News from Canada

Canadian neurosurgeons seek six patients for Musk's Neuralink brain study

TORONTO -

Canadian neurosurgeons in partnership with Elon Musk's Neuralink have regulatory approval to recruit six patients with paralysis willing to have a thousand electrode contacts in their brains.

The trial, called Can-Prime has started recruiting patients for a study that will test the safety and efficacy of a device that allows people to move cursors with their minds, a surgeon leading the trial said.
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Neuralink gets okay for its first international trial

Elon Musk's brain-computer interface (BCI) company Neuralink has been given the green light to test its device in tetraplegic patients in Canada – the first international trial of the technology.

The CAN-PRIME study will run alongside Neuralink's recently initiated PRIME study in the US and will test the safety and functionality of its N1 implant in people who have difficulty moving their arms and legs to see if it can act as a hands-free interface between the brain and electronic devices, allowing them to be controlled with thoughts alone.

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From 2024:

The College of Family Physicians of Canada welcomes Dr. Carrie Bernard as its 2024-2025 President

"Following a recent diagnosis of post-acute Sars-COV2 infection (long COVID), Dr. Bernard is taking a break from her clinical duties"

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Mij said:
Note the masked person is Dr. Bernard, the President of the largest organization of family physicians in Canada. The CFPC website notes that she has Long Covid & takes mitigation seriously. Expect more Covid-aware clinician scientists in leadership ranks the next 10 years.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1887322108608319913
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The President of the largest organization of family physicians in Canada has LC and still nothing whatsoever has changed to improve things, it still doesn't exist as far as they're concerned. Good grief what a total mess. We can't even begin to repair this broken system, it's just pieces and bits of dust held together by spit and spite.
 
Steffany Colvinns shares how her diagnosis with POTS has impacted her life and how UCalgary research has benefitted her.

Patient a proponent of research

Steffany Colvinns says study involvement a benefit
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Doctors worry patients with long COVID may be overlooked as crisis fades

Prior to the pandemic, Dr. Satish Raj, a Calgary-based cardiologist, was already treating patients with similar problems after viral infections. The condition is known as POTS.

"What was different about COVID wasn't that this type of thing had never happened before, but that it had never happened before on the scale, societally, as it happened with COVID," said Raj, a University of Calgary professor and medical director of the Calgary autonomic investigation and management clinic.

He estimates five to 10 per cent of Albertans have ongoing symptoms after a COVID infection, and up to two per cent are so debilitated they can't go to work or school.

Dr. Satish Raj teaches cardiac sciences at the University of Calgary and cares for patients with long COVID. His waitlist is nearly two years long. (Submitted by University of Calgary)
 
I wish I could read the word "Albertans" without putting the stress on the first and last syllables, so that in my head it sounds like a planet in sci-fi computer game.
 
Trump threats open 'floodgate' of inquires from U.S physicians about moving north

"Some Canadian doctors are also turning down opportunities in the U.S"

"Renowned Ottawa heart surgeon Marc Ruel was planning a move to the United States last year, with the University of California, San Francisco "thrilled to announce" that he would be leading a heart division in their surgery department.

But Donald Trump's threats toward Canada were such that Ruel has now decided to remain in Canada.

"Canada is under duress right now," he told CBC. "I felt my role and duty at this point was to directly serve my country from within."
 
Merged

I felt like I was on fire': Saskatchewan woman recovering from serious case of measles

A Saskatchewan woman who contracted measles last month wants more people to get vaccinated against the disease to prevent others from getting sick.

Michelle Knorr, 55, was hospitalized late last week after fighting a high fever, body shakes, dehydration, vomiting and diarrhea for several days.

“I just kept on thinking it was the worst flu bug I had ever had in my life,” she told CTV News from her home in Kindersley.

“Once the rash hit, I knew it was a problem.”

A bright red rash extended from Knorr’s scalp all the way to the tips of her toes. It radiated heat, she said, and caused the pores in her face to stretch from the swelling.

“I felt like I was on fire,” she said.

The blotchy rash is a telltale sign of measles, which often appears a few days after the initial symptoms.
 
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Health outcomes of patients in the Complex Chronic Diseases Program​

Dolphin

Thread 'Health outcomes of patients in the Complex Chronic Diseases Program, 2025, Meagher, Nacul, et al.'

Start on page 174

BC MEDICAL JOURNAL VOL. 67 NO. 5 | JUNE 2025


Health outcomes of patients in the Complex Chronic Diseases Program

New approaches and research are urgently needed to improve therapeutic interventions for patients with complex chronic diseases.

CLINICAL: ORIGINAL RESEARCH

Emily Meagher, MPH, Tianna Magel, MSc, Travis Boulter, Carola Muñoz, Nicole Prestley, Wee-Shian Chan, MD, FRCPC, Cassandra Bryden, Luis Nacul, MD, PhD



ABSTRACT

Background:

Complex chronic diseases affect almost 3% of...
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Schulich researchers develop next-generation gut-health system

Scientists say gut-on-a-chip model faster and smarter than traditional disease and safety tests

“This breakthrough saves critical time and enables real-time testing of chemicals, drugs and pathogens,” he says.

