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New Flu
If you didn't hear, we got a new influenza in the mix. They're calling it subclade K, which sounds like a neat street drug.
It's a version of the H3N2, and although an H3N2 strain was included in the annual flu vaccine, this mutated version seems to have enough changes to skirt the immunity rendered by that.
Thus, it could be a rough season. Currently the CDC flu map, whose quality may not be comparable to years past with all the budget and human capital cuts, is showing some hotspots in Louisiana, Colorado, NYC & Puerto Rico. Those colors will only get darker around the country/world.
Please wear a mask if you're sick.
Good Deal
When news came out that pharma companies would be granted exemptions from jacked up tariffs as long as they invested in building US manufacturing, we predicted they would find a way to delay their investment until the end of Trump’s term and then the commitments would magically evaporate.
Well, they already found their way. The Trump admin is reportedly saying they could literally do just that, though they will be making the companies pinkie promise they will actually build everything.
The agreement suggests the companies must act in good faith to follow through and spend the money, but c’mon. They'll do whatever is best for them in the moment just like every other publicly traded company.
Ultimately this boils down to a reduction in tariffs in exchange for a promise.
And that’s why Big Pharma pays lobbyists more than any other industry.
Purdue Tumbling
When we mention Purdue and tumbling, in this instance we are not talking about their basketball team's ranking, but rather some engineers working on robots and drugs.
Researchers at Purdue have demonstrated a tumbling robot delivering a drug payload at a specified point within the digestive tract.
The robot is encased in wax and upon reaching its destination, a focused ultrasonic pulse melts the wax releasing the drug.
That’s some legit sci-fi stuff there. Err, guess it's now technically sci-fa.
Energy Overload
This guy showed up to the ER with a blood pressure of 254/150. Doctors gave him anti-hypertensive drugs and discharged him three days later. But he came back with persistent high blood pressure that didn't respond to medication.
The doctors must have finally thought to question him about his caffeine intake, and it was revealed the dude was drinking EIGHT energy drinks per day.
Good God, man. That's 1.2 grams of caffeine.
Don't know about you, but if we drank that much, we would grind our teeth to dust.
Shouldn't need to be said, but please don't drink eight energy drinks in a day.
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