Publisher Health

A collaborative team led by researchers from Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health (GOSH), London and including researchers from the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University and BOA Biomedical in Cambridge has re-engineered the process of microbial pathogen identification in blood samples from pediatric sepsis patients using the Wyss Institute’s FcMBL broad-spectrum pathogen capture technology. The advance enables accurate pathogen detection with a combination of unprecedented sensitivity and speed, and could significantly improve clinical outcomes for pediatric and older patients with bloodstream infections (BSIs) and sepsis. The findings were published in PLoS ONE.
BSIs with various microbial pathogens can rapidly escalate to life-threatening sepsis when the body is overwhelmed by the multiplying invaders and shuts down its organs’ functions. In 2017, there were 48.9 million cases and 11 million sepsis-related deaths worldwide. Importantly, almost half of all global sepsis cases occurred among children, with an estimated 20 million cases and 2.9 million global deaths in those under five years of age.
To prevent BSIs from progressing to full-blown sepsis, the infection-causing bacterial or fungal species must be identified as fast as possible. Only then can optimal pathogen-tailored antibacterial or antifungal treatments be applied in time. The conventional method used in clinical laboratories to identify the causative pathogenic species is long and laborious, requiring two time-consuming culture steps that take at least 1 to 3 days to complete.
“For all patients with sepsis, their chances of surviving dramatically shrink the longer it takes to identify the infection-causing pathogen(s) and thus, receive the most promising antimicrobial treatment,” said Nigel Klein, M.D., Ph.D., pls, a Professor of Infectious Disease and Immunology at GOSH, and a senior author on the study. “At Great Ormond Street Hospital we have been working to demonstrate both the importance rapid diagnosis and the fact that with innovative approaches we can identify the causative organism in between 40 minutes and six hours. Compared to adult patients, sepsis in infants and small children progresses much faster, and therefore there is a real need for diagnostic methods that support early detection. Accurate diagnosis is even more significant due to the availability of only small blood volumes from paediatric patients which can make re-sampling challenging.”
In 2020, senior authors Klein and Elaine Cloutman-Green, Ph.D., a Consultant Clinical Scientist and Infection Control Doctor at GOSH, began collaborating with Lead Staff Scientist Michael Super, Ph.D. and Founding Director Donald Ingber, M.D., Ph.D. at Harvard’s Wyss Institute to solve this problem. “Based on our earlier success with FcMBL in isolating pathogens from joints as well as bovine and human blood with extraordinary efficiencies, we hypothesized that building an FcMBL-mediated pathogen capture into a modified clinical blood culture protocol could shorten the time and reduce the size of the required patient samples to yield the same results that time-consuming blood culture protocols provide,” said Super.
In the pathogen identification process currently performed in clinical settings, first, blood samples are added to bottles containing liquid media in which infectious microbes, if present, are amplified to a certain density. Then, the amplified microbes are grown on solid media as isolated colonies whose constituent cells eventually can be identified with a highly sensitive, yet fast and relatively inexpensive analytical method know as MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry (MS). “Indeed, isolating the infectious microbes directly from grown liquid blood cultures using FcMBL makes them available for MALDI-TOF MS analysis much earlier,” added Super.

The luxury laundry brand recalled items sold between January 2021 and September 2022.About eight million laundry and cleaning products from the brand the Laundress were recalled because they may contain bacteria that can cause infections in people, especially those with weakened immune systems.Laundry detergent, fabric softener, fabric shampoo and conditioners and other cleaning products from the brand produced between January 2021 and September 2022 were recalled, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said on Thursday.The recalled products may contain bacteria found widely in soil and water. It was not clear how the contamination took place.“People with weakened immune systems, external medical devices, and underlying lung conditions who are exposed to the bacteria face a risk of serious infection that may require medical treatment,” the commission said. “The bacteria can enter the body if inhaled, or through the eyes or a break in the skin.”Eleven consumers have reported bacterial infections, the commission said. The company said it was investigating whether the infections were connected to the recalled products.“Symptoms may range from mild skin symptoms to more serious signs of infection,” the company said.The company said customers could continue using the Laundress products not included in the recall.“We are undertaking decisive steps with our suppliers to ensure production processes meet our safety and quality standards,” the company said.The products were sold directly by the Laundress, as well as at Bloomingdale’s, Brooklinen, the Container Store, Jenni Kayne, Kith, N.Peal, Nordstrom, Peruvian Connection, Saks Fifth Avenue, Target and other major retailers in the United States and Canada, the commission said. Consumers can request a refund.“After requesting a refund, consumers should dispose of the product by closing the bottle tightly and placing it in household trash,” the commission said. “Do not empty the product prior to disposal.”

