Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/lbGeVqsSRc0

Ochre Bio, a UK startup affiliated with Oxford University, is developing RNA-based drug therapies to treat and possibly regenerate ailing livers.  The company has pioneered the development and testing of candidate drugs using whole livers kept alive on machines.  A new round of financing is being used to support the expanded testing of possible drugs at 3 sites in the US including NYU, Yale, and Oklahoma’s LifeShare.  Human livers with various pathologies that currently make them unsuitable for human transplantation are kept alive for days at a time on perfusion machines during which drug candidates may be tested.

https://medcitynews.com/2022/10/rna-therapies-startup-ochre-bio-lands-30m-to-take-on-chronic-liver-disease/

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220511005405/en/Ochre-Bio-Launches-‘Liver-ICU’-in-the-United-States-to-Evaluate-Effects-of-RNA-Therapies-on-Human-Liver-Performance

#liver #mRNA #perfusion #transplantation #ochre #nyu #yale #lifeshare

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/-aGBPfpbDTo

The Harvard Medical School spinoff Surge Therapeutics has captured a $26 million war chest to begin testing its intraoperative immunotherapy hydrogel strategy in human patients.  Their successful mouse studies cured aggressive cancers with a single dose of the gel and, hopefully, will trigger similar dramatic effects in the clinic.  The immunotherapeutic nanotech gel, deposited at the time of surgery at the site of tumor removal, continually activates the body’s cancer-killing immunity in the regions most likely to harbor “machine-gun nests” of metastatic cells that could grow and kill the host.

https://medcitynews.com/2022/10/harvard-spinout-surge-emerges-with-26m-to-make-immunotherapy-part-of-cancer-surgery/

#immunotherapy #gel #metastasis #cancer

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/AXAhkfaBmEA

A novel cervical swab test can identify pre-cancerous cervical cell changes some 4 years before they trigger cancer.  Austrian and British oncologic researchers have developed a test that analyzes the levels of DNA methylation in cervical cells captured on the cotton swab.

The test detects cervical cell cancer transformation with a 92.7% sensitivity for women over the age of 30 years.  When this test was performed on 428 cervical cell samples free of overt cancer but at risk for developing cancer due to the presence of human papilloma virus, the test correctly identified 55% of the women who would later develop overt cervical cancer over a 1-4 year period.

Not a perfect result but a very promising start that will become more precise with additional work.  BTW: the same test can forecast ovarian and breast cancer.

https://genomemedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13073-022-01116-9

#cervicalcancer #dna #methylation #hpv #carcinomainsitu

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/4M67KMLpjQc

A first human test of ultra-fast and ultra-powerful proton beam radiotherapy suggests that this novel technique may be the way of the future.  University of Cincinnati radiation oncologists report their preliminary phase 1 trial results to the American Society for Radiation Oncology’s (ASTRO) Annual Meeting.

Ten patients 27-81 years of age with painful extremity bony metastases at 12 sites were treated with a whopping 8 Gy of radiation at greater than 40 Gy per second in about 3/10ths of a second.  This dose rate is 300 times higher than the conventional rate.  When these patients’ use of pain meds was recorded at varying intervals up to 13 months following therapy, 7 of the 10 patients enjoyed complete or significant partial pain relief.

The best news: this FLASH technique spares normal, non-cancerous tissue better than conventional radiation therapy.

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-10-therapy-first-in-human-trial.html

#cancer #radiation #protonbeam #flash

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/qS04o1s7pTY

From Duke University’s bioengineering department comes a novel method for delivering radiation therapy to pancreatic cancer.  Rather than irradiating the tumor using an external beam, the researchers combined radioactive iodine with a gelatinous material that holds it in close proximity to the cancer.  When combined with traditional chemotherapy, the gel radiation technique complete obliterated 80% of otherwise lethal tumors in mice.  This result bests most other treatments, and hopefully it will work as well in human patients.

 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41551-022-00949-4

#pancreatic #cancer #radiation #gel #chemotherapy

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/kQ1rq-o16Uk

The CDC reports that, as of October 24th, there have been 28,004 Monkeypox cases in the US resulting in 6 deaths.  Two each occurred in New York City and in Chicago.  The other 2 occurred in Nevada and in Maryland.  Around the world 75,568 have been afflicted with the disease that is now referred to in the abbreviated MPV or MPX.

