People transitioning female to male face issues around future fertility. But new research suggests children in the future are a real possibility for these transgender men.
Now, research shows that transgender men can remain fertile after even one year of testosterone treatment.
Ovarian function well-preserved
It’s common for transgender men – those who were born female but who identify as male – to undergo testosterone therapy as a gender-affirming treatment. But some may later want children through their own pregnancy or via surrogate, the Israeli researchers explained.
“Because the long-term effects of testosterone therapy on fertility are unknown, the current recommendation is to stop testosterone at least three months before fertility treatments,” said lead investigator Dr Yona Greenman. She heads the Transgender Health Center at Tel Aviv-Sourasky Medical Center.
The study included 52 transgender men, aged 17 to 40, who received testosterone therapy over 12 months. They had the expected increase in testosterone blood levels and decrease in oestrogen, but their levels of anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH) remained in the normal range for fertility.
AMH levels are used to appraise remaining eggs in the ovaries. Average levels in study participants decreased only slightly, suggesting their ovarian function was well-preserved, according to Greenman.
Participants also showed no changes in the thickness of their uterine lining. A thick lining is crucial for embryo implantation and a successful pregnancy.
Reproduction a transgender right
The findings are to be presented Saturday at the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting, in New Orleans.
“Our research shows for the first time that after one year of testosterone treatment, ovary function is preserved to a degree that may allow reproduction,” Greenman said in a meeting news release. “This information is important for transgender men and their partners who desire to have their own children.”
She said more study is needed to examine the effects of testosterone on other benchmarks of fertility, including the quality of eggs and embryos fertilized in vitro.
“These results are a further step toward providing transgender people basic rights such as reproduction,” Greenman added.
Research presented at meetings is typically considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.
The suffering and massive loss of life caused by Tuberculosis (TB) are proof that humanity hasn’t prioritised the development of tools to eliminate a disease dating back 9 000 years. Two stark facts highlight this: most of the antibiotics used to treat TB were developed decades ago. And, until very recently, some diagnostic approaches being used were a century old.
There’s a chronic funding gap for TB research and development. The Global TB Alliance estimates that it’s as high as $1.3 billion per year.
While still inadequate, there has been a shift towards reducing the funding gap over the last two years. This, together with invigorated research strategies from large funding organisations such as the National Institutes for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, point to a shift in the TB landscape.
As a consequence, there have been some exciting and positive movements on both treatment as well as prevention aspects.
There’s also a growing appreciation that focusing on ensuring good treatment outcomes alone won’t be enough to eliminate TB. The disease has to be viewed as continuum of care. Attention must also be given, for example, to how people access healthcare services and where they are lost in the system.
The pandemic
TB, caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis, killed 1.6 million people in 2017, the highest number of deaths caused by a bacterial infectious disease. In addition, 10 million were infected with TB bacteria, the majority being poor people in the developing world.
In Southern Africa, high rates of HIV infection have been the primary driver of TB disease to the point where the region is now home to the world’s worst HIV-TB epidemic.
In 2017, 1 million children were infected with the TB bacteria and 233 000 died of the disease. The scourge of drug resistant TB has necessitated treatment with antibiotics that cause side effects such as deafness, leading to extraordinary levels of human suffering. There were almost half a million of these cases in 2017.
Signs of fresh energy to deal with the problem appeared on the horizon with the first WHO global ministerial conference in Moscow in 2017. Representatives from 120 nations adopted a declaration to rapidly achieve universal health coverage for eliminating TB.
A year later, the United Nations held its first ever high-level meeting on TB. The UN convened the General Assembly with the goal of establishing an accountability framework to drive the goal of ending TB.
The meeting identified a number of clear threats. The main ones were:
The rapid rise of drug resistance,
An increase in TB incidence in vulnerable populations including children, healthcare workers and people living with HIV, and
A disproportionate disease burden among the poorest countries with crippled public healthcare systems.
Vaccine and prevention
Two new TB vaccine studies have created a great deal of excitement about the development of a vaccine that would prevent infection or disease.
The first study looked at how revaccination with the current vaccine BCG resulted in the protection of adolescents from infection. This suggests that BCG revaccination maybe be a useful TB prevention strategy.
The second involved a clinical trial of a new vaccine candidate. This showed that it was possible to prevent adults who were infected with TB bacteria from developing active TB.
