Huge breaking news

A molecule called SCUBE3 appears to stimulate hair growth — and even better, it’s produced by the body already. University of California researchers hope it could be turned a baldness treatment, and they’ve filed for a patent for the naturally occurring molecule’s use in treating hair loss.

Booster decision

The FDA has formally recommended new Covid-19 vaccine boosters for the fall. The decision: These boosters should add protection against Omicron’s BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variants to the existing booster. (The question was open whether the new boosters would be Omicron-specific or would add protection. Now that’s settled.)

Better than saline

Bags of IV saline are the standard by hospital beds and as props on TV dramas. Saline (plain ol’ sodium chloride) is used for rehydration, med delivery, and much more, to the tune of 200 million liters a year in the U.S.

But it may not be the best solution.

In a new study of nearly 150,000 hospital patients, Intermountain Healthcare researchers found that patients who received lactated Ringer (LR) solution instead of normal saline for IV fluids had a lower risk of kidney injury and death than when they were given saline.

Just switching to Ringer’s lactate, they found, cut major adverse kidney events — including death — by 2.2%. Spread over those 200 million liters, that’s a lot of events avoided, and “The impact was even greater on patients with sepsis, a severe infection, and patients who received more fluids as part of their treatment.”

More trouble from the neighbor

Following on the heels of Covid-19, monkeypox, and meningitis, Florida’s latest outbreak is … listeria. The CDC hasn’t figured out what food products are contaminated, just that whatever it is, it comes from the Sunshine State.

So far it’s affected people in 10 states (including one in Georgia), with 23 people sick (including five pregnant women), and resulted in 22 hospitalizations, one death, and one miscarriage.

Cool your nerves

Why take chances with opioids after surgery? Instead, how about having the surgeon wrap a cooling sleeve around your nerve fibers — a sleeve you can control to relieve the pain?

That’s just what Northwestern researchers have invented.

The biocompatible, water-soluble device works by softly wrapping around nerves to deliver precise, targeted cooling, which numbs nerves and blocks pain signals to the brain. An external pump enables the user to remotely activate the device and then increase or decrease its intensity.

Even better, no removal necessary. Eventually the body just absorbs it.

“Sir, the deposit window is over here”

We can’t over-stress the importance of gut bacteria, but your microbiome will change as you age — usually not in a good way.

That’s why Harvard researchers (publishing in Trends in Molecular Medicine) recommend a plan for “Rejuvenating the human gut microbiome.” Their idea: Individual ”stool banks” created while people are young, allowing the, er, contents to be transplanted when they’re older. The alternative — finding a compatible donor — has a variety of issues.

Emerging studies suggest that stool banking and autologous fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT), using the recipients’ own stool samples collected at a younger age when they are disease-free, may be a better — or at least an alternative — solution.

(How would you go about doing this? Just ask the Dutch: They’ve already published a paper, “How to: Establish and run a stool bank.”)

The mighty fall

Cosmetic giant Revlon has filed for bankruptcy.

How anti-anxiety drugs hurt the brain

Long-term use of anti-anxiety drugs like diazepam seem to increase the risk of dementia, but why? It could be because — contrary to current thinking — that they don’t actually work on the brain’s nerve cells directly. Rather, they affect the microglial cells.

The microglia affect the nerve cells (so the drugs reduce anxiety), but “the drug changed the normal activity of microglial cells and indirectly the maintenance function that microglia have around synaptic nerve cell connections.”

In other words, Aussie researchers found that, over the long term, the drug causes the microglia to damage some neural connections and affect “the overall functional integrity of the brain.”

The Long Read: Drug Pushers edition

How marketing consultancy McKinsey & Company helped opioid makers push and push and push their pills, even as the opioid crisis was in full swing.

It profiled and targeted physicians, in some instances trying to influence prescribing habits in ways that federal officials later warned heightened the risk of overdose.

And when opioid prescriptions began to decrease during a government crackdown, the records show, McKinsey devised new approaches to drive sales.

Weekend safety

Priorities, folks! If you’re about to do something foolish with fireworks this weekend, please prepare: Have friends nearby holding their phones steady (and horizontal) to record you. If you end up in hospital, the views, likes, and karma you get will make it worthwhile*. (Seriously, be safe!)

* Not for you. For us.