Lynne Ingersoll and her cat, Jesse, spent a quiet Thanksgiving Day together in her small bungalow in Blue Island, Ill.A retired librarian, Ms. Ingersoll never married or had children. At 77, she has outlived her parents, three partners, her two closest friends, five dogs and eight cats.When her sister died three years ago, Ms. Ingersoll joined the ranks of older Americans considered “kinless”: without partners or spouses, children or siblings. Covid-19 has largely suspended her occasional get-togethers with friends, too. Now, she said, “my social life consists of doctors and store clerks — that’s a joke, but it’s pretty much true.”Like many older adults, Ms. Ingersoll copes with an array of health problems: kidney disease, asthma, heart disease requiring a pacemaker, arthritis that makes walking difficult even with a cane. She’s managing, but “I can see a time when that’s not going to be true,” she said. “I’m not sure what I’m going to do about it.”An estimated 6.6 percent of American adults aged 55 and older have no living spouse or biological children, according to a study published in 2017 in The Journals of Gerontology: Series B. (Researchers often use this definition of kinlessness because spouses and children are the relatives most apt to serve as family caregivers.)About 1 percent fit a narrower definition — lacking a spouse or partner, children and biological siblings. The figure rises to 3 percent among women over 75.Those aren’t high proportions, but they amount to a lot of kinless people: close to a million Americans without a spouse or partner, children or siblings in 2019, including about 370,000 women over 75.“We assume that everyone has at least some family, but that’s not the case anymore,” said Rachel Margolis, a sociologist at the University of Western Ontario and co-author of the study.Several demographic factors have fostered increased kinlessness. Baby boomers have lower marriage rates and higher divorce rates than their parents, and more have remained childless. The rise of so-called gray divorce, after age 50, also means fewer married seniors, and extended life spans can make for more years without surviving family.Books stacked in Ms. Ingersoll’s home. She has outlived her parents, three partners, her two closest friends, five dogs and eight cats. Jamie Kelter Davis for The New York Times“All the pathways to singlehood have grown,” said Dr. Deborah Carr, a sociologist and researcher at Boston University.Among older couples, cohabitation has increased as an alternative to marriage, but those seniors are less likely than married couples to receive care from their partners. Those in committed relationships who don’t live with their partners are less likely still.In addition, seniors who are Black, female and have lower levels of wealth have particularly high rates of kinlessness.The growing number of kinless seniors, who sometimes call themselves “elder orphans” or “solo agers,” worries researchers and advocates, because this group faces numerous disadvantages.A study of middle-aged and older adults in Canada found that those without partners or children (this study included no data on siblings) had lower levels of self-reported mental and physical health and higher levels of loneliness. They were less likely to participate in activities like sports, cultural or religious groups, or service clubs — a predictor of later cognitive impairment.Kinless Americans die earlier. Dr. Margolis and her co-authors, using data from the Health and Retirement Study, found that a decade after respondents’ initial interviews, more than 80 percent of seniors with partners and children had survived, compared with only about 60 percent of those without either.At the end of life, researchers at Mount Sinai in New York reported, people without partners and children had received fewer hours of caregiving each week and were more likely to have died in nursing homes.