These two studies have raised hope that creating a new TB vaccine is a definitive possibility.
Treatment breakthroughs
Advances have also been made on the treatment front.
A recent study shows that it’s possible to prevent people with HIV from developing active TB disease. The study showed that it is safe to administer antiretroviral therapy combined with a preventive TB treatment commonly known as the 3-HP to people living with HIV.
Now that the safety of this treatment has been shown, the next step would be for the National Department of Health to consider the feasibility of making these drugs available to people with HIV through the public system.
Research also suggests that the two new TB drugs that have emerged recently, Bedaquiline and Delamanid, can be administered together safely. This has important implications for creating new treatment options for drug resistant TB.
Interesting scientific advances have emerged such as boosting the immune system with an approach called immunotherapy, to fight TB. This approach uses structures that are released by immune cells infected with TB bacteria to boost the activity of the immune response.
In South Africa, recent studies have reported clinically useful biomarkers that predict future outcomes of infection and disease. These have also increased scientists’ understanding of underlying TB disease mechanisms.
Way forward
These positive movements signal a shift in the landscape. But the world can’t afford to be complacent. We cannot afford to lose momentum after coming so far. All nations, especially TB endemic countries, need to take up the call for action laid out in the UN declaration.
But the world won’t simply treat its way out of the epidemic with antibiotics. Interrupting transmission, developing a vaccine, protecting vulnerable populations, developing new diagnostics and better treatment regimens are all required for controlling the epidemic.
Innovative and cost effective diagnostic and case finding approaches are desperately needed to strengthen health care systems together with more investment in research and development.
Finally, we all need to advocate for more resources and better patient support. TB is everyone’s problem — not just the poor and forgotten.
There are more options than ever for how to deal with your period, including menstrual cups and period panties. But let’s face it: tampons still reign supreme (they’re the easiest and most affordable option).
But now, more and more organic tampon options are popping up, which likely has you wondering if you need to make the switch. But uh, what exactly does “organic” mean when it comes to tampons, and does it really matter if your period supplies are all-natural?
What’s the difference between regular tampons and organic tampons?
Organic tampons differ from conventional tampons in several ways, says Alyssa Dweck, MD, an ob-gyn in Westchester, New York, and author of The Complete A to Z for Your V.
First, organic tampons are typically made from 100% organic cotton unlike regular tampons, which are made of rayon and/or non-organic cotton. Organic tampons are also bleached with peroxide, while conventional tampons are bleached to be bright-white with chlorine.
According to Dweck, when tampons are bleached with chlorine, it creates dioxin as a byproduct. Dioxin is a known carcinogen (a substance that is capable of causing cancer) and possible hormone disruptor, but – and this is a big but – the FDA requires all tampon manufacturers to monitor dioxin levels, so it’s not something you need to worry about, says Dr Dweck.
Organic tampon manufacturers, on the other hand, claim that their tampons are free of those hormone-disrupting chemicals, as well as other synthetic materials used for absorbency, pesticides, and GMOs used in cotton production – but, according to Dr Dweck, those “differences” haven’t been scientifically studied, so take those with a grain of salt.
Well, are there any benefits of using organic tampons instead of conventional ones?
One plus of using organic tampons is that they are usually unscented, which can be beneficial for women with sensitive skin, Dr Dweck says.
But other than that, it comes down to personal preference. “The bottom line, though, is that conventional tampons are monitored by the FDA and are, by and large, safe for most women,” she says.
Another thing to take into consideration: Organic tampons won’t slash your risk of toxic shock syndrome (TSS), a rare, but life-threatening bacterial infection. “Toxic shock syndrome is possible with conventional or organic tampons, cotton or synthetic, organic cotton or nonorganic cotton,” says Dr Dweck.
“The risk is associated with absorbency and length of tampon use – the more absorbent and the longer a tampon is left in the vagina, the higher the risk of TSS,” she says, which is why she suggests using the least absorbent tampon for your flow and keeping track of how long you keep it in (no longer than six to eight hours at a time).
So do you need ’em? Not exactly – but if you are interested in trying out organic tampons to either minimise sensitivity or possibly reducing chemical exposure, there are tons of options to choose from. You’ll ultimately need to choose one that feels best to you.
