Tag: Antibiotics

Boys grow at slower rate if they were given antibiotics as newborns

Boys given antibiotics in the first two weeks of life are more likely to gain weight and height at a lower than average rate – but the effect is not seen in girls Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2265720-boys-grow-at-slower-rate-if-they-were-given-antibiotics-as-newborns/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…

Among 2020’s Most Underreported Stories: Pharmaceutical Profiteering May Accelerate Superbugs

Since 1976 “Project Censored,” a U.S.-based nonprofit media watchdog organization, has been identifying “the news that didn’t make the news,” the most significant stories it believes are being systematically overlooked. Slashdot ran stories about its annual list of the year’s most censored news stories in 1999, 2003, 2004, and in 2007, when they’d presciently warned that the media was ignoring the…

China Confirms Case of Bubonic Plague In Inner Mongolia

China has confirmed one case of bubonic plague in northern province Inner Mongolia, according to a statement on the local health authority’s website. From a report: The patient is now under treatment at a hospital and is in a stable condition, the Bayannur health commission said in a late Sunday night statement. It also issued a level-three alert, warning of the…

Study of 96,000 Covid-19 Patients Finds Hydroxychloroquine Increased Their Risk of Dying

“The drug US President Donald Trump said he was taking to ward off Covid-19 actually increases the risk of patients with the disease dying from it,” reports the BBC, citing a new study published Friday in the Lancet. “The study said there were no benefits to treating patients with the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine…” Hydroxychloroquine is safe for malaria, and conditions like…

Pet food can contain drug-resistant bacteria that may pass to humans

Some dogs and cats may be passing gut microbes to their owners that withstand last-resort antibiotics, which can be needed to fight off pneumonia from a coronavirus infection Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2241580-pet-food-can-contain-drug-resistant-bacteria-that-may-pass-to-humans/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…

Powerful Antibiotic Discovered Using Machine Learning For First Time

A powerful antibiotic that kills some of the most dangerous drug-resistant bacteria in the world has been discovered using artificial intelligence. The Guardian reports: To find new antibiotics, the researchers first trained a “deep learning” algorithm to identify the sorts of molecules that kill bacteria. To do this, they fed the program information on the atomic and molecular features of nearly…

Chemotherapy For Cancer Could Soon Be Unviable Because of Superbugs

schwit1 quotes a report from MSN: Cancer doctors fear superbugs which can’t be treated with antibiotics will soon remove chemotherapy as a treatment option for their patients, a survey has revealed. Cancer patients are more vulnerable to infections because the disease and its treatments can stop the immune system from working correctly. Of the 100 oncologists in the U.K. surveyed between…

Tiny machines made of DNA origami may make antibiotics work better

Miniature devices made from intricately folded DNA strings can boost the potency of antibacterial chemicals by bringing individual molecules into direct contact with the microbes Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2227371-tiny-machines-made-of-dna-origami-may-make-antibiotics-work-better/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…

Scientists Find a Weak Spot In Some Superbugs’ Defenses

Researchers have found a new way to attack some of the bacteria behind treatment-resistant infections. An anonymous reader shares a report from Wired: In 2004, a 64-year-old woman in Indiana had a catheter put in to help with dialysis. Soon after the procedure, she came to a local hospital with low blood pressure and what turned out to be a dangerous…