Lifeboat Foundation

H5N1 avian flu has existed for a quarter century. Only rarely have human cases occurred, with no sustained transmission reported. But “we cannot assume that will remain the case,” WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a news conference. New, frequent reports that the disease has crossed into small mammals like minks, otters, foxes, and sea lions are cause for alarm, given the species’ similarities with humans, he noted.

While the risk to people remains low, public health officials must prepare “to face outbreaks in humans, and be ready also to control them as soon as possible,” Dr. Sylvie Briand, director of Global Infectious Hazard Preparedness and Emergency Preparedness at the WHO, told Fortune.

Ghebreyesus cautioned against touching or collecting sick or dead animals, and encouraged those who encounter such to report them to local authorities. Countries must strengthen their avian flu surveillance in areas where humans and wild animals interact, he insisted. And public health officials must work with manufacturers to ensure that vaccines and antivirals are available for global use, he said.

Borislav/iStock.

Researchers inserted the gene into the part of the catfish genome that codes for an essential reproductive hormone. The produced hybrids showed increased disease resistance and sterility.

Summary: Advancements in brain mapping and the development of new digital tools over the past decade have opened the door to exciting new discoveries in neuroscience and brain sciences.

Source: University of Oslo.

A billion people worldwide suffer from brain diseases such as dementia, addiction and depression. Scientists carrying out brain research at UiO are now contributing to a more efficient utilization of research data by developing 3D brain atlases and new analytic tools.

Is Director of the Division of Research, Innovation and Ventures (DRIVe — https://drive.hhs.gov/) at the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (https://aspr.hhs.gov/AboutASPR/ProgramOffices/BARDA/Pages/default.aspx), a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) office responsible for the procurement and development of medical countermeasures, principally against bioterrorism, including chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) threats, as well as pandemic influenza and emerging diseases.

Dr. Patel is committed to advancing high-impact science, building new products, and launching collaborative programs and initiatives with public and private organizations to advance human health and wellness. As the DRIVe Director, Dr. Patel leads a dynamic team built to tackle complex national health security threats by rapidly developing and deploying innovative technologies and approaches that draw from a broad range of disciplines.

Continue reading “Dr. Sandeep Patel, Ph.D. — BARDA — Developing Effective Life-Saving Medical Countermeasures For All” »

Dr. Renee Wegrzyn, Ph.D. is the inaugural director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H — https://arpa-h.gov/), an agency that supports the development of high-impact research to drive biomedical and health breakthroughs to deliver transformative, sustainable, and equitable health solutions for everyone. ARPA-H’s mission focuses on leveraging research advances for real world impact.

Previously, Dr. Wegrzyn served as a vice president of business development at Ginkgo Bioworks and head of Innovation at Concentric by Ginkgo, where she focused on applying synthetic biology to outpace infectious diseases—including Covid-19—through biomanufacturing, vaccine innovation and biosurveillance of pathogens at scale.

Continue reading “Dr. Renee Wegrzyn, Ph.D. — ARPA-H — Transformative, Sustainable, Equitable Health Solutions For All” »

Students often sacrifice sleep to study for exams, but lack of sleep can negatively impact memory. Now, University of Groningen neuroscientist Robbert Havekes has found that sleep deprivation hinders recall, not retention of information. Havekes and his team used optogenetics and the drug roflumilast to make “hidden knowledge” obtained while sleep-deprived accessible again days later. Their findings were recently published in the journal Current Biology.

Havekes, associate professor of Neuroscience of Memory and Sleep at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands, and his team have extensively studied how sleep deprivation affects memory processes. “We previously focused on finding ways to support memory processes during a sleep deprivation episode”, says Havekes.

However, in his latest study, his team examined whether amnesia as a result of sleep deprivation was a direct result of information loss, or merely caused by difficulties retrieving information.

The “one-shot” process paves the path for cutting-edge 3D cell culture methods with biomedical engineering applications, claim the scientists.

German scientists have created a new technology that helps them print 3D objects with sound waves.

The design creates pressure fields using several acoustic holograms, which can be used to print solid particles, gel beads, and even living cells, according to the study released on Thursday.

Continue reading “This tech can print 3D objects with sound in ‘one-shot’ process” »

What’s next?

Increasingly it seems there is nothing that ChatGPT cannot do, even consulting judges in cases and boosting research. Now, the AI chatbot has been found to score at or around the approximately 60 percent passing threshold for the United States Medical Licensing Exam (USMLE), “with responses that make coherent, internal sense and contain frequent insights.”

This is according to a study published on Thursday in the open-access journal PLOS Digital Health.

Continue reading “Doctor ChatGPT? AI-bot almost passes the US Medical Licensing Exam” »

The doctors explain it as a rare case of foreign accent syndrome.

A man suffering from prostate cancer started sporting an Irish accent in what is one of the few documented reports of the condition and the first ever associated with this type of cancer. Sadly, the man ultimately passed away from his disease.

A rare condition.

Continue reading “Man’s prostate cancer leads him to speak in an Irish accent” »