Remote-controlled contraception sounds amazing but is it susceptible to hacking?

You could be saying goodbye to these fellas (Picture: Getty)

In the latest example of mankind’s rapid descent into extreme inertia, it was announced yesterday that remote-controlled contraception could be available by 2018.

Forget remembering to take the contraceptive pill (if that’s possible?) because soon you’ll be able to let technology handle all your birth control needs. Gulp.

Actually, we won’t lie, it sounds sort of amazing.

A company called MicroCHIPS, which is based in Massachusetts and is backed by Bill Gates no less, has developed a tiny contraceptive computer chip (measuring 20mm x 20mm x 7mm) that can be implanted under a woman’s skin, releasing a small dose of the hormone levonorgestrel.

The chip lasts for 16 years and, this is the really interesting bit, the daily dose can be stopped at any time using a wireless remote control. So, if you suddenly decide you want to get pregnant, you can just turn it off. Simple, right?

Let’s hope it doesn’t look like the TV remote – awkward (Picture: IPGGutenbergUKLtd)

But, the glaring issue with using wireless technology is the very real possibility of hacking. Yes, someone could hack your contraceptive. Think about it, evil exes with a grudge, broody partners *starts to hyperventilate*.

The creators are, however, currently working on a way to make the chip completely secure. Oh good.

And, should it get approval, the same technology could be used to administer other drugs.

MORE: This proves your contraception isn’t working as well as you think

Simon Karger, head of the surgical and interventional business at Cambridge Consultants, told the BBC that though implanted technology faces some obvious risks and challenges, he and colleagues ‘foresee a future in which a huge range of conditions are treated through smart implanted systems.’

The chip will be submitted for pre-clinical testing in the US next year – and could possibly be on sale by 2018.

Source:

metro.co.uk

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Business Briefs: 7/8/14

Mice, birds prompt NYWP consumer alert

The Allegheny County Health Department posted a consumer alert at NYWP Enterprise in McKees Rocks last week after finding mice and birds in the facility. An inspector also reported mouse and bird droppings on bags of food, according to a Thursday inspection report. NYWP supplies Asian restaurants. Inspection reports for food facilities in the county are available online at webapps.achd.net/​Restaurant/.

AHN and Johns Hopkins formalize cancer care deal

A five-year cancer care collaboration agreement first announced in January between Allegheny Health Network and Johns Hopkins has been formalized. Under the agreement, AHN cancer patients will have access to clinical trials being conducted at Hopkins and AHN physicians will be able to consult on difficult cases with their counterparts at Hopkins’ Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center. The Kimmel center is one of 41 U.S. facilities designated by the National Cancer Institute as a comprehensive cancer center, as is the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute.

Germany takes aim at foreign drivers with car toll

Germany plans to introduce a car toll in 2016 that seeks to make money from the millions of foreigners who drive through the country every year, the transport minister said Monday. Germany has a truck toll but, unlike many European countries, no car toll. The cheapest option, the 10-day sticker, will cost 10 euros ($13.60).

Truckers strike at California ports

Truckers in a long-running dispute with three companies at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have started what they say is an indefinite strike. The truckers argue they are full-time employees, not independent contractors, and should be paid accordingly. Truckers’ spokeswoman Barb Maynard says workers formed picket lines Monday morning outside the companies’ yards.

Deal adds natural flavors to ADM portfolio

Agribusiness giant Archer Daniels Midland already makes sweeteners, vegetable oils and an array of other ingredients used in packaged foods and drinks. Now it’s getting in the natural flavors business. The company, based in Decatur, Ill., said Monday it will acquire the privately held Swiss company Wild Flavors in an all-cash deal that will total $3.13 billion counting debt.

Truckers strike at California ports

Truckers in a long-running dispute with three companies at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have started what they say is an indefinite strike.

The truckers argue they are full-time employees, not independent contractors, and should be paid accordingly.

Truckers’ spokeswoman Barb Maynard says workers formed picket lines Monday morning outside the companies’ yards.

Source:
www.post-gazette.com

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Ebola outbreak: Ghana tests US man

Ebola spreads through contact with an infected person's bodily fluids

A US citizen is being tested for the Ebola virus in Ghana, which has had no confirmed cases of the virus in the current West African outbreak.

The man has been quarantined at the private Nyaho Clinic in the capital, Accra, health officials say.

The virus has so far killed more than 460 people since it broke out in Guinea in February and spread to neighbouring Liberia and Sierra Leone.

It is the world's deadliest outbreak to date and there is no cure for Ebola.

The US embassy in Accra said it had been informed that a US citizen was being tested but would not give any more details, Reuters news agency reports.

'Under control'

The man was believed to have visited Guinea and Sierra Leone in recent weeks.

Ghana's health ministry said it had put in place "precautionary measures" and people should stay calm.

Staff at the clinic had also been quarantined and provided with protective clothing, it added in a statement.