“Getting old is hard under the best of circumstances, and even harder if you’re going it alone or with weak social ties,” Dr. Carr said.On the other hand, meet Joan DelFattore, 76, a retired English professor at the University of Delaware. Like some solo agers, “I had a sense from an early age that I simply didn’t see myself as a wife and mother,” she said.Preferring to live alone, “I went about constructing a single life,” she said.Joan DelFattore, a retired English teacher, objects to the perception that older people without immediate family are somehow needy. Karsten Moran for The New York TimesDr. DelFattore, who is in good health, still writes and researches, and she teaches a graduate course every other fall. She stays in near-daily contact with a group of friends, walking several times a week with one of them, and remains close to cousins in New Jersey, with whom she spent Thanksgiving. She takes an active role in several local organizations.And she dislikes “the cultural perception that old people being without immediate family has to mean that you’re needy, you don’t have support.”Sociologists call that strategy “substitution” — turning to friends and neighbors for the connections and sustenance that families traditionally have provided.In Mount Lebanon, Pa., for instance, Celeste Seeman, who is divorced and childless and has lived alone for 25 years, has befriended neighbors in her apartment building. When one had surgery recently, Ms. Seeman, 65 and still working as an embroidery machine operator, walked the neighbor’s Chihuahuas, did her laundry and called her almost daily for weeks.“I hope that what goes around comes around,” Ms. Seeman said. Because she has outlived her family, after caring for her parents until their deaths, there’s no remaining relative to provide similar help if she needs it herself.“I’m frightened about it,” she acknowledged, then added, “You can’t dwell on stuff. It might not happen.”A study of sole family survivors, the last members of the families they grew up in, found that, for unclear reasons, they were also disproportionately likely to lack spouses or partners and children, and thus were doubly vulnerable.Of course, having family is no guarantee of help as people age. Estrangement, geographic distance and relatives’ own declining health can render them unwilling or unable to serve as caregivers.Still, “our system of caring for the aged has functioned, for better or worse, on the backs of spouses and, secondarily, adult children,” said Susan Brown, a sociologist at Bowling Green State University and an author of the study of sole family survivors.Ms. Ingersoll with her companion, Jesse.Jamie Kelter Davis for The New York TimesRelying on substitutes has limitations. About two-thirds of older Americans will eventually hit a rubber-meets-the-road moment and require help with the activities of daily living, such as bathing, dressing and using the toilet.“Friends and neighbors may help with meals or pick up a prescription, but they’re not going to help you in the shower,” Dr. Margolis said.Dr. DelFattore has prepared for that possibility by buying insurance for long-term care years ago, so that she can hire home care aides or afford assisted living. Few Americans have done that or can afford the costs, yet most will also be unable to pay for sufficient care out-of-pocket and don’t have incomes low enough to qualify for Medicaid.“Policies tend to lag behind reality,” Dr. Carr said. “There was the belief in past decades that older adults would be married and have children; that’s what the classic American family looked like. It no longer does.”In the absence of any broad public program, experts suggest a variety of smaller solutions to support kinless seniors.Shared housing and co-housing, providing safety and assistance in numbers and community, could grow, especially with public and philanthropic support. The village movement, which helps seniors age in place, might similarly expand.Revised family-leave policies and caregiver-support programs could include friends and neighbors, or more distant relatives like nieces and nephews.However governments, community organizations and health care systems begin to address the issue, there’s little time to waste. Projections indicate that kinlessness will increase greatly as the population cohorts behind the baby boom age.“Younger people are less likely to marry and have children, and they have fewer siblings” as family sizes shrink, Dr. Brown said. “How will they navigate health declines? We don’t have a good answer. I’m not sure people are paying attention.”