A blood test may one day replace invasive tissue biopsies as a pain-free way to confirm lung cancer and guide treatment, new research suggests.
According to investigators, the test is as effective as a tissue biopsy in diagnosing advanced non-small cell lung cancer, by far the leading form of the leading cancer killer.
A convincing argument
The so-called “liquid biopsy” can also quickly identify tumour gene mutations that match targeted drug therapies — potentially boosting patient survival.
The new findings present “a convincing argument for use of the liquid biopsy as a first option for molecular testing in advanced non-small cell lung cancer,” said lead researcher Dr Vassiliki Papadimitrakopoulou. She’s professor of thoracic head and neck medical oncology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.
As the Houston team explained, if a CT scan suggests lung cancer, patients are typically asked to undergo a surgical tissue biopsy. It’s an expensive, invasive procedure that comes with risks and inconvenience to patients.
Seeking a way around these procedures, numerous companies have been developing blood-based diagnostic tests for lung cancer. The new study focuses on one such test, called Guardant360, developed by Guardant Health, the company that funded the new study.
Blood tests like Guardant360 rely on traces of tumour DNA in blood for clues to the presence of lung cancer and the best way to treat it.
In addition to the higher accuracy found in the new study, the researchers reported that the results of the blood test can be turned around sooner than those of a tissue biopsy.
Higher response rates
While results for a standard biopsy took 15 days to process, results of the liquid biopsy took just nine days, on average, the study found.
That means treatment could begin sooner, with potentially better outcomes, the researchers said.
Speedier genetic analysis of the tumour is crucial, the investigators explained, because 30% of lung cancers can now be successfully treated with new gene-targeted medicines. These drugs tend to have higher response rates than standard chemotherapy.
For the study, Papadimitrakopoulou and her colleagues used Guardant360 to identify mutant genes in the blood of nearly 300 patients.
Specifically, the tests were focused on seven “biomarkers” in blood samples — tumour-specific gene mutations that can help identify subtypes of lung cancer.
The Guardant360 test also looked for one biomarker — called KRAS — that helps predict a cancer patient’s prognosis, the research team said.
The blood test seemed to outperform standard tissue biopsy. While the standard surgical biopsy found at least one marker predictive of lung cancer in 60 patients, the blood test spotted it in 89 patients, the findings showed.
Study limitations
Drugs that target many of these lung tumour gene mutations are already approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, the researchers noted.
Among the more than 190 patients who did not show the presence of one of the seven genetic tumour biomarkers, testing was often still able to spot the KRAS prognostic biomarker, the study team said.
Again, the blood test beat tissue biopsy in this regard: The Guardant360 test spotted the KRAS biomarker in 92 patients, compared with 24 patients who underwent standard biopsy.
Still, the new study was limited in two ways. First, Guardant360 results weren’t compared to the results of the very latest gene-based surgical biopsy analyses. And secondly, the results apply only to the Guardant360 test — not to other liquid biopsies already out there.
One lung cancer specialist was still heartened by the results, however.
“For years, we have been doing surgical biopsies, but over the last few years there’s been a recognition that this is more a ‘molecular disease’, governed by [gene] mutations,” said Dr Richard Lazzaro, chief of thoracic surgery at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.
It’s also been known that cancer cells can shed their DNA into the blood, he said.
A better therapeutical paradigm
“If you can make diagnosis and treating decisions and save time, that’s outstanding for patient care,” Lazzaro said.
Effective treatment, delivered sooner after diagnosis, should improve survival, he added.
Already, liquid biopsies are often being used in tandem with surgical biopsies, Lazzaro noted.
However, “perhaps one day they will replace a surgical biopsy and may become a better therapeutical paradigm,” he said.
The results of the study are to be presented at the American Association for Cancer Research meeting, in Atlanta. Findings presented at medical meetings are typically considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.
According to the American Cancer Society, lung cancer remains the number one cancer killer in the United States, with nearly 143 000 deaths expected in 2019.
A panel convened by the World Health Organization (WHO) said it would be “irresponsible” for scientists to use gene editing for reproductive purposes, but stopped short of calling for a ban.
The experts also called for the United Nations (UN) health agency to create a database of scientists working on gene editing. The recommendation was announced on Tuesday after a two-day meeting in Geneva to examine the scientific, ethical, social and legal challenges of such research.
