Vaccine Myocarditis Update
BY ANISH KOKA
The European Medicines Agency decided on July 19, 2021 that myocarditis and pericarditis be added to the list of adverse effects of both messenger RNA (mRNA) based vaccines (BNT162b2 [Pfizer-BioNTech] and mrna-1273 [Moderna]) against COVID-19. This advice was based on numerous reports of myocarditis that followed a clinical pattern that strongly suggested a causal link between these particular vaccines and myocarditis/pericarditis. The adverse events that appeared to be predominantly in young men typically occurred within a week after injection, and were clustered after the second dose of the vaccine serie...
Source: The Health Care Blog - September 7, 2022 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Ryan Bose-Roy Tags: COVID-19 Health Policy Uncategorized Anish Koka cardiology Source Type: blogs
When You Are Warned This Is An Obvious Risk To Be Avoided.
This appeared last week:GPs warned to avoid intimate examinations of kids over telehealthDoctors say it is important children learn it is never appropriate to expose their genitalia to a camera25th August 2022BySiobhan CalafioreIntimate examinations of children via telehealth might inadvertently increase the risk of online sexual grooming, GPs are being warned.Asking a child to undress in front of a phone or computer camera, even for a medical examination with a parent present, may normalise the type of behaviour that sexual predators would encourage, according to paediatric endocrinologists writing in theJournal of Paedia...
Source: Australian Health Information Technology - September 1, 2022 Category: Information Technology Authors: Dr David G More MB PhD Source Type: blogs
Bioengineered Cornea Restores Sight
Scientists at Linköping University in Sweden have developed a collagen-based corneal implant that can restore sight to blind patients with corneal disease. The breakthrough could pave the way for such patients to receive effective treatment for corneal disease without requiring a corneal transplant from a human donor. There is a shortage of donor corneas, so creating an off-the-shelf alternative could be very useful.
The bioengineered cornea was created using highly purified collagen derived from pig skin, a byproduct of the food industry. The researchers developed a method to double crosslink the purified collagen, u...
Source: Medgadget - August 18, 2022 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Conn Hastings Tags: Materials Ophthalmology keratoconus liu_universitet LiU_university Source Type: blogs
How Common Has Private Currency Been?
Lawrence H. WhiteRecently, an investment advisor and Bitcoin proponenttweeted the claim that “[f]or most of human history” the “[s]eparation of money and state was the norm, even if the state stamped their ruler’s face on the coin.” Some strong disagreement (and some strong support) followed the tweet. The mostcategorical criticism asserted: “Money is and always has been a creation of government. ” A somewhat milder challenge asserted that “Private moneys have seldom been main media of exchange.”First, let ’s clarify the object of the discussion. If we define “money” the way that economist...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - August 16, 2022 Category: American Health Authors: Lawrence H. White Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, August 8th 2022
In conclusion, aging research will benefit from a better definition of how specific regulators map onto age-dependent change, considered on a phenotype-by-phenotype basis. Resolving some of these key questions will shed more light on how tractable (or intractable) the biology of aging is.
Does Acarbose Extend Life in Short Lived Species via Gut Microbiome Changes?
https://www.fightaging.org/archives/2022/08/does-acarbose-extend-life-in-short-lived-species-via-gut-microbiome-changes/
Acarbose is one of a few diabetes medications shown to modestly slow aging in short-lived species. Researchers here take a...
Source: Fight Aging! - August 7, 2022 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
Interviews on Aspects of Aging with Judith Campisi and Dena Dubal
Today I'll point out a pair of interviews with researchers Judith Campisi and Dena Dubal, in which they discuss quite different aspects of aging. Campisi's research has a heavy focus on cellular senescence in aging. Cells become senescent constantly in the body, most because they hit the Hayflick limit on replication imposed upon the somatic cells that are the overwhelming majority of cells in our tissues. Cells can also become senescent because of damage, or encouraged into senescence by the signaling of other, nearby senescent cells. Once senescent, cells are normally quickly removed by the immune system or programmed ce...
Source: Fight Aging! - August 4, 2022 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs
Novartis' Sandoz Is Back In The Insulin Biosims Market. Can It Succeed?
Back in December 2018, the Sandoz division of Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis announced (see the full announcementHERE) " Sandoz enters into commercialization and supply agreement for insulin biosimilars " . It also revealed that Sandoz had entered a " commercialization and supply agreement with Gan& Lee " which it added was " a leading insulin supplier headquartered in China with more than 20 years ' experience in insulins and production capacity with attractive cost of goods sold (COGS) structures " .Few Americans have ever heard of Gan& Lee, although this year, at the American Diabetes Association ' s 82nd S...
Source: Scott's Web Log - July 22, 2022 Category: Endocrinology Tags: insulin analogs 2022 Biosimilar biosimilars generics insulin analogues Novartis Sandoz Source Type: blogs
Biopsychological pain management is not enough
I recently read a preprint of an editorial for Pain, the IASP journal. It was written by Prof Michael Nicholas, and the title reads “The biopsychosocial model of pain 40 years on: time for a reappraisal?” The paper outlines when and how pain became conceptualised within a biopsychosocial framework by the pioneers of interprofessional pain management: John Loeser (1982) and Gordon Waddell (1984). Nicholas points out the arguments against a biopsychosocial model with some people considering that despite it being a “holistic” framework, it often gets applied in a biomedical and psychological way. In ot...
