Medicine in the 2010s

Decade

• As of 2012, Afghanistan maintains its position as the largest source of refugees (a position held for 32 years) with one out of every four refugees being an Afghan and with 95% living in Pakistan or Iran.[1] Refugees are at risk of a variety of health problems, including post-traumatic stress and depression, infectious disease such as tuberculosis and malaria, and consequences of possible torture, rape or trauma.[2]
• From 2010–2013, following the 2010 Haiti earthquake, cholera breaks out in Haiti. This outbreak of cholera in Haiti results in more than 7,050 deaths and sickened more than 531,000.[3][4]

2010

• In February, 2010, in response to the UK General Medical Council investigation and findings of fraud, the editors of The Lancet medical journal fully retracted a paper by Andrew Wakefield that sparked the MMR vaccine controversy.[5] The vaccine-autism connection proposed in a paper has been described as "the most damaging medical hoax of the last 100 years".[6]
• In October, 2010, Sir Robert G. Edwards was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for development of in vitro fertilization.[7]

2011

Jules A. Hoffmann, a recipient of the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

• In October, 2011, Bruce A. Beutler and Jules A. Hoffmann are awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for their discoveries concerning the activation of innate immunity"[8]
  In addition, Ralph M. Steinman was posthumously awarded the prize "for his discovery of the dendritic cell and its role in adaptive immunity".[8][9][10]

2012

• On January 13, 2012, India celebrated one year without polio.[11] India had previously been regarded as one of the most difficult countries from which to eliminate polio, due to the high population density and low socioeconomic status in many rural areas.[12]
• In January, 2012, Schizophrenia was renamed in South Korea from jungshinbunyeolbyung (mind-split disorder), to johyeonbyung (attunement disorder)[13]
• In January, 2012 U.S. pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences acquires Pharmasset for $11.2 billion, in anticipation of release of the hepatitis C drug sofosbuvir.[14]
• On May 22, 2012, the United States preventive services task force released a guideline advising against routine screening for prostate cancer using the prostate-specific antigen test, concluding that the benefits of the testing outweighs the harms, and sparking a debate about the use of the test.[15][16]
• In July, 2012, GlaxoSmithKline settles a court case with the Department of Justice for $3 billion, the largest pharmaceutical fraud settlement to this date, due to several allegations, including fraudulent of marketing several drugs for off-label uses, the antidepressants Paxil and Wellbutrin, and failure to include data in a Food and Drug Administration submission for the diabetic medication Avandia.[17]
• In October, 2012, Sir John B. Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become "pluripotent".[18]
• On October 26, 2012, the National People's Congress of China passed new mental health laws, recognising the increasing awareness of mental health. One of the major changes is the emphasis that treatment must be voluntary in the majority of cases.[19]

2013

• On April 14, 2013, the first kidney grown in a rat in vitro in the U.S. was published.[20]
• On May 1, 2013, China signed a new mental health law into effect.[21]
• On May 18, 2013, the psychiatry manual DSM-5 was formally published, revising definitions for a wide range of psychiatric illnesses, including a new definition for autism spectrum disorder and substance use disorder [22]
• On May 29, 2013 results of a phase 3 study for the first vaccine for enterovirus 71, one cause of hand foot mouth disease, were published, showing a 90% statistically significant efficacy [23][24]
• On July 3, 2013, a study was published documenting the first human liver grown from stem cells in Japan[25][26]
• On October 1, 2013, due to a contentious debate about funding for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act the government of the United States entered a period of shutdown, causing 800,000 federal workers to be furloughed. October 1, 2013 was also the first day that many insurance exchanges went online and other sections of the act began to be implemented.[27]
• On October 7, 2013, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to James E. Rothman, Randy W. Schekman, and Thomas C. Südhof for research on cell vesicles.[28]