“At this time, it is irresponsible for anyone to proceed” with making gene-edited babies since DNA changes could be passed down to future generations, the experts said in a statement.
Last year, Chinese researcher He Jiankui rocked the scientific community with his announcement that he helped make the world’s first gene-edited babies, altering the DNA of twin girls to try to make them resistant to HIV, the virus that causes Aids.
WHO’s announcement comes after an international group of scientists and ethicists called for a temporary ban on gene-edited babies in the journal Nature last week.
Broader picture
Margaret Ann Hamburg, co-chair of the WHO panel, and her colleagues declined to call for a similar prohibition.
“I don’t think a vague moratorium is the answer to what needs to be done,” she said. “What we’re trying to do is to look at the broader picture.”
She said the experts envisioned a WHO-directed database where journal publishers and funders of gene editing research would require scientists to sign up – but acknowledged they had not yet worked out how to reprimand any scientists who refused to register.
Earlier this year, Chinese investigators said He had dodged supervision of his work and broke research norms because he wanted to be famous. The report said He could face consequences, although it didn’t specify which regulations he may have violated.
WHO’s director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced the formation of the panel in early December after He revealed his experiment.
“We have to be very, very careful” about how to proceed, Tedros said at the time. “We have a big part of our population who say, ‘Don’t touch.'”
Gene editing is intended as a more precise way to do gene therapy. Trying it in adults to treat diseases is not controversial and the DNA changes do not pass to future generations.
But most scientists think gene editing to make babies is too risky to be tried at the moment because of the danger of damaging other genes and because unknown DNA alterations could be passed on.
Now, two weeks later, a matric pupil at Hoërskool Tuine in Pretoria is completely paralysed and on a ventilator — and doctors still don’t know what’s causing it.
It’s the worst kind of hell, one that only a parent can understand, Giani Hendricks (47) told YOU on Wednesday.
He says to see his son, Giovanni, lying in the high-care unit of the Kalafong Hospital, west of Pretoria, and being unable to do anything to help him, is breaking his heart.
Giovanni’s story has touched many across the world and Giani and his wife, Elize (39), say they’re receiving hundreds of messages of encouragement each day from far and wide.
Possible attack on the nervous system?
On 25 February Giovanni complained to his mom of a scratchy throat when he got home from school.
“I was still at work but Elize tells me he became very emotional because he suddenly couldn’t swallow anymore. He was scared the condition was back. His mother tried comforting him and told him to lie down for a bit,” Giani recalls.
“She fetched the Bible and anointing oil and prayed for him. But later that evening, when I got home, his condition had deteriorated.”
When Giovanni was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré seven years ago, he’d spent 11 days in hospital but he made a full recovery.
This time, the same symptoms occurred. Later that evening he was unable to speak or swallow.
The next morning, 26 February, Giovanni was completely paralysed — he could only blink.
“We called the ambulance, which took him to the Pretoria West Hospital. The specialist asked for him to be transferred to Kalafong but because we had to wait so long for the ambulance, they put Giovanni on a ventilator in the emergency room,” Giani says.
“It’s impossible to describe what’s going through your mind… You’re scared — no, terrified. You don’t want to see your child like that.”
Later that day Giovanni was transferred to Kalafong Hospital, where he’s still in the high-care unit.
Waiting for a conclusive diagnosis
In the two weeks since he was admitted to hospital, his eyelids also became paralysed, but he’s since recovered the use of them. He’s still on a ventilator and has to be fed through a feeding tube.
Giani says the hardest thing is that doctors still don’t know exactly what’s wrong with his son. The possibility that it’s Guillain-Barré again hasn’t been excluded, but more tests are needed for a conclusive diagnosis.
“I only have praise for the doctors and hospital personnel – they’re really caring for Giovanni. But I can’t lie, it’s a tough time. We get messages from all over the country from people who are saying, ‘Have you tested for this?’ Or, ‘Consider these options.’
“Each time you get excited all over again; you’re hoping it’s the answer. But doctors assure us their tests are comprehensive — and that there just aren’t any answers yet.”
For now doctors are waiting to see how Giovanni responds to new medication. They also plan to send more blood samples to the lab for analyses.
Giani says he and Elize and their younger son, Elandré (13), are depending on their faith to carry them through one of the most trying times in their lives.
