Lifeboat Foundation

Pfizer has issued a nationwide recall of some blood pressure medications due to the presence of nitrosamine above the Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI) level.

A team of researchers from Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital has developed a device to help patients experiencing refractory hypoxemia. In their paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the group describes their new device and how well it worked when tested on human blood and blood inside of live rats.

Refractory hypoxemia is a condition sometimes experienced by patients on ventilators—it is generally due to acute respiratory distress syndrome. Less oxygen makes the trip from the lungs into the bloodstream, leading to organ damage and sometimes death. Current treatment often involves the use of an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) machine. It extracts most of a patient’s blood, removes carbon dioxide, adds oxygen and then pumps it back into the patient. Because ventilators can damage lungs, and because access to ECMO machines is limited (and risk of infection is high), the researchers developed a new machine that can add oxygen directly to blood while it is still inside the patient.

The new machine works by first infusing oxygen into a liquid solution. That solution travels through a series of ever-smaller nozzles, reducing the size of the bubbles down to micron scale. The bubbles, the researchers note, are smaller than red blood cells. Next, the bubbles get a coating of a lipid membrane that is similar to some types of natural cell membranes. This prevents toxicity and also keeps the bubbles from sticking together. The resulting solution is then injected directly into a patient’s bloodstream. Once inside, the lipids dissolve, releasing the oxygen into the bloodstream. They are tiny enough that they will not block any blood vessels.

Osso VR, the VR surgical training platform, today announced it’s closed a $66 million Series C financing round, something the company says will be used to broaden its VR surgical offering and hire more expert talent.

The Series C round was led by Oak HC/FT, which includes participation from Signalfire, GSR Ventures, Tiger Global Management and Kaiser Permanente Ventures.

Continue reading “Surgery Training Platform ‘Osso VR’ Secures $66M Series C Financing” »

The father of the GIF passes away at the age of 74 after contracting COVID-19.

Summary: Oleic acid produced in the brain is an essential regulator of processes that enable memory, learning, and mood regulation. Oleic acid, which is abundant in olive oil, also promoted neurogenesis and increases cell proliferation.

Source: Baylor College of Medicine.

Many people dread experiencing the cognitive and mood declines that often accompany reaching an advanced age, including memory disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease and mood conditions like depression.

LONDON — While war rages in Ukraine, not much attention is being paid to surging Covid-19 cases across Europe that could soon start to filter out to the rest of the world.

The rise in cases across the continent, from the U.K. and France to Italy and Austria, is being driven by several factors: The lifting of most — if not all — Covid restrictions, waning immunity from vaccines and booster shots, and the spread of the more transmissible omicron subvariant, BA.2.

“We all hoped and expected a different turn now at the beginning of spring,” Ralf Reintjes, professor of epidemiology at the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, told CNBC this week.

Data dashboards have been an important part of pandemic response and planning. What have their developers learnt about communicating science in a crisis?

Circa 2021

Novel fluorescence imaging assay provides new insights for developing more effective cancer nanomedicines.

The creation of new proteins and peptides for use with CRISPR represents the next stage in the evolution of this technology.