Death

Infections after surgery are more likely due to bacteria already on your skin than from microbes in the hospital − new research

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, April 10, 2024
Research, Bacteria, Pneumonia, Science Translational Medicine, CSI, Fungal infection, Instrument, Infection, Patient, Harborview Medical Center, Accreditation, Hospital, Diarrhea, University, Death, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Bloodstream infections, Neurosurgery, Woman, Quality, Agency, Skin, Microbiology, Pharmacy, Spine, Nose, Nursing care plan, Elective surgery, Neck, Dentistry

Genetic data from the bacteria causing these infections – think CSI for E. coli – tells another story: Most health care-associated infections are caused by previously harmless bacteria that patients already had on their bodies before they even entered the hospital.

Key Points: 
  • Genetic data from the bacteria causing these infections – think CSI for E. coli – tells another story: Most health care-associated infections are caused by previously harmless bacteria that patients already had on their bodies before they even entered the hospital.
  • We show that many surgical site infections after spinal surgery are caused by microbes that are already on the patient’s skin.

Surgical infections are a persistent problem

  • Among the different types of heath care-associated infections, surgical site infections stand out as particularly problematic.
  • A 2013 study found that surgical site infections contribute the most to the annual costs of hospital-acquired infections, totaling over 33% of the US$9.8 billion spent annually.
  • Still, surgical site infections occur following about 1 in 30 procedures, typically with no explanation.
  • While rates of many other medical complications have shown steady improvement over time, data from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that the problem of surgical site infection is not getting better.

BYOB (Bring your own bacteria)

  • Prior studies on surgical site infection have been limited to a single species of bacteria and used older genetic analysis methods.
  • But new technologies have opened the door to studying all types of bacteria and testing their antibiotic resistance genes simultaneously.
  • Over a one-year period, we sampled the bacteria living in the nose, skin and stool of over 200 patients before surgery.
  • In fact, 86% of the bacteria causing infections after spine surgery were genetically matched to bacteria a patient carried before surgery.
  • That number is remarkably close to estimates from earlier studies using older genetic techniques focused on Staphylococcus aureus.
  • They likely acquired these antibiotic-resistant microbes through prior antibiotic exposure, consumer products or routine community contact.

Preventing surgical infections

  • At face value, our results may seem intuitive – surgical wound infections come from bacteria that hang out around that part of the body.
  • If the most likely source of surgical infection – the patient’s microbiome – is known in advance, this presents medical teams with an opportunity to protect against it prior to a scheduled procedure.
  • The fact that most infections don’t actually start with sources in the hospital is probably a testament to the efficacy of these protocols.


Dustin Long receives funding from the National Institutes of Health. Dr Bryson-Cahn receives funding from the Gordon and Berry Moore Foundation and is the co-medical director for Alaska Airlines.

Bruce Pascoe’s Black Duck is a ‘healing and necessary’ account of a year on his farm, following a difficult decade after Dark Emu

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, April 10, 2024
Dark, SSS, Friends, River Thames, Season, Culture, Magpie, Longevity, Science, Thames & Hudson, Horse, Agriculture, Black Summer, Black Duck, The Summer Book, Ageing, Smell, The Falcon (fictional detective), Knowledge, Aborigine, History, Spur, Bird, University, Food, Photography, Death, Curlew, Indigenous Australians, Smoke, Translation, Nature, Eagle, Swallow, City, Mouth, System, Fire, Water, Literature, Heart, Tove, Wallagaraugh River, Fox, Snow, Envy, Sadness, Dark Emu, Violence, Natural history, Weather, Hunting

Bruce Pascoe is best known for his natural history, Dark Emu, which argues that systems of pre-colonial food production and land management in Australia have been dramatically understated.

Key Points: 
  • Bruce Pascoe is best known for his natural history, Dark Emu, which argues that systems of pre-colonial food production and land management in Australia have been dramatically understated.
  • At last count, the book had sold at least 360,000 copies of the original edition – and many more in the form of adaptations, translations, children’s and overseas editions.
  • Since the publication of Dark Emu in 2014, Pascoe has had to endure extraordinary public scrutiny, as well as vehement attacks on his personal and professional reputation.
  • In light of the last ten years, Black Duck: A Year at Yumburra is a healing and necessary book.
  • The farm is a deliberate project designed to test, extend and materialise some of the ideas put forward in Dark Emu.
  • The meaning of Yumburra, Pascoe tells us, is Black Duck, the “supreme spiritual being of Yuin country”.

