The 56-year-old German man could be behind the poisoning that killed 21 people.

Bielefeld authorities have decided to reopen the investigation in the ARI Armaturen case, after nearly two decades. According to the police report, a 56-year-old man could be behind the incident that claimed the life of 21 employees since 2000.

German Man Seen Putting Strange Powder in Co-Worker’s Lunchbox

On Wednesday, German authorities announced that a recently unearthed clue led them to reopen the ARI Armature case, a company that manufactures metal fittings.

According to the authorities, in late May, after reviewing a security tape, law enforcement officers discovered that a German man opened his co-worker’s lunchbox and sprinkled a powdery substance over it.

The man, identified only as 56-year-old Klaus O., has been taken into custody shortly after. The forensic lab determined that the substance Klaus sprinkled was lead acetate.

More than that, a police spokesperson declared that although the amount sprinkled wasn’t enough to kill an adult, it could have led to organ damage.

A search of Klaus’s home revealed that the man stockpiled the substance. The full measure of Klaus’s actions has been uncovered after the authorities dug into the employees’ medical records.

Since 2000, 21 people working at the Schloss Holte-Stukenbrock-based company, passed away or became ill.

Moreover, each of them showed distinct signs of heavy metal poisoning and the doctors couldn’t explain why. Over the course of two decades, all both one employee passed away. The causes of death were either cancer or heart attacks.

Conclusion

An employee that used to work for the company slipped into a coma two years ago. Another one told the authorities that his kidneys shut down unexpectedly, three months after meeting the German man.

University of Bonn’s Poison Information Center declared that the case is even more difficult as heavy metal poisoning is very hard to detect.

Image source: Flickr

Florida woman said that her daughter recovered after removing the female tick.

A 5-year-old girl from Florida found out that she could no longer stand nor walk after a family night out. Her mother discovered a female tick stuck on the girl’s scalp. Emergency room doctors diagnosed her with tick paralysis, a rare tick-borne condition.

Female Tick Was Challenging to Find, Florida Mom Declared

Jessica Griffin of Midway, Florida, recalls what she felts when she saw Kailyn, her daughter, trying to get out of bed.

During a recent press interview, the woman told a reporter that the night before Kailyn was rushed to the emergency room, they were out playing T-ball.

The very next day, Jessica went to Kailyn’s room to wake her up. According to Kailyn’s mom, as soon as she got out of the bed, she collapsed on the floor. More than that, Jessica saw that she couldn’t get up no matter how hard she tried.

Thinking that her legs could still be asleep, Mrs. Griffin put Kaylin on the bed. As she was brushing Kaylin’s hair, she noticed a red bump on the girl’s scalp. Upon taking a closer look, Mrs. Griffin realized that it was no ordinary bump, but blood-filled female tick resting on the child’s head after having a hearty meal.

She pulled the critter, placed it in a sealed bag, and rushed Kailyn to the emergency room. Several CT and blood tests later, the doctors diagnosed the child with tick paralysis, a condition that mainly affects animals.

As the ER doctors explained, when the female tick attaches itself to the body to lay eggs, it injects a toxin into the bloodstream. The toxin travels from the extremities all the way up to the brain. If left untreated, the toxin could shut down the brain area responsible for breathing.

Kaylin made a full recovery after her mother removed the female tick.

Image source: MaxPixel

CAR T Therapy induced remission in man with terminal immune system cancer.

Bren Carroll, a retired Navy vet, said that his immune system cancer has gone into full remission thanks to an experimental treatment. Given only two years to live, Carroll, against all the odds, has gone seven years cancer-free. Carroll’s oncologist declared that the man’s response to treatment is encouraging.

Grand Chute Man Diagnose with Mantel Cell Lymphoma, a Type of Immune System Cancer

The retired Navy veteran recalls the dreadful moment after his doctors told him that he has cancer. Back in 2011, Carroll, who just ended a decades-long military career, was looking forward to spending more time with his wife and children.

Regrettably, he would soon find out that he has mantel cell lymphoma, a very rare and incurable type of immune system cancer. During a recent interview, the Grand Chute man told the reporter that his doctor gave him two years to live.

Until he enrolled in Dr. Nirav Shah’s clinical trial, Carroll tried all forms of conventional cancer treatments.

In October 2011, taken aback by Shah’s experimental therapy, Carroll signed up to Froedtert & The Medical College of Wisconsin clinical trial.

Dr. Shah, an assistant professor of medicine, specialized in oncology and hematology, used a variation of the CAR T therapy (chimeric antigen receptor T-cell) in order to target the cancer cells.

More specifically, Dr. Shah and his team harvested Carroll’s T-cells and reprogrammed them to fight against the cancer cells. Shah declared that this version of CAR T therapy is patient-tailored since the more ‘traditional’ approach relies on targeting a single receptor. In Carroll’s case, the treatment was designed to target two cancer receptors – CD20 and CD 19.