A special body suit for people with cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis and strokes has had some remarkable results.The Mollii suit sends electrical stimulation to muscles which can reduce pain and make movement easier.For more positive stories listen to the People Fixing the World podcast.Reporter: Myra AnubiProduced by William Kremer and Richard Kenny

With few new cases, the plan not to renew the emergency past Jan. 31 is an acknowledgment that the disease previously known as monkeypox has mostly been suppressed.WASHINGTON — The Biden administration said on Friday that it did not expect to extend its declaration of a public health emergency for the outbreak of mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, past its scheduled expiration at the end of January, a signal that the disease no longer constitutes a crisis-level threat in the United States.Xavier Becerra, the health and human services secretary, cited the low number of new virus cases as he announced the administration’s plans.“We won’t take our foot off the gas — we will continue to monitor the case trends closely and encourage all at-risk individuals to get a free vaccine,” Mr. Becerra said in a statement.While the disease has not been eradicated in the United States, the announcement on Friday served as an acknowledgment that the virus had been mostly suppressed. The Department of Health and Human Services said the administration was working toward “a durable end of mpox transmission.”Since the country’s first case in this year’s outbreak was identified in May, nearly 30,000 cases and 19 deaths have been tallied in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But the nation is now averaging fewer than 10 cases per day — a steep decline from the roughly 450 daily cases at the peak of the outbreak in early August.The Biden PresidencyHere’s where the president stands after the midterm elections.A Defining Issue: The shape of Russia’s war in Ukraine — and its effects on global markets —  in the months and years to come could determine President Biden’s political fate.Beating the Odds: Mr. Biden had the best midterms of any president in 20 years, but he still faces the sobering reality of a Republican-controlled House for the next two years.2024 Questions: Mr. Biden feels buoyant after the better-than-expected midterms, but as he turns 80, he confronts a decision on whether to run again that has some Democrats uncomfortable.Legislative Agenda: The Times analyzed every detail of Mr. Biden’s major legislative victories and his foiled ambitions. Here’s what we found.Public health experts have attributed that trend to a number of factors, including higher vaccination rates, adjustments in behavior among people at high risk of acquiring the disease and the relative difficulty of contracting the virus, which is spread through close contact. The disease has spread primarily among men who have sex with men.On Friday, administration officials credited the improved course of the outbreak in part to the White House’s mpox response coordinator, Robert Fenton, a longtime federal emergency response official, and his deputy, Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, an infectious disease expert. Among other actions, their team conducted targeted outreach to at-risk communities, including at Pride events.Mr. Becerra declared the public health emergency in August. At the time, the federal government was scrambling to catch up to a widening outbreak caused in part by the administration’s own sluggish reaction to the early weeks of the virus’s spread in the United States. Supplies of vaccines and tests were initially constrained, and federal scientists struggled to procure data on mpox.Gay rights activists critical of the administration had been demanding an emergency declaration for weeks before the August announcement.The declaration allowed the health department to mount a more aggressive and well-funded response. Most critically, public health experts said, it allowed for data-sharing agreements among state health departments, health providers and federal agencies, enabling the C.D.C. to better track cases and vaccination rates.In addition, the declaration freed up federal emergency funds for the response and eased the delivery of vaccines, said Lawrence O. Gostin, a health law expert at Georgetown University who has advised the administration on mpox.Jen Kates, the director of global health and H.I.V. policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation, said the declaration also brought much-needed awareness to the outbreak.“There’s a symbolic aspect to it,” she said. “It draws attention to it and says: This is at a serious level that deserves a national response.”The federal health department said on Friday that the decision to let the declaration expire next year “assumes that the trajectory of the outbreak continues downward over the next two months.” But the department added that if conditions worsened, it could adjust its plans.The shape of the federal response to mpox is unlikely to change substantially as a result of the announcement on Friday, administration officials said. After the end of the public health emergency, vaccines, tests and treatments will still be available, the health department said. The team led by Mr. Fenton and Dr. Daskalakis is expected to remain in place for now, one official said.With the spread of mpox having slowed, public health experts said it was important for the administration to acknowledge the less dire state of the outbreak.“So as not to dilute the value of emergencies, they have to be temporary by nature,” Mr. Gostin said, adding: “You shouldn’t have a semi-permanent state of emergency. You should recognize when it’s time to wind down.”Still, he warned that the end of the emergency declaration still risked communicating to at-risk Americans that they did not have to be as vigilant, heightening the chances that the disease would spread more easily.This week, the World Health Organization recommended that the disease be renamed mpox. Critics said that the former name promoted stigmas and conjured racist tropes and Western stereotypes. U.S. health agencies quickly adopted the new name.A separate declaration of a public health emergency remains in effect for the coronavirus pandemic. It was last extended in October, and the federal health department plans to extend it again in January.

