This article provides health and science highlights, including the increasing infection toll for recalled eyedrops linked to a drug-resistant strain of bacteria, with 81 cases and 4 deaths reported by the CDC. It also discusses a medical device that helped a paralyzed man walk again through a “brain-spine interface” implant, as well as the DEA’s move to revoke a major drug distributor’s license over opioid crisis failures. Finally, the article mentions a study that found a daily multivitamin may slightly improve memory and slow cognitive decline. Readers can click “read more” for excerpts and links to the full stories.
June 4, 2023 (San Diego’s East County) — Our Health and Science Highlights provide cutting edge news that could impact your health and our future.
HEALTH
Infection toll for recalled eyedrops climbs to 81, including 4 deaths, CDC says (NPR)
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported another death and even more cases linked to Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a drug-resistant strain of bacteria, found in artificial tears or eyedrops. The bacteria strain has been found in 81 people — four of whom have died from infections, Quoting specimens collected between May 2022 and April 2023, Quoting the CDC’s most recent update. Over 10 different brands of ophthalmic drugs were involved in these cases, the CDC said. But the most common was Ezri Care Artificial Tears, which the Food and Drug Administration warned consumers to stop purchasing in February.
Man with paralysis walks naturally after brain, spine implants (CNN)
New research reveals how a medical device helped one man with paralysis walk naturally again, more than a decade after an injury. Dr. Grégoire Courtine and colleagues from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne developed and implanted a “brain-spine interface” that creates a direct neurological link between the brain and spinal cord. Implants in the brain track intentions for movement, which are wirelessly transferred to a processing unit that a person wears externally, like a backpack. The intentions are translated into commands that the processing unit sends back through the second implant to stimulate muscles.
DEA moves to revoke major drug distributor’s license over opioid crisis failures (NPR)
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration says it will strip one of the nation’s largest drug distributors of its license to sell and ship highly addictive painkillers within 90 days if some kind of negotiated settlement isn’t reached. In a statement, DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said executives at Morris & Dickson failed to accept responsibility for the “full extent of their wrongdoing … and the potential harm it caused.” If finalized, this action taken Friday would hobble the nation’s fourth-largest drug wholesaler.
A multivitamin supplement may slightly improve memory and slow decline ()
A team of researchers wanted to assess how a daily multivitamin may influence cognitive function and the onset of dementia in older adults. Over 2,800 adults between the ages of 50 and 80 were randomly assigned to take either a daily multivitamin or a placebo for ten years. The study found that the multivitamin supplement may slightly improve memory and slow decline in cognitive function in older adults. However, the researchers caution that the effects were modest and not significant enough to recommend multivitamin supplements as a way to prevent cognitive decline or dementia.
SCIENCE AND TECH
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