Advances in Early Diagnosis
This article shows how some surprising technologies are improving the early detection of several conditions. Nutromics continuously monitors the delivery of an antibiotic used to treat sepsis. Eye-tracking from Tobii is used by several of its clients to detect certain kinds of autism as early as twelve months of age. And Cordio Medical is detecting oncoming congestive heart failure (CHF) three weeks in advance of an incident.
Minimally Invasive Monitoring Provides Real-Time Measurements
Although doctors learn what people have in their bodies most often through blood tests, technologies developed over the past few decades c...
Source: EMR and HIPAA - May 18, 2023 Category: Information Technology Authors: Andy Oram Tags: AI/Machine Learning Clinical Health IT Company Healthcare IT Telemedicine and Remote Monitoring ADOS Agim Beshiri AI Diagnosis Autism CHF Cordio Medical Eye Tracking Eye Tracking Sensors Healthcare Sensors HearO Karen Pierce Source Type: blogs
Clean Your Stuff
Alan starts each shift with a ritual of cleaning. I should be clear that I don’t use the word ritual as ainside the ambulance by xiaozhuli flickr literary device. Alan’s morning ambulance cleaning is as systematic and well thought out as any religious ceremony. Over the course of a few months of working together I learned the routine well.
Checking through my medical kit I’d observe him start at the back doors of the rig, spraying and wiping the outside door handles and then opening the doors and wiping the insides. Then he would climb inside wiping handles, pram rails and anything people might habitually grab for...
Source: The EMT Spot - November 7, 2022 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Steve Whitehead Tags: EMT Source Type: blogs
Surface Coating Rapidly Kills Pathogens, Lasts Months
A team at the University of Michigan has developed a coating for frequently touched surfaces that can rapidly kill a wide array of pathogens, including MRSA and SARS-CoV-2. The technology incorporates polyurethane that contains crosslinked compounds from essential oils with wide-spectrum anti-microbial action. The researchers fine-tuned the crosslinking process so that the oils were available to kill microbes but not sufficiently free to evaporate rapidly. Unlike anti-microbial surface coatings that are based on metals, such as copper or zinc, the new coating can kill microbes quite fast, in as little as two minutes. Howev...
Source: Medgadget - September 6, 2022 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Conn Hastings Tags: Materials Medicine Public Health umich Source Type: blogs
From MARC Student to MacArthur Fellow
Dr. Víctor J. Torres. Credit: Keenan Lacey, Ph.D.
“I study the dance between a bacterium and its host. If we can decode the secrets of that dance—how the pathogen causes disease, and how the host fights back—we might be able to take advantage of vulnerabilities to improve our ability to combat infections,” says Víctor J. Torres, Ph.D., the C. V. Starr Professor of Microbiology at the New York University (NYU) Grossman School of Medicine in New York City.
Discovering and Pursuing a Passion for Science
Growing up, Dr. Torres never would have imagined his highly successful scientific career, especially sinc...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - May 25, 2022 Category: Research Authors: Chrissa Chverchko Tags: Being a Scientist Injury and Illness Bacteria Infectious Diseases Profiles Source Type: blogs
Laser Kills Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria for Wound and Blood Decontamination
Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have developed an ultrashort-pulse laser that can kill multidrug-resistant bacteria and their spores, and without damaging human cells. The laser works by vibrating and breaking protein structures within the bacterial cell, resulting in biochemical disruption and eventual death. The researchers hope that the technique could prove useful in decontaminating wounds and blood products.
Killing multidrug-resistant bacteria is no mean feat, as many of the common antibiotics we use are no longer effective against them. General antibacterial strategies that cou...
Source: Medgadget - November 29, 2021 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Conn Hastings Tags: Medicine Military Medicine Plastic Surgery Source Type: blogs
Antibiotic Combined with Neutrophil Attractant
Researchers at Monash University in Australia and Harvard University have developed a new treatment for infections caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria. To achieve this, they attached a chemoattractant to an antibiotic drug molecule, meaning that it attracts neutrophils to the site of an infection and primes them to kill the bacteria. The two-pronged technique could give clinicians an edge for a variety of treatment-resistant infections.
Treatment-resistant bacteria are a growing problem. New antibiotics are thin on the ground, and our current stock of treatments is becoming less effective as new resistant bac...
Source: Medgadget - October 25, 2021 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Conn Hastings Tags: Medicine Public Health Source Type: blogs
Treatment of infective endocarditis
Discussion of whole list of options of antimicrobials for different varieties of endocarditis is quite a large topic. This discussion is only a broad outline of the antimicrobial treatment of infective endocarditis, meant mainly for exam purpose rather than actual clinical treatment. References to more detailed guidelines have been provided for those who wish to learn more.
Inoculum Effect
High microbial density as in vegetations cause less antimicrobial activity of some antimicrobial agents. This is known as inoculum effect and has been documented with β-lactams and glycopeptides but not linezolid, in the treatment of St...