Not only is the gut-on-a-chip faster, but the report’s authors say it’s also smarter than current alternatives, as it is automated, allowing for simultaneous testing of multiple conditions or compounds, supporting faster drug screening and toxicology workflows.

“This is a leap forward in gut modelling,” says Schulich PhD student Sorosh Abdollahi, the first author of the story. “It combines biological accuracy with practical speed, enabling a whole new range of applications in health and disease research.”

He says that includes how the gut communicates with organs like the brain and liver, making the technology a gateway for exploring how gut disruptions may drive neurodegeneration, immune disorders, and cancer.
 

Five examples of how hubris in public health could lead to repeated mistakes ​

TheStar.com – Opinion/Contributors
July 2, 2025. By Iris Gorfinkel, Contributor

Icarus had a problem: Desperate to escape from prison, he made wings out of feathers and wax. His father warned him not to fly too close to the sun, but Icarus couldn’t resist the freedom of soaring. His wings melted and he plunged to his death.

Like Icarus, public health is given advanced warning, but struggles between freedom and rules. And as in Greek myths, each failure offers a “moral.”

Here are five examples:

Referring to the pandemic in the past tense​

COVID-19 is still spreading in unpredictable waves. Although hospitalizations are currently low, the virus landed over 1,000 Ontarians in hospital and killed nearly 500. New variants keep emerging, including the latest NB. 1.8.1, also known as “Nimbus.” It took just three months to become Canada’s dominant variant. Each time a new variant takes over, it threatens built-up immunity from vaccines and previous infections. Although Nimbus isn’t deadlier than previous variants, there’s no guarantee that future variants won’t cause more severe disease.

Moral: The pandemic isn’t over when hospitalizations have temporarily slowed.

Downplaying the impact of Long COVID​

One-in-9 Canadian adults have experienced Long COVID. Because the virus can invade multiple areas in the body, it causes over 200 symptoms, including extreme fatigue, brain fog and dizziness. But what’s frequently overlooked are its longer-term impacts on blood clotting, heart and brain health. Long COVID more than doubles the risk of heart attack, stroke and death for up to three years after being infected. These risks rise each time a person gets COVID and can be reduced by getting immunized.

Moral: Long COVID’s effects have been downplayed despite life-altering and long-lasting health effects.

Lowballing deaths that result from Long COVID​

Canada’s federal COVID tracker fails to include excess deaths resulting from long COVID’s delayed effects on blood clots, heart attacks and strokes. There were an estimated 90,500 excess deaths in Canada since the start of the pandemic to June 2023. That’s nearly 40,000 more deaths than what the Public Health Agency of Canada reported over the same time frame.

Yet government websites limit reporting to deaths resulting from acute disease only and leave out the later deaths that result from SARS CoV-2. Failing to acknowledge these deaths delivers a falsely reassuring and extremely damaging public health message.

Moral: Ignoring uncomfortable truths is not a public health strategy.

Disregarding the advice of Canada’s Public Health Agency​

Alberta’s recently announced COVID vaccine policy goes against Canada’s “strong” recommendations. Instead of providing COVID vaccines at no cost, most Albertans will need to pay $110 starting this fall, putting it out of reach for racialized communities and First Nations. Both groups were over four times more likely to die from COVID-19 than non-racialized, wealthier Albertans. It’s Canada’s only jurisdiction that will charge high-risk community-dwelling seniors, children, health care workers and pregnant people, even though hospitalizations and deaths from COVID outnumbered those from influenza and R.S.V. combined.

Moral: Public health should never be weaponized by political agendas.

Refusing to hold an independent COVID inquiry​

An inquiry is essential to prevent the same mistakes from being repeated. Had Canada kept its stockpile of N95 masks, fewer health care workers and patients would have become infected. Installing better ventilation and filtration systems in schools and hospitals would have proven a wiser investment than the billions spent on closures. It would also reveal how public health might better respond to mis- and disinformation. Yet calls for a comprehensive inquiry into the federal government’s pandemic response have gone unheeded.

Moral: A transparent, national inquiry is essential to maintaining trust in public health.

Icarus paid with his life, but public health pays with the lives of entire communities. How many more cases, hospitalizations and deaths must there be for Canada to learn from its past mistakes? It’s urgent that political agendas don’t blind policymakers to the harsh realities of COVID-19. If hubris is left to shape public health policy, it ensures the same mistakes will be repeated.
 
I noticed that Bonnie Henry, who was chief medical officer of British Columbia, was awarded the Order of Canada. Throughout the entire pandemic, she has been one of Canada's main minimizers of literally everything about it. Absolutely awful. Rewarding failure only encourages it, there is clearly never enough of it.
 
Yeah I saw that too: don't wear masks, just wash your hands, children unaffected, "protective" infections etc. Apparently not airborne.

"Soap and Water & Common Sense: The Definitive Guide to Viruses, Bacteria, Parasites, and Disease" [Amazon link]

As a physician who has spent nearly two decades chasing bugs all over the world from Ebola in Uganda, to polio in Pakistan, to SARS in Toronto • leading epidemiologist and public-health doctor Bonnie Henry offers three simple rules to help people avoid getting sick: clean your hands, cover your mouth when you cough, and stay at home when you have a fever. It all boils down to basic hygiene. In this compelling book, Dr. Henry gives a lively account of the evolution of common sickness.
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