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PHARMA

'Eolving' opioid epidemic across U.S. | ScienceDaily The heart of the opioid epidemic that killed 665,341 people in the United States between 2005 and 2020 shifted geographically from the Northwest to the East, according to a new geographical analysis.

 

CHEMISTRY

Going big with δ-cyclodextrin Cyclodextrins have found use as drug delivery agents that encapsulate active pharmaceutical ingredients, as air fresheners that soak up stinky compounds, and as water purification systems that capture and destroy pollutants. Each year, chemical makers churn out thousands of metric tons of the most common ones, but little is known about the nine-sugar ring δ-CD because scientists have been able to prepare only scant quantities of it—until now.

 

New US tariffs spare many chemicals Even without the April 9 pause, the chemical industry was spared the brunt of the new tariffs. The White House has excluded many products from the new duties, including many major chemicals. These products include polymers such as polyethylene, polypropylene, polyethylene terephthalate; petrochemicals like phenols and ethylene; and other large-volume chemicals such as titanium dioxide. The list also has exclusions for pharmaceutical products, semiconductors, and energy products. 

 

MEDICINE AND HEALTH

Amid Decreasing Infant Mortality, Sleep-Related Infant Deaths Are on the Rise | Pediatrics | JAMA | JAMA Network Scroll through the 1.4 million posts on Instagram with the hashtag #sleepingbaby, and up pop images of snoozing infants in positions and places that go against the safe sleep guidelines of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)—sleeping on their stomachs or sides or surrounded by stuffed animals, bumpers, pillows, or fuzzy blankets.


Study shows how new antibody therapy works against ovarian cancer | ScienceDaily Researchers at King's are the first in the world to develop a treatment from a different type of antibody, called IgE. IgE has important roles in triggering the immune response during an allergic reaction or by stimulating immune cells to fight parasite infections. Unlike IgG antibodies, which activate immune cells circulating in the blood, IgE antibodies bind very tightly to immune cells found in tissues. The team has been working to harness these immune-boosting activities of IgE against solid cancers.

MEDTECH
Did Edwards Just Pull Off a 1st in the Mitral Valve Market?

The Irvine, CA-based company said this is the first approved transcatheter valve replacement therapy using a transfemoral approach.

 

FDA Green-Lights Next Phase of Carmat's Artificial Heart Study

FDA gave Carmat conditional approval to initiate the second cohort of its early feasibility study with the Aeson artificial heart in the United States. The company has been developing the device for years, aiming to provide a therapeutic alternative for people suffering from advanced biventricular heart failure.

 

WHODATHUNKIT

Lab-grown teeth could be the future of dentistry | Popular Science Humanity has endured the pain of cavities for as long as we’ve had teeth, but the basic remedy has remained fundamentally the same for millennia. Evidence dating at least as far back as 13,000 years ago indicates Paleolithic peoples made fillings from a combination of bitumen, plant fibers, and even hair to adhere to a tooth’s inner walls. Around 6,500 years ago, remedies in present-day Slovenia involved beeswax fillings, while Pliny the Elder referenced similar procedures in his Naturalis Historia (shortly before his untimely demise during the Mount Vesuvius eruption of 79 CE). Today’s dental fillings can be composed of multiple synthetic materials like alloys, amalgams, and composite resins. But at the end of the day, a filling is a filling—and they can still pose problems.

 

SAFETY

What’s in sunscreen, and how does it protect your skin from the sun’s rays? The active ingredients in sunscreens protect our skin by either absorbing or reflecting UV light. Currently, 16 sun-filtering ingredients are approved by the FDA. But sunscreen makers in the US use only 8 regularly: avobenzone, homosalate, octinoxate, octisalate, octocrylene, oxybenzone, titanium dioxide, and zinc oxide. In Europe, Australia, and Japan, where sunscreens are classified as cosmetics, therapeutics, or quasi drugs, other compounds have also been approved for use. But the FDA classifies sunscreens as drugs, which is part of why sunscreen ingredients have a notoriously slow approval process in the US.

 

EARTH AND SKY

Where you might be able to see the northern lights this week as a strong solar storm hits Earth According to NOAA’s Aurora Viewline Forecast, northern lights may be visible in more than a dozen states on Wednesday, including Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.

 

BEING HUMAN

Breakthrough DNA Analysis Reveals Everyone on Earth Shares Genes from Two Ancient Populations Before there was modern humanity, there was a genetic divorce and remarriage that shaped us all. Cambridge University researchers have uncovered evidence that two distinct populations of ancient hominins, separated for over a million years, before reuniting around 300,000 years ago. 

 

The Silurian Hypothesis Suggests An Advanced Civilization Lived On Earth Before Humans The Silurian Hypothesis presents a fascinating conjecture: could an advanced civilization have existed on Earth long before humans appeared? This hypothesis challenges our understanding of Earth's history, suggesting that evidence of such a civilization might be hidden beneath millions of years of geological change. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NUTRITION
High blood pressure? Eat more bananas | ScienceDaily

New research suggests increasing the ratio of dietary potassium to sodium intake may be more effective for lowering blood pressure than simply reducing sodium intake.

