Happy Wednesday, folks! Postcall here, sashaying into the week like Bill Hader:

Speaking of dancing — did you know that dance is a proven therapy for a specific chronic degenerative disorder?

❓Trivia question❓: The neurological effects of dance are used to treat what disease? (Answer at the bottom of today’s issue!)

Now on to this week’s stories!

• Cradles of the Future

• Things your attending might pimp you on 🙋🏽‍♀️👨‍ …

  • Expanding MAID: where do we stand?

  • Peace out, paps.

  • Cannabis use across Canada: what are the trends? 

• Quick Bites

• Postcall Picks

• 🕹️ Game ⛳️

• ❓Trivia Answer❓

Driving these numbers:

Last week, the TSX, S&P 500, and Nasdaq all saw gains, with US markets hitting record highs. Stock prices are up and so are corporate earnings, suggesting that multiples are holding steady. Keep an eye on quarterly earnings being released this week from COST, TSLA, and NFLX.

The big news this week is crypto — the SEC has permitted investment firms to sell funds tracking BTC (ETFs). Graycoin BTC became the most heavily traded ETF on debut, with $2.3B USD in trading volume.

Cradles of the Future 🤖👶

The future is now! Dr. Mike Seed and his SickKids crew in Toronto are sowing a groundbreaking life-support system for tiny preemies using an artificial womb-like device. The plan? Partial ectogenesis with a placenta doppelgänger! It’s a C-section rescue mission dropping at-risk fetuses into an artificial womb.

The mission? To support regular gestation outside Mom’s belly by supplying nutrients, hormones, and spot-on gas exchange – oxygen in, carbon dioxide out. Picture a warm, fluid-filled sac with trusty external oxygenators linked to the fetus through tiny tubes. Doctors monitor from the outside, checking vital signs and standing by with delivery plans.

Why it’s interesting: While Canada has improved infant mortality rates, our slipping global ranking is a red flag for our social safety net. An artificial womb could be a game changer, especially considering the serious risks associated with preterm births, the leading cause of under-5 deaths (WHO).

The prospect of artificial wombs might promote equality in parental decision-making. But various factors need consideration:

• Abortion Rights: It may spark debates on fetal legal status during maternal to artificial womb transition, and may affect definitions of “birth.”

• Safety Concerns: In infants, it raises questions about the risk of brain bleeding and blood thinners; in pregnant individuals, it raises questions about C-sections, infection, and bleeding.

• Determining Eligibility: Who goes first? Especially when prematurity disproportionately impacts marginalized and socioeconomically disadvantaged groups.  

Bottom line: For 70 years, scientists have toyed with artificial wombs. The real buzz came in 2017 when a Philly team kept fetal lambs alive in "biobags" for 28 days, proving artificial wombs could sustain fetal growth and circulation. 

Fast forward to 2023, when FDA advisors gathered to discuss advancing artificial womb research from animals to humans. With these strides, who knows what might happen next? Just don’t let ChatGPT get any ideas about humanity’s bio-electricity 🔋.

Things your attending might pimp you on 🙋🏽‍♀️👨‍⚕️ 

1. Expanding MAID: where do we stand? 

Legal in Canada since 2016, MAID was supposed to undergo an expansion in the eligibility criteria in 2021 to include those with a mental disorder (as their sole underlying condition). However, the Liberal government paused this from going into effect as planned in March of 2023. Proponents of the expansion say excluding those with mental disorders amounts to discrimination. On the other hand, constitutional law experts argue that "big question marks" remain. Watch out for updates on the issue in the spring of 2024. Another delay could force individuals affected — like this 82-year-old gentleman — to go to court.

2. Peace out, paps.

Beginning Jan. 29, women and individuals from 25 to 69 with a cervix can order a self-screen kit to test for cervical cancer in BC. Self-screening removes obstacles such as cultural barriers, history of trauma, the need for transportation, child care, and booking time off from work for traditional testing. Unlike the pap, this test can detect the presence of high-risk types of HPV before cell changes have occurred. But don’t drop your doc just yet — the option to have the sample collected by a health-care provider still remains.

3. Cannabis use across Canada: what are the trends? 

Health Canada has published the results of its yearly 2023 Canadian Cannabis Survey (CCS). In 2023, 43% of youths reported using cannabis at least once in the past year (in keeping with previous years). Daily cannabis use has been stable since 2018 (about 25% of Canadians and 20% of youths). Cannabis use classified as “at high risk” has remained stable since 2018, in approximately 3% of Canadians. Bottom line: the numbers aren’t as high as we expected, but cannabis use among the youth is certainly an issue that needs to be addressed.

🍔 Quick Bites

1: 📱 After being accused of “performance mitigation features,” including battery issues, Apple has agreed to pay over $11 million in a class action lawsuit. So, if you purchased an iPhone before Dec. 21, 2017 in Canada, and the settlement is approved, you could receive up to $150/phone.

2: 🎓️ A recent MIT study describes how a form of AI (deep learning) aided in the researchers’ discovery of a new class of compounds that can kill methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). This study was innovative not only for its spot-on antibiotic predictions, but also for showing researchers how the AI came to those conclusions.

3: 🩺 ERs in Alberta are so swamped that some doctors are being forced to work for free. The AB govt. promised to reimburse ER docs for “good faith” payments, which stopped in early 2020. They were supposed to restart in ‘22, but so far haven’t. So much for good faith.

4: 🇨🇦 Health Minister Mark Holland is apparently as shocked as we are about the FDA (US) approving a Florida program to import Canadian prescription drugs into the States. On one hand, as Holland says, the US shouldn’t “be given the ability to pillage our health system for its own benefit.” On the other, exporting our goods across the border could be a boost for the economy.

5: 🇺🇸 The results of the Iowa caucuses are in, and the Republican lead is — you’ll never guess — Former President Donald Trump, who won by more than 50% of the vote. Seems the Republicans weren’t able to come up with a better candidate in time 🤷‍♀️

Postcall Picks ✅ 

🏠️ Automate: Move over, Google — there’s a new name in home automation. At CES last week, Home Depot announced a smart thermostat, hose timer, bathroom fan, freezer, and more to be added to its lineup of 150 connected products. We’re hoping their next move is to launch at-home tech support with orange aprons.

🍗 Buy: If you’re ready to help Apple tackle its AirTag overstock issue, make sure to grab a 4-pack from Costco for $99.99. They’re the perfect side for that rotisserie chicken already in your cart.

🛫 Travel: Thinking of a trip to South America this summer? Don’t miss out on Avianca Airlines’ newest direct flight from Montréal-Bogotá, starting March 31, 2024.

👀 Watch: If you thought dairy was the only food group with advertising chutzpah, think again. Australian Lamb’s video went viral this week for portraying the widening gap between demographic generations, and the heartwarming moments that can come from sharing some lamb on the barbie. Slay 🔥 

🕹️ Game ⛳️

Featuring our new-and-improved crossword puzzle — where the link actually works!! (Sorry about last week, folks 😳)

First question: What do you call venous stasis / hypercoagulability / vessel wall injury?

The average time for last week’s crossword was 4:38.

Speaking of last week’s puzzle — if you didn’t catch it on our site, you can get it right here!

Liked this week’s puzzle? Or last week’s puzzle? Or BOTH puzzles? Sharing is caring! 😇 Pass on the link to someone else who likes puzzles (but not as much as you).

❓Trivia Answer❓

Parkinson’s. One treatment for patients with Parkinson’s is rhythmic auditory stimulation (RAS), a technique proven to improve motor function. In RAS, patients are presented with fixed rhythms and then asked to move to those rhythms — and dance can be considered an effective form of RAS!

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