Efforts Continue to Use COVID-19 as a Learning Moment Regarding the Costs of Aging
Near everyone who dies from the SARS-Cov-2 virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic is old. The old are vulnerable firstly because their immune systems are much diminished in effectiveness, and secondly because the state of chronic inflammation characteristic of old age makes the cytokine storm that causes much of the SARS-Cov-2 mortality more likely and more severe.
Members of the medical research community focused on intervention in the aging process - a way to treat all age-related conditions by addressing their underlying causes - are attempting to use the attention given to COVID-19 to educate the public and...
Source: Fight Aging! - July 17, 2020 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
The Trump COVID Legacy: Bad Timing. Lots of Questions. Few Answers.
By MIKE MAGEE, MD
What a strange irony. Trump decides, full-bravado, to challenge China to a trade war just months before China unwittingly hatches a virulent pandemic that collapses our deeply segmented health care system and our economy simultaneously. And rather than cry “Uncle”, our President then fires the WHO just as their experts are heading to China to attempt to unravel the mystery of COVID-19.
With the ongoing, cascading catastrophe of Trump’s mishandling of COVID-19, it is easy to lose sight that the next pandemic (fueled by global warming, global trade, and human and animal migration) is just around...
Source: The Health Care Blog - July 16, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Christina Liu Tags: COVID-19 Health Policy Politics Mike Magee Trump Source Type: blogs
A public health update on COVID-19 [PODCAST]
“Over the last 100 years, the U.S. has had to respond to five avian flu pandemics. The most severe was the 1918 avian influenza infecting 1/3 of the world ’s population and killing 650,000 Americans. It was also the last time wide-spread containment, mitigation, and isolation strategies were used in the U.S. Seldom mentioned about the […]Find jobs at Careers by KevinMD.com. Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now. Learn more. (Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog)
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - July 5, 2020 Category: General Medicine Authors: < span itemprop="author" > < a href="https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/the-podcast-by-kevinmd" rel="tag" > The Podcast by KevinMD < /a > < /span > Tags: Podcast COVID-19 coronavirus Infectious Disease Public Health & Policy Source Type: blogs
TWiV 634: 1000 hours of the sunlight of TWiV
TWiV reviews a new H1N1 swine influenza virus from China with pandemic potential, Ad5 vectored SARS-CoV-2 oral vaccine candidate, Operation Warp Speed vaccine candidates, FDA guidance on vaccine approval, and answer listener email. Click arrow to playDownload TWiV 634 (72 MB .mp3, 120 min)Subscribe (free): iTunes, Google Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiV! Show notes at microbe.tv/twiv (Source: virology blog)
Source: virology blog - July 2, 2020 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: This Week in Virology adenovirus COVID-19 FDA vaccine guidance Operation Warp Speed SARS-CoV-2 viral viruses Source Type: blogs
I Joined Twitter to Teach
I joined Twitter to teach. In May 2016, I started tweeting “questions of the day” for my inpatient hospital medicine team at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital from @RJmdphilly. #GreenQOD (“Green” is our teaching service, and “QOD” for question of the day) was born in the days of only 140 characters per tweet (now expanded to 280), which placed a potentially daunting onus on brevity in phrasing—and answering—clinical questions.
My inaugural question? “What’s the real story with beta blockers in reactive airway disease? If increase risk is real, how do you balance risk/benefit?”
Rules of t...
Source: Academic Medicine Blog - June 30, 2020 Category: Universities & Medical Training Authors: Guest Author Tags: Featured Guest Perspective social media teaching Twitter Source Type: blogs
Breathalyzer to Detect COVID-19 in Seconds
Being able to tell, in a matter of seconds, whether someone is infected with the virus that causes COVID-19 would certainly help put a halt to the ongoing pandemic. Existing tests typically involve a deep nasal swab to obtain enough fluid sample, which has to be transferred to a laboratory machine for processing, with the results usually available many hours or even days after. There are five minute tests on the market, but those still require an expensive machine at each testing site.
Now, researchers at Ohio State University have developed and are testing a breathalyzer that can detect metabolites related to a COVID-1...
Source: Medgadget - June 10, 2020 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Medgadget Editors Tags: Diagnostics Medicine Pathology Public Health Source Type: blogs
Planning for Future Pandemics Including Smallpox Outbreaks: Interview with Dr. Phil Gomez, CEO, SIGA Technologies
The COVID-19 pandemic has had significant global consequences, with healthcare systems stretched to their limits, a growing death toll, and economic devastation as economies came grinding to a halt.
The pandemic
and its aftereffects will be with us for some time to come, but this isn’t the
first pandemic humanity has weathered, and it won’t be the last. Given accelerating
advances in medical technology, there is plenty to discuss in terms of how we
can be better prepared for the next infectious disease event.
While COVID-19 is widely thought to have arisen naturally through transmission between an animal and a hu...