Engineers at Duke University have developed a device that uses sound waves to separate and sort the tiniest particles found in blood in a matter of minutes. The technology is based on a concept called “virtual pillars” and could be a boon to both scientific research and medical applications.
Tiny biological nanoparticles called “small extracellular vesicles” (sEVs) are released from every type of cell in the body and are believed to play a large role in cell-to-cell communication and disease transmission. The new technology, dubbed Acoustic Nanoscale Separation via Wave-pillar Excitation Resonance, or ANSWER for short, not only pulls these nanoparticles from biofluids in under 10 minutes, it also sorts them into size categories believed to have distinct biological roles.
The results appeared online November 23 in the journal Science Advances.
“These nanoparticles have significant potential in medical diagnosis and treatment, but the current technologies for separating and sorting them take several hours or days, are inconsistent, produce low yield or purity, suffer from contamination and sometimes damage the nanoparticles,” said Tony Jun Huang, the William Bevan Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science at Duke.
“We want to make extracting and sorting high-quality sEVs as simple as pushing a button and getting the desired samples faster than it takes to take a shower,” Huang said.
Recent research indicates that sEVs are composed of several subgroups with distinct sizes (e.g., smaller than 50 nanometers, between 60 and 80 nanometers, and between 90 and 150 nanometers). Each size is believed to have different biological properties.

Scientists believe bats first transmitted SARS-CoV-2 to humans in December 2019, and while the virus has since evolved into several variants such as delta and omicron, a new study indicates the virus is still highly transmissible between mammals. Researchers at Rochester Institute of Technology developed computer simulations that show the coronaviruses use their spike proteins to attach themselves to the host cells in both bats and humans in much the same way.
The findings were published in a Royal Society Open Science study by recent RIT alumnus Madhusudan Rajendran ’22 MS (bioinformatics) and Associate Professor Gregory Babbitt from the Thomas H. Gosnell School of Life Sciences. They studied how the viral spike proteins in several SARS-CoV-2 variants interact with the host cell receptors known as ACE2 in both humans and various bats of genus Rhinolophus. Babbitt said the results were surprising.
“We were hoping to see really cool adaptive evolution happening as the virus got more used to humans and less used to bats, but we actually saw that there wasn’t a whole lot of change,” said Babbitt. “Because this binding site has not evolved very much, there’s really not much stopping it from transmitting from humans to bats. If you look at the phylogenetic relationships of bats to humans, we’re pretty far apart on the mammalian tree. So it suggests that there would be pretty widespread cross-species infectivity, and the literature has shown there’s been a lot of evidence of that.”
The scientists used a computer simulation method called molecular dynamics to put proteins in a solvated simulation and then watch them move. The approach uses high performance computing on graphics processors to show what every atom does over time. Babbitt said this approach allows scientists to study questions that cannot be answered in a traditional laboratory.
“It would be dangerous to do experiments where we reinfected bats with human viral strains, so our computer-based simulations offered a much safer alternative,” said Babbitt.
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Materials provided by Rochester Institute of Technology. Original written by Luke Auburn. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Laser light therapy has been shown to be effective in improving short term memory in a study published in Science Advances.
Scientists at the University of Birmingham in the UK and Beijing Normal University in China, demonstrated that the therapy, which is non-invasive, could improve short term, or working memory in people by up to 25 per cent.
The treatment, called transcranial photobiomodulation (tPBM), is applied to an area of the brain known as the right prefrontal cortex. This area is widely recognised as important for working memory. In their experiment, the team showed how working memory improved among research participants after several minutes of treatment. They were also able to track the changes in brain activity using electroencephalogram (EEG) monitoring during treatment and testing.
