A Startup Pitched A ‘Mind Uploading’ Service, But It’s 100% FATAL

There’s never been anything quite like Nectome.  And the startup accelerator Y Combinator, known for supporting audacious companies, will soon be pitched the idea of a “mind uploading service” that is 100% fatal.

Nectome is a preserve-your-brain-and-upload-it company. The process will kill the person who undergoes the mind uploading service and that’s the only way it can work.  But Nectome feels that this isn’t a morality issue citing California’s two-year-old End of Life Option Act, which permits doctor-assisted suicide for terminal patients, and believes its service will be legal. The product is “100 percent fatal,” says McIntyre. “That is why we are uniquely situated among the Y Combinator companies.”

Next week, while at YC’s “demo days,” Nectome’s co-founder, Robert McIntyre, is going to describe the technology for exquisitely preserving brains in microscopic detail using a high-tech embalming process. The MIT graduate will then make his business pitch to YC.  “What if we told you we could back up your mind?” Nectome’s website reads.  You can also join in on the fun, and add your name to the waitlist. So far, 25 people have done so.

Following the example of electric-vehicle maker Tesla, it is sizing up demand by inviting prospective customers to join the waiting list for a deposit of $10,000, which fully refundable if you change your mind. One of them is Sam Altman, a 32-year-old investor who is one of the creators of the Y Combinator program. Altman tells MIT Technology Review he’s pretty sure minds will be digitized in his lifetime. “I assume my brain will be uploaded to the cloud,” he says.

Nectome’s chemical solution can keep a body intact for hundreds of years, maybe thousands, as a statue of frozen glass. The idea is that someday in the future scientists will scan your bricked brain and turn it into a computer simulation. That way, someone a lot like you, though not exactly you, will smell the flowers again in a data server somewhere.

It sounds a little like a dystopian sci-fi movie, but this the reality we are facing and brain uploading will be familiar to readers of Ray Kurzweil’s books.

However, the horrifying truth is that for Nectome’s procedure to work, it’s essential that the brain be fresh. The company says its plan is to connect people with terminal illnesses to a heart-lung machine in order to pump its mix of scientific embalming chemicals into the big carotid arteries in their necks while they are still alive, although they will be placed under general anesthesia. This process is fatal. 

McIntyre, a computer scientist, and his co-founder Michael McCanna have come up with perhaps the most macabre and taboo idea yet when it comes to mind preservation. “The user experience will be identical to physician-assisted suicide,” he says. “Product-market fit is people believing that it works.”

Nectome has won a large federal grant and is currently collaborating with Edward Boyden, a top neuroscientist at MIT. Its technique just claimed an $80,000 science prize for preserving a pig’s brain so well that every synapse inside it could be seen with an electron microscope.

 

Snooping Scientists Find DNA In Hospital Pipes That FUEL SUPERBUGS

The pipes of hospitals carrying away the infections of the sick are bound to be quite disturbing places. But scientists dared to snoop around in them anyway and found that they can fuel superbugs.

In a new study, published by The American Society for Microbiology, scientists determined that antibiotic-resistant bacteria are bred in the plumbing of hospitals. The study, titled Genomic Analysis of Hospital Plumbing Reveals Diverse Reservoir of Bacterial Plasmids Conferring Carbapenem Resistance found that even when hospitals themselves are impeccably clean of infectious bacteria and viruses, the pipes that carry away those micro-organisms are not.

Even when the sinks, faucets, bedrails and countertops of patients’ rooms are largely free of germs that resist modern medicines, the genetic building blocks for antibiotic resistance intermingle freely in the pipes connected to those rooms, according to a study published Tuesday in the journal mBio. That DNA can give superbugs the power to defeat modern medicines and threaten the lives of patients. –LA Times

The DNA scientists were able to swab from the inside of the pipes showed that these little organisms have the power to become vast medicine-resistant superbugs that could wipe out a lot of people. The study began back in 2012 after a severely ill woman carried a bacterial infection into a New York health care center.

In 2012, a team of sleuths at the National Institutes of Health’s Clinical Care Center broke new ground in the effort to rout a deadly antibiotic-resistant infection that sickened at least 17 patients — and killed six — during the summer of 2011. Using whole-genome sequencing for the first time in such an investigation, the team identified the culprit: a super-potent strain of Klebsiella pneumoniae bacteria carried into the center by a seriously ill woman from New York.

