The overuse of certain medical procedures is a common problem in healthcare. The Journal of the American Medical Association, Internal Medicine produces an annual review of procedures, services, and tests that are often unnecessary, expensive and may even cause harm to the patient. Here are the highlights from the 2018 and 2019 reports: Electrocardiograms are… Read more
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted healthcare around the world — including veterinary care for pets. To reduce transmission and comply with shelter-in-place orders, many veterinary clinics are only open for emergencies. The American Veterinary Medical Association has asked veterinarians to defer elective procedures to preserve vital medical supplies for human use. Some veterinarians consider pet… Read more
Spaying and neutering can lead to long-term health problems in dogs. A recent review article summarizes these problems and illuminates the role of luteinizing hormone (LH). Ovaries and testes — the gonads — produce hormones such as estrogen and testosterone. Research has shown that removal of the gonads through spaying and neutering is associated with… Read more
An inexpensive electromagnetic therapy quickly improved outcomes for men with enlarged prostates, according to a new study by researchers at Sapienza University of Rome with funding from the Parsemus Foundation. The results were published recently in Andrology, the highest ranked journal in andrological research. Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), enlargement of the prostate, is a common… Read more
In a novel study using canine brain scans, scientists have reported that spayed females had an increased relative risk of brain tumors — 11 times that of intact females. The authors cited the importance of estrogen to brain health, and related their work in dogs to findings in women regarding higher incidence of dementia than… Read more
The Parsemus Foundation was awarded the 2019 Editor’s Choice Innovation Award in Complementary Medicine by the Innovative Veterinary Care Journal. This award recognizes the work that the foundation has done in the area of hormone-sparing dog sterilization. Our goal is to serve as an educational resource for pet owners and veterinarians about the research on… Read more
Thanks to a new patent for treating hearing loss using aldosterone and anti-inflammatory medication, humankind is a big step closer to reversing the #1 neurodegenerative disease of aging. If patent recipients Robert Frisina and colleagues at the University of South Florida successfully complete clinical trials, this method could be the first FDA-approved treatment for hearing… Read more
The Male Contraceptive Initiative interviewed Ed Gillis about male contraception — especially Vasalgel. As CEO of Revolution Contraceptives, the social venture developing Vasalgel, Ed shared his thoughts about the challenges and promise of new male contraceptive development. Funding remains one of the main hurdles, but Ed expressed encouragement given how many individual advocates and physicians… Read more
That’s the question posed by dog expert and cognitive scientist Dr. Alexandra Horowitz in an opinion piece in the New York Times titled “Dogs are not here for our convenience.” Central to her article is the issue of spaying and neutering dogs as a matter of standard practice. She argues that we domesticated canines to… Read more
Elaine Lissner, founder of the Parsemus Foundation, recently participated in an ideation workshop in San Francisco for the Male Contraceptive Initiative (MCI). The goal of the workshop, which was moderated by IDEO, was to gather key stakeholders and use design thinking to explore the biggest challenges and opportunities facing male contraceptive development. Seventy-two individuals representing… Read more