“I'm not great at the advice. Can I interest you in a sarcastic comment?”

This is what ‘Friends’ actor Matthew Perry’s character Chandler Bing was known for. He was known for being funny. However, he had his own struggles in his personal life and those struggles were acute depression. He was treating it with ketamine infusion therapy which is legal in the US and the UK.

What is Ketamine infusion therapy?

Ketamine is an anaesthetic used to treat depression, anxiety and pain under supervised and controlled medical settings. However, it does have its side effects, which can lead to distortion of sight, sound and time. It can also produce calming and relaxing effects.

Ketamine increases a person’s heart rate and blood pressure. If overdosed, it can leave users confused and agitated and can cause them to hurt themselves without even realising it. It can also lead to liver damage and bladder problems.

However, when used in moderation and under the supervision of medical doctors, it can treat depression where traditional antidepressants have failed.

Prof Rupert McShane, a University of Oxford psychiatrist who runs an NHS ketamine treatment clinic told BBC that ketamine “probably turns off the area of the brain that is involved in disappointment.”

Can Ketamine Infusion Therapy Kill Someone?

In simple terms, it cannot, be if the dosage is given in a controlled setting and as prescribed. Ketamine infusion therapy uses drugs in small doses than those used for anaesthesia. It acts faster than traditional anti-depressants, but the effects also wear off way quickly. Which is why it is important to monitor patients’ mental state for relapsing back into depression and discouraging them from overdosing on it.

There are ways of giving people ketamine. One of the ways is through “infusing”, which means to use an IV drip. However, injections, nasal sprays and capsules are also methods used to give people ketamine.

Since the dosage of ketamine used in the infusion treatment is small, it being the reason of actor Perry’s death was ruled out. The medical examiner also noted that Perry’s last ketamine infusion therapy session happened more than a week before his death, which means by the time he had died, it must have worn off.

So, What Happened To Perry?

Though Perry’s last session was more than a week before, his post-mortem showed that his blood contained a high concentration of ketamine. He had died of the “acute effects” of ketamine.

If it was not his session, then how did he get ketamine?

Prosecutors alleged that his assistant gave him at least 27 shots of ketamine in four days before his death, reported BBC.

Perry has been open about his personal struggles and this is what the doctors and dealers used against him. Martin Estrada, the US attorney for California’s Central District told the BBC that people took advantage of his condition. They charged him 165 times more than what vials of ketamine cost.

Names that have come up include Dr Salvador Plasencia, drug dealers “Ketamine Queen” aka Jasveen Sangha and Eric Fleming, and Perry’s live-in assistant Kenneth Iwamasa.

Who Are These Names And What Did They Do?

Ketamine Queen or Sangha supplied drugs that led to Perry’s death. Her home was a “drug-selling emporium,” said Estrada. More than 80 vials of ketamine, and thousands of pills including methamphetamine, cocaine and Xanax were allegedly found in her house known as the “Sangha Stash House.”

Sangha is known to deal with high-end celebs and was a “major source of supply for ketamine to others as well as Perry,” said Estrada.

Dr Plasencia called Perry a “moron” while charging him $2,000 for vials that cost only $12. He sold Perry 20 vials of ketamine between September and October 2023, costing $55,000.

He was the one who taught Iwamasa, who had no medical knowledge to inject the drug. This is after he knew that “Perry’s ketamine addiction was spiralling out of control,” as per what the investigators told the BBC.

Another dealer Fleming was told by Sangha to “delete all our messages.” While Fleming pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute drugs unlawfully, he also allegedly messaged Sangha: “Please call...Got more info and want to bounce ideas off you. I’m 90% sure everyone is protected. I never dealt with [Perry] only his assistant. So the assistant was the enabler.”

The court documents also revealed that he asked Sangha on whether the ketamine stays in your system or “is it immediately flushed out.”

Dr Pepper, Bots, Cans

The people who allegedly exploited Perry used coded language for ketamine and called it “Dr Pepper”, “bots”, or “cans.”

Selling overpriced drugs, taking advantage of Perry’s mental condition and falsifying medical records to make the drugs given to him look legitimate by Dr Plasencia is what took Perry’s life.

Iwamasa is said to have administered more than 20 shots of ketamine and three on the day Perry died. Whereas ketamine is only administered by a physician. Authorities also found that weeks before Perry’s death, Dr Plasencia allegedly bought 10 vials of ketamine and intended to sell to Perry.

He also injected Perry with a large dose, two days later. This caused him to “freeze up” and spiked his blood pressure.

When I Die, I Want Helping Others To Be The First Thing That’s Mentioned

Perry had always been open about his drug addictions, struggles with alcohol and his depression. He said that his openness would help others who are also struggling and wanted to be remembered by his quote which also is on the homepage of the Mattew Perry Foundation that helps others struggling with the disease of addiction: “When I die, I want helping others to be the first thing that’s mentioned.”

