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The World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists has released a map showing, country by country, the number of anesthesiologists worldwide. They found that wealthy countries, like the U.S. and Germany, have 20 to 30 anesthesiologists for every 100,000 people; but in sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Asia, there are often fewer than one for every 100,000 people. "We describe anesthesiology as the invisible sister of the neglected stepchild of global health," says Julian Gore-Booth, chief executive officer of the WFSA.

Dr. Jerome Adams was confirmed by the US Senate as the first ever anesthesiologist to hold the position. Among his top priorities are the American opioid crisis and untreated mental illness.

Female anesthesiologists face less gender bias than those in other fields of medicine, according to a recent study. Yet women still earn far less than their male counterparts and face significant career hurdles.

Three-year-old Daleyza Hernandez-Avila recently visited a surgical center in Stockton for what was supposed to be a routine dental procedure. At the center, she underwent general anesthesia for dental crowns, molar repairs and a possible tooth extraction, he said. But on the June 12 visit, her heart stopped about 30 minutes into the procedure. She was later pronounced dead at a hospital.

Neuroscientists at Goethe University Frankfurt and the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization in Göttingen have now discovered that certain areas of the brain generate less information when under anesthesia. The drop in information transfer often measured when the brain is under anesthesia could be a consequence of this reduced local information generation and not - as was so far assumed - a result of disrupted signal transmission between brain areas.