Source: Medgadget - May 27, 2020 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Conn Hastings Tags: Exclusive Medicine Public Health Source Type: blogs
Microfluidic Test for Viral Antibodies Takes Just 20 Minutes
Researchers at Hokkaido University in Japan have developed a microfluidic test that can detect antibodies against a viral infection. So far, the test has been optimized to detect avian flu, but could be adapted to detect antibodies against the virus causing COVID-19. The device can provide a result in as little as 20 minutes and requires only 2 microliters of serum to run.
Antibody
tests have been proposed as a way to determine how many people have been
exposed to COVID-19, and may help us to understand how far the virus has spread.
Given that many infected people are asymptomatic, they may never be recorded as
infected...
Source: Medgadget - May 27, 2020 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Conn Hastings Tags: Diagnostics Materials Medicine Public Health Source Type: blogs
How to Practice High-Quality Telemedicine in the Era of COVID-19
By ANISH MEHTA, MD
My practice received its first question about coronavirus from a patient on January 28, 2020. Though there were over 200 deaths reported in China by that time, no one could have imagined how drastically this would come to disrupt our lives at home.
Thankfully, I had a head start.
As a doctor at an integrated telemedicine and primary care practice in New York City, nearly two out of every three of my medical encounters that month was already virtual.
I spent much of January caring for patients who had contracted seasonal viruses, like influenza or norovirus (i.e. the stomach flu). My patients ...
Source: The Health Care Blog - May 26, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Christina Liu Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, May 25th 2020
In conclusion, our results suggest a previously unknown mechanism whereby the canonical NF-κB cascade and a mitochondrial fission pathway interdependently regulate endothelial inflammation.
Lin28 as a Target for Nerve Regeneration
https://www.fightaging.org/archives/2020/05/lin28-as-a-target-for-nerve-regeneration/
Researchers here show that the gene Lin28 regulates axon regrowth. In mice, raised levels of Lin28 produce greater regeneration of nerve injuries. Past research has investigated Lin28 from the standpoint of producing a more general improvement in regenerative capacity. It improves mitochondr...
Source: Fight Aging! - May 24, 2020 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
The New Normal is Still Unknown, on Earth as it is in Healthcare
By HANS DUVEFELT, MD
From the vantage point of our self-quarantined shrunken universes, we cannot see even the immediate future, let alone what our personal and professional lives will look like some years from now.
Factories are closed, luxury department stores are in bankruptcy, hospitals have stopped performing elective procedures and patients are having their heart attacks at home, unattended by medical professionals. New York office workers may continue to work from home while skyscrapers stand empty and city tax revenues evaporate.
Quarantined and furloughed families are planting gardens and cooking at h...
Source: The Health Care Blog - May 22, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Christina Liu Tags: COVID-19 Medical Practice Hans Duvefelt Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, May 18th 2020
This study provides direct evidence for the contribution of gut microbiota to the cognitive decline during normal aging and suggests that restoring microbiota homeostasis in the elderly may improve cognitive function.
On Nutraceutical Senolytics
https://www.fightaging.org/archives/2020/05/on-nutraceutical-senolytics/
Nutraceuticals are compounds derived from foods, usually plants. In principle one can find useful therapies in the natural world, taking the approach of identifying interesting molecules and refining them to a greater potency than naturally occurs in order to produce a usefully large therap...
Source: Fight Aging! - May 17, 2020 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
And now for some good news on health
When it comes to health concerns, the COVID-19 pandemic is top of mind for most people right now. And that’s for good reason.
But there is some very good non-COVID health news that may not be getting the attention it deserves. According to the CDC, the rates of six of the top 10 causes of death in this country, which account for about three-quarters of all deaths, have been declining. That’s remarkable. And these improvements are occurring despite an aging population and an obesity epidemic that affects several health conditions.
Six positive health trends
Let’s look at the trends in these conditions and their rank ...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - May 15, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Robert H. Shmerling, MD Tags: Cancer Health Health trends Heart Health Source Type: blogs
SENS Research Foundation on COVID-19 and Aging
SENS Research Foundation here explains why COVID-19, like near all infectious disease, is far worse for the old. It isn't just a matter of the decline of immune function, though that is the bulk of it. Older people have a greater burden of damage and dysfunction that makes them less resilient in many other ways. Rising mortality due to infectious disease with age is the result of both (a) a greater likelihood of severe infection due to immune aging, and (b) that the individual is less likely to survive a severe infection due to general frailty. Tens of thousands die every year in the US from seasonal influenza; that is lar...
Source: Fight Aging! - May 11, 2020 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, May 4th 2020
The objective is to start treating chronic diseases from the root and not the symptoms of the disease. As we are starting to enroll patients in "senolytics-clinical trials," it will be imperative to assess if senolysis efficiently targets the primary cause of disease or if it works best in combination with other drugs. Additional basic science research is required to address the fundamental role of senescent cells, especially in the established contexts of disease.
Notes on Self-Experimentation with Sex Steroid Ablation for Regrowth of the Thymus
https://www.fightaging.org/archives/2020/04/notes-on-self-experi...
Source: Fight Aging! - May 3, 2020 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
