been thinking for a while:

Why when typical antipsychotics are so dangerous aren't there other drugs being made to try to help people who have hallucinations?

I'd love to try something that doesn't cause movement disorders and turn some people like my uncle into a zombie.

I'm on white mulberries for a reason. Idk what they'll do to me long term and it scares me but- they can treat Parkinson as shown in a research study on Google scholar. They aren't known to cause it. They can also lower blood sugar levels and make a pre diabetic like myself, have lower levels.

Although they don't have long term studies showing the effects they have on everything which is what scares me about them.

I think it's really depressing bc like cancer we have chemotherapy. Nothing else really other than surgery. Chemotherapy causes all kinds of awful side effects but it's this or die to cancer or if you're lucky maybe you can avoid both with surgery like my sister who had half her thyroid removed...

But antipsychotics need to be phased out. There needs to be a new typical antipsychotics with years of research backing it with less risks. Just like there needs to be options for cancer beyond chemotherapy.

Psychosis/schizophrenia is very much like cancer. You're dying from the inside out and your only treatment option is something that can be severely detrimental to your health.

I'd never take antipsychotics. Even if it did get worse. I'd rather die. Why?

When I was having muscle spasms unfortunately due to the statin (I wish I didn't get that side effect and I could have stayed on it bc I'd like to lower my cholesterol) but when I was having them I had dreams of me losing control of my facial muscles and me grimacing.....

I had nightmares of my facial muscles having a mind of their own... and that's the sad part about psychosis and schizophrenia.

When someone takes these drugs and it actually starts happening to them, not only are they scared and don't know what else to do, the voice laughs at them. It taunts them. It says I ruined your face and I'm still here.

It's fucking disgusting. Psychosis and schizophrenia are disgusting. While I panicked about my muscle spasms. I had those nightmares and if I had taken antipsychotics I'd have had those nightmares everyday from the moment I started taking them. The mental pictures as well. And when it started happening to me, the voice would have laughed at me.

It laughs at me sometimes. It mocks me sometimes. It would have had a field day if those side effects happened to me. It would have a field day if it was still as intelligent and creative as it once was.

Now it's a broken record of happy birthday and so on. But sometimes when I have anxiety it laughs at me. And if I had taken those drugs and got those side effects all my mental pictures and dreams would have been my face grimacing and I'd hear a mocking laughing chant, "I did this to you. I ruined your face"

And that's why I say fuck you to psychosis, you won't ruin my face. You won't make me a zombie. You didn't take my body to weight gain from Methimazole. You lost. You're losing every single day. You can laugh at what you did to my internal monolgue but it's almost normal now. You can laugh about what you did to my mental pictures but they are actually very normal now.

I'm winning, I'm beating you.

It still laughs about making me microsleep while it says it feels bad that it made me microsleep....

I didn't and won't take antipsychotics bc I won't allow it to give me those mental pictures while I freak about it happening to me. I won't let it give me those nightmares while I am on a drug that can actually cause it.

I won't let it laugh at me and mock me and say, "I did this to you."

All it's going to be able to say is, "I made you microsleep." And it has said that. And that's enough trauma for a life time. I can't even tell you how traumatized I am from it. I want to cry just writting about it right now. I'll never get over it.

But I'll never let it say, "you can't even control your facial muscles or your body, and I'm still here look at yourself. Look at what I did to you."

It already took enough. Closing my eyes will give me anxiety until the day I die.