“Yes, it’s incredibly frustrating to know your child is gravely ill and as a parent you’re completely helpless. But the Lord watches over my child. We pray and we hope — and believe there’ll be deliverance.”
Although Americans are suffering fewer heart attacks, the rate is dramatically increasing among those under 40.
In fact, 20% of people who have a heart attack are 40 or younger, a rate that has risen 2% a year for 10 years, new research reports.
Moving in the wrong direction
Some of these people are now in their 20s and early 30s, said senior study author Dr Ron Blankstein, a cardiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. He said it used to be “incredibly rare” to see anyone under age 40 with a heart attack.
“Based on what we are seeing, it seems that we are moving in the wrong direction,” he said.
These young heart attack victims also have the same risks of dying from another heart attack or stroke as older patients.
“Even if you’re in your 20s or 30s, once you’ve had a heart attack, you’re at risk for more cardiovascular events and you have just as much risk as someone who may be older than you,” Blankstein said.
Risk factors such as diabetes, high blood pressure, smoking, family history of premature heart attack and high cholesterol were the same among older and young people who suffered a heart attack, researchers found.
Younger patients drank less alcohol but were more likely to be substance abusers – 18% used marijuana and 9% used cocaine.
Aggressive treatment
For the study, Blankstein and colleagues collected data on close to 2 100 patients under age 50 admitted to two hospitals for heart attacks.
“Many people think that a heart attack is destined to happen, but the vast majority could be prevented with earlier detection of the disease and aggressive lifestyle changes and management of other risk factors,” Blankstein said
To protect yourself, he recommends avoiding tobacco, getting regular exercise, eating a heart-healthy diet, losing weight if you need to, managing your blood pressure and cholesterol, avoiding diabetes, and staying away from cocaine and marijuana.
In a related study, Blankstein’s team found that one in five patients who suffer a heart attack before age 50 also have diabetes. Diabetics are more likely to have repeated heart attacks and die from a heart attack than other people.
These patients need aggressive treatment, Blankstein said. Some diabetes medications can reduce heart attack risk, he added.
The findings are to be presented March 17 at the American College of Cardiology’s annual meeting in New Orleans. Research presented at meetings is considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.
It’s not just lack of sleep and poor sleep that can put the heart at risk – getting to bed on time may also matter, new research suggests.
The new study took the unique approach of looking at how much night-to-night difference a person had in sleep duration and what time he or she fell asleep. People with irregular sleep patterns had a higher risk for a cardiovascular event, including stroke, congestive heart failure and coronary heart disease, the study found.
Sleep-monitoring wrist devices
“Sleep regularity is an understudied area with critical relevance to everyone. Understanding its relationship with cardiovascular disease has important public health implications and may identify novel strategies for cardiovascular disease prevention,” said Tianyi Huang, lead author of the study presented this week at the American Heart Association’s Epidemiology and Prevention/Lifestyle and Cardiometabolic Health Scientific Sessions in Houston.
Researchers looked at data from nearly 2 000 people without cardiovascular disease at the start of the study. Participants wore sleep-monitoring wrist devices for seven-day periods from 2010 to 2013 and were followed for an average of four years. During that time, 95 people experienced or died from a stroke, heart failure or heart disease.
After adjusting for various factors, researchers found that people whose night-to-night sleep length during a seven-day period varied by more than two hours on average were 2.2 times more likely to have a cardiovascular event than people whose sleep length varied by an hour or less.
The time they fell asleep each night had a similar impact. Compared to people who went to bed within the same 30-minute window each night, those with a bedtime that varied by more than 90 minutes had double the risk of a cardiovascular event.
Digital distraction may be making the problem worse. Spending a lot of time staring at smartphones, tablets and other glowing screens could be messing with our sleep regularity, said Huang, an associate epidemiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School.
“If our results are confirmed, the general public – particularly those at high risk for cardiovascular disease – needs to pay more attention to their sleep schedules,” he said. “People should be encouraged to reduce use of mobile devices or TV viewing before sleep to improve sleep regularity and maximise cardiometabolic benefits.”
A state of ‘jetlag’
Huang said the study is the first of its kind and called for larger studies with longer follow-ups, especially those that explore gender and age differences. He said studies are needed that focus on how irregular sleep is related to specific cardiovascular outcomes.