Source: Cardiophile MD - July 16, 2021 Category: Cardiology Authors: Prof. Dr. Johnson Francis Tags: Cardiology Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, April 19th 2021
In conclusion, airway pressure treatment and adherence are independently associated with lower odds of incident AD diagnoses in older adults. Results suggest that treatment of OSA may reduce risk of subsequent dementia. (Source: Fight Aging!)
Source: Fight Aging! - April 18, 2021 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
COVID-19 Data Shows the Importance of Thymic Atrophy in Aging
The decline of the immune system is of great importance in aging. Vulnerability to infection, a decreased surveillance of senescent cells and cancerous cells, and growing chronic inflammation all take their toll. A sizable fraction of this problem stems from the diminished supply of new T cells of the adaptive immune system. T cells begin life as thymocytes in the bone marrow, then migrate to the thymus where they mature. Unfortunately, the thymus atrophies with age, a process known as thymic involution, in which active tissue is replaced by fat. The T cell supply falters, and as a result the existing T cell population bec...
Source: Fight Aging! - April 15, 2021 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
Beyond CBD: Here come the other cannabinoids, but where ’s the evidence?
In the span of a few years, the component of cannabis called CBD (cannabidiol) went from being a relatively obscure molecule to a healthcare fad that has swept the world, spawning billions in sales, millions of users, CBD workout clothing, pillowcases, hamburgers, ice cream — you name it. The concerns of such a rapid adoption are that enthusiasm might be soaring high above the actual science, and that there are safety issues, such as drug interactions, that are given short shrift in the enthusiasm to treat chronic pain, insomnia, anxiety, and many of the other conditions that CBD is believed to help alleviate.
Cannabis, ...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - March 23, 2021 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Peter Grinspoon, MD Tags: Complementary and alternative medicine Drugs and Supplements Fatigue Marijuana Pain Management Source Type: blogs
UV Disinfection of Medical Equipment: Interview with Jeremy Starkweather, President of UV-Concepts
With the COVID-19 pandemic set to continue for the foreseeable future, efforts to deal with the virus in healthcare facilities are of the utmost importance. Reducing viral transmission will protect patients and clinicians alike. A key part of this is disinfecting frequently touched surfaces, including those of portable medical equipment such as wheelchairs.
Medgadget recently featured the UV-C Enclosure from UV-Concepts, an Englewood, Colorado firm. The device acts to disinfect medical equipment through short wavelength UV light, and can process even large items such as a wheelchair. Along with SARS-CoV-2, the syste...
Source: Medgadget - August 14, 2020 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Conn Hastings Tags: Exclusive Medicine Public Health Source Type: blogs
Part One: Tapping the Wrist
The wrist is not commonly aspirated in the emergency department, but emergent arthrocentesis may be indicated for extreme or concerning cases, and tapping the wrist to determine the underlying pathology or relieve pain may be of great value. The synovial fluid from the joint space can be analyzed for crystals, infection, and blood. This information may help determine the overall plan and aid in decision-making and consultation. The ultimate treatment plan may include admission, intravenous antibiotics, multiple aspirations, and even surgical washout.A swollen, painful wrist that is hot to the touch is concerning for sep...
Source: The Procedural Pause - April 1, 2020 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs
40 years of ward attending
January 1, 1980 I walked onto the 7th floor of the old North Hospital at the Medical College of Virginia to make rounds as the attending physician. I had spent much time there as an intern and resident, but now I had a new role.
As I reflect on 40 years and probably between 12 and 15 years of total time making rounds, I first feel fortunate that I quickly discovered that my vocation was also my avocation. Now while I have retired from administrative responsibilities, I still devote 3.5 months each year to rounding with students, interns and residents. And each rotation still brings out the same excitement of going to t...
Source: DB's Medical Rants - January 2, 2020 Category: Internal Medicine Authors: rcentor Tags: Medical Rants Source Type: blogs
Evacuating the Nefarious Subungual Hematomas
Subungual hematomas can be a terror. They are painful, ugly-looking, nefarious, and sometimes confusing. The ultimate goal is to drain the accumulated blood and relieve the painful pressure.The best intervention is easy and straightforward: Leave the nail in place, and evacuate the blood under it. (Hand Surg. 2012;17[1]:151; Am J Emerg Med. 2006;24[7]:875; Emerg Med J. 2003;20[1]:65, http://bit.ly/2mHV1cO.) Then, provide excellent discharge information without prescribing antibiotics.A subungual hematoma in a 21-year-old man who slammed his thumb in a car door about 12 hours before ED arrival. Photo ...
Source: The Procedural Pause - November 1, 2019 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs
Self-Sterilizing Polymer to Reduce Healthcare-Acquired Infections
Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a new nanostructured polymer that can kill many different strains of bacteria and viruses within minutes. Their work demonstrates that the unique chemical modifications on the polymer allow it to kill bacteria like E. coli, along with the “superbug” methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), and that the polymer can be exposed to bacteria multiple times and still remain effective. This exciting development can be used as a method to actively disinfect surfaces to help reduce hospital-acquired infections, which kill over 25,000 Americans each year....
Source: Medgadget - September 23, 2019 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Siavash Parkhideh Tags: Materials Public Health Source Type: blogs
