/oss/taxonomy/term/130/all en /oss/article/medical-critical-thinking-history/dmso-not-cure-all-fdas-panic-over-it-birthed-myth <p>Imagine a drug so powerful, your government didn’t want you to have it. Now, add the claim that this drug is all natural (it’s not) and that people report it cured them of any ailment you can think of, and you have the recipe for a good old-fashioned conspiracy theory.</p> Fri, 17 Nov 2023 15:37:28 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 9731 at /oss /oss/article/medical-history/dead-cow-moldy-hay-and-drug-discovery <p>There are roughly 20,000 prescription medicines approved for use around the world and in developed countries two thirds of the population takes one or more of them. Then there are all the non-prescription drugs and the various supplements that claim to have some sort of therapeutic effect that vastly outnumber prescription drugs. Obviously, drug development is a gigantic business, which is understandable given that health matters more than anything else in life and drugs promise to help with a wide range of ailments.</p> Thu, 31 Aug 2023 17:11:53 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 9614 at /oss /oss/article/medical/hype-hope-and-leqembi <p>The word “qembi” roughly translates as beautiful, elegant or healthy and was somewhat ambitiously chosen as the root for “Leqembi,” the Alzheimer’s disease drug that recently made a big media splash thanks to receiving “accelerated approval” by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the first regulatory agency in the world to do so.</p> Wed, 11 Jan 2023 11:00:00 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 9356 at /oss /oss/article/health-and-nutrition-you-asked/what-khat-and-why-are-we-warned-about-it <p>Cathinone’s molecular structure resembles amphetamine which accounts for its mild stimulant effect. Historically, cathinone has not cause much concern, at least not until clandestine chemists began to tinker with its molecular structure, trying to increase its stimulant effect. Attaching a methyl group (consisting of a single carbon atom and three hydrogens) to cathinone turned out to be a simple laboratory procedure. The resulting “methcathinone” was far more potent as a stimulant and found a ready market.</p> Fri, 18 Mar 2022 18:18:19 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 9054 at /oss /oss/article/health-technology/costly-reprogramming-immune-system-fight-cancer <p>Alternative medicine, with its universal boogeymen and safe panaceas, gives us a simplistic (and wrong) view of the world. Medicine, on the other hand, often demands that we make tough choices. Chemotherapy may kill cancer cells but it also kills any rapidly dividing cell, which means hair loss and nausea. A new type of intervention for cancer was approved by Health Canada a year ago and is now being covered by the Quebec public drug plan.</p> Fri, 18 Oct 2019 17:42:21 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 7965 at /oss /oss/article/did-you-know/khat-and-not-fuzzy-kind <p>Khat is a plant native to Africa that when chewed produces a stimulant effect, similar to amphetamines. It’s regulated in several countries (including Canada) and its use actually predates the drinking of coffee. In Yemen khat is chewed in a way similar to chewing tobacco, in social settings, and is so popular that 40% of the country’s water supply goes to irrigating its growth.</p> <hr /> <p><a href="https://twitter.com/AdaMcVean">@AdaMcVean</a></p> Wed, 10 Jan 2018 00:02:32 +0000 Ada McVean B.Sc. 6877 at /oss