See also

• Timeline of medicine and medical technology

References

1. http://www.unhcr.org.uk/about-us/key-facts-and-figures.html, UNHCR, Facts and Figures about Refugees
2. Harris, M; Zwar, N (October 2005). "Refugee health". Australian Family Physician. 34 (10): 825–9. PMID 16217566.
3. Ministère de la Santé Publique et de la Population official cholera report
4. Deborah Sontag (31 March 2012). "In Haiti, Global Failures on a Cholera Epidemic". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 14 October 2012. Retrieved 13 October 2012.
5. The Editors Of The Lancet (February 2010). "Retraction—Ileal-lymphoid-nodular hyperplasia, non-specific colitis, and pervasive developmental disorder in children". Lancet. 375 (9713): 445. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(10)60175-4. PMID 20137807. Retrieved 2010-02-02. Lay summary – BBC News (2010-02-02).
6. Flaherty DK (October 2011). "The vaccine-autism connection: a public health crisis caused by unethical medical practices and fraudulent science". Ann Pharmacother. 45 (10): 1302–4. doi:10.1345/aph.1Q318. PMID 21917556.
7. "The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2010". Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 2010-10-04.
8. "The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2011". Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 2011-10-03.
9. "Ralph Steinman Remains Nobel Laureate". The Nobel Foundation. 3 October 2011. Retrieved 6 October 2013.
10. Sample, Ian (2011-10-03). "Nobel prize to be awarded to dead scientist". The Guardian. London. Retrieved October 10, 2011. The Nobel foundation concluded that the award should stand, saying: "The Nobel prize to Ralph Steinman was made in good faith, based on the assumption that the Nobel laureate was alive."
11. WHO. "India records one year without polio cases". Media Centre. WHO. Retrieved 12 October 2013.
12. Roberts, Leslie. "India Marks 1 Year Without Polio, But Global Eradication Remains Uncertain". Science Insider. Retrieved 12 October 2013.
13. Lee, Yu Sang; Kim, Jae-Jin; Kwon, Jun Soo (Aug 2013). "Renaming schizophrenia in South Korea". The Lancet. 382 (9893): 683–684. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(13)61776-6. PMID 23972810.
14. Campbell, Todd. "Gilead's Hepatitis C Drug Sofosbuvir Offers Upside". Seeking Alpha. Retrieved 12 October 2013.
15. Rubin, Rita. "PSA Screening: New Round Of Guidelines Emphasizes Importance Of Weighing Harms And Benefits". Kaiser Health News. Retrieved 12 October 2013.
16. US Preventative Services Taskforce (May 2012). "Screening for Prostate Cancer". US Preventative Services Taskforce. Archived from the original on 8 July 2014. Retrieved 12 October 2013.
17. "GlaxoSmithKline to Plead Guilty and Pay $3 Billion to Resolve Fraud Allegations and Failure to Report Safety Data". justice.gov. 2 July 2012. Retrieved 25 August 2012.
18. "The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2012". Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 2012-10-08.
19. Phillips, Michael R. (1 June 2013). "China's New Mental Health Law: Reframing Involuntary Treatment". American Journal of Psychiatry. 170 (6): 588–591. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.2013.12121559. PMID 23625139.
20. Song, Jeremy J; Guyette, Jacques P; Gilpin, Sarah E; Gonzalez, Gabriel; Vacanti, Joseph P; Ott, Harald C (2013). "Regeneration and experimental orthotopic transplantation of a bioengineered kidney" (PDF). Nature Medicine. 19 (5): 646–651. doi:10.1038/nm.3154. PMC 3650107. PMID 23584091.
21. Tse, Samson (1 July 2013). "Mental Health Care Reforms in Asia: The Urgency of Now: Building a Recovery-Oriented, Community Mental Health Service in China". Psychiatric Services. 64 (7): 613–616. doi:10.1176/appi.ps.000022013. hdl:10722/186245. PMID 23821168.
22. "Highlights of Changes from DSM-IV-TR to DSM-5" (PDF). American Psychiatric Association. May 17, 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 26, 2015. Retrieved September 6, 2013.
23. Hand, foot and mouth disease: First vaccine, BBC News, James Gallagher, 28 May 2013
24. Zhu, Feng-Cai; Meng, Fan-Yue; Li, Jing-Xin; Li, Xiu-Ling; Mao, Qun-Ying; Tao, Hong; Zhang, Yun-Tao; Yao, Xin; Chu, Kai; Chen, Qing-Hua; Hu, Yue-Mei; Wu, Xing; Liu, Pei; Zhu, Lin-Yang; Gao, Fan; Jin, Hui; Chen, Yi-Juan; Dong, Yu-Ying; Liang, Yong-Chun; Shi, Nian-Min; Ge, Heng-Ming; Liu, Lin; Chen, Sheng-Gen; Ai, Xing; Zhang, Zhen-Yu; Ji, Yu-Guo; Luo, Feng-Ji; Chen, Xiao-Qin; Zhang, Ya; Zhu, Li-Wen; Liang, Zheng-Lun; Shen, Xin-Liang (2013). "Efficacy, safety, and immunology of an inactivated alum-adjuvant enterovirus 71 vaccine in children in China: a multicentre, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 3 trial". The Lancet. 381 (9882): 2024–2032. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(13)61049-1. PMID 23726161.
25. Takebe, Takanori; Sekine, Keisuke; Enomura, Masahiro; Koike, Hiroyuki; Kimura, Masaki; Ogaeri, Takunori; Zhang, Ran-Ran; Ueno, Yasuharu; Zheng, Yun-Wen; Koike, Naoto; Aoyama, Shinsuke; Adachi, Yasuhisa; Taniguchi, Hideki (2013). "Vascularized and functional human liver from an iPSC-derived organ bud transplant". Nature. 499 (7459): 481–484. doi:10.1038/nature12271. PMID 23823721.
26. Gallagher, James. "Tiny stem-cell livers grown in laboratory". BBC. Retrieved 12 October 2013.
27. Weisman, Jonathan; Peters, Jeremy W. (September 30, 2013). "Government Near Broad Shutdown in Budget Impasse". The New York Times. Retrieved September 30, 2013.
28. "The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2013". Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 11 October 2013.