Conclusion

Seven years later, Carroll’s cancer is virtually untraceable. Shah said that we shouldn’t call the CAR T therapy a cure just yet, but it appears to be the first step in the right direction.

Image source: Flickr

Google Doodle to honor the 109th anniversary of Virginia Apgar.

Today’s Google Doodle marks the 109^th anniversary of Dr. Virginia Apgar, US’s first board-certified anesthesiologist, author, and inventor of the Apgar Score, a method of assessing newborns used to this day. She was also the first female doctor to be granted a full professor’s rank at the College of Physicians.

Virginia Apgar Discouraged by American Board Surgery Chairman to Pursue Her Dream

We dedicate this article to of Dr. Virginia Apgar, the obstetrical anesthesiologist who wrote medical history in the second of the 20^th century.

In an epoch when female doctors were frowned upon, Dr. Apgar rose through the ranks, becoming one an anesthesiology pioneer.

Born on the 7^th of June 1909 in Westfield, New Jersey, to Helen May Apgar and Charles Emory Apgar, Virginia has always been fascinated by science.

Some of Apgar’s biographers note that the passion for science could have been installed by her father, an insurance executive who, in his spare time, dabbled in astronomy. Moreover, Mr. Apgar was also an amateur inventor.

In fall 1929, Virginia Apgar graduated from Mount Holyoke College.  Next, she went to study medicine at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. After that, she graduated from the institution in 1937.

Although Mrs. Apgar had a dispute with Dr. Allen Whipple about her career in surgery, Whipple convinced her to take up obstetrical anesthesiology.

In 1949, Virginia Apgar received the rank of professor at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, and in 1952, she submitted her paper on newborn assessment metrics. Furthermore, the system, which would later be named after her, is still being used by nurses of members of staff to determine a newborn’s condition.

Conclusion

The Apgar score encompasses five indicators – Appearance, Pulse, Grimace, Activity, and Respiration. Based on Apgar’s paper, infants with scores above seven are normal. Subsequently, scores between 4 and 6 are considered fairly low and what is below three is considered critical.

Image source: National Library of Medicine

New York super doc diagnoses neck cancer while watching TV show.

Having a keen eye for details is a skill every doctor should master but to be able to diagnose a patient while you’re at home, watching television, is truly a gift. Believe it or not, this recently happened in New York, after an otolaryngologist tracked down a TV show guest to tell her that she might have neck cancer.

Ear, Nose, and Throat Doctor Tracks Down Woman on Social Media for Neck Cancer

This week story of beyond and above the call of duty in Medicine comes from bustling New York. Dr. Erich Voigt is an otolaryngologist (ear, neck, and throat doctor) at NYU Langone Health and, apparently, a fan of Beachfront Bargain Hunters TV series.

In a recent Facebook post, Dr. Vogt wrote that last week, he was watching an episode of the said TV show when he noticed something usual.

Voigt told a local news outlet that when Nicole McGuinness popped on screen, his doc senses started tingling. More specifically, Dr. Voigt saw that the 32-year-old woman had a suspicious lump on her neck. The lump could only be seen when the TV show’s guest was talking.

The doc wrote on his Facebook that he immediately realized that the woman has neck cancer. Now, instead of changing the channel, Dr. Voigt took to social media and asked all his bodies to help him track down the woman. Voigt wrote that the woman needs a fine needle biopsy and a sonogram because she definitely has a left thyroid mass.

Conclusion

He ultimately managed to get ahold of McGuinness. Of course, the woman ran to her doctor, who later confirmed the diagnostic.

McGuiness, who’s a cancer survivor, recently declared that Dr. Voigt saved her life.

The ear, nose, and throat doctor declared that he’s eager to meet his long-distance patient.

Image source: FreeStockPhotos

A new study alleges that a low-carb diet could actually benefit people with type 1 diabetes.

Over 1 million Americans have Type 1 diabetes. This is much less common than Type 2 diabetes and occurs when the pancreas stops producing insulin within the body.

Insulin is important because it regulates a person’s blood-sugar levels. In order to make up for the insulin that the pancreas doesn’t produce, most people have to get insulin shots. No known cure for type 1 diabetes is available at the moment. However, there are several ways of dealing with this condition.

Now, a recent study has suggested another variant that might help people that have it.

The Advantages of a Low-Carb Diet

In the past, most diabetic experts would have strongly advised against going on a low-carb diet, especially among children and young people. This is because it was considered that the lack of carbs could lead to a condition known as hypoglycemia. It was also feared that it might cause growth to be stunted.

