Lifeboat Foundation

For a few years now, scientists at Washington University have been working on techniques to turn stem cells into pancreatic beta cells as a way of addressing insulin shortages in diabetics. After some promising recent strides, the team is now reporting another exciting breakthrough, combining this technique with the CRISPR gene-editing tool to reverse the disease in mice.

The pancreas contains what are known as beta cells, which secrete insulin as a way of tempering spikes in blood-sugar levels. But in those with diabetes, these beta cells either die off or don’t function as they should, which means sufferers have to rely on diet and or regular insulin injections to manage their blood-sugar levels instead.

One of the ways scientists are working to replenish these stocks of pancreatic beta cells is by making them out of human stem cells, which are versatile, blank slate-like cells that can mature into almost any type of cell in the human body. The Washington University team has operated at the vanguard of this technology with a number of key breakthroughs, most recently with a cell implantation technique that “functionally cured” mice with diabetes.

Drawing on data from satellites and Apollo-era missions, scientists at the US Geological Survey (USGS), NASA and the Lunar Planetary Institute have pieced together what they say is the first comprehensive geological map of the Moon.

Our 4.5-billion-year-old satellite is adorned with all kinds of rocks, craters and other interesting geological features. To dig into the details, the scientists looked to regional maps from six Apollo missions and combined these with modern data from recent satellite missions.

Refreshing the historical maps with fresh scientific observations enabled the scientists to put together an incredibly detailed perspective of the Moon, showing its geology at a scale of 1:5,000,000.

The system destroys the #coronavirus in a room in up to half an hour and without causing harm to any of the patients. #GoFigure

The system is built on ultraviolet light which gives off a specific wavelength that has been found to be deadly to the coronavirus, not cancerous and safe for use in close proximity to patients, including those suffering from pulmonary problems.

Boston Dynamic’s robotic dog Spot is helping healthcare workers treat coronavirus patents remotely. Spot is fitted with an iPad and two-way radio so both can communicate in real-time.

Francesca colavita, phd; daniele lapa, phd; fabrizio carletti, phd; eleonora lalle, phd; licia bordi, phd; patrizia marsella, phd; emanuele nicastri, MD; nazario bevilacqua, MD; maria letizia giancola, MD; angela corpolongo, MD; giuseppe ippolito, MD; maria rosaria capobianchi, phd; concetta castilletti, phd

Francesca Colavita, PhD

National Institute for Infectious Diseases “Lazzaro Spallanzani” IRCCS, Rome, Italy (F.C., D.L., F.C., E.L., L.B., P.M., E.N., N.B., M.L.G., A.C., G.I., M.R.C., C.C.)

Dirty air increases risk of respiratory problems that can be fatal for coronavirus patients.

‘Everyone’s been vaccinated around here anyway’ joke…

Published by Associated Newspapers Ltd.

Continue reading “White House hot mic hears someone say We’ve all been vaccinated here” »

Ira Pastor, ideaXme life sciences ambassador, interviews Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, President of the Pontifical Academy for Life and Grand Chancellor of the John Paul II Pontifical Theological Institute for Marriage and Family Sciences.

IdeaXme does not advocate for or support any religion in favour of another.

Continue reading “The Vatican: Human Progress and High Tech Healthcare Innovation” »

This is the truth of the looming “hunger pandemic,” which has the potential to engulf over a quarter of a billion people whose lives and livelihoods will be plunged into immediate danger, unless urgent and effective action is taken to keep commercial and humanitarian goods flowing, support communities with humanitarian assistance and provide governments with the additional health interventions required to control the spread of the virus.

If we can’t reach these people — if we can’t give them the lifesaving assistance they need because our funding has been cut or borders where we move our food have been closed — WFP’s analysis shows that 300,000 could starve to death every single day for the next three months.

When you consider that already, despite our best efforts, 21,000 people die of hunger every single day, the scale of the potential death toll is heart-rending. We could be looking at famine in about three dozen countries. In 10 countries, we have more than a million people who are on the verge of starvation as we speak.

Continue reading “Covid-19 could detonate a ‘hunger pandemic.’ With millions at risk, the world must act” »