Lifeboat Foundation

Talk about streamlining and improved efficiencies in clinicals.

Livonia, MI — January 25, 2016 — McKesson Pharmacy Systems & Automation (MPS&A) announced the release of the McKesson Clinical Programs Solution™, a new platform that allows pharmacists to build customized wellness programs and maintain vendor programs for patients with specific medical conditions. The Clinical Programs Solution™ also saves pharmacists time and labor costs by automatically synchronizing the data of patients enrolled in a clinical program with McKesson’s EnterpriseRx® pharmacy management system.

“In today’s increasingly competitive healthcare reimbursement environment, pharmacies are under more pressure than ever to create and manage clinical programs that address patient wellness,” said Emilie Ray, president, McKesson Pharmacy Systems & Automation. “Our Clinical Programs Solution can help meet this challenge by providing pharmacists with a flexible, easy-to-use tool to build and manage clinical services that best suit their patients’ needs and positively impact their pharmacy’s bottom line.”

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Good luck with that.

GRAUBUNDEN, SWITZERLAND – The world must act quickly to avert a future in which autonomous robots with artificial intelligence roam the battlefields killing humans, scientists and arms experts warned at an elite gathering in the Swiss Alps.

Rules must be agreed to prevent the development of such weapons, they said at a January 19–23 meeting of billionaires, scientists and political leaders in the snow-covered ski resort of Davos.

Continue reading “Scientists call for ban on autonomous killer robots” »

This is huge: “An important mystery has been why some cells in the body already have mutations seen in cancer, but do not yet fully behave like the cancer” Could we finally have a consistent way to identify and treat gene mutations tied to cancer?

For the first time, researchers have visualized the origins of cancer from the first affected cell and watched its spread in a live animal. This work could change the way scientists understand melanoma and other cancers and could lead to new, early treatments before the cancer has taken hold.

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Nice — definitely need this focus.

CELEBRITIES are coming together and signing up to support World Cancer Day.

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One key question can it help control Glioblastoma.

A new “wearable” device being tested to suppress brain-cancer cell growth in patients ended its clinical trials early with positive results. Optune is a battery powered device researchers claim will extend the life of a patient with “newly diagnosed glioblastoma” when it is paired with traditional temozolomide chemotherapy. Researches were confident enough in its effectiveness to end the clinical trials (which ran from July 2009 to November 2014) of the device early. The device is likely not “the cure for cancer,” but it is a step forward in extending the life expectancy of brain-cancer patients and more research will be needed to see if it may be effective on other forms of cancer.

“With this new data, it appears the tumor-treating fields should be used upfront and become a standard of care. We should add this modality to what we’re currently doing for our patients,” said Dr. Maciej Mrugala, a brain-cancer specialist who led UW Medicine’s participation in the clinical trial.

Continue reading “Research: Device Claims To Suppress Brain-Cancer Cell Growth” »

PI3K (phosphoinositide 3-kinase) is a cell-signaling molecule found tied to breast, ovarian, and endometrial cancers.

Important insights into the biology that underlies glycolysis, the metabolic process that enables cancer cells to generate biomass and energy, have been revealed by new research, confirming the importance of sugar to cancer survival.

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ibm.co/1nByxoQ

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With the recent use of genetically engineered mosquitoes in Brazil to halt the spread of the Zika virus, we might be beginning to see some major health improvements as a consequence of the genetics revolution. A world in which mosquitoes were all but eliminated from the ecosystem would look quite different from the world of today, especially for people living in the tropics where the threat of mosquito transmitted infections does more than just mar an otherwise tranquil margarita sipped from the veranda of a beach resort. This is not to beggar the more mundane advantages of a mosquito-free habitat, but rather call attention to the fact that for large parts of the world, including Brazil, mosquitoes can be the difference between life and death.

Ironically, the genetic changes made to the Aedes aegypti mosquito in order to halt the spread of the Zika virus are deceptively simple. The company behind the project, Oxitec, used a modified version of something called the “Sterile Insect Technique” to create their hybrid specimens. The end goal of this process is to produce a male mosquito possessing a “self-limiting gene.” When these males mate with wild female mosquitoes, they create non viable offspring that perish soon after the birth. The end result is a rapid drop in the mosquito population of a given area.

When compared with some of the more hazardous forms of mosquito control currently in use such as massive spraying of DEET and chemical infusers popular throughout Asia, sterilizing mosquitoes sounds like an imminently reasonable approach. As a journalist who once saw his roadside samosa blasted by a massive spray of DEET from an oncoming municipal vehicle in India, I can personally attest to a preference for a genetic solution.

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This is not good especially as we look at those aspirations for more nanobots to connect us to the cloud plus Mr. Kurzweil’s desire to live forever.

Medical device manufacturers are struggling to safeguard their newly connected designs from current and emerging security threats.

Natick, MA (PRWEB) January 29, 2016.

Continue reading “Connected Medical Devices Are Sick with Vulnerabilities, According to New Research” »