Ebola virus disease (EVD)

• Symptoms include high fever, bleeding and central nervous system damage
• Fatality rate can reach 90%
• Incubation period is two to 21 days
• There is no vaccine or cure
• Supportive care such as rehydrating patients who have diarrhoea and vomiting can help recovery
• Fruit bats are considered to be the natural host of the virus

In pictures: Battling Ebola in West Africa

Why Ebola is so dangerous

The clinic was awaiting the results of blood tests to see whether the patient, whom the ministry did not identify, really had Ebola, the statement said.

"We will like to assure the general public that we have everything under control," Tony Goodman, the health ministry's public relations officer, said.

In April, Ghana's health authorities said a girl suspected to have Ebola had tested negative.

Ebola spreads through contact with an infected person's bodily fluids and kills up to 90% of those infected.

The health ministers of 11 West African states met in Accra last week promising to work more closely together to combat the outbreak.

So far, 759 people have been infected with the virus in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Most of the 467 deaths have been centred in the southern Guekedou region of Guinea, where the outbreak was first reported.

But health officials say the region's porous borders have allowed infected people to carry the disease into other countries.

Source:

www.bbc.com

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Smartphones allow do-it-yourself stress hormone tests

This new health app will be able to measure your stress levels in only 10 minutes.

The next addition to the collection of health apps coming online for smartphones may be a stress test, researchers said at a recent conference.

With a simple tube, some software and a saliva sample, people and their doctors can measure levels of the stress hormone cortisol, according to new research presented last week at ICE/ENDO 2014, the joint meeting of the International Society of Endocrinology and the Endocrine Society in Chicago.

"We have designed a method by which anyone with a smartphone will be able to measure their salivary cortisol level quickly, easily and inexpensively," said lead investigator Dr. Joel Ehrenkranz, director of diabetes and endocrinology at Intermountain Healthcare in Murray, Utah.

Read: Stress hormone linked to PTSD in women

While a commercial lab in the United States may charge up to $50 to run a quantitative salivary cortisol test and take up to a week to provide the results, the smartphone test will cost under $5 and give results in less than about 10 minutes, Ehrenkranz told Reuters Health in an interview.

"Parts of the United States and the rest of the world that lack facilities to measure cortisol will now be able to perform this essential diagnostic test," he said. "Also, measuring salivary cortisol with this technology will provide a way for individuals to monitor their personal biometric stress levels easily and inexpensively."

Ehrenkranz and his research team would like to see healthcare providers around the world, especially in low-resource areas, use the smartphone test to help diagnose disorders involving excessive cortisol or depletion of the hormone, and to allow cortisol levels to be monitored easily over time.

They'd also like the public to monitor their own cortisol levels whenever they want. So they designed their device to be inexpensive to manufacture, and easy to use on all cell phones, all platforms and all form factors.

It consists of a case, a light pipe, and a lens; it uses no battery power and it's unbreakable and reusable, they say.

For the developing world, it needs to be inexpensive, Ehrenkranz said, and it costs only about $1 to make.

Read: Stress hormone in womb may cause daughters to smoke

Project collaborator Dr. Randall Polson, senior optical engineer in the College of Engineering at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, wrote in an email, "We are trying to make sure a skilled 8th-grader - a 12-year-old - can get accurate results."

"The measurement system's smartphone and reader act as a photo studio ... The complex and difficult processes are put into the strip chemistry and embedded into the smartphone application, so if you have a charged phone and a test kit you can get accurate results without complicated infrastructure and highly trained technicians," Polson wrote.

To take the test, a person puts a straw-like saliva collector under the tongue, and capillary action wicks the saliva to an assay strip in a cassette that's inserted into a reader; the reader aligns a lens and light diffuser with a smartphone's camera and flash. A few minutes later, the smartphone image analysis app quantifies the cortisol value.

Dr. Ehrenkranz said the first screening test for hypercortisolism is salivary cortisol, and that 3 percent of people with type 2 diabetes actually have Cushing's disease - of which excess cortisol would be a sign - but they don't get screened because their doctors don't have access to the technology.

It will also help individuals, Ehrenkranz said. As an example, he cited the 10 percent of people with depression who have psychotic depression, with cortisol levels that rise before the onset of psychosis. Using this device, people at risk for psychotic depression will be able to check their salivary cortisol level every day and take steps to avoid a psychotic break.

The Ministry of Public Health of Thailand plans to introduce the cortisol test later this year, as a consumer product to monitor individuals' stress, Ehrenkranz said. His team is collecting clinical data to submit to the FDA to gain approval to market the test as a class 2 medical device, which they hope will be granted in 2015.

Source:

www.health24.com

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18 percent of high school seniors smoke hookahs

Eighteen percent of high school seniors reported smoking hookahs during the past year, and the majority of those teens were urban white males, a study by researchers at New York University Langone Medical Center found.

The study, based on a national survey of more than 5,000 high school seniors, found that white students were more likely than black students to use a hookah. Urban students and boys also reported higher hookah use, along with those who said they currently smoked cigarettes or also had ever used alcohol, marijuana, or other drugs. Students with more educated and affluent parents, or who held a job that paid more than $11 per week, were also more likely to smoke a hookah.

