Lifeboat Foundation

An excellent overview of the story of how the U.S. responded to the COVID-19 pandemic along with suggestions for ways to continue making strides in combatting SARS-CoV-2 as well as how we may prepare for future emerging pathogens. The article provides an interesting case study on mechanisms of large-scale human organization, examines ways that we have succeeded in managing so many moving pieces, and explores ways that we could do better in the future. #nih #health #medicine #government #biotechnology

Investment, collaboration, and coordination have been key.

Francis Collins [email protected], Stacey Adam, […], Christine Colvis, Elizabeth Desrosiers, […], Ruxandra Draghia-Akli, Anthony Fauci, Maria Freire, Gary Gibbons, Matthew Hall, […], Eric Hughes, Kathrin Jansen, Michael Kurilla, H. Clifford Lane, Douglas Lowy, Peter Marks, Joseph Menetski, William Pao, Eliseo Pérez-Stable, Lisa Purcell, Sarah Read, Joni Rutter, Michael Santos, Tara Schwetz, Jeffrey Shuren, Timothy Stenzel, Paul Stoffels, Lawrence Tabak, Karen Tountas, Bruce Tromberg, David Wholley, Janet Woodcock, and John Young +29 authors +27 authors +22 authors fewer Authors Info & Affiliations

Continue reading “The NIH-led research response to COVID-19” »

A Quebec hospital adopts a novel use of VR to help patients with anxiety, phobias and pain.

In a newswire release today, the Fondation de l’Hôtel-Dieu d’Alma (the Alma Hospital Foundation) announced the launch of a virtual reality (VR) project aimed at improving the mental health of those experiencing increasing anxiety. The Alma Hospital is a regional health centre for the area of Lac St. Jean and the Saguenay River valley to the north of Quebec City.

Jean Lamoureux, the hospital’s Executive Director states, “The number of requests for mental-health consultations is estimated to have increased by 30 to 40 percent during the pandemic. These needs are urgent…and, thanks to the innovation of Paperplane Therapeutics and TELUS, we will transform the way health services are delivered, while having a significant positive impact on patient well-being through technology.”

Continue reading “Quebec Hospital Using Virtual Reality to Address Increasing Mental Health Issues from the Pandemic” »

Arizona State University has officially begun a new chapter in X-ray science with a newly commissioned, first-of-its-kind instrument that will help scientists see deeper into matter and living things. The device, called the compact X-ray light source (CXLS), marked a major milestone in its operations as ASU scientists generated its first X-rays on the night of Feb. 2.

“This marks the beginning of a new era of science with compact accelerator-based X‑ray sources,” said Robert Kaindl, who directs ASU’s Compact X-ray Free Electron Laser (CXFEL) Labs at the Biodesign Institute and is a professor in the Department of Physics. “The CXLS provides hard X-ray pulses with high flux, stability and ultrashort durations, in a very compact footprint. This way, matter can be resolved at its fundamental scales in space and time, enabling new discoveries across many fields — from next-generation materials for computing and information science, to renewable energy, biomolecular dynamics, drug discovery and human health.”

Building the compact X-ray light source is the first phase of a larger CXFEL project, which aims to build two instruments including a coherent X-ray laser. As the first-stage instrument, the ASU CXLS generates a high-flux beam of hard X‑rays, with wavelengths short enough to resolve the atomic structure of complex molecules. Moreover, its output is pulsed at extremely short durations of a few hundred femtoseconds — well below a millionth of one millionth of a second — and thus short enough to directly track the motions of atoms.