Six seasons on the farm

  • Through more than 60 subtitled journal entries, accompanied by numerous photographs and sketches, Pascoe charts the activities of his days.
  • These include labouring chores on the farm, visits paid and received (both there and interstate), thoughts, visions and experiments with food and agriculture, and memories and reflections on relationships reaching far back into childhood.
  • Pascoe describes life on the farm as solitary at times, but also active.
  • Daily farm work includes clearing watercourses or fixing tools and machinery, and at these times his friendships with the nonhuman are forged in both subtle and overt ways.
  • Despite their vigilance, the Spur-winged Plover loses a lot of chicks to eagles and foxes […] Their calls are ever-present on the farm.
  • If the horses gallop, an eagle passes, a dingo wakes or a car arrives, you hear about it instantly.
  • You can’t make friend with Birran Durran Durran because everything is a threat in its opinion.
  • Despite their vigilance, the Spur-winged Plover loses a lot of chicks to eagles and foxes […] Their calls are ever-present on the farm.
  • There is a sense of time moving on through the seasons.
  • Yumburra, too, was affected by that event, leading one of the farm workers to rename a whole section of the farm “Apocalypse Valley” in the aftermath.
  • “The unbridled pleasure I used to take in the forest, waters and shores is now tinged with sadness and dread.”

A true storyteller

  • The author is respectfully light on detail on these matters, but the reader is left in no doubt about their deep importance to him.
  • Pascoe’s authorial style sometimes comes across as a touch too lackadaisical and larrikin-esque, drifting as if unmoored.
  • And yet, he’s a true storyteller – and no sooner have you hesitated, than he reels you in again, and has you marvelling with him at the grandchildren’s handstands and cartwheels on the paddle board on the river, or at the cunning of the dingo pair who’ve taken out a young Buru (kangaroo) by gripping him by the ears and drowning him.
  • I assume it was the same animal because she made a great point of making sure I was watching her expertise.
  • It might be a romantic thought or a wish for longevity of a friend but, whatever the case, I enjoy the personality.“
  • Sometimes Pascoe quotes from her journal entries, discrete and beautifully rendered observations of wildlife on her own nearby property.
  • But as I was reading, I found myself wondering how else Lyn contributed to the book, and on what terms.

Connection to culture and Country

  • For anyone with lingering doubts about Pascoe’s commitment and connection to Country, this book will set them straight.
  • It is a quiet, funny, warm and insistent call to return to and care for Country.


Julienne van Loon has been a recipient of funding from Creative Australia, Creative Victoria and ArtsWA.

EQS-News: KWS mourns the loss of Philip Freiherr von dem Bussche

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, April 10, 2024
Personality, Supervisory board, Agriculture, Attitude, Death, KWS, Family

KWS mourns the loss of our Chairman of the Supervisory Board and long-time companion Philip Freiherr von dem Bussche.

Key Points: 
  • KWS mourns the loss of our Chairman of the Supervisory Board and long-time companion Philip Freiherr von dem Bussche.
  • h.c. Andreas J. Büchting, Honorary Chairman of the Supervisory Board of KWS SAAT SE & Co. KGaA and KWS SE: "We are deeply saddened by the death of Philip von dem Bussche.
  • Philip von dem Bussche will be vividly remembered as an impressive personality.
  • Most recently, at the end of 2022, when Andreas Büchting resigned from his positions, Philip von dem Bussche returned to the company as Chairman of the Supervisory Boards of KWS SAAT SE & Co. KGaA and KWS SE at the request of the Büchting and Arend Oetker shareholder families.

Taking stock of existing barriers to sexual and reproductive health of girls and women in SSA and how collaboration and innovation can help shape the future

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, April 10, 2024
Tiko, CAPE, Government, Learning, UNFPA, Non-governmental organization, Agility, HIV, United, Ageing, United Nations, Shattered Dreams, Economic development, Development impact bond, Private sector, Death, Pregnancy, Adolescence, STI, Woman, Social stigma, Senior counsel, NEWS, Feedback, Health, HIV/AIDS, Tech, Birth control

For years, women and girls have been failed by a fragmented, under-resourced health system that is not built to meet their sexual and reproductive health needs.