Five arrests have been made in the case so far.

Scientists have identified a rare contagious skin cancer in brown bullhead catfish living in lakes across the US and Canada's Quebec, marking only the fourth known case of a naturally transmissible cancer in the animal kingdom.

A team led by the University of Vermont found that mysterious black skin lesions affecting brown bullhead catfish in Lake Memphremagog and other lakes in New England and Quebec were caused by a transmissible melanoma—the first such cancer ever identified in a freshwater fish species.

The findings, published in the journal Nature, add freshwater fish to a short list of species known to develop cancers that spread through the transfer of living cancer cells. Previously, transmissible cancers had been identified only in Tasmanian devils (facial tumor disease), dogs (canine transmissible venereal tumor), and shellfish, including clams, mussels, and other bivalve mollusks (leukemia-like transmissible cancers).

“The cancer cells behave more like parasites than conventional tumors, moving from fish to fish,” said the researchers led by the University of Vermont.

"The discovery sheds light on how cancer can spread in the wild and raises important questions about where this cancer originated, how it will affect fish health and populations—and how cancer works in all animals including humans," they added.

How Was Cancer Identified In Fish?

Also read: Can GLP-1 Drugs Like Ozempic, Mounjaro Cause Hair Loss? Study Says It's Rare But Real

Since 2012, anglers and biologists have reported increasing numbers of brown bullhead catfish with raised black skin patches in Lake Memphremagog, which straddles Vermont and Quebec. By 2014, nearly one in three fish examined had developed the dark lesions.

Initially, researchers believed the disease might be caused by a virus. They later suspected pollution or another environmental pathogen. However, further investigation revealed that the lesions were actually melanoma.

“This was surprising, and we wanted to know how a bottom-dwelling fish was getting a cancer we associate with exposure to too much sunlight,” said Julie Dragon, a scientist at the University of Vermont.

Using whole-genome sequencing, the team identified hundreds of thousands of shared genetic variants among tumor samples that were absent from the host fish, confirming that the cancer spreads between animals through living cancer cells.

How Does The Cancer Spread?

Researchers are now trying to determine exactly how the cancer moves from one fish to another. They believe that the tumors appear only "in larger fish that are of spawning age".

Mark Henderson, a fish biologist and study co-leader in UVM’s Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources said that it “maybe some part of spawning behavior leads to the spreading of the cancer between animals."

During spawning, brown bullhead gather closely in shallow water, allowing physical contact that could transfer tumor cells. Because the fish lack scales and spend much of their time on lake bottoms, scientists also believe sediments could harbor free-floating cancer cells.

The study also suggests that naturally occurring arsenic or hormonal changes may weaken the fish's immune system, making them more susceptible to infection.

Should Humans Worry?

Despite the unusual discovery, researchers stress that there is no known risk to humans.

Lake Memphremagog supplies drinking water to more than 175,000 people, but scientists say the cancer cells cannot infect or survive in another species. They also state that the fish are safe to handle for research and monitoring.

Fish remains a highly nutritious food, rich in high-quality protein, vitamin D, and omega-3 fatty acids that support heart and brain health.

Quebec's Ministry of the Environment recommends not eating fish with tumors, even though there is no evidence that doing so poses a risk to human health.

The findings raise broader questions about how pollution, habitat stress, and climate change may influence the evolution and spread of diseases in wildlife.

Researchers have developed an ultrasensitive blood test that can detect biological signs of Sjögren’s disease more than a decade before symptoms appear, potentially paving the way for earlier treatment and precision medicine.

Published in The Lancet Rheumatology, the researchers found that elevated levels of interferon-alpha (IFN-α), a key immune signaling protein, can be detected in the blood up to 14 years before a clinical diagnosis of Sjögren’s disease.

Importance Of Early Diagnosis

Observed every year on July 23, Sjögren’s Disease Day raises awareness about a chronic autoimmune disease that often goes undiagnosed for years because its symptoms, including dry eyes, dry mouth, fatigue, and joint pain, can mimic other conditions.

Diagnosis often takes years, by then damage to the salivary glands, tear glands, nerves, lungs, or kidneys already happens, making recovery impossible.

The newly developed blood test could change that by identifying people at risk long before symptoms begin. This could allow doctors to monitor patients closely and begin treatment earlier.

Also read: World Sjogren’s Day 2025: Why This “Mild” Autoimmune Condition Can Be Life-Altering

How Was The Study Conducted?

The researchers analyzed blood samples from:

• 177 people with Sjögren’s disease enrolled in the UK Primary Sjögren’s Syndrome Registry.
• More than 47,000 participants from the UK Biobank, including 257 people who later developed Sjögren’s disease.