“I think it’s important for doctors to ask their patients about their sleep habits beyond the number of hours of sleep they get at night,” said sleep and nutrition researcher Marie-Pierre St-Onge. “Questions like, ‘How stable is your sleep?’ and ‘Do you have wide swings in the duration of sleep?’ would help to identify areas for improvement.”
St-Onge, an associate professor of nutritional medicine at Columbia University in New York City, was not involved in the new research and said the study seems to confirm that people with poor sleep habits can’t simply “catch up” on sleep.
“You can make an analogy between sleep and physical activity, where you have ‘weekend warriors’ who are absolutely sedentary during the week and then they hammer out two hours of physical activity in one day and think they’ll be fine. That’s not what we recommend, and it’s the same with sleep,” she said. “For optimal health, there has to be regularity to these behaviours, and that includes sleep.”
Another issue is that big changes in sleep timing can lead to a state of jetlag – referred to as “social jetlag” – without people even realising it.
“People might not have outward signs – they might not even feel sleepy or yawn, just like people don’t feel it if they have high blood pressure or high cholesterol levels. But the risk factor is still there,” she said. “People need to pay more attention and be more aware of the adverse impact poor sleep is having.”
The Italian researchers also found that soccer players may develop the neurodegenerative disease at a much younger age than people in the general population.
Several deaths
ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, affects nerve cells that control voluntary muscle movement such as walking or talking. There is no cure for the disease, which eventually leads to death, most often from respiratory failure.
“There have been several deaths among Italian professional soccer players from ALS, and previous ALS research has found repeated head injuries may be a risk factor for the disease, so our study sought to determine if professional soccer players are more likely to get ALS,” said study author Dr Ettore Beghi. He’s from the Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research in Milan.
The scientists looked at nearly 25 000 men who played professional soccer in Italy between 1959 and 2000.
The research found that 33 soccer players developed ALS, an average of 3.2 cases per 100 000 people every year. The rate of ALS in the general population in Italy was an average of 1.7 cases per 100 000 people every year.
That means that soccer players were nearly twice as likely to develop ALS.
Repeated traumatic events
Among soccer players aged 45 and younger, the rate of ALS was 4.7 times higher than for people in the general population.
The researchers also found that the average age of developing ALS among soccer players was 43, compared to 63 in the general population.
The study is to be presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s annual meeting, in Philadelphia, being held May 4–10. Such research is considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.
“It is important to note that repeated traumatic events, heavy physical exercise and substance use could also be factors in the increased ALS risk among soccer players,” Beghi said in a meeting news release. “In addition, genetics may play a role.”
Since this study included only professional players, the results cannot be applied to non-professional soccer players, the researchers noted.
ALS is a rare disease and the study results should not be construed to suggest that people should stop playing soccer or not start the sport, Beghi added.
The Steve Biko Academic Hospital in Tshwane has successfully completed the world’s first ever middle ear transplant, using 3D-printed middle ear bones.
The groundbreaking surgery has allowed a 35-year-old man to hear again after his ear was completely damaged in a car accident.
“This may be the answer to conductive hearing loss, a middle ear problem caused by congenital birth defects, infection, trauma or metabolic diseases,” health department spokesperson Popo Maja said in a statement on Wednesday.
The surgery was developed by Professor Mashudu Tshifularo and his team at the University of Pretoria’s faculty of health using 3D-printing technology to print the hammer, anvil and stirrup – the ossicles that make up the middle ear. They are the smallest bones in the human body.
“By replacing only the ossicles that aren’t functioning properly, the procedure carries significantly less risk than known prostheses and their associated surgical procedures.
“We will use titanium for this procedure, which is biocompatible. We use an endoscope to do the replacement, so the transplant is expected to be quick, with minimal scarring,” Tshifularo explained.
A pioneering surgery such as this one, however, needs funding and sponsors to take off.
“For Prof Tshifularo, ‘innovate or perish’ are words to live by when it comes to clinical procedures, teaching, research and medical devices, and [he] believes that academics have a responsibility to come up with solutions that benefit communities,” Maja added
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has called on donors and developers to support this breakthrough.
“As the Department of Health, we shall do everything in our power to assist and mobilise resources to make sure that Professor Tshifularo gets all the help he needs for this far reaching innovation”, he concluded.
