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Time of India
19-05-2025
- Health
- Time of India
Every drop counts
blood testing Elizabeth Holmes Urine analysis Sarah Diepstraten In the 2000s, biotech company Theranos promised to revolutionise. Founderclaimed Theranos technology could perform hundreds of tests using just a finger-prick drop of blood. If true, their diagnostics would be faster, cheaper and more raised hundreds of millions of dollars from investors and was valued at more than USD 9 billion in the technology never worked, leading to one of the biggest scandals in biotech history. Theranos was secretly using traditional machines to run many tests, then claiming the results came from its own (non-functional) device. Holmes was eventually convicted of fraud and sentenced to 11 years in a new startup, Haemanthus, claims to have developed a similar technology. Co-founded by Billy Evans (Holmes' partner), this new company says it can detect and diagnose illnesses using tiny amounts of blood, urine, or even technology has advanced since Theranos' time, it's important to consider these claims and lab techs can currently detect many conditions with blood, and some with urine or saliva. These are important tools in modern medicine. However, the volumes required are usually much greater than a few drops or a circulates through all organs, transporting cells, nutrients, hormones and waste products. Blood tests collect several millilitres of blood from a vein and send this to a laboratory for tests can check if a person has signs of infection or disease, to monitor organ function, or to show how a person is responding to medical treatment. Blood tests are widely used to monitor heart disease, diabetes, kidney disease, or deficiencies in iron or vitamins.A significant proportion of medical decisions are based on laboratory analysis of blood tests. Making them more affordable and accessible would have great is produced by the kidneys and contains waste filtered from the blood. The colour and composition of urine gives you a snapshot of any problems the body might be trying to detect urinary tract infections, kidney disorders, diabetes and liver diseases by measuring sugars, proteins and urine tests are non-invasive and easy to administer, they can be used to quickly screen for some factors such as how much you've had to drink and what you've eaten can influence urine composition, potentially affecting test is the clear, watery liquid produced by salivary glands in the mouth. It's mostly water (around 99 per cent), but also contains various substances such as hormones, antibodies, enzymes, DNA, RNA and testing is already used in clinical settings to detect HIV antibodies, monitor levels of cortisol (a marker of stress) and to diagnoseviral infections such as potential of saliva as another non-invasive diagnostic tool is growing, especially as researchers identify more markers of disease that it can saliva production varies between individuals. The composition of saliva can be impacted by what you eat and drink, the time of day, or even stress. These variations can limit how consistent and reliable saliva can be for making a diagnosing diseases using bodily fluids isn't new, Haemanthus and other startups differentiate themselves by aiming (and claiming) to need only small amounts for multiple tests: a drop of blood, a swab of saliva, or a few milliliters of urine. This would mean faster, cheaper, more convenient tests that cause less there are physical limitations of small samples. Many diagnostic markers (called biomarkers) are only present in very low amounts in our body the sample amount decreases, so do the amounts of the biomarkers, making it harder to detect them reliably. This is particularly true for biomarkers such as hormones, cancer markers, or early-stage disease course, some conditions can be diagnosed using small samples, but generally only one condition is tested for with each small sample, unlike the claims of companies like blood samples, for example, can monitor blood glucose levels of people with urine samples can detect urinary tract infections, but not all types of infections at specific biomarkers for these conditions can be reliably detectable in small amounts of diagnose more complex conditions, or even unknown conditions, multiple tests may be required, each needing different sample preparations. This requires both volume and precision – two things tests with small sample volumes struggle to the idea of diagnosing illnesses with small fluid samples is promising, especially for remote or resource-limited settings, the science suggests we should be human diseases are complicated, and we usually need comprehensive testing approaches to diagnose them. Relying only on small fluid samples could lead to misdiagnosis, delayed treatments, or unnecessary in biosensor technology, machine learning algorithms and biomarker discovery continue to advance the field. And one day, fast and reliable small volume testing may be a lot more peer-reviewed research and regulatory approvals will be essential to ensure patient safety and diagnostic accuracy.