Using an ultrasensitive single-molecule blood test, they measured interferon-alpha, a protein produced by the immune system during inflammation. The findings showed:

• About 61% of patients with Sjögren’s disease had significantly elevated IFN-α levels.
• Distinct immune protein "fingerprints" linked to IFN-α were detectable up to 14 years before diagnosis.
• People with high IFN-α formed a biologically distinct subgroup, despite having symptoms similar to other patients.
• Mouse experiments further suggested that persistently elevated IFN-α can drive immune changes associated with the disease.

Also read: Mayim Bialik Says Just One GLP-1 Shot Triggered ‘Nightmare’ Side Effects

The researchers believe the test could help doctors identify which patients are most likely to benefit from therapies that specifically target interferon-driven inflammation.

Professor David Hunt, from the University of Edinburgh, said, "Sjögren's disease is a debilitating condition which is often overlooked. We are delighted to have shown how precision medicine technologies can be used in Sjögren's disease to help decode the immune pathways which cause disease. We hope that this is an important step towards making our ultrasensitive IFN-α blood test available to people affected by this condition."

Professor Rayk Behrendt, from University Hospital Bonn, added, "Now, for the first time, we can take treatments geared toward suppressing the interferon effect and trial them specifically on patients with elevated interferon levels. We might also find new approaches to treatment that will help a large percentage of patients over the long term."

What Is Sjögren’s Disease?

Sjögren’s disease is a chronic autoimmune disorder in which the immune system attacks the body's moisture-producing glands, particularly those that make tears and saliva.

Although dry eyes and dry mouth are the primary symptoms, the disease can also affect the joints, lungs, kidneys, nervous system, and other organs. Around 90% of patients are women, and diagnosis is often delayed because symptoms overlap with those of many other illnesses.

Researchers say the findings mark a major step toward earlier diagnosis and precision medicine for Sjögren’s disease, offering hope that future patients may receive treatment years before irreversible organ damage develops.

With long COVID continuing to affect millions, a recent study has emerged, suggesting that women are more likely to bear its neurological burden than men.

According to a new study from Northwestern Medicine, female patients reported more severe neurological symptoms, poorer cognitive function, and a greater decline in quality of life.

Published in the Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology, the study analyzed 2,329 adults evaluated at Northwestern Medicine's Neuro COVID-19 Clinic between May 2020 and August 2025. Researchers compared neurological symptoms in patients, examining differences between men and women.

Women Reported More Neurological Symptoms

Researchers found that women, on average, reported significantly more neurological symptoms about 16 months after their COVID-19 illness than men. Among the most commonly reported symptoms were:

• Brain fog
• Fatigue
• Numbness and tingling
• Dizziness
• Headaches
• Muscle pain
• Blurred vision
• Tinnitus (ringing in the ears)
• Altered smell and taste

Women also scored worse on measures of cognitive performance and reported a greater impact on their overall quality of life.

Lead author Dr. Igor Koralnik, chief of Neuroinfectious Diseases and Global Neurology at Northwestern Medicine, said, "While previous studies showed that women are more likely to develop long COVID, this is the first study demonstrating that women also experience more severe neurological symptoms, worse cognitive function and greater reductions in quality of life than men."

First author Dr. Aurore Gorenshtein added, "Recognizing these sex-specific differences is important because it may help clinicians provide more personalized care and improve treatment strategies for people living with neurological long COVID."

Why Might Women Be More Affected?

Even though the study did not narrow down the exact causes behind these differences, researchers believe that several biological and immune-related factors could contribute. Here are some possible explanations:

• Differences in immune system responses between men and women
• Hormonal influences, particularly estrogen
• More likelihood of autoimmune conditions among women
• Differences in inflammation and nervous system responses after SARS-CoV-2 infection

Earlier Studies

The new research aligns with earlier findings from the U.S. National Institutes of Health's RECOVER Initiative, which showed that females are generally more likely than males to develop long COVID. That analysis also suggested the risk is highest among women aged 40 to 54 years, particularly before menopause.

A study recently found out that long COVID may directly injure the brain's dopamine system, offering an explanation for symptoms like fatigue, brain fog, poor memory, slowed movement, and lack of motivation that persist long after the initial infection. The latest findings shed more light on deeper effects of long COVID on brain health.

Long COVID remains a major public health challenge, with neurological symptoms among the most persistent and disabling. Brain fog, memory problems, chronic fatigue, headaches and dizziness can significantly affect employment, education and daily life.

The latest findings suggest that healthcare providers may need to consider sex-specific approaches when evaluating and managing patients with neurological long COVID, ensuring women receive earlier recognition, cognitive assessments and personalised rehabilitation.