Acoustic-Powered Microrobots for Bladder Disease Treatment
Engineers at the University of Colorado at Boulder have developed a medical microrobot that is powered by acoustic waves. The tiny devices, which are 20 micrometers wide and considerably smaller than the width of a human hair, can move incredibly fast for their size, achieving a speed of 3 millimeters per second. To put this in context, if a microrobot and a cheetah the same size had a race, the microrobot would win comfortably. The tiny structures are made using biocompatible polymers and include a series of three fins and a cavity that holds an air bubble. The bubble generates movement through vibration, which is stimula...
Source: Medgadget - June 8, 2023 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Conn Hastings Tags: Materials Urology CUBoulder interstitial cystitis painful bladder syndrome Source Type: blogs
Smart Sutures Sense Inflammation, Deliver Drugs, Cells
Researchers at MIT have developed smart sutures with a hydrogel coating that contains sensing and drug delivery components, and could even be used to implant therapeutic cells. The sutures are made using pig tissues that have been decellularized with detergents to reduce the possibility that they could provoke an immune reaction. The surrounding hydrogel layer contains microparticles that can release peptides when enzymes involved in inflammation are present, and other microparticles that allow for controlled release of drugs. Another potential cargo is therapeutic stem cells that can assist with tissue repair. So far, the...
Source: Medgadget - May 30, 2023 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Conn Hastings Tags: GI Materials Medicine Surgery mit sutures Source Type: blogs
Cells with Backpacks to Treat Multiple Sclerosis
Researchers at the Harvard Wyss Institute have developed a new type of cell therapy for multiple sclerosis patients. The technique involves taking a blood sample from the patient being treated, isolating a sample of myeloid white blood cells, and then modifying them with ‘backpacks’ that contain anti-inflammatory molecules. The modified cells can then be administered back to the patient, and the backpack ensures that they maintain an anti-inflammatory phenotype. The cells can access inflammatory lesions in the central nervous system that are characteristic of multiple sclerosis and help to reduce the inflammation and a...
Source: Medgadget - May 2, 2023 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Conn Hastings Tags: Medicine MS multiple sclerosis wyssinstitute Source Type: blogs
Cy-Car-D
Right now, I’m getting cyclophosphamide (Cytoxan), carfilzomib (Kyprolis), and dexamethasone every week. I’m tolerating it very well. Even though I had it in 2019 and eventually relapsed, it’s working for me. After this, I’m hoping to try TAK-573 in a clinical trial. Abstract Background TAK-573, a humanized, anti-CD38, IgG4, monoclonal antibody genetically fused to two … (Source: beth's myeloma blog)
Source: beth's myeloma blog - November 3, 2022 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Beth Tags: carfilzomib cyclophosphamide dexamethasone TAK-573 Source Type: blogs
What is high altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE)? Cardiology Basics
High altitude pulmonary edema is pulmonary edema which occurs on rapid ascent to high altitudes. It is a potentially life threatening condition and is a severe form of mountain sickness. Severe breathlessness with fall of oxygen level in the blood occurs in this condition. Cyanosis may be noted. The best way to prevent it is to ascend gradually, taking a few days to climb to 3000 meters. After that climb only very slowly, only about 300 to 500 meters a day. The risk is more if your usual residence is near sea level so that you are not acclimatized to high altitude at all. Previous episode increases your risk of a recurren...
Source: Cardiophile MD - October 19, 2022 Category: Cardiology Authors: Johnson Francis Tags: General Cardiology Source Type: blogs
How Technology Can Help Overcome Barriers to Getting Effective Therapies into Patients with Ultra Rare Disorders
The following is a guest article by Dr. Zach Landman, Co-Founder of Moonshots for Unicorns.
As a physician who trained at UCSF, Harvard, and Stanford, I assumed that when my youngest daughter, Lucy – at 10-months old – was diagnosed with an ultra-rare genetic disorder of glycosylation called PGAP3, the answers would reside within a hospital or academic laboratory.
Unfortunately, my pediatrician wife and I were told that our smiling, seemingly healthy babbling 10-month-old baby would likely never walk normally, never talk, and was likely to develop severe and refractory seizures at some point in her childhood. ...
Source: EMR and HIPAA - September 27, 2022 Category: Information Technology Authors: Guest Author Tags: Clinical Healthcare IT AAV9 ASO CRISPR Dr. Zach Landman epalrestat Gene Therapy Invitae Patient Stories Patients Perlara PGAP3 PMM2 PRAX-222 Rare Diseases SCN2A SMA-1 Source Type: blogs
TWiV 886: COVID-19 clinical update #109 with Dr. Daniel Griffin
In COVID-19 clinical update #109, Daniel Griffin discusses cardiac complications after infection or vaccination, long COVID in children, fourth vaccine dose in Israel, no need for fourth vaccine dose in EU, dexamethasone dosing, immunomodulation therapy, MIS outcomes in children, US long COVID effort launched, and herd immunity. (Source: virology blog)
Source: virology blog - April 9, 2022 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: This Week in Virology antiviral coronavirus COVID-19 delta inflammation Long Covid monoclonal antibody Omicron pandemic SARS-CoV-2 vaccine vaccine booster variant of concern viruses Source Type: blogs
The (sort of, partial) Father mRNA Vaccines Who Now Spreads Vaccine Misinformation (Part 1)
By DAVID WARMFLASH, MD
Robert W. Malone, MD MS, is a physician-scientist who will live in infamy, thanks to the Joe Rogan Experience Podcast boosting his visibility this past December regarding his criticism of COVID-19 vaccines, particularly the mRNA vaccines (Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech). Subsequently, Malone was banned from Twitter, which further boosted his celebrity status. Describing himself as the inventor of mRNA vaccine technology, he has been reaching a growing number of people with a narrative that makes COVID-19 vaccination sound scary. We cannot embed clips from the Rogan interview, which lasted about three...
