Tag - medicine

 
 

MEDICINE

Leqembi, which was developed by U.S. multinational Biogen and Japanese-based Eisai, is the brand name of an active substance called lecanemab, which is used to treat adults with mild memory and cognitive problems resulting from the early stages of the common type of dementia.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jul 27, 2024
European medicines watchdog rejects new Eisai's Alzheimer's drug
The watchdog said the risks of side effects, including potential brain bleeding, outweighed the benefits.
Amazon has launched an online service enabling customers in Japan to purchase prescription medications without having to visit physical pharmacies.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 24, 2024
Amazon Pharmacy goes live in Japan
Through the new service, Japanese consumers will be able to obtain medications without having to visit physical pharmacies.
People hold umbrellas while watching baseball to deal with the heat in the city of Shizuoka on July 7.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jul 19, 2024
As risk of heatstroke rises in Japan, so does that of COVID-19
Patients examined for suspected heatstroke have been diagnosed with COVID-19 instead, as symptoms can be similar.
Takahiro Ueda, a doctor who treated the Kyoto Animation arson suspect Shinji Aoba, is interviewed in Yonago, Tottori Prefecture, earlier this month.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 18, 2024
Saving Kyoto Animation arson suspect was 'meaningful,' says doctor
Takahiro Ueda said it was significant that Shinji Aoba was able to receive a court ruling.
Inspired by the July 2022 fatal shooting of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a research team at Tohoku University in Sendai has developed a system to resume blood circulation of an injured heart within three minutes.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jul 17, 2024
Tohoku University develops 3-minute system to jump-start injured heart
The system involves a precise division of tasks to restart a patient’s blood circulation in the time needed to prevent brain death.
A child receives an oral Malaria vaccine in Lilongwe, Malawi.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jul 15, 2024
Rising conflicts globally slowed childhood vaccination rate in 2023, U.N. says
About 14.5 million children failed to get vaccinated in 2023, compared with 13.9 million a year earlier, according to U.N. estimates.
Suzu General Hospital suffered a significant loss in the last fiscal year due to a decline in the number of patients.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jul 9, 2024
Public hospitals in quake-hit Okunoto area bleed red ink
The area in Ishikawa Prefecture was hit especially hard by the 7.6 magnitude quake that shook the peninsula on Jan. 1.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a news conference at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo last month.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jul 9, 2024
Kishida aims for hospital ship operations from fiscal year 2025
The envisioned ships would evacuate disaster victims while giving them medical treatment and stay based at ports near disaster-hit areas to provide care.
Takashi Miyashita, head of a clinic in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, examines a patient in a temporary medical container on June 26 as he resumes operations for the first time since the Jan. 1 earthquake.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 5, 2024
Ishikawa doctor 'not going anywhere' six months after Noto quake
Deeply touched by patient's pleas to stay post-quake, the doctor vowed to remain and rebuild his practice for the sake of the local community.
Nikon's new microscope specialized for intracytoplasmic sperm injection, a fertility treatment
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jul 3, 2024
Nikon develops microscope for fertility treatment
The product reduces the number of operational steps involved in intracytoplasmic sperm injection by about 75%.
The revised action plan for Japan's response to outbreaks of new infectious diseases requires the government to take action to raise awareness about vaccinations, reflecting concerns expressed by many of those who submitted public comments over the revision.
JAPAN
Jul 3, 2024
Japan adopts revised action plan for infectious diseases
The government will implement the plan flexibly while taking into consideration the impact of the measures on people's lives.
While the health ministry has been distributing educational material on blood donation to high school students since fiscal 1990, this will be the first time the campaign is extended to middle school students.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 2, 2024
Health ministry aims to educate middle schoolers in bid to raise blood donation rate
The ministry aims to have educational material on blood donation ready for middle schoolers in fiscal 2025 to encourage students to be future donors.
High blood pressure is the world’s single biggest indicator of death risk, yet it receives little attention and even less funding.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 28, 2024
The world’s biggest killer that you never considered
One of the most dangerous health conditions, high blood pressure, could be tackled easily and cheaply across the globe. But it's getting less attention than other issues.
At the New England Organ Bank in Massachusetts. A U.S. sex offender donated an organ in 2022 to help a sick child and redeem himself.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 26, 2024
Giving organs can save donors’ lives, too
A U.S. sex offender donated an organ to save a sick child, showing others like him that a path to redemption exists — and multiplying the good of his action.
The University of Tokyo in the capital's Bunkyo Ward
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jun 21, 2024
Japanese team uses AI to predict cancer risk from fatty liver images
The model has proved that it can predict cancer onset risk with 82.3% accuracy, researchers have said.
Doctors take part in a rally to protest against government plans to increase medical school admissions, in Seoul on March 3.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 18, 2024
More doctors walk off the job in South Korea in one-day strike
The dispute began in January, when the South Korean government announced a plan to dramatically expand admissions to medical schools.
A high school student was taken to the emergency room after he complained of symptoms including vomiting. The resident physician conducted a CT scan, identified gastric dilation and diagnosed the teenager as suffering from gastroenteritis before sending him home.
JAPAN
Jun 18, 2024
Nagoya hospital error results in high school student’s death
The resident physician had incorrectly diagnosed the 16-year-old male student with a digestive disorder, but the teenager turned out to be suffering from a rare disorder.
Group A Streptococcus typically causes swelling and a sore throat in children, but some types of the bacteria can lead to symptoms developing rapidly.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jun 15, 2024
Rare tissue-damaging bacteria spreads in Japan
At the current rate of infections, the number of cases in Japan could reach 2,500 this year, with a mortality rate of 30%.
By April 2024, dengue fever cases in the Americas passed the total for the previous year.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jun 15, 2024
What's behind the post-COVID surge in communicable diseases?
Many regions have reported at least one infectious disease resurgence that’s at least ten times worse than the prepandemic baseline.
Akira Endo was born on Nov. 14, 1933, in Yurihonjo, a city in a mountainous area near the Sea of Japan.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jun 15, 2024
Akira Endo, scholar of statins that reduce heart disease, dies at 90
His research on fungi helped lay the groundwork for widely prescribed drugs that lower a type of cholesterol that contributes to heart disease.

Longform

Traditional folk rituals like Mizudome-no-mai (dance to stop the rain) provide a sense of agency to a population that feels largely powerless in the face of the climate crisis.
As climate extremes intensify, Japan embraces ancient weather rituals