The microbe, they discovered, was probably traveling between rooms after lodging in sinks and drains. Some were ripped out and others were sanitized in an extensive eradication effort.  –LA Times

The study itself came to the following conclusion:

Carbapenemase-producing organisms (CPOs) are a global concern because of the morbidity and mortality associated with these resistant Gram-negative bacteria. Horizontal plasmid transfer spreads the resistance mechanism to new bacteria, and understanding the plasmid ecology of the hospital environment can assist in the design of control strategies to prevent nosocomial infections. A 5-year genomic and epidemiological survey was undertaken to study the CPOs in the patient-accessible environment, as well as in the plumbing system removed from the patient. This comprehensive survey revealed a vast, unappreciated reservoir of CPOs in wastewater, which was in contrast to the low positivity rate in both the patient population and the patient-accessible environment. While there were few patient-environmental isolate associations, there were plasmid backbones common to both populations. These results are relevant to all hospitals for which CPO colonization may not yet be defined through extensive surveillance.-American Society for Microbiology

During the study, all of the samples drawn from the piping system leading from the ICU tested positive for bacterial plasmids that confer resistance to carbapenems. And so did all seven samples drawn from wastewater samples taken from two external manholes associated with the NIH Clinical Center.

This means that hospital pipes can be the breeding grounds for the next superbug, and once infected, could eliminate up to 50% of those who become infected with the superbug.

Uganda Doctor: Eye Bleeding Fever Is ‘An Epidemic Already’

The horrific outbreak of “eye bleeding fever” in East Africa has forced one doctor to admit the disturbing truth. The fatal outbreak of Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) is “an epidemic already.”

Amid news that this disease is the same on the wiped out much of the Aztec population, Dr. Mukuzi Muhereza, from the Uganda Medical Association (UMA) warns that immediate action should be taken to prevent the spread of this disease, which has a 40% fatality rate, and as a virus, has no cure.

Dr. Muhereza warned that the disease is “highly contagious” and said the people “must be protected” to prevent it spreading. Muhereza’s warning comes amid a growing war of words between the UMA and Uganda’s health ministry, who have said there is no CCHF in the country, despite confirming a case.

This horrific infection causes victims to suffer from a burning fever before beginning to bleed from orifices including their eyes, anuses, and mouths. World Health Organisation (WHO) officials label any outbreak of CCHF as a major threat to public health. “CCHF outbreaks constitute a threat to public health services because of its epidemic potential, its high case fatality ratio (10-40%), its potential for nosocomial outbreaks and the difficulties in treatment and prevention,” WHO’s description of the virus reads.

And new reports say that the Aztecs fell victim to a strikingly similar disease.

Joe Joseph of The Daily Sheeple says that history could be repeating itself with the reemergence of this deadly disease. “Interestingly enough, it’s [the disease that killed the Aztecs] showing striking similarities to the eye bleeding plague over in Africa,” says Joseph. “If we use history as a guide here, and I would say that it’s pretty serious if a disease like this could wipe out 80% of the Aztec population. And we often wonder why it was that the Aztecs just basically, in a very short span of time, just disappeared…we are starting to see similar chains of events unfold in Africa.”

Dr. Muhereza is in agreement with Joseph.  This could be a huge problem for those in East Africa. “There are several cases that are suspected,” said Muhereza. “We, therefore, state that one confirmed case of CCHF is an epidemic already. The government should activate emergency levels, it should activate epidemic levels.”

Muhereza added that he was “disappointed” in how the outbreak had been handled by the health ministry, saying it was “very very unprofessional.”

FLU OUTBREAK: Now Impacting 46 States, Epidemic is ‘Widespread’

This year’s strain of the flu is now widespread, spanning 46 states, and can make you fatally sick.  Coupled with how fast the flu has struck, an ineffective vaccine, and how early it hit, this year is shaping up to be one of the worst ones yet for the flu virus.

The strain responsible for the outbreak is H3N2, a particularly deadly variety of influenza and the number of cases have spiked, with 46 states now reporting widespread activity, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. The CDC also claims that at least 13 children have died from the flu since October when the season began to really get into full swing.

California has been particularly hard hit, with at least 27 deaths of people under 65 attributed to the flu, according to reports. As the number of cases continues to climb there, hospitals are beginning to run out of Tamiflu, the anti-viral medication used to treat the illness.

The most identified strain of the virus is influenza A (H3N2). According to a CDC emergency health advisory released December 27, 83 percent of reported cases were N3N2, a strain associated with more hospitalizations and deaths in those over 65 years of age and in young children compared to other age groups.

