ECMO – Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation
ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation)
Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) has been in use for the past four decades to support persons who are unlikely to survive with mechanical ventilation. ECMO is used in both adult and pediatric practice, though in the initial years, use of ECMO was restricted to pediatric intensive care. The enthusiasm for use of ECMO in adults have been triggered by the beneficial effect noted during the last H1N1 influenza pandemic [Australia and New Zealand Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ANZ ECMO) Influenza Investigators. Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation for 2009 Influenza A(H1...
Source: Cardiophile MD - December 7, 2014 Category: Cardiology Authors: Prof. Dr. Johnson Francis, MD, DM, FACC, FRCP Edin, FRCP London Tags: Cardiac Surgery Source Type: blogs
Just like for H1N1, the Ebola conspiracy theory machine goes into overdrive
Does anyone remember the H1N1 influenza pandemic? As hard as it is to believe, that was five years ago. One thing I remember about the whole thing is just how crazy both the antivaccine movement and conspiracy theorists (but I repeat myself) went over the public health campaigns to vaccinate people against H1N1. It was… (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - October 16, 2014 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking AIDS Andrew Wakefield Barbara Loe Fisher Brian Hooker CDC CDC whistleblower conspiracy theory Denialism Ebola Ebola virus feargasm H1N1 HIV Source Type: blogs
Just as the H1N1 conspiracy theory machine did in 2009, the Ebola conspiracy theory machine goes into overdrive
Does anyone remember the H1N1 influenza pandemic? As hard as it is to believe, that was five years ago. One thing I remember about the whole thing is just how crazy both the antivaccine movement and conspiracy theorists (but I repeat myself) went over the public health campaigns to vaccinate people against H1N1. It was… (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - October 16, 2014 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking AIDS Andrew Wakefield Barbara Loe Fisher Brian Hooker CDC CDC whistleblower conspiracy theory Denialism Ebola Ebola virus feargasm H1N1 HIV Source Type: blogs
Guest Blogger Visiting Assistant Professor Valerie Gutmann Koch: Ventilator Allocation in a Pandemic
In 2014, the New York State Task Force on Life and the Law, the state’s bioethics commission, will release its updated Allocation of Ventilators in an Influenza Pandemic, which enunciate a comprehensive clinical and ethical framework to guide distribution of... (Source: HealthLawProf Blog)
Source: HealthLawProf Blog - August 19, 2014 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Authors: Katharine Van Tassel Source Type: blogs
Obama’s Foreign Policy Is Linked to a Healthy, Restrained Immune System
With 58% of Americans disapproving of Obama’s foreign policy, mounting Ebola virus deaths, and flu season around the corner, I think it is important to synthesize an overlapping theme between how our country fights perceived threats, and how our bodies successfully or unsuccessfully fight disease. In short, I think Obama’s continued restraint and use of soft power is evidence of a good prognosis for the country.
In this analogy, our bombs and military are the most caustic weapons of the country’s immune system, akin to a fever of 105 degrees and impending sepsis. Does “nuke them all” work?
Diplomacy, espionage,...
Source: The Examining Room of Dr. Charles - August 16, 2014 Category: Primary Care Authors: drcharles Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
Microbiology Conferences September 2014
September 2014 September 01 - 04, 2014 Food Micro 2014Nantes, France Further information24th International ICFMH Conference, Food Micro 2014. From single cells to functions of consortia in food microbiology. Major topics will include fermented foods and beverage, foodborne pathogens, spoilage bacteria and non bacterial foodborne microorganisms (virus, parasites, molds...). SFM (French Society of Microbiology).Suggested reading: Real-Time PCR in Food Science Foodborne and Waterborne Bacterial Pathogens September 01 - 05, 2014 Total TranscriptionCambridge, UK Further informat...
Source: Microbiology Blog: The weblog for microbiologists. - August 4, 2014 Category: Microbiology Source Type: blogs
The value of influenza aerosol transmission experiments
A Harvard epidemiologist has been on a crusade to curtail aerosol transmission experiments on avian influenza H5N1 virus because he believes that they are too dangerous and of little value. Recently he has taken his arguments to the Op-Ed pages of the New York Times. While Dr. Lipsitch is certainly entitled to his opinion, his arguments do not support his conclusions.
In early 2013 Lipsitch was the subject of a piece in Harvard Magazine about avian influenza H5N1 virus entitled The Deadliest Virus. I have previously criticized this article in which Lipsitch calls for more stringent H5N1 policies. More recently Lipsi...
Source: virology blog - July 5, 2014 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: Basic virology Commentary Information aerosol avian H5N1 ferret fouchier gain of function influenza kawaoka transmission viral virus Source Type: blogs
TWiV 291: Ft. Collins abuzz with virologists
Vincent, Rich, and Kathy and their guests Clodagh and Ron recorded episode #291 of the science show This Week in Virology at the 33rd annual meeting of the American Society for Virology at Colorado State University in Ft. Collins, Colorado.
