Lifeboat Foundation

Antibiotic resistance is an increasing health problem, but new research suggests it is not only caused by the overuse of antibiotics. It’s also caused by pollution.

Using a process known as genomic analysis, University of Georgia scientists found a strong correlation between antibiotic resistance and heavy metal contamination in an environment.

Jesse C. Thomas IV, an alumnus of the College of Public Health and the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, found commonalities in soils contaminated with heavy metals on the U.S. Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site near Aiken, South Carolina.

Scientists from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) have developed an Artificial Intelligence (AI) system that recognizes hand gestures by combining skin-like electronics with computer vision.

The recognition of human hand gestures by AI systems has been a valuable development over the last decade and has been adopted in high-precision surgical robots, health monitoring equipment and in gaming systems.

AI gesture recognition systems that were initially visual-only have been improved upon by integrating inputs from wearable sensors, an approach known as ‘data fusion’. The wearable sensors recreate the skin’s sensing ability, one of which is known as ‘somatosensory’.

The emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which causes severe respiratory tract infections in humans (COVID-19), has become a global health concern. Currently, several vaccine candidates against SARS-CoV-2 are in clinical trials but approval of these vaccines is likely to take a long time before they are available for public use. In a previous report, the importance of passive immunity and how immunoglobulin (Ig)G collected from recovered coronavirus patients could help in the protection against COVID-19 and boost the immune system of new patients was reported. Passive immunity by immunoglobulin transfer is a concept employed by most mammals and bovine IgG has a role to play in human therapy. IgG is one of the major components of the immunological activity found in cow’s milk and colostrum. Heterologous transfer of passive immunity associated with the consumption of bovine immune milk by humans has been investigated for decades for its immunological activity against infections. This short review focuses on passive immunity and how microfiltered raw immune milk or colostrum collected from cows vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2 could provide short-term protection against SARS-CoV-2 infection in humans and could be used as an option until a vaccine becomes commercially available.

Currently, different academic institutions and pharmaceutical companies worldwide have started programs to develop and test vaccine candidates against SARS-CoV-2 in clinical trials. An S-glycoprotein-based vaccine is a promising approach that has attracted the attention of scientists, since S-glycoprotein can be directly recognized by the host’s immune system. For the first coronavirus (SARS-CoV-1), which was identified in Guangdong province, China, in November 2002, different vaccines were developed and tested in animal models. Some of these vaccines prevented animal infection after challenge with SARS-CoV-1. Kapadia et al. showed that neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-1 could be detected in sera from mice immunized with S-glycoprotein of SARS-CoV-1 (10, 11).

Everybody has questions about space and what’s beyond the horizon. Our mission is to be the answer.

Welcome to the United States Air Force. Learn about great opportunities for enlisted airmen, officers and health care professionals.

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COSTA MESA, Calif. – Health experts say around half of American adults are overweight or obese. While excessive body weight is linked to a number of serious health conditions, including diabetes and heart disease, a new study reveals it can also reduce blood flow to the brain. Researchers warn this can put overweight individuals at great risk for Alzheimer’s disease.

The study examines brain blood flow in 17,721 adults between 18 and 94. To do this, researchers use a brain imaging technique known as single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT).

SPECT is a technique in which doctors inject a radioactive tracer into a patient’s blood and then use a special camera to look at the flow of blood. Participants were then split into five categories: underweight, normal weight, overweight, obese, and morbidly obese — to examine blood flow in each of their brains. The brain scan data reveals lower blood flow across virtually all brain regions as body weight increases.

