Lullabies and Cuddles for NICU Preemies RCSIsmj staff writer Samar Atteih
Premature infants often spend large amounts of time in hospital NICUs, requiring a number of painful procedures. It’s well documented that premature infants are capable of experiencing even higher levels of pain than full term neonates do, due to immature nervous systems. However, doctors are often hesitant to prescribe analgesia due to relative lack of […]
Running Ahead of the Clock: Neurological Benefits of Endurance Running RCSIsmj staff writer Alexandra Mitcham
As we roll into 2017, many of us are resolving to lace up our runners in the hopes of making exercise a regular part of the daily grind. While many of the health benefits of running are well known, research recently published from the University of Arizona may have uncovered benefits of running outside of […]
Frogs, Chinese Emperors and Cryonics: The False Science of Immortality RCSIsmj senior staff writer Daniel O’Reilly
On November 18th this year, a girl in the UK who was dying of terminal cancer won a court case allowing her to have her body cryogenically frozen, in the hope that she could be revived in the future when a cure for her cancer (and presumably death) will have been discovered1. Cryonics, or the […]
Uprooted: Responding to Refugee Healthcare Needs RCSIsmj staff writer Danyal Zaman Khan
Today’s medical interventions have reached a new level of sophistication, allowing us to push the boundaries of health outcomes we can provide for our patients. However, many subsets of the world’s population are yet to benefit from such advancements, and instead, require us to provide a different dynamic of healthcare. Multinational states of political and […]
Generation ‘M’ – RCSIsmj Staff Writer Samar Atteih
It’s no surprise that the media dominates the waking hours of most children and adolescents. The use of cellphones, video games, television and the internet have increased dramatically over the past decade with the average adolescent spending up to 8 hours per day accessing various forms of media (1), leading to the moniker ‘generation M’. […]
‘Getting your Bell rung’: Is concussion the Death Knell for Contact Sports? – RCSIsmj senior staff writer Daniel O’Reilly
We have been treated to a glut of sporting festivities over the last several months- Rugby World Cup, Football European Qualifiers and World Championships in Boxing that have all had strong Irish representation. However, an issue that has surrounded all these contests is the occurrence of concussion, a type of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI).1While […]
CRISPR-Cas9: the new golden child of genetic engineering – RCSIsmj staff writer Vincent Healy
Lauded as the biggest game-changer since PCR, the humble enzyme Cas9 (CRISPR-associated nuclease 9) is keeping molecular biologists awake at night. CRISPR-Cas9 is the latest genetic engineering technique using site-directed cleaving enzymes as ‘molecular scissors’. Cas9 is an RNA-guided DNA endonuclease, while CRISPRs are viral nucleic acid sequences which have been incorporated into bacterial genomes. […]
Are you doing summer research?
Why not write about it? Whether you are attending RCSI’s Research Summer School, working with a member of the faculty at RCSI, assisting on a project while home for the holiday, or independently reading up on a topic of interest, summer is a great time to accumulate some research experience. Â It’s also a great time […]
Potential Benefit of Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor in Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis
Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is a restrictive lung disease with high mortality and severe debilitation.  Progressive destruction of the gas-exchanging regions of the lungs results in symptoms of cough and dyspnoea, limited physical activity, and reduced quality of life and independence. Abnormal wound-healing involving multiple signalling pathways with tyrosine kinase receptors has been shown to be […]
Heparin-induced thrombocytopenia and its treatment with Agatroban
The use of unfractionated or low-molecular weight heparin is common in the in-patient setting as a means of prophylaxis against stasis-induced thromboembolic events. A possible and very serious complication of heparin use is the development of herparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT). This condition involves the development of a paradoxical prothrombotic and thrombocytopenic state after the host immune […]