Let’s give a hand this morning to the team of doctors who performed the first successful bilateral hand transplant in Delhi. Thanks to them — and a woman’s organ donation pledge — a 45-year-old painter who lost his hands in a train accident will once again be able to hold a paintbrush.

📈 Postcall’s one-sip markets update📉:

Things are looking up for tech — with Apple's stock rebounding from a losing streak after last week’s general market volatility. This week, tech giants Oracle and Adobe are going to release their earnings, which should show us how the generative AI hypetrain is going.

Now on to this week’s stories!

Staying #Up2Date 🚨 

1. Going peanuts for Omalizumab 

Omalizumab may be a new treatment option for children with peanut allergies. In a placebo-controlled RCT, 177 children and adolescents with peanut allergies and at least two other food allergies were randomized to receive omalizumab vs. placebo q2-4 weeks. After 16 weeks, 67% of patients who took omalizumab could tolerate a 600-mg peanut protein challenge compared to 7% of control. 

2. Spinal vs. general anesthesia (GA) in hip fractures

Spinal or GA: that is the question. The REGAIN trial has been following 1,600 patients who were assigned either a spinal or GA for hip fracture repair. Short-term outcomes revealed no meaningful differences for mortality, delirium, and ambulation. Now, at 1 year, the two appear to be equivalent: no difference in mortality, recovery of independence in ambulation, or new transition to a nursing home.

3. Minimizing restenosis after PCI

An RCT with 600 patients evaluated the treatment of coronary in-stent restenosis by coronary angioplasty using a paclitaxel-coated balloon vs. an uncoated balloon. The paclitaxel-coated group had lower target lesion failure vs. the uncoated group (17.9 vs. 28.6%, P = .003). Ischemia-driven target lesion revascularization and target vessel MI were also lower in the paclitaxel-coated group.

👨‍💻Tech Bites

1: 🏎️ VR training isn’t just for pilots and Formula 1 drivers anymore. Montreal doctors developed a VR experience to prepare surgical teams for treating children with serious injuries. Designed for medial staff who might not see paediatric trauma often, PeTIT VR simulates an immersive environment with a patient, medical equipment, and “at times, a very anxious parent.”

2: 🕵️‍♀️ Remember when people were afraid that TikTok was a Chinese spying software? Well, that never stopped, because now a US bill might lead to a nationwide ban of the social media app. If the bill passes, ByteDance — TikTok’s China-linked parent company — would have a little more than 5 months to sell TikTok.

3: 🏡 A group of US renters are accusing corporate landlords of price-fixing via the app RealPage, which recommends pricing for housing units. This lawsuit is against the software provider itself and 34 co-defendant landlords. In a similar, recent lawsuit, the Washington, DC attorney general said, “RealPage is facilitating a housing cartel.” RealPage says landlords aren’t obligated to take their price suggestions.

4: 🚙 EV manufacturer Rivian unveiled the start of their new model line with a smaller SUV. Expected to come out in mid-2026, the R2 is about the size of a classic Jeep Grand Wagoneer and will start at $45,000 USD.

AI Gets Eerie👂

Or how a smartphone app is helping doctors give patients a more sound diagnosis.

What happened: Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh developed a tool that uses AI to detect ear infections.

Why it’s important: Diagnosing acute otitis media (AOM, a common ear infection among young children), can be difficult, as looking inside the eardrum of a squirming baby is no easy task. And misdiagnosis can lead to the prescription of unnecessary antibiotics.

Researchers created an app that uses a smartphone’s camera to look inside the tympanic membrane (TM) through an endoscope or otoscope. They used the app to take videos of 635 children’s ear drums under the age of 3 to find out who had acute otitis. The tool was able to detect 93% of patients who had a bulging TM, which is one of the most common symptoms of AOM. Studies show doctors accurately diagnose AOM 30-84% of the time.

But wait. We’re worried about fairness and bias in the experiment. For example, researchers didn’t reveal the demographic of their patients, meaning the public doesn’t know if the AI model is trained to recognize darker skin tones. 

Bottom line: The next time a patient comes to you and asks about the new app, it might be best to hear them out. 

Notable Numbers 🔢

217: The number of COVID-19 vaccines one German man reportedly received within 2.5 years. Or 130: the number of COVID-19 vaccines prosecutors could confirm he received. According to TIME, “It's not clear why the man wanted so many vaccinations or how he obtained them.”

$320: The cost of the meningococcal B vaccine, which is not covered by provincial or territorial health care. It’s being recommended for people under 25 by some healthcare providers in Kingston, ON — one of a few regions in Canada that’s seeing a spike in invasive meningococcal disease (IMD).

$352k: How much US doctors make per year in USD, according to the Medscape International Physician Compensation Report 2023. This compared to Canada’s $273K (USD). At least we’re higher than UK’s average of $122K (USD).

Postcall Picks ✅ 

🛫 Travel: Want to roll the dice while learning about treating acute and chronic pain? Attendees at Pain Week in Las Vegas can earn up to 21 credits of CME while spending the nights taking in the sights, sounds, and shows. Learn more here.

🪴 Plant: Here’s the gardening tasks you can get ahead of, starting now.

🥧 Eat: Looking to up your cheesy-bread game? Look no further than this easy Khachapuri recipe.

🤩 Watch: You saw Ryan Gosling perform “I’m Just Ken” at the Oscars on Sunday. But have you seen another well-known Canadian perform his version?

Game ⛳️

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