Key Points: 
  • For years, women and girls have been failed by a fragmented, under-resourced health system that is not built to meet their sexual and reproductive health needs.
  • Coupled with HIV, complications during pregnancy and childbirth are the leading cause of death for young women aged 15-19 years.
  • "Tiko" which provides access to free reproductive health services that can change the course of many lives offering youth-friendly care and comprehensive information.
  • Achieving universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights by 2030 will require close collaboration by stakeholders in developing innovative solutions that can dismantle barriers to access among women and girls.

EQS-News: AdrenoMed Receives FDA Fast Track Designation for Enibarcimab for Treatment of Septic Shock

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, April 10, 2024
Sepsis, Communication, Patient, Public, Fast Track, Adrenomedullin, Biomarker, Accelerated approval (FDA), Mortality, Septic shock, Death, DPP3, Septic, Medicine, Priority review, Organ dysfunction, Intensive care medicine, CMO, Collection, FDA, Infection, RCI, Food, Pharmaceutical industry

AdrenoMed is now preparing a confirmatory Phase IIb/III clinical trial to confirm the reduced septic shock mortality under enibarcimab treatment employing a precision medicine approach.

Key Points: 
  • AdrenoMed is now preparing a confirmatory Phase IIb/III clinical trial to confirm the reduced septic shock mortality under enibarcimab treatment employing a precision medicine approach.
  • AdrenoMed’s CEO Dr. Richard Jones commented: “We are very pleased that enibarcimab has received Fast Track designation from the FDA, recognizing its potential as an innovative biomarker-guided treatment against septic shock to fill the unmet medical need in this very serious condition with a high death toll.
  • With a mortality rate of 20-30% for sepsis [1] and 30%-50% for septic shock in developed countries, [2] sepsis represents an enormous public health burden and is responsible for almost 20% of all deaths worldwide.
  • Dr. Stephan Witte, CMO of AdrenoMed, said: “We are very confident that the use of enibarcimab in combination with two biomarkers, Adrenomedullin (bio-ADM) and circulating dipeptidyl peptidase 3 (cDPP3), holds the promise to become the first effective targeted treatment against septic shock.

Cardiol Therapeutics Announces Year-End 2023 Update on Operations

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, April 2, 2024
Hypertrophy, Heart, CRDL, Patient, Mayo Clinic, PPAR, Agent handling, Cleveland Clinic, Fibrosis, European, Therapy, Myocarditis, Analysis, American Heart Association, Human, Massachusetts General Hospital, Pericarditis, MMT, Heart failure, American College, Safety, ODD, Cardiology, Clinical professor, Disease, Pericardium, Research, World Heart Federation, Management, University, Death, Pericardial effusion, Maverick, Reactive oxygen species, TSX, Priority review, FDA, Conversation, Financial statement, Inflammation, Fast Track, Calcium, Wound healing, API, Pharmaceutical industry

"Cardiol Therapeutics made important progress in 2023 and early 2024 as we pursued our primary objective of providing new therapeutic options to patients with poorly served heart diseases," said David Elsley, President and Chief Executive Officer of Cardiol Therapeutics.

Key Points: 
  • "Cardiol Therapeutics made important progress in 2023 and early 2024 as we pursued our primary objective of providing new therapeutic options to patients with poorly served heart diseases," said David Elsley, President and Chief Executive Officer of Cardiol Therapeutics.
  • In January 2023, Cardiol announced the first patient had been enrolled in the Company's Phase II open-label pilot study ("MAvERIC-Pilot") investigating the tolerance, safety, and efficacy of CardiolRx™ in patients with recurrent pericarditis.
  • In November 2023, Cardiol announced that it had exceeded 50% of the patient enrollment target for the MAvERIC-Pilot study.
  • In January 2024, Cardiol announced that ARCHER had exceeded 50% patient enrollment and was progressing ahead of the original study timeline.

IN8bio Announces New Preclinical Data for Gamma-Delta nsCAR-T Cell Therapy Platform at AACR 2024

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, April 9, 2024
Acute leukemia, Canadian Aviation Regulations, Cell, CD33, AML, Patient, Tissue, CML, Acute myeloid leukemia, Leukemia, Death, AACR, Neoplasm, Cancer, Safety, CD123, Antigen, Vaccine

NEW YORK, April 09, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- IN8bio, Inc. (Nasdaq: INAB) a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing innovative gamma-delta T cell therapies, today announced new preclinical data from its non-signaling gamma-delta T cell based Chimeric Antigen Receptor-T cell (nsCAR) platform, known as INB-300, that demonstrated improved selectivity to target leukemia cells while preserving healthy ones. The data support the potential for nsCAR to have a wider therapeutic window and to be used to prevent on-target off-tumor killing of healthy tissue that may express the CAR-T target. The data was presented in a poster session at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2024 on April 9, 2024.

