Lifeboat Foundation

A desirable option would be to use CRISPR gene editing to essentially cut out the unwanted gene. There are, however, many challenges ahead.

If you want to remove an undesirable gene from a population, you have a couple theoretical options — one that most people might find unthinkable, and one that lies outside our current scientific abilities.

Continue reading “We can identify ‘bad’ genes. Why can’t we use CRISPR gene editing to get rid of them?” »

Scientists say they have discovered the first evidence of a “significant” mutation of the coronavirus — raising concerns that strides made toward a vaccine so far could become “futile,” according to a new study.

The researchers, who isolated a strain of the virus from a sample collected in India in January, said the mutation appeared to make the bug less able to bind to a receptor on human cells called ACE2, an enzyme found in the lungs.

The discovery of this mutation “raises the alarm that the ongoing vaccine development may become futile in future epidemic if more mutations were identified,” the researchers said, according to Newsweek. The study, which was published on biorxiv.org on Saturday, has not yet been peer-reviewed.

More than a century after giving the world aspirin, another potential drug has been found in the stem and leaves of willows—this time with anti-cancer properties.

Scientists led from Rothamsted Research, working with cancer biologists at the University of Kent have discovered the chemical, miyabeacin, which has been found to kill various cancer cells, including those resistant to other drugs.

Of particular excitement is its activity against neuroblastoma, a hard to treat and common childhood cancer where the overall survival rate is below 50%.

Guide and considerations.

Often changes to mechanical ventilator settings are performed by health care providers that have limited training in specific functions of the ventilator in use. Mechanical ventilators are sophisticated and require training to ensure positive outcomes and harm. Inappropriate setting changes, failure to change alarms, changing settings without appropriate orders, and failure to communicate changes to the medical team can result in poor patient outcomes. This activity is intended to guide health professionals to ensure that all personnel trained are trained to set up, install, and make appropriate adjustments to mechanical ventilation. an interprofessional approach with communication between all members of the healthcare team will result in the safest delivery of care and produce the best outcomes.

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Continue reading “Ventilator Safety” »

I felt uneasy about the Swedish coronavirus plan the moment I heard about it. It seemed like an extreme gamble, in defiance of all known science and health recommendations. We have Red States here in America that have taken this same approach. Here’s the latest on Sweden: 🇸🇪 —“In an opinion piece published today in Dagens Nyheter, the group of researchers from a range of top Swedish universities and research institutes make harsh criticism of the Swedish Public Health Agency and their present coronavirus strategy. They say that elected politicians must now intervene with ” swift and radical measures.”

“According to Aftonbladet, Jan Lötvall, a professor at the University of Gothenburg, said that Swedish people have not understood the seriousness of the situation because they have received unclear messaging from health authorities and elected officials.”

Sweden’s relatively relaxed approach to controlling the spread of the coronavirus has come under fire in international media and from many locals in the capital Stockholm, where more than half the country’s deaths have been recorded. Now, 22 researchers have publicly criticized the strategy and called on politicians to make changes.

Continue reading “Sweden: 22 Scientists Say Coronavirus Strategy Has Failed As Deaths Top 1,000” »

Well, that number doubled overnight…

South Korea has identified a growing number of people who make an apparent recovery from the coronavirus only to test positive again, raising fears that the virus is capable of striking the same.

By itself, your PC is not anywhere near as powerful as a supercomputer. Don’t worry, neither is mine, or anyone else’s I know. But while none of use have the computing resources to single-handedly unlock the secrets of a virus, there is strength in numbers. As such, the collective efforts of PC users far and wide have propelled the Folding@home project to crunch data at a pace that is 15 times faster than IBM’s Summit, the top supercomputer in the world.

The developers of Folding@home have been posting periodic updates on Twitter, and according to the latest one, the distributed computing project is currently cranking out around 2.4 exaFLOPs of computational power.

With our collective power, we are now at ~2.4 exaFLOPS (faster than the top 500 supercomputers combined)! We complement supercomputers like IBM Summit, which runs short calculations using 1000s of GPUs at once, by spreading longer calculations around the world in smaller chunks! pic.twitter.com/fdUaXOcdFJ April 13, 2020

The spikes crowning the new coronavirus that causes COVID-19 atypical pneumonia are divulging how they attach, fuse and gain entry to cells. Analysis of the spike architecture and its mechanics is locating the virus’ vulnerabilities, and revealing other information that could prompt the discovery of countermeasures against this virus.

A research team at the University of Washington School of Medicine and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Institute uses cryo-electron microscopy and other investigative methods in this effort. They are helping to determine the structure and function of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and its chemical binding affinities as these relate to both infection and immune responses, and thereby obtain ideas for blocking the virus’ ingress to cells.

Continue reading “COVID-19 coronavirus spike holds infectivity details” »

A recent Western-led study says two meters might not be far enough away if someone lets an uncovered cough loose in your direction—meaning sneeze and cough etiquette is more than a simple social nicety, but a key to stopping the spread of diseases like COVID-19.

“It’s pretty hard to avoid a cough,” said Mechanical and Materials Engineering professor Eric Savory. “By the time you react, it’s reached you.”

Continue reading “‘Cough chamber’ shows six feet not far enough” »