Repurposing dead spiders; MDMA effective for PTSD treatment; ER visits getting longer - Morning Medical Update

Repurposing dead spiders

Repurposing dead spiders and counting cadaver nose hairs are just a few of the prize-winning achievements at this year’s 33rd annual Ig Nobel Awards. Ten prizes were awarded to teams across the globe. The event is produced by the “Annals of Improbable Research” and sponsored by the Harvard-Radcliffe Science Fiction Association.

MDMA effective for PTSD treatment

MDMA is an effective PTSD treatment, according to a study publishing in Nature Medicine. The Phase 3 trial found that after 18 weeks of treatment nearly half of those in the MDMA group met the criteria for remission when compared to one in five in the placebo group. “These effects are notably greater than reported for the two SSRIs that have been approved by the FDA for PTSD,” Thomas Insel, former director of the National Institute of Mental Health said in an interview.

ER visits getting longer

Americans are spending increasingly longer hours in emergency rooms, recent data shows. Washington D.C. had the longest wait times with an average of 5 hours and 29 minutes per ER stay. North Dakota had the shortest wait times with an average of 1 hour and 48 minutes per stay. Experts are worried because longer wait times are usually an indication of an understaffed hospital which impacts care.