Watch Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria Develop Over Time

Watch this powerful time-lapse  video demonstrating the development of antibiotic resistance in E. coli bacteria over time. E. coli starts out at the edges of the petri dish where no antibiotics are present. Over time, mutations develop allowing E. coli to not only resist the antibiotics, but to thrive allowing it to grow towards the center where antibiotics are present at 1000x the concentration of the minimal amount initially required to kill E. coli bacteria. Scared? You should be..…

9/14/2016 1

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Medical Alarm Fatigue

Alarms are an important part of clinical care as it serves as a warning to a possible medical error or an impending medical emergency. But when they occur frequently, most of which end up being "false-alarms," they become worse than useless and actually contributes  to an unsafe patient environment because a life-threatening event may be missed due to such sensory overload. In one fascinating research article performed in an intensive care unit (ICU) where the sickest of the sick…

4/25/2015 0

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Sulfa vs Sulfate vs Sulfur vs Sulfite Allergy

Having a "sulfa" allergy is quite common... What is uncommon is understanding that being "sulfa" allergic does not necessarily mean that one is also allergic to sulfates, sulfur, and sulfites. Also, when a patient states that have a sulfa allergy, they typically mean they have a "sulfonamide" allergy. Why is this understanding of significance? It's because there is confusion whether a patient with a sulfa allergy can take sulfate containing medications safe…

11/18/2014 7

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Ear Injection of AM-101 May Stop Tinnitus

Phantom ringing of the ears also known as tinnitus is an extremely frustrating condition that afflicts many people. Often triggered by hearing nerve damage, there's no good treatment to fix this condition once it sets in. Until possibly now...  AM-101 made by Auris Medical is an experimental drug containing esketamine hydrochloride embedded within a hyaluronic acid gel formulation. It works by blocking the NMDA receptors of the cochlear inner hair cell. Normally, when there…

7/19/2014 1

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Botox Injection Severe Side Effects Treatment

Side effects from botox injections are not uncommon and even expected to some degree in the region where the injection was performed. For example, when botox is injected into the voicebox for spasmodic dysphonia , normal and expected side effects include hoarseness and dysphagia . However, in very rare instances, more severe side effects may occur that may even appear to be life-threathening including stridor , shortness of breath, profound difficulty swallowing , etc. Botox overdose so …

7/13/2014 2

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Cure for Noise-Induced Hearing Loss?

Normally, when mammals (including humans) are exposed to very loud sounds, permanent hearing loss may result due to cochlear hair cell injury. However, an experimental drug code-named LY411575 was found to regenerate new hair cells by suppressing a protein called Notch. In essence, this drug restored hearing to mice deafened by loud noise. Listen to an explanation by Harvard researcher Dr. Edge in this  video . However, human trials are a very long way off… so prevention is still the b…

10/30/2013 0

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