Vidcast:  https://www.instagram.com/p/Cw9dc3sOeoJ/

Recall by: CPSC; Prime-Line

Problem:  Defender Security, Gate-House and Reliabilt branded glass doorknobs tend to crack and separate from their attachment assemblies leaking to lacerations.

Sold:  About 167,000 of these doorknobs were sold in the US, and about 10,265 were sold in Canada at home improvement stores nationwide and online at Amazon.com, Wayfair.com and other websites.

Actions:  Immediately remove these recalled doorknobs and contact Prime-Line at 1-800-729-6123 or via email at [email protected] to receive a full refund.

https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2023/Prime-Line-Recalls-Glass-Doorknobs-Due-to-Laceration-Hazard

#glassdoorknob #DefenderSecurity #GateHouse #Reliabilt #cracking #lacerations #recall

Vidcast:  https://www.instagram.com/p/Cw9ceazuU3q/

Recall by: CPSC; TOMY

Problem:  Boon Flair highchairs manufactured before September 2016 and all Boon Flair Elite highchairs have seats that detach from their bases due to loosening bolts.

Sold: About 83,000 high chairs were sold in the US, and about 2,850 were sold in Canada at Bed Bath & Beyond, Target, Toys ‘R’ Us, and other stores nationwide, and online at Amazon.com, Target.com, Walmart.com, and BedBathAndBeyond.com. 

Actions: Immediately stop using these highchairs and contact TOMY at 1-866-725-4407 to receive a free repair kit consisting of bolts and safety washers.

https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2023/TOMY-Recalls-Boon-Flair-and-Flair-Elite-Highchairs-Due-to-Fall-Hazard

#boonflair #highchairs #seats #falls #injuries #children #recall

Vidcast:  https://www.instagram.com/p/Cw9ae12u8eu/

Recall by: CPSC; Bombardier Recreational Products

Problem: All model year 2023 Ski-Doo Freeride and Summit model snowmobiles and all Lynx Shredder model snowmobiles equipped with an 850E-TEC Turbo R Engine have leaky main injector fuel return hoses.  This creates fire and burn hazards.

Sold: About 4,070 of these snowmobiles were sold in the US, and (In about 3,100 were sold in Canada.

Actions:   Stop riding these recalled snowmobiles, and contact Ski-Doo and Lynx dealers or Bombardier to schedule a free inspection and repair.  For more information, contact the company at 1-888-272-9222.

https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2023/Bombardier-Recreational-Products-BRP-Recalls-Ski-Doo-and-Lynx-Snowmobiles-Due-to-Fire-Hazard-Recall-Alert

#skidoo #lynx #snowmobiles #fuelleak #fire #burns #recall

Vidcast:  https://www.instagram.com/p/Cw9ZmUyub67/

Recall by: CPSC; Polaris Industries

Problem: The handlebars hooks on Polaris Snowmobiles, Model Year 2022-2023 MATRYX PRO RMK and MATRYX RMK KHAOS, create puncture hazards to the rider’s body should a crash occur.

Sold: About 15,900 of these snowmobiles were sold in the US, and about 7,040 were sold in Canada.  

Actions:  Stop riding these snowmobiles and contact a Polaris dealer to schedule a free repair.  In the alternative, you may contact Polaris by calling 1-800-765-2747 to receive free replacement safe handlebar hooks that you may install yourself.

https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2023/Polaris-Recalls-MATRYX-PRO-RMK-and-MATRYX-RMK-KHAOS-Snowmobiles-Due-to-Serious-Injury-Hazard-Recall-Alert

#polaris #snowmobile #handlebar #hook #injury #recall

Vidcast: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cw8hX2cRhTL/

With new CoVid subvariants and other viruses appearing each month, we need faster assays for identifying and quantitating viruses.   UCLA laboratory scientists have answered that call by developing a novel viral assay using advanced optics and machine learning.  Rather than employing the time-consuming staining of samples and manual counting of viral placques, this assay employs advanced time-lapse holographic imaging and artificial intelligence-powered counting techniques.  This new system reliably analyses samples in less than half the time with enhanced precision.  Look for commercial applications of these techniques soon.

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-08-method-optics-ai-viruses-faster.html

#viruses #assay #holographics #ai #machinelearning

With new CoVid subvariants and other viruses appearing each month, we need faster assays for identifying and quantitating viruses.   UCLA laboratory scientists have answered that call by developing a novel viral assay using advanced optics and machine learning.  Rather than employing the time-consuming staining of samples and manual counting of viral placques, this assay employs advanced time-lapse holographic imaging and artificial intelligence-powered counting techniques.  This new system reliably analyses samples in less than half the time with enhanced precision.  Look for commercial applications of these techniques soon.