Source: The Health Care Blog - March 17, 2022 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: matthew holt Tags: COVID-19 Health Policy antivaxxer COVID-19 vaccine David Warmflash Joe Rogan Robert Malone Source Type: blogs
Doing Well
Still doing pretty well. I ' m currently taking Darzalex monthly, Pomalyst 2 mg daily (28 days of 28), and dexamethasone (Dex) 8 mg weekly. Monthly blood tests don ' t normally show any cause for concern, and I feel pretty good. Except lately calcium has been a bit high, and the doctors and I are paying some attention to that. Maybe a PET scan is due, or even a bone marrow biopsy, since my myeloma seems to have become "nonsecretory " (it may not secrete detectable immunoglobulin fragments). Ugh.I like a beer in the evening, but I skip that on Dex days and on the two days afterward. On infusion day I don ' t exercise a...
Source: Myeloma Hope - October 31, 2021 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: daratumumab Darzalex DEX dexamethasone pomalidomide Pomalyst Source Type: blogs
End of Cycle 5 – Talquetamab and Daratumumab plus Pomalyst
During cycle 5, the study team was given some freedom to adjust my dose of dexamethasone. We could do anything, from eliminating it completely to decreasing it. For 3 cycles, I was having 40 mg of dex a week. Dex is rough. If you have taken 40 mg of dex for any amount of time, …
The post End of Cycle 5 – Talquetamab and Daratumumab plus Pomalyst appeared first on Beth Morgan Multiple Myeloma Treatment Blog. (Source: beth's myeloma blog)
Source: beth's myeloma blog - October 7, 2021 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Beth Tags: Talquetamab CRS cytoxan release syndrome dexamethasone Source Type: blogs
If FDA Won ’t Rethink Rules on Off‐Label Drug Use, Courts Should
Walter OlsonAs Cato writershave longpointedout, the law takes a paradoxical stance toward so ‐called “off‐label” use of drugs approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). On the one hand, it’s completely lawful for physicians to prescribe approved drugs for other than the FDA‐approved uses, and such uses are vital in everyday practice. Indeed, off‐la bel compounds oftenconstitute a “gold standard” of care in chemotherapy cancer treatments and other fields of medicine. On the other hand, the agency strictly prohibits makers of the compounds frompromoting such use, even when ...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - August 11, 2021 Category: American Health Authors: Walter Olson Source Type: blogs
TAB ’ s July 2021 update
TAB wrote his update as a comment to the post I wrote about him back in 2012, but I decided that this update should be turned into a post, as follows…
TAB’s Update 7/9/2021
Smoldering 20 years, progression 2 years, Velcade for 4 months = complete remission.
My journey with IgA Lambda Multiple Myeloma has been a long one. At age 80 I am finally in complete remission. During the first 20 years I took only over the counter supplements which in my opinion kept the beast at bay. I plotted the results of my blood tests using Excel and relied on the trend lines to keep track of how I was doing. After a few years of supple...
Source: Margaret's Corner - July 19, 2021 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Margaret Tags: Blogroll Source Type: blogs
Cozy with Toci
This is going to be a pretty boring post. I’m going to do my best to recall the events of my stay in the hospital while my trial drugs were administered according to the protocol. On May 25th I was admitted to the hospital to start the daratumumab, talquetamab, and pomalyst trial. The reason a …
The post Cozy with Toci first appeared on Beth Morgan Multiple Myeloma Treatment Blog. (Source: beth's myeloma blog)
Source: beth's myeloma blog - June 16, 2021 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Beth Tags: BiTE cytokine release syndrome daratumumab Darzalex Dexamethasone Myeloma Treatment Talquetamab Source Type: blogs
Six Reasons Why Cancer is an Emotional Diagnosis Too
By Cynthia Hayes, Author, The Big Ordeal: Understanding and Managing the Psychological Turmoil of Cancer
No matter when you hear the words, “You’ve got cancer,” you are bound to have an emotional reaction. The news is devastating, and the physical challenges that lie ahead are very real. But, unfortunately, that is only half the story. Cancer is an emotional diagnosis too, and our psychological and physical responses to the disease and its treatment are intertwined, coloring the entire experience. Why is cancer so emotional?
We fear we will die
For millennia, cancer has been a death sentence. So even though ...
Source: PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement - February 22, 2021 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Cynthia Hayes Tags: featured health and fitness philosophy psychology self-improvement cancer healing illness pickthebrain self improvement Source Type: blogs
Shining Bright Spot of 2020 — The RECOVERY Trial
Take a look at this article in The Times. It tells the story of Oxford professors named Martin Landray and Peter Horby.
When they saw the pandemic unfolding in China and Lombardy, their first thought was to design a proper clinical trial to determine what works for COVID19.
Normally, it takes a year or more to design a medical trial, but they got it done in weeks. This process is super important. You have to write a design first and decide what you will measure. Here is the protocol.There were two keys to success: one was that the trial had to be simple and the other was that it needed buy-in from hospitals and doc...
Source: Dr John M - January 1, 2021 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dr John Source Type: blogs