During this year’s flu season in Australia, the vaccine was only 10 percent effective. The CDC still says you should get the flu shot because it will lessen the suffering from symptoms should you contract the flu, even though it will make you sicker in later years. 

“How well the vaccine works can depend in part on the match between the vaccine virus used to produce the vaccine and the circulating viruses that season,” the CDC notes. “It’s not possible to predict what viruses will be most predominant during the upcoming season.” The agency also noted that the vaccine is ineffective due to the mutative nature of this year’s flu strain.

The CDC recommends that all people over the age of five get the shot to reduce the symptoms of the virus.  “It’s not too late to get a flu vaccine — as long as flu is spreading vaccination should continue,” the CDC’s Kristen Nordlund told weather.com. “It’s important to know that it takes about two weeks for protection to set in.”

*This is not to say you should or should not get the flu shot.  You should, however, do some research, and know the risks, side effects, and possible complications down the line should you chose to get or not get this year’s flu shot. This should help you come to the right conclusion for yourself.

Caffeine Kills Teen Boy? A Cautionary Tale About Teens and Energy Drinks

A 16-year-old South Carolina boy consumed a large Diet Mountain Dew, a cafe latte from McDonald’s, and an energy drink within the course of 2 hours, and it evidently cost him his life. [1]

Davis Allen Cripe’s caffeine splurge likely caused deadly a heart arrhythmia, according to Richland County coroner Gary Watts.

“It was too much caffeine at the time of his death that it caused his arrhythmia.”

The Mayo Clinic explains heart arrhythmias this way:

“Heart rhythm problems (heart arrhythmias) occur when the electrical impulses that coordinate your heartbeats don’t work properly, causing your heart to beat too fast, too slow or irregularly.

Heart arrhythmias (uh-RITH-me-uhs) may feel like a fluttering or racing heart and may be harmless. However, some heart arrhythmias may cause bothersome — sometimes even life-threatening — signs and symptoms.”

It was around 12:30 p.m. on April 26 when Davis purchased the latte at McDonald’s. The Diet Mountain Dew was consumed “a little time after that.” Then, the young man consumed the energy drink, which officials declined to identify. [2]

Read: Buyer Beware – The Negative Effects of Energy Drinks

EMT’s were called at 2:28 p.m., when Davis collapsed. He was pronounced dead at 3:40 p.m., at Palmetto Health Baptist Parkridge Hospital.

In April 2017, a study was published in the Journal of the American Heart Association linking energy drinks to heart problems. Caffeine isn’t the only potentially hazardous ingredient in energy drinks, however; the beverages contain numerous ingredients which, on their own, may not be hazardous, but create a potent cocktail when mixed with caffeine.

In the study, participants who drank a regular caffeinated beverage showed no signs of abnormal heart rhythms. But after they consumed an energy drink, some of the individuals’ ECGs showed a change called QTc prolongation that is sometimes associated with life-threatening irregularities.

Said Watts:

“These drinks can be very dangerous. I’m telling my friends and family don’t drink them.” [1]

Source: Daily Health Post

In the case of Davis Allen Cripe, though, it appears that caffeine was the main culprit. The official cause of death was a “caffeine-induced cardiac event causing a probable arrhythmia.” Still, Watt stopped short of calling the boy’s death a caffeine overdose. [2]

The coroner said Davis was a healthy teenager, with no family history of a medical problem the caffeine would have exacerbated. The teen’s friends said he was staunchly against drug and alcohol use.

Watts explained:

“Davis, like so many other kids and so many other people out there today, was doing something (he) thought was totally harmless, and that was ingesting lots of caffeine. We lost Davis from a totally legal substance.”

Dr. Amy Durso, deputy chief medical examiner for Richland County, said:

“A cup of coffee, a can of soda isn’t going to cause this thing. It’s the amount and also the time frame in which these caffeinated beverages are consumed that can put you at risk.”

Plus, caffeine and energy drinks affect people differently. Your buddy might be able to knock back 2 energy drinks and a cup of coffee in the morning with no ill effects, but you shouldn’t assume it’s safe for you, Watts said.

“You can have five people line up right here and all of them do the exact same thing that happened with him that day – drink more – and it may not have any kind of effect on them at all.”

