New Florence. New Renaissance.

Artificial Blood

At a lab in Kyoto, Japan, scientists are running a pioneering clinical trial to treat this singular patient with a long-sought goal: artificial blood. Led by Dr. Koji Eto and a team at Kyoto University’s Center for IPS Cell Research and Application, the study aims to assess the safety and efficacy of platelets engineered in a lab out of a special type of stem cell. If successful, the research could pave the way for larger clinical trials and, ultimately, the broad use of lab-made blood.

While scientists have developed backups for most parts of our bodies—from prosthetic limbs to titanium teeth implants—the production of artificial blood has eluded them. Now, helped by advances in stem-cell research and interest from investors, scientists are closer than ever to coming up with a blood substitute.

WSJ

 

Another metric to revisit

Why not? After all it is 2020.

"Our temperature's not what people think it is," said Julie Parsonnet, MD, professor of medicine and of health research and policy. "What everybody grew up learning, which is that our normal temperature is 98.6, is wrong."

For their study, Parsonnet and her team compiled temperatures from three distinct historical periods. The three periods covered people born in the early 1800s all the way to today.

The researchers then used 677,423 temperature measurements to develop a linear model that interpolated temperature over time. What their calculations found was a decrease in body temperature of 0.05 F for every decade.

Interesting Engineering

The Future of Humans

Wide ranging report from the UBS Chief Investment Officer

The millennials and Generation Z will move into their peak earnings years and likely benefit from wealth transfer. These cohorts are broadly more conscious of their social and environmental impact. They often value experiences more than material ownership. Companies that produce goods and services that cater to these generations’ social and environmental values are likely to benefit. Furthermore, companies that provide new consumer experiences through technologies like augmented and virtual reality can offer attractive investment opportunities.

Download full report here.

Below is a graph from the healthcare section

 

100 is the new 60

Peter Diamandis covers the " rewiring the biology of aging." - gene therapy, AI applied to patient data and many other advancements

"For the first time in history, leading scientists and entrepreneurs believe there’s a way to slow aging -- and maybe even reverse it.

The latest research on longevity suggests there is no reason that people born today can’t live to at least 120 years old... perhaps even to 150 and beyond."

Video on how we learn about aging from mice

Lighting in the Operating Room

From the WSJ (sub required)

"Operating-room lights have barely changed in decades. Mayo Clinic and Zeeland, Mich.-based automotive electronics supplier Gentex Corp. are creating overhead lights that use cameras and machine-vision algorithms to alter the intensity and direction of light, minimize glare and eliminate shadows.

Eventually, surgeons may be able to set the lighting based on the type of procedure and the person performing it, simply by asking the system to adjust. Beyond that, the lights may have an ultraviolet setting that would sanitize the room overnight."

Here is a video on Gentex 

 

Clorox Classroom Device

The new device from Clorox will alert schools when a classroom has surpassed a predetermined symptom threshold developed by Dr. Saskia Popescu, epidemiologist research partner and infection preventionist. The end result is an ability to harness these illness indicators to help schools make informed decisions about prevention and keep classrooms safe.

• Using specialized thermal sensors, the device identifies potential spikes in body temperature.
• The proprietary software also recognizes upticks in coughs and sneezes.
• When the device detects an increase in symptoms that surpass a predetermined threshold, educators receive real-time notifications.
• Schools can then evaluate the classroom's risk level and take actions to help prevent the spread of illness-causing germs following their own internal healthcare protocols.

Clorox

 

Cemex Instant Hospitals

When COVID-19 struck Mexico, Cemex’s response was concrete: The cement giant speedily created prefab facilities to tend the sick. Its “turnkey hospital modules” each contain up to 45 beds and can be built within 15 days, at a cost the company says is 70% lower than traditional construction. The mini-hospitals, in place in 12 cities so far, are outfitted with antibacterial concrete and ultraviolet-light-based air filtration systems to curb the spread of infection. Cemex expects to build far more of them, as Mexico plans to install nearly 300,000 new hospital beds by 2030.

Fortune

The NFL's big COVID-19 experiment

The NFL is not playing its 2020 season with a bubble concept like those the NBA and the NHL have used so successfully, so COVID-19 infections among team and league personnel are all but inevitable over the next five-plus months. That's the bad news.

The good news, based on early coronavirus testing results through August, is the NFL has managed to keep the number of positive tests relatively low. Which is remarkable given the massive number of people required to operate 32 NFL teams. It's a good sign for the viability season as long as players, coaches and everybody else involved can keep following the health and safety protocols established by the NFL, the NFL Players Association, teams and local governments/health experts.

Much more about the protocols at Sporting News

This video discusses the precautions (including the proximity device) and likely pivots as the season progresses in this unusual year.

Operation Warp Speed

STATNews discusses progress of Operation Warp Speed on vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics related to COVID-19 

"If all goes well, the fast-tracking of vaccine development, which normally takes years, will have been telescoped down to about a year. To date, the fastest a vaccine was ever developed was four years.

Operation Warp Speed, or OWS, has already spent about $10 billion to help vaccine makers develop their candidates and build out production capacity to make vaccines at commercial scale. An innovation of this process: The vaccine makers are already producing doses, before they even know if the vaccines work. The idea is that if a vaccine is shown to be protective, use of it can start immediately. Moncef Slaoui, the scientific head of OWS, told STAT last week that the initiative has already started to stockpile upward of hundreds of thousands of doses."

Abbott Labs Rapid COVID-19 test

Abbott Laboratories said on Wednesday it won U.S. marketing authorization for a COVID-19 portable antigen test that can deliver results within 15 minutes and will sell for $5.

The portable test is about the size of a credit card, requires no additional equipment to operate, and can be conducted using a less invasive nasal swab than traditional lab tests

WEF