Well that’s not good at all

So that guy in a Dallas hospital with monkeypox? He came through Atlanta. (Cue the dramatic music.)

Making CO work for you

Carbon monoxide is usually bad stuff — that’s why it’s often followed by “poisoning.” But in small doses, like Adam Sandler movies, it can do some good. In monoxide’s case, it’s by reducing inflammation in organs like the kidneys or lungs.

The trick is the delivery; you can’t just swap out patients’ oxygen for monoxide like in a Folger’s commercial.

But Georgia State chemists have a way. They found that they can make “carrier” molecules using the ingredients from artificial sweeteners. They enter the blood stream and dissolve where needed, releasing carbon monoxide in the process. That allows delivery of the drug to the affected organ without anyone having to sit next to a tailpipe.

Captain Obvious eats his chicken soup

Despite being given to lots of Covid-19 patients, an antibiotic (azithromycin) was no more effective than a placebo against the virus.

A scam warning from Pharmacists Mutual

Apparently, phone scammers are targeting pharmacies.

[T]he pharmacy receives a call from someone pretending to be from a legitimate medical supply vendor known to the pharmacy, such as McKesson or Cardinal. The caller states that they are performing maintenance on the system and need the employee’s user name and password for testing purposes. The employee then, unfortunately, gives the sign-on credentials to the caller.

We know Buzz readers are too smart to get caught by something like this, but just in case you know someone who should be aware….

Go nano or go home

Sure, radiation works against cancer, but it does a lot of damage to other cells, too. What’s it missing? Nanoparticles, of course.

[R]esearchers in Japan have developed nanoparticles that can penetrate tumors and kill them from within, after being activated by external X-rays.

Those nanoparticles carry iodine, which releases electrons once it’s inside the tumor and hit by the (much lower dose of) radiation: X-rays, in fact. Bam — dead tumor.

Another good thing coffee can do for you

The more of it you drink (say cardiologists at UC San Francisco) the lower your risk of arrhythmia. In fact, after looking at the data of 386,258 Brits, they concluded that “each additional cup of habitual coffee consumed was linked to a 3% lower risk for incident arrhythmia.”

So if you want zero chance, that would mean drinking … 33+ cups a day. We wish you luck.