Source: HealthSkills Weblog - July 17, 2022 Category: Anesthesiology Authors: BronnieLennoxThompson Tags: Back pain Chronic pain Coping strategies Interdisciplinary teams Low back pain Motivation Occupational therapy Physiotherapy Psychology Science in practice Therapeutic approaches biopsychosocial pain management Research Source Type: blogs
The Macro View – Health, Economics, and Politics and the Big Picture. What I Am Watching Here And Abroad.
July 14, 2022 Edition-----The biggest news this week was the assassination of the ex-PM of Japan – Shinzo Abe – who was a good friend to OZ incidentally.In the US we have had a wind-up to a busy summit season – NATO etc – and the ongoing war in Ukraine which is becoming a deepening, protracted and horrible situation which it seems hard to resolve sadly.In the UK Boris is out but not gone and the battle for the succession is off and rolling.In OZ we have Albo back and we need to work out what to mitigate these various natural disasters and actually get on with it!!!! The response has been pathetic so far I reckon!--...
Source: Australian Health Information Technology - July 14, 2022 Category: Information Technology Authors: Dr David G More MB PhD Source Type: blogs
7 Small Ways to Make This The Happiest Summer of Your Life
“Then followed that beautiful season… Summer… Filled was the air with a dreamy and magical light; and the landscape lay as if new created in all the freshness of childhood.”
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Summer is here in full bloom after what was, at least up here in Sweden, a long and cold winter and spring.
So this week I’d like to share 7 small and simple tips that you can use to create a happier summer – and rest of the year – for yourself.
1. Go slow.
You’ll be less stressed and you’ll enjoy all the smells, the sights and people in your summer even more.
So slow down a bit and use all y...
Source: Practical Happiness and Awesomeness Advice That Works | The Positivity Blog - July 13, 2022 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Henrik Edberg Tags: Happiness Personal Development Source Type: blogs
Case of the Week 687
This week ' s case is generously donated by Dr. Ioana Bujila of the Public Health Agency of Sweden. The patient is a 67 year old woman from Gabon. Blood was examined by direct mount and Giemsa-stained blood films, and the following were identified:These objects are approximately 228 micrometers in length.What is your diagnosis? Are there any additional laboratory analyses that are recommended in this case? (Source: Creepy Dreadful Wonderful Parasites)
Source: Creepy Dreadful Wonderful Parasites - June 27, 2022 Category: Parasitology Source Type: blogs
Answer to Case 687
Answer toParasite Case of the Week 687: Loa loaAs noted by Florida Fan, @JuanCGabaldon, Idzi P, Ulrike E. Zelck, Priyanka Gupta, and others, the video clearly shows this to be a sheathed microfilaria, and the Giemsa smear shows the column of nuclei extending all the way to the tip of the tail, thus allowing us to make an identification of Loa loa. The patient ' s travel history (Gabon) also fits with this identification. As Idzi P. mentioned, I like to teach my students that nuclei flow-a flow-a to the tip inLoa loa -a fun learning aid! Also check out thisbeautiful infographic by @cullen_lilley f...
Source: Creepy Dreadful Wonderful Parasites - June 26, 2022 Category: Parasitology Source Type: blogs
Polymer Brushes Capture and Release Proteins on Demand
Researchers at the Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden have developed a “polymer brush” system that can capture and release proteins on using electrical stimulation. Protein therapeutics are increasingly in demand, but creating them efficiently is still a challenge. Isolating therapeutic proteins from the liquid surrounding the cells used to produce them in biotechnological processes is difficult and inefficient, but the researchers behind this latest technology hope that the new technique will form an efficient and gentle way to achieve this. In addition, another exciting application may lie in controlled rele...
Source: Medgadget - June 22, 2022 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Conn Hastings Tags: Materials Medicine chalmersuniv Source Type: blogs
Say it again:
This study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences finds that, in the context of the Covid 19 pandemic, " a single-payer universal healthcare system would have saved 212,000 lives in 2020 alone. We also calculated that US$105.6 billion of medical expenses associated with COVID-19 hospitalization could have been averted by a Medicare for All system. " This is not exactly news. Health services researchers have been making these sorts of calculations for decades, for as long as I ' ve even been on the periphery of the business, and it always comes out the same. With a universal single payer system we can:I...
Source: Stayin' Alive - June 14, 2022 Category: American Health Source Type: blogs
COVID-19 at Work: Exposing How Risk Is Assessed and Its Consequences in England and Sweden
Peter Andersson (University of Gothenburg), Tonia Novitz (University of Bristol), COVID-19 at Work: Exposing How Risk Is Assessed and Its Consequences in England and Sweden, SSRN (2022): The crisis which arose suddenly at the beginning of 2020 relating to coronavirus... (Source: HealthLawProf Blog)
Source: HealthLawProf Blog - June 11, 2022 Category: Medical Law Authors: Katharine Van Tassel Source Type: blogs
