A new method of treatment–a slow-dissolving tablet that stays in the mouth for 12 hours–has been approved by the FDA for replacing testosterone in males with a deficiency and/or hypogonadism. Signs and symptoms of hypogonadism can include decreased sexual desire, erectile dysfunction (ED), fatigue, depression, reduced muscle mass, and osteoporosis. The product is called Striant(R) (testosterone buccal system) mucoadhesive (CIII) and is manufactured by Columbia Laboratories. Read more about the safety concerns of using Striant when other conditions are present.
The safety of HRT for women has already been called into question. But for some people the effects of HRT may be powerful enough that they will choose to overlook safety concerns.
Yes, you read the headline right. Doctors are using maggots–extremely effectively–to clean out dead tissue from wounds that won’t heal. Diabetic ulcers so severe that doctors had decided to amputate were healed with ten rounds of maggots set to feed on the dead tissue. Research indicates this therapy is twice as effective as traditional wound debriding (removing debris) for healing “hard to heal” wounds such as:
when the patient is under nourished (malnutrition)
cancer
diabetes mellitus
other chronic medical conditions (e.g. heart disease)
infection (which may continue due to dead tissue or foreign material within the wound)
poor blood supply
Traditional debriding techniques include:
surgical (physically removing or cutting away debris)
chemical (using chemicals to remove the debris)
enzymatic (using natural proteins called enzymes to remove the debris)
autolytic (enhancing the natural processes of the body by encouraging a moist wound environment)
mechanical (washing the wound or adherent dressings*)
And now maggots (considered a bio-surgical technique). What might this mean for our world? A diabetic who doesn’t have to lose a toe or a foot? I know a woman who began to get gangrene from an improperly inserted rod when she broke her shin and ended up losing her toes–and then her leg from the knee down. The cost of a maggot treatment is a mere few hundred dollars–the savings in unneeded surgeries and extensive followup could be huge. How many doctors know about this technique for preventing infection of wounds? This article says patients who feel squeamish will usually take maggot treatment over losing a piece of their bodies.
This treatment has been in use since the Civil War. Antibiotics replaced it–with varying degrees of success. Some of our “modern” discoveries have clearly contributed to the soaring cost of medical care. Read more about how other of nature’s creatures supply us with healing capabilities.
Naming a new controlling body the Kansas Bioscience Authority, Kansas’s governor just named 9 prestigious members to this group that will be in charge of allocating tax revenue from bioscience companies into additional R&D (an expected $500 million to $600 million over the next 10 years.). Appointees are from a wide range of stations: from entrepreneurs to top names from research organizations and universities from Kansas and other states, and include former STERIS founder Bill Sanford, now of NanoMaterials in Manhattan and Victoria Franchetti Haynes, Ph.D., president and CEO of RTI International at the Research Triangle in Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina.
High-powered lights of the industry coming together to help yet another state compete for dollars and prestige. The bioscience-hub race heats up.
Whether you’re a physician, an investigator or a consumer of medical services, this is a good site to check out before you undertake a new experiment, evaluate a new device to use in your work, or start taking a new prescription drug. It’s also the place to go if you have an issue to report. I’ve added this as a permanent link in this site’s Resources section.
Two bioscience companies together (Ambion and Cenix Bioscience) have just released a new RNA interference (RNAi) library based on the Drosophila genome. Laboratories that buy this library get more than 13,000 double-stranded RNA molecules (dsRNAs) that are ready for immediate use in experiments without having to do any other preparation.
If you don’t happen to be a biologist, you may remember your high school biology class in which you learned that the Drosophila fly (the fruit fly and varieties) reproduces at an amazing rate. It’s not surprising then that it’s so useful for researching the behavior of genes. And how fascinating that they can now produce “libaries” of synthetic genetic material–they don’t have to grow huge colonies of flies and manually extract the stuff. No wonder science is making such huge advances so much faster nowadays.
A lot of places where people are packed close together may be interested in this system (to be on sale by the end of this year) including hospitals, hotels, sports arenas, cruise ships, schools and more. The Defense department is a favorite target for sales efforts.
It will be interesting to see how much our fear of danger from outside inadvertently contributes to the advancement of bioscience–perhaps even faster than could have been hoped.
The federal government’s new combination of laws called Bioshield looks like a classic case of the guy who’s all gungho. He tells you “Oh, yes, I really want what you’re offering. That’s exactly what I’m looking for…but I’m not ready to buy it yet. Why don’t you keep working on that. And by the way, here are the other features I’d like you to put in there… Money for development? No, don’t be silly that’s your job. Be your partner in taking the risks on this? No, no. That might cost me serious money or damage my reputation. You just go ahead and get that thing ready and we’ll let you know when we’re ready to move.”
That’s a quick and dirty impression gleaned from last week’s Washington Post on this new legislation that for ten years authorizes the use of federal money for drugs and vaccines to counteract a range of pathogens. Health officials can sign a contract to buy drugs under development, but don’t have to actually buy anything until tests prove the treatments work. The catch-22 is that no proof can be given that a certain drug effectively prevents or cures damage to human beings from any agent–because you can’t use unproven drugs on real people.
But the Food and Drug Administration is allowed to use unapproved products in emergencies and the National Institutes of Health can speed up biodefense research.
The Science Daily article does a good job of explaining this breakthrough research. It goes on to say that they believe this misfolding occurs in everyone, but normally the misshapen proteins are cleared away in the brain. Next question: why doesn’t the clearing happen in some brains?
Harvard Bioscience’s CEO is presenting at a conference this Thursday August 5. He’ll talk about
the company’s plans to grow by acquiring, by partnering and my innovating. If you don’t plan to attend the R. W. Baird conference in New York, you can still listen to the presentation through the HBIO website at http://www.harvardbioscience.com/ or at http://www.wsw.com/webcast.rwbaird7/hbio
White blood cell counts after catheterization and other heart procedures may be a predictor of long-term survival rates, according to a recent report in the American Journal of Cardiology. Such procedures, including angioplasty and stenting, are traumatic to the body, and the body’s natural response to trauma is to increase white blood cell production.
If you’re like me, your first reaction to this might be, oh, brother, you’ve traumatized me big-time and now you’re going to tell me I’m not going to live much longer anyway…
But long-term this discovery could mean that doctors would know much more about how to tailor treatment after heart procedures in order to keep people optimally healthy.
Looking at how bioscience news affects business, higher education, government – and you and me