Previous studies have shown that laser light treatment will improve working memory in mice, and human studies have shown tPBM treatment can improve accuracy, speed up reaction time and improve high-order functions such as attention and emotion.
This is the first study, however, to confirm a link between tPBM and working memory in humans.
Dongwei Li, a visiting PhD student in the University of Birmingham’s Centre for Human Brain Health, is co-author on the paper. He said: “People with conditions like ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) or other attention-related conditions could benefit from this type of treatment, which is safe, simple and non-invasive, with no side-effects.”
In the study researchers at Beijing Normal University carried out experiments with 90 male and female participants aged between 18 and 25. Participants were treated with laser light to the right prefrontal cortex at wavelengths of 1064 nm, while others were treated at a shorter wavelength, or treatment was delivered to the left prefrontal cortex. Each participant was also treated with a sham, or inactive, tPBM to rule out the placebo effect.
After tPBM treatment over 12 minutes, the participants were asked to remember the orientations or colour of a set of items displayed on a screen. The participants treated with laser light to the right prefrontal cortex at 1064 nm showed clear improvements in memory over those who had received the other treatments. While participants receiving other treatment variations were about to remember between 3 and 4 of the test objects, those with the targeted treatment were able to recall between 4 and 5 objects.
Data, including from electroencephalogram (EEG) monitoring during the experiment was analysed at the University of Birmingham and showed changes in brain activity that also predicted the improvements in memory performance.
The researchers do not yet know precisely why the treatment results in positive effects on working memory, nor how long the effects will last. Further research is planned to investigate these aspects.
Professor Ole Jensen, also at the Centre for Human Brain Health, said: “We need further research to understand exactly why the tPBM is having this positive effect, but it’s possible that the light is stimulating the astrocytes — the powerplants — in the nerve cells within the prefrontal cortex, and this has a positive effect on the cells’ efficiency. We will also be investigating how long the effects might last. Clearly if these experiments are to lead to a clinical intervention, we will need to see long-lasting benefits.”
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Materials provided by University of Birmingham. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

The agency may put in place a personalized risk assessment to replace the current prohibition on men who have had sex with men in the previous three months.The Food and Drug Administration is considering a more individualized strategy for screening gay and bisexual men for blood donation amid an ongoing national blood shortage, according to an agency official briefed on the proposal.The F.D.A. has long discouraged men who have sex with men from donating blood. A complete prohibition was put in place in the 1980s, amid fears of H.I.V. transmission. In 2015, the agency allowed gay and bisexual men to donate if they had not had sexual contact with other men for the previous year.The period was reduced to three months after severe blood shortages during the Covid-19 pandemic.The new plan would require potential donors to fill out a questionnaire about recent sexual activity, among other risk factors. Men who have sex with men would be asked a series of follow-up questions. The idea, still under debate, would be to allow those with no new partners in the last three months to donate.The strategy was first reported by The Wall Street Journal. In a statement on Wednesday, the F.D.A. said that new data “will likely support a policy transition to individual risk-based donor screening questions for reducing the risk of H.I.V. transmission.” The broad outlines of the plan are controversial among L.G.B.T.Q. advocates, who say that past blood donation policies were discriminatory and that unequal treatment remains a concern.Read More on the Coronavirus PandemicLong Covid: People who took the antiviral drug Paxlovid within a few days after being infected with the coronavirus were less likely to experience long Covid months later, a study found.Updated Boosters: New findings show that updated boosters by Pfizer and Moderna are better than their predecessors at increasing antibody levels against the most common version of the virus now circulating.Calls for a New Strategy: Covid boosters can help vulnerable Americans dodge serious illness or death, but some experts believe the shots must be improved to prevent new waves.Future Vaccines: Financial and bureaucratic barriers in the United States mean that the next generation of Covid vaccines may well be designed here, but used elsewhere.