To Reduce Malaria, Treat Infected Mosquitos
In the fight against malaria, global health workers have long relied on bed nets treated with insecticide to ward off disease-transmitting mosquitos. But with insecticide resistance rising, a new study suggests an alternative approach: Use drugs to cure the insects before they can infect anyone.
Malaria spreads when a mosquito infected with a parasite bites a human.
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Medscape
an hour ago
- Medscape
Balanced Crystalloids Excel in Sepsis Fluid Resuscitation
A network meta-analysis of randomized trials found that balanced crystalloids reduced 90-day mortality more than low-molecular-weight hydroxyethyl starch and saline in patients with sepsis or septic shock and ranked highest for reducing the need for renal replacement therapy (RRT) and blood transfusion. METHODOLOGY: To compare various fluid resuscitation strategies, researchers conducted a network meta-analysis of 28 randomized controlled trials, which included 8770 patients with sepsis or septic shock (mean ages, 3-73 years). The intervention group received one or more of the following fluid supplements: Balanced crystalloids, saline, isooncotic albumin, hyperoncotic albumin, low-molecular-weight hydroxyethyl starch, high-molecular-weight hydroxyethyl starch, and gelatin. The control group received placebo or standard treatment. The study outcomes were 28-day mortality, 90-day mortality, the incidence of acute kidney injury, and the need for RRT and blood transfusions after treatment. TAKEAWAY: Balanced crystalloids reduced 90-day mortality compared with low-molecular-weight hydroxyethyl starch (risk ratio [RR], 0.84) and saline (RR, 0.89) and reduced the need for RRT compared with high-molecular-weight hydroxyethyl starch (RR, 0.59; 0.3-0.99). The surface under the cumulative ranking curve analysis showed that balanced crystalloids were the best fluid to reduce 28-day mortality (71.4%), 90-day mortality (86.3%), and the need for RRT (75.5%) and blood transfusions (72.2%). The same analysis showed that hyperoncotic albumin was the most effective in reducing the incidence of acute kidney injury (74.5%). IN PRACTICE: "In conclusion, BC [balanced crystalloids] demonstrates superiority over both L-HES [low-molecular-weight hydroxyethyl starch] and saline in reducing mortality in sepsis and septic shock patients, while Hyper-Alb [hyperoncotic albumin] is most effective in minimizing renal injury," the authors wrote. "However, given the current limitations, further high-quality, multicenter, large-sample RCTs [randomized controlled trials] are essential for more comprehensive analyses," they added. SOURCE: The study was led by Jiao Long, Seventh Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen, China. It was published online on June 4, 2025, in The American Journal of Emergency Medicine. LIMITATIONS: Studies examining the combination of balanced salt solutions with colloids or albumin were scarce. Variability in the doses of resuscitation fluid across studies may have affected the consistency of the findings. Additionally, the studies included in the analysis were published only in English, which may have led to selection biases. DISCLOSURES: This study was not supported by any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. The authors declared no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have influenced the work reported in this paper.
CBS News
an hour ago
- CBS News
UC Davis breakthrough lets ALS patient speak using only his thoughts
Allowing people with disabilities to talk by just thinking about a word, that's what UC Davis researchers hope to accomplish with new cutting-edge technology. It can be a breakthrough for people with ALS and other nonverbal conditions. One UC Davis Health patient has been diagnosed with ALS, a neurological disease that makes it impossible to speak out loud. Scientists have now directly wired his brain into a computer, allowing him to speak through it using only his thoughts. "It has been very exciting to see the system work," said Maitreyee Wairagkar, a UC Davis neuroprosthetics lab project scientist. The technology involves surgically implanting small electrodes. Artificial intelligence can then translate the neural activity into words. UC Davis researchers say it took the patient, who's not being publicly named, very little time to learn the technology. "Within 30 minutes, he was able to use this system to speak with a restricted vocabulary," Wairagkar said. It takes just milliseconds for brain waves to be interpreted by the computer, making it possible to hold a real-time conversation. "[The patient] has said that the voice that is synthesized with the system sounds like his own voice and that makes him happy," Wairagkar said. And it's not just words. The technology can even be used to sing. "These are just very simple melodies that we designed to see whether the system can capture his intention to change the pitch," Wairagkar said. Previously, ALS patients would use muscle or eye movements to type on a computer and generate a synthesized voice. That's how physicist Stephen Hawking, who also had ALS, was able to slowly speak. This new technology is faster but has only been used on one patient so far. Now, there's hope that these microchip implants could one day help other people with spinal cord and brain stem injuries. "There are millions of people around the world who live with speech disabilities," Wairagkar said. The UC Davis scientific study was just published in the journal "Nature," and researchers are looking for other volunteers to participate in the program.
Bloomberg
3 hours ago
- Bloomberg
DHL to Invest €500 Million on Africa, Middle East Expansion
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