Experts warn that the ongoing flu season in the United Kingdom could morph into the worst flu epidemic since the deadly Hong Kong flu (1968). That epidemic’s death toll was 1 million people worldwide.

According to experts, the groups with the higher risk of dying from flu includes the elderly, small children, pregnant women, HIV patients, and other people with compromised immune systems.

On top of that, this year’s flu vaccine is inefficient in providing the necessary protection as the flu strain has mutated.

In the U.K., there are only five areas that have not reported any flu cases related to the dangerous flu strain called the H3N2 or the “Aussie strain.”

The number of people who were hospitalized over a flu diagnosis has tripled around Christmas. This is because sick people attending family reunions are bringing the influenza with them.

A Deadly Flu Epidemic In the Making

Hospitals announced that they my have to postpone more appointments and surgeries to be able to cope with the influx of new patients expected for the coming weeks. Around 55,000 procedures have been put on hold.

Professor Robert Dingwall explained that this year’s flu virus is so vicious because it has mutated, and the vaccine is only 10% effective. Before researchers discovered the Aussie strain the vaccine had already been produced.

Experts expect a worse flu season than last year’s. In 2017, by the end of the flu season, 68 people died of the flu. One expert noted that the jury is still out on whether this year’s flu season is the worst in a generation.

Since flu is highly infectious, once it reaches an area or a country, there isn’t much we can do about it. Researchers expect the flu season to last four to five more weeks, which means medical procedures could be canceled through February.
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The Teal Pumpkin Project aims to make Halloween enjoyable to allergic children

The Food Allergy Research and Education organization has decided to make Halloween enjoyable for kids with allergies as well, so it has started a project where people work together so that these children won’t be excluded from trick-or-treating. This great initiative is called the Teal Pumpkin Project, and the houses of the participants will be signaled by a teal pumpkin sitting on their porch.

The Teal Pumpkin Project allows allergic children to enjoy Halloween

Everybody should enjoy Halloween, regardless of the condition they might suffer from, and the Teal Pumpkin Project wants to allow kids with allergies feel just like any other child on the spooky holiday. If you see a house marked by a teal pumpkin, it means the owners will provide either non-food treats for allergic children, or sweet goodies which put them at no risk of developing an allergic reaction.

The symbol of this project is inspired from the color of the food allergy awareness campaign, and this is the first year when Food Allergy Research and Education makes Halloween more enjoyable for kids with severe food allergies. They are all encouraged to look for the houses with a blue pumpkin on the porch, and visit them without worries.

Food allergies are a serious health issue across the United States

Reports show that at least one in 13 children has food allergies, so the number of adverse reactions ending in anaphylactic shock has dangerously increased over the past few years. Therefore, it was high time for people to do something to avoid this serious public health crisis.

Moreover, the Teal Pumpkin Project is good for the mental well-being of the children. The initiative will make them feel no longer excluded from holidays like Halloween, when they used to take quite a lot of risks if they wanted to go trick-or-treating like all the other children. Now, everybody can have fun and take place to all the enjoyable activities typical to this time of the year.
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A music teacher hummed during his tumor-removal brain surgery, all part of a cutting edge research.

A music teacher and professional musician named Dan Fabbio was asked to hum during his tumor-removal brain surgery to ensure the surgery’s success. This is because his tumor grew in the brain area responsible for music function. Fabbio’s surgery is part of a larger project, a cutting-edge research targeting brain mapping.

Dan Fabbio recounted how he was 25 years old when he found out that he had a tumor growing on his brain, and also how he took the news. However, the doctors had some good news as well, besides the bad ones. The tumor was benign but had been probably growing since childhood in the area of the brain responsible for music function.

So Fabbio was involved in a cutting edge-research currently being conducted by a team of surgeons and physicians from the University of Rochester Medical Center. This project is named the Translational Brain Mapping Program. It seeks to carefully map out the brain of each patient which “comes to URMC for surgery” as explained by Professor Bradford Mahon.

“This type of personalized brain mapping is important because, while everyone’s brain is organized in more or less the same way, there is inter-individual variability in the precise location of specific functions,” continued the professor.

So the investigators designed a series of fMRI experiments which were used to “map the music in Dan’s brain”. The team was keen on finding a way of removing the tumor without affecting their patient’s musical abilities.

By creating and completing a detailed map of Fabbio’s brain, the surgeons knew exactly both where the tumor was located and the particular place of his music function.

Music Teacher Hummed Simple Warming Exercises

The map was then used as a guide during surgery, and the extra assurance came from Fabbio himself. During the operation, he was awake and humming.

Besides the fact that the music teacher hummed during surgery, he also repeated a series of language exercises especially learned before the surgery. This helped the operating team know if they were potentially disrupting a music processing brain part.

The music teacher hummed during operation and then demonstrated the success of the surgery by starting to play the saxophone right in the operating room after the end of the procedure. Reports state he has recovered and is back to teaching music.

A research paper with the full details of the surgery and its required work is available in the journal Current Biology.

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