You can find TWiV #291 at www.twiv.tv. (Source: virology blog)
Source: virology blog - June 29, 2014 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: This Week in Virology adenovirus airborne transmission american society for virology asv avian influenza H5N1 Colorado State University ferret oncoprotein pandemic polymer transformation viral Source Type: blogs
Reconstruction of 1918-like avian influenza virus stirs concern over gain of function experiments
The gain of function experiments in which avian influenza H5N1 virus was provided the ability to transmit by aerosol among ferrets were met with substantial outrage from both the press and even some scientists; scenarios of lethal viruses escaping from the laboratory and killing millions proliferated (see examples here and here). The recent publication of new influenza virus gain of function studies from the laboratories of Kawaoka and Perez have unleashed another barrage of criticism. What exactly was done and what does it mean?
According to critics, virologists should not be entrusted to carry out gain of function studie...
Source: virology blog - June 20, 2014 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: Basic virology Information 1918 pandemic aerosol transmission avian influenza ferret gain of function H5N1 viral virus Source Type: blogs
Pharmacists and GPs complement each other – Keith Ridge
Dr Keith Ridge CBE, the Chief Pharmaceutical Officer for NHS England, gives his views on best practice in action:
One of the privileges of my job is being able to get out and about to see great clinical practice up close.
Last week was one of those opportunities arose when, together with the Chief Executive of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, Helen Gordon, I spent an enthralling few hours at the Old School Surgery in Fishponds, Bristol.
It’s a modern GP practice with a growing list of 15,000 situated in the heart of the local community.
Two things make the practice a bit different from the norm. Firstly, an independen...
Source: Fade Library - June 10, 2014 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: NHS England Tags: Chief Pharmaceutical Officer gp Guest blogs Home keith ridge News Pharmacists Source Type: blogs
TWiV 287: A potentially pandemic podcast
On episode #287 of the science show This Week in Virology, Matt Frieman updates the TWiV team on MERS-coronavirus, and joins in a discussion of whether we should further regulate research on potentially pandemic pathogens.
You can find TWiV #287 at www.twiv.tv. (Source: virology blog)
Source: virology blog - June 1, 2014 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: This Week in Virology aerosol transmission avian influenza H5N1 coronavirus ferret fouchier gain of function kawaoka laboratory accident MERS-CoV Middle East respiratory syndrome Nuremberg pandemic SARS viral Source Type: blogs
Unusual mortality pattern of 1918 influenza A virus
The 1918 influenza pandemic was particularly lethal, not only for the very young and the very old (as observed for typical influenza), but unexpectedly also for young adults, 20 to 40 years of age (pictured). It has been suggested that the increased lethality in young adults occurred because they lacked protective immunity that would be conferred by previous infection with a related virus. Reconstruction of the origins of the 1918 influenza virus provides support for this hypothesis.
Analysis of influenza virus genome sequences using a host-specific molecular clock together with seroarchaeology (analysis of stored sera fo...
Source: virology blog - May 2, 2014 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: Basic virology Information 1918 pandemic H1N1 H2N2 H3N8 HA influenza seroarchaeology vaccine viral virus Source Type: blogs
Virology question of the week: why a segmented viral genome?
This week’s virology question comes from Eric, who writes:
I’m working on an MPH and in one of my classes we are currently studying the influenza virus. I’d forgotten that the genome is in 8 separate parts. Curious, I’ve been searching but can’t find any information as to why that is?
What evolutionary advantage is conferred by having a segmented genome?
Terrific question! Here is my reply:
It’s always hard to have answers to ‘why’ questions such as yours. We answer these questions from a human-centric view of what viruses ‘need’. We might not be right. But I’d guess there ...
Source: virology blog - April 22, 2014 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: Basic virology Information evolution gene expression influenza reassortment segmented genome viral virus Source Type: blogs
I'm baaaaaack . . .
It was just too painful to type for a few days so I decided not to bite the bullet. People ask me what I do for a living and I say I'm a medical sociologist, but now I realize that a better job description is typist. Anyway . . .Millions of people are locked up for shoplifting and smoking pot and shooting dope, but if you steal $20 billion you're cool. I don't know how much of this you can read, but the new BMJ has a theme issue on the latest fraud of the century. The story is that in 2006, one Tom Jefferson led a Cochrane review* of neuraminidase inhibitors -- these are drugs to treat influenza, most notably oseltamavir (...
Source: Stayin' Alive - April 14, 2014 Category: American Health Source Type: blogs
Google's Big Data Flu Flop
This article in Science finds that the real-world predictive power has been pretty unimpressive. And the reasons behind this failure are not hard to understand, nor were they hard to predict. Anyone who's ever worked with clinical trial data will see this one coming:
The initial version of GFT was a particularly problematic marriage of big and small data. Essentially, the methodology was to find the best matches among 50 million search terms to fit 1152 data points. The odds of finding search terms that match the propensity of the flu but are structurally unrelated, and so do not predict the future, were quite high. GFT d...
Source: In the Pipeline - March 24, 2014 Category: Chemists Tags: Clinical Trials Source Type: blogs