𝐈𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐥 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡, 𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚

𝘾𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙚𝙬 𝙤𝙛 𝙈𝙍𝙄 𝙨𝙘𝙖𝙣𝙨 𝙛𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙨𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙝𝙞𝙜𝙝 𝙗𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 (𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙖𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙚𝙫𝙚 𝙖 𝙨𝙮𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙡𝙞𝙘 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙡𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣 120 𝙢𝙢 𝙃𝙜) 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙚𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣 𝙖 𝙡𝙚𝙨𝙨-𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙨𝙚 𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙜𝙤𝙖𝙡 𝙤𝙛 140 𝙢𝙢 𝙃𝙜 𝙨𝙮𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙡𝙞𝙘 𝙞𝙣 𝙖𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖 𝙥𝙤𝙨𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙘𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙖𝙡 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙣’𝙨 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙫𝙖𝙨𝙘𝙪𝙡𝙖𝙧 𝙨𝙥𝙖𝙘𝙚𝙨: 𝙥𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙬𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙘𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤𝙭𝙞𝙣𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙗𝙮𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙙𝙪𝙘𝙩𝙨.

𝙄𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙣 𝙘𝙖𝙣𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙡𝙮 𝙘𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙡𝙞𝙘 𝙗𝙮𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙙𝙪𝙘𝙩𝙨, 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙖𝙘𝙘𝙪𝙢𝙪𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙢𝙖𝙮 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙗𝙪𝙩𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙡𝙤𝙥𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙙𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙖, 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙨𝙖𝙞𝙙.

Continue reading “Ideal blood pressure may remodel brain clearance pathways linked to brain health, dementia” »

Working with hundreds of thousands of high-resolution images, researchers from the Allen Institute for Cell Science, a division of the Allen Institute, put numbers on the internal organization of human cells — a biological concept that has proven incredibly difficult to quantify until now.

The scientists also documented the diverse cell shapes of genetically identical cells grown under similar conditions in their work. Their findings were recently published in the journal Nature.

“The way cells are organized tells us something about their behavior and identity,” said Susanne Rafelski, Ph.D., Deputy Director of the Allen Institute for Cell Science, who led the study along with Senior Scientist Matheus Viana, Ph.D. “What’s been missing from the field, as we all try to understand how cells change in health and disease, is a rigorous way to deal with this kind of organization. We haven’t yet tapped into that information.”

The maker of EzriCare Artificial Tears said it was recalling the eye drops after U.S. health authorities linked the product to a drug-resistant bacteria strain.

Dr. Ben Goertzel.
SingularityNET

The Coming Consciousness Explosion.

Continue reading “The Coming Consciousness Explosion | Dr. Ben Goertzel | SCS2022” »

Nerve cells require vast amounts of energy and oxygen which they receive through the bloodstream. This results in nerve tissue being densely intertwined with numerous blood vessels. However, what prevents neurons and vascular cells from interfering with each other during growth? Researchers from the Universities of Heidelberg and Bonn, in collaboration with international partners, have uncovered a mechanism that ensures this coordination. The findings have recently been published in the journal Neuron.

Nerve cells are highly energy-intensive, requiring a large amount of fuel. Approximately 20% of the calories we consume through food are dedicated to our brain, as the generation of voltage pulses (action potentials) and transmission between neurons is incredibly energy-demanding. For this reason, nerve tissue is usually crisscrossed by numerous blood vessels. They ensure a supply of nutrients and oxygen.

During embryonic development, a large number of vessels sprout in the brain and spinal cord, but also in the retina of the eye. Additionally, masses of neurons are formed there, which network with each other and with structures such as muscles and organs. Both processes have to be considerate of each other so as not to get in each other’s way. “We have identified a new mechanism that ensures this,” explains Prof. Dr. Carmen Ruiz de Almodóvar, member of the Cluster of Excellence ImmunoSensation2 and the Transdisciplinary Research Area Life & Health at the University of Bonn.

The godfather of vaccines discussing the future of vaccinology — dr. stanley plotkin, MD.

Dr. Stanley Plotkin, MD (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Plotkin), is an American physician, scientist, and scholar, who in the 1960s, while working at Wistar Institute in Philadelphia, played a pivotal role in discovery of a vaccine against rubella virus (which is now used worldwide as a key component of the MMR vaccine), and has worked extensively on the development and application of a wide range of other vaccines including those for polio, rabies, varicella, rotavirus and cytomegalovirus (https://www.epiv.eu/).

Continue reading “Dr. Stanley Plotkin, MD — The Godfather Of Vaccines Discussing The Future Of Vaccinology” »