Biology Digest

DALLAS —  Updated at 6:55 p.m. with additional information. U.S. health officials say they now have evidence that an untreatable “superbug” fungus has spread in two hospitals in Collin County and a nursing home in Washington, D.C. There were four deaths related to the fungus at two health care facilities in Collin County, officials said Friday. Outbreaks of the  Candida auris fungus were reported Thursday  to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. A handful of the patients had invasive fungal infections that were impervious to all three major classes of medications. The new cases did spread, the CDC concluded. In Washington, D.C., a cluster of 101 C. auris cases at a nursing home dedicated to very sick patients included three that were resistant to all three kinds of antifungal medications. A cluster of 22 in two hospitals in North Texas included two with that level of resistance. The facilities weren’t identified. The state health department told WFAA Friday that...

  With cases spiking across the country, top health officials are making it clear that COVID-19 is becoming  “a pandemic of the unvaccinated.” According to  the CDC , less than half of the total U.S. population has been fully vaccinated and yet fewer Americans are lining up for shots each week. Hospitals and health systems, which have borne the brunt of the pandemic, are now starting to look inward at the vaccination rates of their own workforces. A growing number of providers are shifting their policies away from simply encouraging staff vaccination to requiring the shots as a condition of employment. While this hard line has drawn  protests  and  lawsuits  from unvaccinated employees who say the requirements infringe on personal freedoms, mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policies have picked up the support of  numerous professional and industry organizations . “COVID-19 vaccines protect healthcare personnel when working both in healthcare faciliti...

  SACRAMENTO – Today, the State of California is taking decisive action to combat the spread of COVID-19 and protect vulnerable communities – implementing a first-in-the-nation standard to require all state workers and workers in health care and high-risk congregate settings to either show proof of full vaccination or be tested at least once per week, and encourage all local government and other employers to adopt a similar protocol. “We are now dealing with a pandemic of the unvaccinated, and it’s going to take renewed efforts to protect Californians from the dangerous Delta variant,” said Governor Gavin Newsom. “As the state’s largest employer, we are leading by example and requiring all state and health care workers to show proof of vaccination or be tested regularly, and we are encouraging local governments and businesses to do the same. Vaccines are safe – they protect our family, those who truly can’t get vaccinated, our children and our economy. Vaccines are the way we end t...

 As if partaking in the powerful drug it aggressively marketed, being at the forefront of the opioid boom was a dizzying high for Purdue Pharma. But it ultimately proved crippling for the manufacturer of OxyContin. On Tuesday, the company revealed that its bankruptcy plan has received “overwhelming support.” The move will allow Purdue to settle thousands of lawsuits it faced over its role in helping trigger and fuel the opioid crisis. Among nearly 5,000 state and local creditors, 97% voted to accept the chapter 11 reorganization plan. A confirmation hearing is set for Aug. 9. “This is an unprecedented expression of support for a restructuring of this size and complexity, in favor of a plan that will provide needed resources to those affected by the opioid crisis,” Purdue Pharma CEO Steve Miller said in a release. The vote came less than three weeks after 15 states signed off on Purdue’s controversial plan, which would transform the company into a nonprofit in exchange for excusing ...

While COVID-19 dominated headlines last year, an epidemic of overdoses roiled quietly in the background. Amid the pandemic, U.S. officials recorded the highest tally of drug overdose deaths ever over a 12-month period, with the vast majority stemming from opioids. Now, Emergent BioSolutions has joined forces with a syndicate of nonprofits—plus a former Congresswoman, a prominent lifestyle influencer and an NFL tight end—to shine a spotlight on the overdose crisis. The campaign, called Reverse the Silence,  debuted  on July 26 and features an unbranded website, plus nationwide television and radio spots that aim to address the stigma surrounding opioid overdoses, which are often accidental, Emergent said in a release. Four advocacy groups, led by former Congresswoman Mary Bono, have joined the Emergent-sponsored campaign. Emergent makes the popular overdose reversal drug Narcan, a nasal spray version of the opioid antagonist naloxone. Each person who takes part i...

  OpenVaccine Updates: How Eterna players designed superfolder mRNAs and how Stanford researchers tested them - Hannah Wayment-Steele, PhD The first authorized COVID-19 vaccines were based on messenger RNA molecules that promote translation of SARS-CoV-2 antigen proteins. However, these vaccines have been logistically problematic for delivery to developing countries and to rural populations in developed countries. We will talk about how Eterna players designed "superfolder" mRNAs that were predicted to be more resistant to degradation, how researchers at the Das and Barna groups at Stanford validated their increased stability and translation, and what the next frontiers are for designing improved RNA vaccines.

 Thumbnail credit by Jeff Holiday Production In the past few weeks the anti-vax lobby has ratcheted up the ante on their lobbying efforts. The event that kicked off this new wave of anti-vax scares was the "Knock on the Door rants" according to the Washington Post on a July 9th article they cited  rants by Marjorie Taylor Greene and Laurent Boebert in a political rally that sparked the scare. "Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) got the ball rolling Tuesday by comparing the effort to “ medical brown shirts showing up at their door ordering vaccinations .” Not to be outdone, Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) took to Twitter the next day to offer her own Nazi comparison, labeling the door-knockers “ needle Nazis .” If anyone should know the folly of such metaphors, it would seem to be Greene, who just three weeks prior conceded in an apology after another wayward Nazi/coronavirus comment that “ there is no comparison to the Holocaust .” And it’s worth emphasizing that there is...

In response to a question from two microscopy YouTubers, I want to mention that the following points are important: . regular videos uploaded, over many months . patience . personality of the videos . video and sound quality Not mentioned, but also important . giving viewers a reason to watch (educational, explaining techniques)  

  Facing thousands of opioid lawsuits, Johnson & Johnson and major distributors are   close   to a $26 billion settlement to end the litigation, The Wall Street Journal reports. Lawyers for Johnson & Johnson, Cardinal Health, McKesson and AmerisourceBergen have been negotiating a potential settlement for years, and their deal could become public this week, the newspaper reports. Under the deal, J&J would pay $5 billion over nine years and the three distributors would pay a combined $21 billion over 18 years, the report says. In a recent SEC filing, J&J had already earmarked $5 billion for an "all-in settlement" that would resolve "opioid lawsuits and future claims by states, cities, counties and tribal governments."  "There continues to be progress toward finalizing this agreement," J&J said in a statement Tuesday. "The settlement is not an admission of liability or wrongdoing and the company will continue to defend a...