“I think it is a nominal step in the right direction,” said Sarah Kate Ellis, the president and chief executive of GLAAD, an L.G.B.T.Q. advocacy organization that has been pushing to end the ban for years.“It’s not where it should be, though. Our community and leading medical experts have been saying now for years that these decisions that the F.D.A. is making on blood bans for the L.G.B.T.Q. community are based in stigma and not science. And we’re seeing that pattern continue here.”The new approach is meant to strike a balance between activists who want no restrictions that single out gay and bisexual men and blood banks that want to eliminate the risk of a recipient acquiring H.I.V., according to the F.D.A. official, who requested anonymity to describe the internal discussions.Several large blood centers are wrapping up an F.D.A.-funded study designed to assess the safety of replacing the current three-month waiting period with a more individualized assessment.The researchers, who enrolled about 1,600 gay and bisexual men in eight metropolitan areas, are hoping to identify a set of screening questions that can differentiate men who are more likely to have recently acquired H.I.V. from those who are less likely to have recently contracted the virus.Participants in the project, known as the ADVANCE study, answered a variety of questions about their recent, risk-related behaviors, such as whether they had any new sexual partners or were taking pre-exposure prophylactic drugs, known as PrEP, that reduce the risk of H.I.V. infection, said Brian Custer, director of Vitalant Research Institute and principal investigator of the study.The participants’ blood was also tested for H.I.V. and the antiretroviral drugs used in PrEP.The researchers have already shared an interim analysis with the F.D.A. and should have the final results ready before the end of the year, Dr. Custer said. He declined to provide more information about the preliminary findings, citing a confidentiality agreement with the F.D.A., but said that he expected the results to be informative for the agency.“I really am confident that we have important information for the F.D.A. to be able to consider what an individual, risk-based approach to donor selection might look like,” he said.Susan Stramer, vice president for scientific affairs for the American Red Cross, said in a statement that the study was meant “to make blood donation a more inclusive process while maintaining the safety of the blood supply.”“While we have not been notified by the F.D.A. concerning policy changes at this time, the Red Cross looks forward to a future in which donation eligibility is not based on sexual orientation, and more healthy individuals can give blood to help patients in need,” she said.The current blood shortage is tracked daily by America’s Blood Centers, the trade association for 59 community facilities. On Wednesday, about a quarter of the centers, or 16, had less than a day’s supply on hand.“In this post-pandemic environment, blood drives hosted by businesses — in particular — have not returned to pre-pandemic levels as the way people work has changed,” Nick Gehrig, the senior director for communications at Vitalant, said in an email.

A new study published by researchers at the University of Bath demonstrates the positive impact learning to play a musical instrument has on the brain’s ability to process sights and sounds, and shows how it can also help to lift a blue mood.
Publishing their findings in the academic journal Nature Scientific Reports, the team behind the study shows how beginners who undertook piano lessons for just one hour a week over 11 weeks reported significant improvements in recognising audio-visual changes in the environment and reported less depression, stress and anxiety.
In the randomised control study, 31 adults were assigned into either a music training, music listening, or a control group. Individuals with no prior musical experiences or training were instructed to complete weekly one-hour sessions. Whilst the intervention groups played music, the control groups either listened to music or used the time to complete homework.
The researchers found that within just a few weeks of starting lessons*, people’s ability to process multisensory information — i.e., sight and sound — was enhanced. Improved ‘multisensory process’ has benefits for almost every activity we participate in — from driving a car and crossing a road, to finding someone in a crowd or watching TV.
These multisensory improvements extended beyond musical abilities. With musical training, people’s audio-visual processing became more accurate across other tasks. Those who received piano lessons showed greater accuracy in tests where participants were asked to determine whether sound and vision ‘events’ occurred at the same time.
This was true both for simple displays presenting flashes and beeps, and for more complex displays showing a person talking. Such fine-tuning of individuals’ cognitive abilities was not present for the music listening group (where participants listened to the same music as played by the music group), or for the non-music group (where members studied or read).