Economic Times
18-05-2025
- Health
- Economic Times
FDA approves Novavax COVID vaccine with new conditions
Live Events (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved Novavax's COVID-19 vaccine, but placed additional conditions on individuals who would be able to receive the to the approval letter, the license restricts the use of the vaccine called Nuvaxovid to individuals aged 65 and older, and those between 12 and 64 who have at least one underlying condition that increases their risk of developing severe illness from letter did not specify what qualified as an underlying FDA also deferred submission of pediatric studies from birth to less than 12 years for the application, as pediatric studies had not been completed. Novavax CEO John Jacobs said the approval was a "significant milestone" that solidifies a path for people to access the vaccine's prospects were thrown into doubt after the FDA missed its April 1 target to approve the shot. U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. attributed the delay to the shot's composition in a CBS interview earlier that whose protein-based shot uses an older technology, missed out on the pandemic vaccine windfall - enjoyed by rivals Moderna and Pfizer which make messenger RNA-based vaccines - due to manufacturing issues and regulatory hurdles.
BBC News
09-04-2025
- General
- BBC News
Faulty antenna played role in fatal Australian helicopter crash
A faulty radio antenna contributed to a deadly mid-air helicopter collision at an Australian theme park and resort, transport safety officials people died - including two British tourists - and several more were seriously injured when the two aircraft hit each other in January 2023, near Sea World on the Gold Coast. An investigation by Australia's Transport and Safety Bureau (ATSB) found one of the pilots did not hear a vital radio call shortly before the accident, and that a series of changes by Sea World meant risk controls at the time were accident rocked the Gold Coast, one of the nation's biggest tourist hotspots. The two helicopters collided around 20 seconds after one had taken off and as the other was landing. Those who died were all travelling in the helicopter which was taking off. The other aircraft managed to make an emergency landing, with passengers suffering a range of ATSB report found that in the months leading up to the accident, Sea World had tried to improve its offering of leisure flights by adding a second helipad location and introducing larger Eurocopter EC140 B4 helicopters."Over time, these changes undermined risk controls used to manage traffic separation and created a conflict point between launching and departing helicopters," it aircraft preparing to take off also had a faulty the run-up to the collision, a call from the arriving helicopter was either not received or not heard by the pilot on the ground, who was loading passengers at the time. However, once the passengers were on board, a ground crew member advised the departing helicopter pilot that the airspace was clear. By the time the chopper took off, though, that information was no longer the pilot who was wanting to land after a five-minute scenic flight had seen the other helicopter on the ground but didn't deem it a threat, the report said. He would have expected to have been alerted by a "taxiing" radio call if that situation changed. However the faulty antenna likely prevented the broadcast of the taxiing call, the report said."Without the taxiing call being received, the pilot of the inbound helicopter, who was likely focusing on their landing site, had no trigger to reassess the status of the departing helicopter as a collision risk." Among those who died were Diane Hughes, 57, and her 65-year-old husband Ron who were from Neston, Cheshire. They had married in 2022 and were on holiday visiting relatives after being separated by "fun-loving" couple from Neston, Cheshire, had "a zest for life", their family said in a statement at the killed was Sydney resident Vanessa Tadros, 36, and 40-year-old Sea World Helicopters pilot Ashley Jenkinson, who was originally from Birmingham.A further six people were seriously injured while three others sustained minor injuries in the after the accident, the passengers on the flight that was returning hailed the pilot as a "hero" for landing the helicopter all, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau made 28 findings that underline "key lessons" for operators and pilots."The most fundamental lesson from this investigation is that making changes to aviation operations, even those that appear to increase safety, can have unintended consequences," ATSB Chief Commissioner Angus Mitchell said."It is therefore critical that changes to aviation operations are managed through the implementation of a defined process to ensure overall safety is not adversely affected."