The gut health benefits of sauerkraut | ScienceDaily  Researchers tested whether sauerkraut's nutrients could help protect intestinal cells from inflammation-related damage. The study compared raw cabbage, sauerkraut and the liquid brine left behind from the fermentation process. The sauerkraut samples included both store-bought products and fermented cabbage made in the lab.

 

AI

AI-Enabled HeartFocus: A New Era in Cardiac Education and Patient Care

“By 2030, almost half of the U.S. population will suffer from cardiovascular disease,” said Bertrand Moal, PhD, MD, and CEO of DESKi, in an interview with MD+DI. Worse, he explained, there will not be enough cardiologists to keep up with the demand for these patients who need the specialized care.

 

ChatGPT, Gemini, and Midjourney are married in this lifetime AI tool | Popular Science INFORMATIVE ADVERT. While everyone else keeps paying monthly just to use one AI model, you can get lifelong access to the entire AI dream team—ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Midjourney, and the other top names—for a single, flat fee. It’s like the Avengers of AI.

 

White House releases guidance on federal AI use and procurement | MobiHealthNews

The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released two memos directed to the heads of all executive branch departments and agencies establishing policies on federal AI use and purchase of AI in government. 

Google made an AI model to talk to dolphins | Popular Science

 

Newswatch: AI researchers weigh in, AI humanizes healthcare, ‘the worst AI will ever be,’ more

Buzzworthy developments of the past few days. 

 

Explainable AI for ship navigation raises trust, decreases human error | ScienceDaily The Titanic sunk 113 years ago on April 14-15, after hitting an iceberg, with human error likely causing the ship to stray into those dangerous waters. Today, autonomous systems built on artificial intelligence can help ships avoid such accidents, but could such a system explain to the captain why it was maneuvering a certain way?

 

ECONOMICS

The End of “Free Money”? Navigating the Deep & Unruly Waters of Federal Funding

...then, January 27th hit, with an infamous executive memo (M-25-13) hitting pause on this seemingly endless source of “free money”. Start-ups, medical centers, and big-name universities across the United States suffered two days of anxious waiting as payment portals were instantly frozen. While the memo was rescinded and most of the fund disbursement carried on as planned (if delayed) there are ongoing efforts to reorganize, evaluate, and cancel specific medical research programs. 

 

What tariffs could mean for the pharmaceutical industry

Firms including Novartis, Merck & Co., and Eli Lilly and Company have recently announced investments to make brand-name drugs in the US. But the active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) needed in over-the-counter and generic drugs are imported from China and India in vast quantities, and US manufacturing capacity for APIs is sparse. Levies on those commodities could make prices rise without encouraging domestic production, experts say.

 

 CHEMISTRY/ENGINEERING

Restoring Order: Researchers Revitalize Aging Batteries

A groundbreaking advancement in battery technology has emerged from a collaboration of scientists led by Professor Liu Zhaoping at the Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering (NIMTE) affiliated with the Chinese Academy of Sciences. In partnership with researchers from the University of Chicago and several other institutions, this team’s innovative work focuses on the development of zero thermal expansion (ZTE) materials. The implications of these materials could revolutionize the field of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), a cornerstone of modern energy storage systems, particularly in electric vehicles and portable electronic devices.

 

Revolutionary Super Metal Maintains Strength at Any Temperature  A groundbreaking advancement has emerged from the laboratories of Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), where a team of materials scientists and engineers has unveiled a novel nickel-based high-entropy alloy (HEA) that defies conventional thermal limitations. 

 

BIOLOGY

Scientists Discover the Largest Wolf Pack Roaming America Scientists have now uncovered the largest wolf pack ever recorded on the continent, a discovery that sheds light on the resilience and adaptability of these incredible creatures. This article delves into the details of this exciting find, exploring its significance in the context of ecology, conservation, and the broader wolf population.

 

What Tapeworms Look Like Under A Microscope Puts Horror Movie Monsters To Shame There are lots of uses for a microscope, but using them to get a closer look at small creatures such as insects can be truly startling especially for those that don't seem all that strange in day-to-day life. 

 

Dire wolf debate raises concerns on scientific overhype

Are dire wolves back? Many outlets, among them the New Yorker and Time magazine, reported recently that US biotechnology company Colossal Biosciences had brought the giant canines back from extinction. And almost immediately, scientists and conservationists began expressing outrage at Colossal’s claim. “It’s not a dire wolf. It’s misleading to call it that,” says Vincent Lynch, an evolutionary biologist at the University at Buffalo. “I can't explain how pissed off it made me, because they're still saying this stuff, and they know it to not be true.”  David Shiffman, an environmental scientist and independent policy consultant, agrees. “This is not a dire wolf by any reasonable definition of a dire wolf,” he says. “This is a gray wolf that has had a tiny fraction of its genes modified to look more like what they think a dire wolf looked like. That means these animals are still gray wolves.”