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-08-method-optics-ai-viruses-faster.html

#viruses #assay #holographics #ai #machinelearning

Vidcast:  https://www.instagram.com/p/Cw8gWQmRmp_/

It’s all over the news.  President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act is initiating the practice whereby the US government will negotiate the prices it pays to buy drugs from our nation’s pharmaceutical manufacturers and provides to seniors with Medicare insurance.  The Act also caps the monthly price of insulin at $35, covers the costs of all senior vaccines including the pricey Shingles vaccines, and extracts rebates from Big Pharma for their prices that rise faster than inflation.

Fact is that many countries around the world already negotiate drug prices with Big Pharma, and it effects prices you pay at the drugstore big time.  Let’s look at some medications you constantly hear hawked on TV, and compare the prices you’re charged versus those our neighbors to the north pay.

Ozempic, semaglutide, the diabetes and diet drug, is nearly one-third the price.  Humalog and Novalog insulin is nearly 5 times cheaper.  Epipen is half as expensive.  And it goes on and on.  All the result of drug price negotiations.

The solution isn’t buying our drugs from Canada.  The solution is getting our own drug prices in line.  Fortunately, we currently have a government that is trying to do just that.

 https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/10/14/fact-sheet-president-biden-takes-action-to-lower-health-care-and-prescription-drug-costs-for-americans/

https://medcitynews.com/2023/09/us-prescription-drug-costs-more-than-double-those-in-canada/

#bigpharma #price #canada #inflationreductionact #biden #politics

Vidcast:  https://www.instagram.com/p/Cw8fKYcxZmy/

British neuropsychiatric researchers have identified two biochemical markers that accompany the handicapping cognitive impairments associated with Long CoVid.  Studying 1,837 hospitalized CoVid patients on a longitudinal basis, they discovered that elevated fibrinogen and D-dimer levels in such patients predict the development of CoVid “brain fog” 6 and 12 months later.  Fibrinogen is blood clot precursor, and D-dimer is a byproduct of blood clot dissolution.  The levels of these proteins are both elevated during CoVid in relation to a measure of inflammation, C-reactive protein.  We already know that CoVid infections tend to hyper stimulate both blood clotting and inflammation, and this latest finding suggests that brain damage with associated CoVid brain fog is somehow related to clotting overactivity.  Controlling this process may disperse the fog…..someday soon.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-023-02525-y

#CoVid #brainfog #cognitive #longCovid #clotting #inflammation #fibrinogen #ddimer

Vidcast:  https://www.instagram.com/p/Cw8eM3KRGhF/

To take the guesswork out of spinal fusion surgery, New Zealand bioengineers have developed an implantable strain gauge that can measure the forces on the metallic devices used to prevent spinal column movement.  If the spinal fusion is functional, there should be measurable strain, and this device provides quantitative evidence before the surgery is complete and the patient’s incision is closed. Then, over ensuing weeks and months, the gauge telemetrically demonstrates the continued integrity of the fusion without the need for an internal battery.  The device should be ready for commercialization next year, and it may also be adapted to monitor joint prostheses in the hip and knee……someday soon.

https://www.canterbury.ac.nz/news/2023/taking-the-guess-work-out-of-spinal-surgery.html

#spine #fusion #gauge #strain #implant #telemetry

Vidcast:  https://www.instagram.com/p/Cw8dE74Rp4K/

Meta-analyses of new cancer drugs and the clinicians conducting them are twice as likely to report positive results when these studies and authors are funded by the companies manufacturing these medications.  Investigators at UC-San Francisco report these findings after evaluating 93 meta-analysis studies.

Eighty-one percent of the 21 studies with pharma-funded authors and 78% of the pharma funded studies reported positive results compared with only 48% of those studies or authors without pharma funding.  Furthermore, those studies and authors with non-industry funding showed the lowest percentages of positive findings and the highest percentages of equivocal or frankly negative conclusions about the tested drugs.

The bottom line: the funding sources of studies and investigators could affect the outcome of the studies.  They shouldn’t but they could.  As with all scientific studies, the credibility gold standard is confirmation by subsequent investigations. 

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2806376

#funding #pharma #metaanalysis #credibility #oncology

Vidcast:  https://www.instagram.com/p/Cw8cAjORhXJ/

From Boston and New York City come optimistic reports about the latest CoVid subvariant BA.2.86, nicknamed Pirola.  

Harvard Beth Israel Deaconess virologist Dr. Dan Barouch reports that the blood from 66 Americans with CoVid immunity from monovalent vaccines, bivalent boosters, or recent CoVid XBB infections could effectively neutralize BA.2.86 pseudovirus test microbes as well as other circulating and legacy CoVid variants.  

Meanwhile, NY City’s Columbia University virologist Dr. David Ho demonstrated similar results adding that the blood samples from those who experienced a recent XBB infection were most lethal to the BA.2.86subvariant.

That’s good news since both the Moderna and Pfizer booster vaccines, planned for distribution later this month, code for XBB antigens.  They are arriving just in time, as the immunity we gleaned from last January’s bivalent boosters is now wearing out.  Be sure to get your CoVid boosts as soon as they are available.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/03/health/covid-new-variant-pirola-early-lab-results

#CoVid #ba286 #pseudovirus #immunity #vaccines #booster