Sean Cripe said of his son’s death:

“Like all parents, we worry about our kids as they grow up. We worry about their safety, their health, especially once they start driving. But it wasn’t a car crash that took his life. Instead, it was an energy drink.” [3]

He added:

“Parents, please talk to your kids about these energy drinks. And teenagers and students: please stop buying them.” [2]

Source: Miami Herald

Sources:

[1] NBC News

[2] Miami Herald

[3] CNN

Miami Herald

Daily Health Post

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About Julie Fidler:
	Julie Fidler is a freelance writer, legal blogger, and the author of Adventures in Holy Matrimony: For Better or the Absolute Worst. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and two ridiculously spoiled cats. She occasionally pontificates on her blog.

CDC Warning: Thousands of Heart Patients at Risk from Contaminated Surgical Devices

On October 13, officials with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) warned that bacteria may have contaminated special devices used during open heart surgery, putting more than half a million heart surgery patients at risk. [1]

Source: The Seattle Times

The devices, LivaNova PLC (formerly Sorin Group Deutschland GmbH) Stockert 3T heater-cooler devices, might have been contaminated with Mycobacterium chimaera bacteria during manufacturing, according to the CDC. [2]

In a news release, the agency said that people who have had open heart surgery should seek immediate medical care if they develop any signs of infection, including night sweats, muscle aches, weight loss, fatigue, or unexplained fever.

Additionally, the CDC said that doctors and hospitals should identify and inform patients who might have been put at risk.

Dr. Michael Bell, deputy director of the CDC’s Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion, said:

“It’s important for clinicians and their patients to be aware of this risk so that patients can be evaluated and treated quickly.

“Hospitals should check to see which type of heater-coolers are in use, ensure that they’re maintained according to the latest manufacturer instructions, and alert affected patients and the clinicians who care for them.”

The heater-cooler devices are used in more than 250,000 heart bypass procedures each year. The devices use water to help keep a patient’s blood circulating and organs at a specific temperature during surgery. The water does not come into contact with the patient, but bacteria can be transmitted through the air from the device’s exhaust vent.

Bell explained:

“Some smart engineer designed it because surgeons said they need to keep this cool and that warm. But no one probably said, it needs not to have a fan because it wasn’t part of the calculation. The person who wanted this machine, they weren’t thinking about maintenance and repair.” [1]

Contaminated Stockert 3T heater-cooler devices infected at least 12 individuals at a hospital in York, Pennsylvania, last year. Six of the individuals died, though officials initially said they weren’t positive that infection was the primary cause of the deaths. [3]

The infection was identified at other hospitals, as well, and DNA testing confirmed the presence of the bacteria.

Risk is Low

Fortunately, the risk of infection is very low, according to Bell – from about 1 in 100 to 1 in 1,000 in hospitals where at least 1 infection had been identified. However, the CDC said:

“Although thousands of patients in the United States have been notified regarding potential exposure to contaminated heater-cooler devices, the number who were exposed might be much larger.” [1]

Rather than stop using the Stockert 3T heater-cooler devices, the CDC is simply recommending that healthcare workers and patients be aware of the potential for contamination. [3]

Mycobacterium Chimaera isn’t the Worst Bacteria Around – If You’re Healthy

Mycobacterium chimaera, also known as nontuberculous mycobacterium, or NTM, is found in nature and is not usually harmful for people with normal immunity; however, it can cause serious illness and death in people who are seriously ill or have compromised immune systems. The infection is slow-growing, and can worsen over the course of months or years. It is treatable, if caught in time.

Source: ePainAssist

Several individuals were diagnosed with the infection in Europe. Some of them sickened there were diagnosed almost 4 years after surgery. [1]

Surgical devices have been implicated in past infection outbreaks. An outbreak of Carbapenem resistant enterobacteriaceae, or CRE, spread by endoscopes, infected people in 42 states. The superbug can kill up to half of infected people who get bloodstream infections.

In the case of the endoscopes, the contamination was found to be caused by improper sterilization procedures. The devices were notoriously difficult to clean thoroughly.

Additionally, contaminated colonoscopes, devices used to perform colonoscopies, put nearly 300 people at a Massachusetts hospital at risk for HIV and hepatitis, due also to improper sterilization procedures.

Sources:

[1] The Washington Post

[2] HealthDay

[3] The New York Times

The Seattle Times

ePainAssist

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About Julie Fidler:
	Julie Fidler is a freelance writer, legal blogger, and the author of Adventures in Holy Matrimony: For Better or the Absolute Worst. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and two ridiculously spoiled cats. She occasionally pontificates on her blog.