Previous studies suggested that teens believe that hookah use is less harmful and addictive than cigarettes. Education efforts about the dangers of hookah smoking should be geared toward urban high school students with high socioeconomic status, the researchers wrote.

BOTTOM LINE: Eighteen percent of high school seniors smoke hookahs.

CAUTIONS: The study relied on self-reported answers, which may not be accurate.

WHERE TO FIND IT: Pediatrics, July 7

C-section linked to increased risk of future stillbirth, ectopic pregnancy

Women who have a caesarean section may have a small increased risk of a subsequent stillbirth or ectopic pregnancy, a European study suggests.

For the study, which is the largest to look for a link between C-sections and stillbirths, researchers in Ireland analyzed data from Denmark’s national registry that included more than 800,000 women who gave birth to their first child between 1982 and 2010. The women were divided into two groups depending on whether they had a C-section or a vaginal delivery, and the researchers looked at the outcomes of their subsequent pregnancies.

Women who had C-sections were 14 percent more likely to have a later stillbirth — which translated to a risk of 1 additional stillbirth for every 3,000 C-sections. Having a C-section also raised the risk of a future ectopic pregnancy by 9 percent — or 1 per 1,000 C-sections. The researchers found no increased risk of miscarriage among women who had a C-section.

The overall chance of having a stillbirth or an ectopic pregnancy is small, the researchers wrote, so their findings suggest only a slight increase in risk after a C-section. However, women who choose to have one that isn’t medically necessary should consider these findings, they wrote.

BOTTOM LINE: Women who have a caesarean section may have a slightly increased risk of a subsequent stillbirth or ectopic pregnancy.

CAUTIONS: The study cannot prove a cause-and-effect relationship between C-sections and subsequent pregnancy complications. The study did not take into account changes in prenatal and neonatal care and C-section techniques over time, which may have affected the results.

Source:

www.bostonglobe.com

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Girl Scarred in Pit Bull Attack, and at Center of KFC Controversy, to Get Prosthetic Eye

Victoria Wilcher — the 3-year-old Mississippi girl whose family claimed was asked to leave KFC because of her appearance — will be fitted for a prosthetic eye.

Victoria, who lost sight in her right eye and was left with severe facial scars after a pit bull attack, will meet with Raymond Peters, an ocularist who hopes to outfit her with a prosthetic eye this week at his office in Naples, Florida.

An ocularist is a trained technician who makes prosthetic eyes.

Peters said he doesn’t care about the controversy surrounding what her family said happened to her at KFC. He just wants to help a child in need.

“That’s another world as far as I am concerned. That’s not going to affect me with how I help the child,” he said of the KFC incident. “I am focused on this child, and if that did happen, it’s sad because it is a double tragedy for the child.”

Victoria’s grandmother, Kelly Mullins, took to Facebook last month to tell a story about how Victoria, who wears an eye patch and eats through a tube, was told to leave a KFC in Mississippi because her appearance was disturbing to other patrons.

The story went viral. Online fundraising campaigns brought in thousands, including $30,000 and an apology from KFC.

But veracity of the story has since been called into question. A pair of investigations found no proof she was ever asked to leave KFC and a local newspaper also cast doubt on the family’s story.

Both Peters, who has donated his services and assisted with travel accommodations, and Mullins spoke to CNN Sunday about Victoria’s road to recovery .

“She don’t have an eye socket and no cheekbone,” said Mullins. “We had to put her back in diapers because of the wounds on her legs. She can’t pull things up and down on them. The wounds will bleed, and she screams bloody murder.”

Not knowing the full extent of the damage, Peters said he is not even sure if an artificial eye is a feasible option. But that is not going to stop him from trying.

“I will help her as long as I am able,” he said. “We don’t want this child to walk in the shadows.”

Despite saying it hadn’t found proof that one of its restaurants mistreated the girl or her grandmother, KFC said it will still honor its commitment to donate $30,000 to assist with Victoria’s medical bills.

“We hope everyone keeps Victoria in their thoughts and prayers,” the chain said in a statement last month. “She will certainly be in ours.”

Source:

ktla.com

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AIDS researcher pleads not guilty to fakery counts

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A former Iowa State University scientist has pleaded not guilty to charges alleging that falsified his research for an AIDS vaccine to secure millions of dollars in federal funding.

Dong-Pyou Han appeared in federal court in Des Moines on Tuesday and entered his pleas of not guilty to four counts of making false statements. Each count carries up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Han was released on bond and his trial was scheduled for Sept. 2. His attorney declined to comment afterward.

Prosecutors say before Han resigned last fall, he told university officials he had spiked samples of rabbit blood with human proteins to make it appear the vaccine was working.

The alleged misconduct was uncovered last year after Harvard University scientists discovered the spiked samples.

Source:

www.boston.com

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