Vietnam has been one of the countries that have well managed COVID-19 pandemic with only 383 cases, and no deaths have been reported (updated on 20th July). Immune Nutrition from ColosIgG 24h colostrum is one of the factors contribute fighting off COVID-19 in VietnamnnPrior to this pandemic, being aware that strengthening the immune system is very important for health, especially for children, the Vietnamese Ministry of Health cooperated with VitaDairy Company to organise a series of seminars on Immune Nutrition in big cities. As a result, at the end of 2019 when the COVID-19 outbreak started, people understood the importance of the immune system and the value of immune nutrition from ColosIgG 24h colostrum.nn

P rior to this pandemic, being aware that strengthening the immune system is very important for health, especially for children, the Vietnamese Ministry of Health cooperated with VitaDairy Company to organise a series of seminars on Immune Nutrition in big cities. As a result, at the end of 2019 when the COVID-19 outbreak started, people understood the importance of the immune system and the value of immune nutrition from ColosIgG 24h colostrum. In addition to the seminars, Vietnamese Ministry of Health has taken many quick and appropriate actions to deal with the pandemic. Thanks to these actions, up to now, Vietnam is one of the countries that have very well managed the COVID-19 pandemic.

VitaDairy As The Ministry of Health’s Partner — “With Competence And A Strong Will”

Continue reading “The No. 1 colostrum company in Vietnam help people strengthening the immune system to contribute fighting off COVID-19” »

Bacteriophage can reduce bacterial growth in the lungs, limiting fluid build-up. This could decrease the mortality of patients affected by COVID-19, according to the peer-reviewed journal PHAGE: Therapy, Applications, and Research.

“The bacterial growth rate could potentially be reduced by the aerosol application of natural bacteriophages. These prey on the main species of bacteria known to cause respiratory failure,” says Marcin Wojewodzic, PhD, University of Birmingham (U.K.). Decreasing bacterial growth would also give the body more time to produce protective antibodies against the disease-causing coronavirus.

Used correctly, phages have an advantage here of being able to very specifically target the bacteria that cause secondary infections. They would remove the problematic bacterium but leave an otherwise fragile microbiome intact.” Martha Clokie, PhD, Editor-in-Chief of PHAGE and Professor of Microbiology, University of Leicester (U.K.)

Continue reading “Bacteriophages Could Be a Potential Game Changer in the Trajectory of Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19)” »

A supersensitive dopamine detector can help in the early diagnosis of several disorders that result in too much or too little dopamine, according to a group led by Penn State and including Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and universities in China and Japan.

Dopamine is an important neurotransmitter that can be used to diagnose disorders such as Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease and schizophrenia.

“If you can develop a very sensitive, yet simple-to-use and portable, detector that can identify a wide range of dopamine concentration, for instance in sweat, that could help in non-invasive monitoring of an individual’s health,” said Aida Ebrahimi, assistant professor of electrical engineering, Penn State, and a corresponding author on a paper published Aug. 7 in Science Advances.

Four Canadians battling incurable cancer have been approved by the Minister of Health, Patty Hajdu, to use psilocybin therapy in the treatment of their end-of-life distress. These 4 patients mark the first publicly-known individuals to receive a legal exemption from the Canadian Drugs and Substances Act to access psychedelic therapy, and the first known patients to legally use psilocybin since the compound became illegal in Canada in 1974. The decision comes after over 100 days of waiting for a response.

“ I would like to personally thank the Hon. Minister Hajdu and the team at the Office of Controlled Substances for the approval of my section 56 exemption. This is the positive result that is possible when good people show genuine compassion. I’m so grateful that I can move forward with the next step of healing” says Thomas Hartle, one the section 56 applicants battling cancer, from Saskatoon Saskatchewan.

Laurie Brooks, another applicant from British Columbia facing end-of-life distress states: “I want to thank the Health Minister and Health Canada for approving my request for psilocybin use. The acknowledgement of the pain and anxiety that I have been suffering with means a lot to me, and I am feeling quite emotional today as a result. I hope this is just the beginning and that soon all Canadians will be able to access psilocybin, for therapeutic use, to help with the pain they are experiencing, without having to petition the government for months to gain permission. Thanks also to TheraPsil for helping the four of us in this fight. To Thomas Hartel and the other two patients – I think of you often and wish you only good things, especially good health!”

Continue reading “4 Palliative Canadians approved for end of life psilocybin therapy through section 56(1) ; First legal medical exemptions for psilocybin in Canada since 1970’s” »