The Olympics are set to start later this summer in Paris just as Europe is suffering from yet another outbreak of a vaccine-preventable disease, write Drs. Richard Rupp and Megan Berman in their latest Vaccine Smarts column.

Dr. Praveeena K. Gupta designed and manufactured the Ring-IT, a tactile 3-dimensional bottle ring adaptor that improvs the identification and dosing frequency of eye drops for low-vision patients, at the Maker Health Space Medical Fabrication Laboratory at UTMB. The Ophthalmology Times reported that Gupta and her colleagues believe that their study “holds breakthrough potential to catalyze a shift in clinical practice, providing a practical tool to enhance topical eye drop adherence in patients with visual impairment.”

UTMB medical student Johnny Dang wrote about being the child of Vietnamese immigrant parents pursuing the dream of studying medicine for in-Training, an online peer-reviewed publication for medical students. “I arrived at medicine on my own accord, but now that I am here, there is still a pressure to see this American dream fairy tale through,” Dang writes. “From my parents’ perspective, all those days showing up to work while ill, the vacation time never taken, and the years having never been back to Vietnam even once have to amount to something, right?”

Ashwagandha is a common supplement Dr. Samuel Mathis says he recommends to patients. “This plant is rich in anti-inflammatory properties, alkaloids, and a type of molecule known as withanolides, a steroid-like compound that is believed to be the primary agent responsible for ashwagandha’s effect,” Mathis writes in his Daily News column.