Key Points: 
  • The data was presented in a poster session at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2024 on April 9, 2024.
  • IN8bio's nsCAR platform is based on the natural ability of gamma-delta T cells to distinguish between healthy and malignant tissue.
  • Approved CAR-T therapies have shown remarkable efficacy against B cell malignancies, offering hope to patients with limited treatment options.
  • “These results can potentially improve INB-300, as we advance towards IND enabling studies of our next-generation gamma-delta T cell therapies to treat cancers.”

BriaCell Showcases Data Demonstrating Unmatched Progression-Free Survival (PFS) and Clinical Efficacy in Antibody-Drug Conjugate (ADC) Resistant and Central Nervous System (CNS) Metastatic Breast Cancer at the 2024 AACR

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, April 9, 2024
HER2, ILD, CPI, Survival, Progression-free survival, Central nervous system, Patient, CNS, History, Death, Eribulin, Spacecraft, MD, CBR, TPC, EMBRACE, Life, BCT, AACR, TSX, Therapy, Breast cancer, Safety, Poster, CMO, PFS, ADC, PD-1, Pharmaceutical industry

“ADCs are the latest treatments for very difficult-to-treat advanced metastatic breast cancer.

Key Points: 
  • “ADCs are the latest treatments for very difficult-to-treat advanced metastatic breast cancer.
  • To our knowledge, there are no effective treatment options in this patient population for whom the progression-free survival prognosis is only a few weeks.
  • BriaCell will be monitoring ADC resistant patients in its ongoing pivotal Phase 3 study of Bria-IMT™ and CPI in advanced metastatic breast cancer.
  • Eribulin monotherapy versus treatment of physician’s choice in patients with metastatic breast cancer (EMBRACE): a phase 3 open-label randomized study.

NewAmsterdam Pharma Enrolls Over 9,000 Patients in Pivotal Phase 3 PREVAIL Global Cardiovascular Outcome Trial Evaluating the Effect of Obicetrapib in Patients with Established Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, April 9, 2024
Disability, Cardiovascular disease, Myocardial infarction, CVD, Risk, Patient, Stroke, NAMS, History, Mortality, Death, FESC, Moyamoya disease, Phase 3, Monash University, MACE, ASCVD, Hypercholesterolemia, Pharmaceutical industry

Driven by strong patient and physician interest globally, NewAmsterdam will extend enrollment to the end of April where we expect to randomize over 9,000 patients.

Key Points: 
  • Driven by strong patient and physician interest globally, NewAmsterdam will extend enrollment to the end of April where we expect to randomize over 9,000 patients.
  • “PREVAIL, our pivotal CVOT, will potentially demonstrate that obicetrapib’s lowering of LDL-C will reduce major adverse cardiac events (“MACE”).
  • The primary objective of the study is to evaluate the effect of obicetrapib compared to placebo on MACE, including cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, stroke and non-elective coronary revascularization.
  • “Despite widespread availability of statin therapies, CVD-related deaths are on the rise, and many patients are not at their risk-based LDL-C goals.

SHAREHOLDER ALERT: Pomerantz Law Firm Investigates Claims on Behalf of Investors of Bristol-Myers Squibb Company - BMY

Retrieved on: 
Monday, April 8, 2024
BMY, Bristol Myers Squibb, News, LLP, Death, Pomerantz, Food

NEW YORK, April 08, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pomerantz LLP is investigating claims on behalf of investors of Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (“Bristol Myers” or the “Company”) (NYSE: BMY).

Key Points: 
  • NEW YORK, April 08, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pomerantz LLP is investigating claims on behalf of investors of Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (“Bristol Myers” or the “Company”) (NYSE: BMY).
  • Such investors are advised to contact Danielle Peyton at [email protected] or 646-581-9980, ext.
  • Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, Pomerantz pioneered the field of securities class actions.
  • The Firm has recovered billions of dollars in damages awards on behalf of class members.