Staying #Up2Date 🚨

1: Menopause Brings Changes — But Not in MS
In this longitudinal cohort study, researchers followed 987 women with MS to see whether menopause played a role in disease course. It didn’t: risk of disability progression stayed flat (HR 0.95; 95% CI, 0.70–1.29; P = .70), and odds of transitioning to secondary progressive MS didn’t budge either (HR 1.00; 95% CI, 0.60–1.67; P = 1.00). Menopause may bring shifts, but MS progression isn’t one of them, according to the study.

2: Cannabis Extract Shows Sustained Efficacy for Chronic Low Back Pain
A phase-3 RCT tested VER-01, a full-spectrum cannabis sativa extract, in adults with chronic low back pain. Compared with placebo, VER-01 eased pain intensity and neuropathic symptoms in the short term (12 weeks) and long term (12 months). It was well tolerated and showed no signs of dependence or withdrawal — a notable advance in cannabis-based pain management.

3: Radiation Adds Up: Medical Imaging and Childhood Cancer Risk
In a retrospective cohort study of more than 3 million children followed for 10 years, exposure to radiation from medical imaging was linked to a slightly higher risk of hematologic cancer. Risk increased with cumulative dose, and 10.1% (95% CI, 5.8–14.2) of cases may be attributable to imaging — with CT scans carrying the greatest risk. For pediatric care, every scan carries weight.

Something Exciting is Coming! 🎉

Postcall’s Paging a Friend Giveaway kicks off next week! Four weeks of surprises — with special prizes just for physicians. Make sure to check back next week for all the details!

Skin-Credible Breakthrough 🥚

Scientists are offering a fresh twist on turning back the biological clock

What happened: Researchers created human eggs from skin cells, transforming IVF treatment and potentially giving couples another option when trying to conceive.

Why it matters: For many couples, having children means the beginning of their family. But not all couples can conceive naturally. So, they spend thousands of dollars on IVF in hopes they’ll be one of the about 10,000 cases who go from retrieval to conception each year. The stakes are higher for some, especially for women who face age-related or illness-related infertility, and same-sex couples, as IVF is their only option for a biologically related child. 

That’s where this new research comes in. By creating human eggs from skin cells, scientists are exploring a way to expand reproductive options and potentially overcome some of the limits of traditional IVF. The approach builds on research from the 1990s at Scotland’s Roslin Institute, which famously cloned Dolly the sheep. Thirty years later, scientists in Oregon are adapting the technique for humans: they collected skin cells from women, removed the nuclei, which hold 46 chromosomes and roughly 20,000 genes, and inserted them into healthy donor eggs stripped of their own nuclei.

But: It turns out that creating human life is trickier than cloning sheep. Healthy human eggs have 23 chromosomes, with the other 23 provided by sperm during fertilization to form a complete set in the embryo. In the lab-grown eggs, the chromosomes separated and paired up randomly, resulting in incorrect combinations.

To fix this, the team treated the fertilized eggs with roscovitine. This helped the eggs push about half of their chromosomes into a tiny “discard” cell (aka a polar body), leaving the rest to pair correctly with the sperm’s chromosomes.

The lab created 82 eggs, but fewer than 10% developed successfully when transferred as IVF embryos. The head researcher expects more challenges ahead and says perfecting the technique while ensuring safety could take a decade or more.

Bottom line: While the possibility of creating life from cells is no longer skin-deep, the process is anything but simple. It might take some time before women swap egg retrievals for something more surface level and Postcall will be sure to keep lookout for any new updates.  

Hot Off The Press 🔥

1: 🧬 3 scientists won the 2025 Nobel Prize in Medicine for showing how the immune system stops attacking the body’s own cells. Their work on regulatory T cells revealed a key pathway called peripheral immune tolerance, helping explain why some people develop autoimmune diseases like Type 1 diabetes, lupus, and rheumatoid arthritis. Their work is already guiding research on new treatments, organ transplants, and cancer therapy — a step toward fine-tuning, not just suppressing, the immune system.

2: 🚘 Toyota is recalling more than 32,700 vehicles in Canada because of a glitch in the rear-view display that can make the screen distort or go dark, increasing the risk of a crash. It’s on top of last month’s 70,000-vehicle recall over related screen problems. According to Toyota, says impacted drivers will be notified by late November 2025 and can get a free software update at dealerships.

3: 💰 Budgets are going seasonal. The federal government is moving the release from spring to fall, with the first under the new schedule landing Nov. 4, 2025 — Prime Minister Mark Carney’s debut. The idea: give officials fresher economic data for smarter planning and a clearer fiscal picture. Policy announcements and spending priorities will follow the new calendar, so keep an eye out.

4: 📈 Figma’s stock jumped 7% Monday after OpenAI’s DevDay, the company’s annual showcase for new AI tools. Sam Altman showed off features like pulling Figma straight into ChatGPT — part of his push to make the bot more of a platform. This follows OpenAI’s recently launched shopping feature that lets you buy from Etsy (and soon Shopify) right inside the chatbot. A tempting shortcut when ChatGPT can answer questions, draft emails, and handle checkout without ever opening Amazon or Google.

Notable Numbers 🔢

3¢: The price hike, per cup, Tim Hortons’s passing on to you. It's the chain's first coffee increase in 3 years, which they’re saying is "more than reasonable" given the bean market's caffeine-fuelled chaos brewed by tariffs and South American weather.

5.2M: Canadians now covered under the national dental care plan… but nearly half haven’t seen a dentist. With $3.3 billion already spent, the government’s betting prevention will pay off. Insurance is one thing. Getting people into the chair is another.

$1.66M: the hospital costs Toronto saved after moving 48 “frequent flyers” from ERs into supportive housing at Dunn House. This translates to: 52% fewer ER visits, 79% shorter hospital stays, and healthier residents. It’s a rare win where better care comes with a smaller bill, and advocates are calling to repeat the model elsewhere.

$30,000: The highest fee charged to hire a professional consultant just to pick your baby's name. This ultimate luxury service is for the uber-wealthy and celebrities who treat finding the perfect name like choosing a designer kitchen backsplash.

Doctors Discuss 💬

A Reddit thread recently struck a chord with physicians: What hobby did you have to give up because of medicine?

Doctors shared what they had to set aside during med school, residency, or those early years of practice — from gaming and powerlifting to painting, reading, or simply having free time.

• “I was nationally ranked in Street Fighter 6. Now I just take toxicity from my patients instead of online kids.”

• “Stopped reading in med school. Picked it back up years later — forgot how much I missed it.”

• It’s really cool to see someone just as motivated about their hobbies. I refused to give them up. I just slept 4 hours a night and fixed it with coffee.”

We’ll share the results in next week’s issue!

Postcall Picks ✅

📖 Read: how WWII turned Hershey and Mars into Halloween legends. From ration bars to M&Ms, this story shows how war shaped your candy obsession. 

🛍️ Visit: Canada’s largest year-round farmers’ market, just a short trip from Toronto.

💡 Discover: A JAMA Network Open study finds that ambient AI scribes can cut clinician burnout and paperwork.

🎧 Listen: to a deep dive from The Canadian Investor that gives you 50 ways to invest in the AI revolution. It goes beyond the obvious giants like Nvidia to cover surprising winners.

🤑Save: on the running shoe podiatrists swear by with this article by Travel and Leisure! 

🎃 Try: any one of these quick and fun costumes for the children in your life this Halloween!

Relax 🧘

First clue: Sexy swimmer?

Need a rematch? We’ve got you covered. Check out our Crossword Archive to find every puzzle we’ve ever made, all in one place.

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