The case density is highest in California, Oregon, Arizona, Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Illinois.  Most affected are males 31-35 years of age, and this group is the largest to receive treatment with TPOXX or tecovirimat, the most effective therapy for this viral disease.  The disease strikes 3 ethnic groups most commonly: White, Hispanic, and Black.

https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/response/2022/index.html

https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/response/2022/demographics-TPOXX.html

#monkeypox #mpv #mpx #tpoxx #tecovirimat

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/GVeUfjQU6zg

Cannabis use during the month preceding surgery under general anesthesia may increase your post-operative pain and your need for opioid pain medications.  These conclusions stem from a Cleveland Clinic anesthesiology study of 1681 cannabis users and matched controls from a pool of more than 34,000 patients.  The results were recently reported at the Anesthesiology 2022 annual meeting.

Cannabis users reported 14% more pain during the first postop day compared with non-users.  They required 7% more opioid drugs to control that pain.  Similar results have been previously reported in smaller studies with less statistical power.

Ongoing are studies to better understand this phenomenon.  Bottom line: lay off weed smoking and edibles consumption for the month before surgery. 

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-10-cannabis-pain-surgery.html

#surgery #generalanesthesia #cannabis #weed #marijuana #pain #opioids

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/hCXa8OtM1kg

The two professional societies whose members recommend and perform bariatric surgery now announce their first modifications in the indications for such surgery in more than 30 years.  The 1991 recommendations from The American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery and the International Federation for the Surgery of Obesity and Metabolic Disorders suggested weight loss surgery for those with body mass indices, better known as BMIs, of 40 or more or 35 to 40 for those with complicating metabolic diseases or in the pediatric and adolescent age groups.  Metabolic diseases include poorly controlled type 2 diabetes.

The improved safety and effectiveness of bariatric surgical techniques has prompted both professional societies to now recommend surgery for all those with BMIs of 35 of more and for those with BMIs of 30 or more with metabolic conditions or for children and adolescents.

The most common weight reduction surgical procedures performed worldwide are both done laparoscopically: partial stomach removal known as sleeve gastrectomy and  gastric bypass using the Roux-en-Y technique.  Other techniques include a gastric band placement, a gastric balloon placement, and a mini-gastric bypass.

https://www.soard.org/article/S1550-7289(22)00641-4/fulltext

#bariatricsurgery #asmbs #ifso #bmi #diabetes #obesity

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/zykNllfsRmw

With the continuing invasion of new and more menacing CoVid Omicron subvariants, the CDC now gives us the sobering statistics about the current effectiveness of the first generation, so-called monovalent vaccination shots and boosters.  Using electronic medical record data from 21 hospitals in 18 states over the first 8 months of 2022, the study reports the protection afforded by 2 immunizing doses and 1 or 2 booster doses of the vaccine for some 4730 adult patients.

During the early Omicron period with BA1/2 predominant, the overall vaccine effectiveness was 69%.  During the more recent BA4/5 era, the overall vaccine effectiveness dropped to 31%.  The vaccine effectiveness against BA4/5 also falls sharply over 3.5 months following the last shot.  For 2 shots and a booster, it dropped from 60% to 29%.  For 2 shots and 2 boosters, the effectiveness was only 61% after the 3 months.  And these rather abysmal statistics were gathered even before the latest and most aggressiveness subvariants BQ1.1 and XBB.

What does this all mean for you?  It means that if you expect to escape a nasty and maybe lethal case of CoVid as well as spreading it to those you love, you’d better be getting another booster if its been 4 months since your last shot.  The booster you should be getting is the new bivalent Omicron-specific booster that promises the optimal protection and its available for all those 5 years and older.

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7142a3.htm

#omicron #CoVid #vaccine #booster #BA1/2 #BA4/5 #BQ1.1

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/tiIkXGbXWeQ

The FDA and Da Cheng Vegetarian Food Inc.now recall Da Cheng Vegan Drumsticks.  This product contains undeclared egg.  Those with egg allergies could develop serious and life-threatening reactions should they consume these drumsticks.  This affected product with an expiration date of 9/23/2023 was sold in Houston, Texas and in Orange County, South California.  If you purchased these 6.6 pound packages of vegan drumsticks, do not consume them.  Return them to the place of purchase.  If you need more information about this recall, phone the Da Cheng company at 1-626-444-4980.

https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts/da-cheng-vegetarian-food-inc-issues-allergy-alert-undeclared-egg-protein-vegan-drumsticks

#dacheng #veganderumsticks #egg #allergy #recall