Hypoglycemia occurs when blood sugar levels drop too much due to a lack of glycemic control. People can gain glycemic control by carefully monitoring the number of carbs that they consume. They should also pay attention to the glycemic index of the particular foods they are eating.

However, a recent study released in the journal American Academy of Pediatrics suggests otherwise. This found that children and adults that followed a high protein, low-carb diet had excellent blood sugar levels while taking smaller than averages doses of insulin.

Study participants were on this diet for at least two years, and there wasn’t any evidence that suggested growth was inhibited in children by the lack of carbs.

An accompanying commentary is also available alongside the study paper. Joyce M. Lee and Carly Runge, two University of Michigan in Ann Arbor specialists, are behind it. They consider this “an important contribution to the literature.”

Still, the two also point out the need for a randomized trial. One that would specifically study the effects of following such a diet on a child’s development. Such a trial would also have to keep a close eye on several other factors as well.

“Only after the therapy proves efficacious in a trial setting will clinicians have to then tackle the ‘barrier’ of having patients adhere to this diet,” point out the Lee and Runge.

Image Source: PxHere

Yale University researchers were able to keep pig’s brain alive 36 hours after decapitating the animal.

Yale University has recently announced that another milestone in brain sciences has been reached. A team of researchers was able to keep a hog’s brain alive for 36 hours after being decapitated. Through gruesome, this research has the potential to uncover even more facts about how the brain works.

Yale University Scientists Said Experimental Drugs Could Be Tested on Severed Heads

Nenad Sestan, the head scientists of Yale University’s project centered on the human brain, has presented the findings of his team during a recent National Institutes of Health conference. Sestan pointed out that the research conducted in the University’s lab could prove to be pivotal in understanding the inner workings of the human brain and could open the doors to how clinicians experiment with untested drugs.

During the conference, Sestan declared that he and his team managed to keep a pig’s brain cells alive for 36 hours after surgically removing the head. Although the specimen did not retain consciousness throughout the experiment, its responses bordering on the somatic, it does prove that, under special conditions, organs such as the brain can be kept alive.

For the purpose of this Frankenstein-inspired experiment, Sestan and his team employed an apparatus called BrainEx. With this device, his team was able to feed the hog’s brain with body-temperature blood in an attempt to preserve its functions.

Upon analyzing the hog’s brain cells under the microscope, the Yale University team discovered that they were very much alive and behaved as though the head never left the body.

Conclusion

As Sestan pointed out, this rather macabre technique could alter the way we thoughts, consciousness, and even death. More than that, this procedure can help clinicians test cancer or dementia meds on deceased patients’ heads without having to rely on animals or computer-generated models.

Image source: Flickr

Image courtesy of GoFundMe

Anna Hankins, a 15-year-old teen diagnosed during early childhood with Prader-Willi syndrome, has even more reasons to be happy and to enjoy like after she was recently crowned queen of the Miss Amazing beauty pageant. Although the teen is struggling with her weight, she’s a very happy and optimistic person, according to her parents.

Prader-Willi Syndrome is a Rare Genetic Disorder

According to the National Health Institute, only one in 15,000 children are diagnosed with Prader-Willi syndrome, a genetic and, unfortunately, incurable genetic condition characterized by abnormal food craving, low muscle tone, and stunted growth.

Anna Hankins is one of the few United States kids who were diagnosed with this condition. According to the teen’s parents, Anna was born prematurely and she had issues taking in any kind of food.

Regrettably, a few years later, Anna started exhibiting strange behavior. In a press interview, the girl’s mother declared that her daughter would eat just about anything she can lay her hands on, and that they even caught her in the kitchen, in the dead of night, preparing a chocolate cake.

For this reason, her parents were forced to put padlocks on the refrigerator and any placed food is stored. However, Anna’s uncontrollable craving for food made her eat discarded morsels from the family’s trashcan.

Now, the teen was put on a 900-calorie diet and she’s not allowed to eat anything fatty or sweet as her body cannot handle food well. Due to her condition, the teen needs help getting dressed and moving around the house.

At times, she needs oxygen as her weight of 380 pounds makes it almost impossible for her to breath properly.

Conclusion

Still, the teen with Prader-Willi syndrome has bright future ahead of her. Only recently, Anna was crowned for the third time queen of the Miss Amazing beauty pageant for persons with disabilities.

Yellow fever on the rise in Brazil – authorities are warning people to get the vaccine ASAP.

Brazil announced that every citizen needs to be vaccinated against yellow fever. This announcement was made because the country is experiencing a rise in cases of yellow fever. Since the 1940s, Brazil hasn’t seen so many cases of this disease. Brazil’s health minister, Ricardo Barros, mentioned that by 2019 more than 78 million people should be vaccinated.

Yellow Fever Vaccination Campaign Takes Brazil by Storm

Currently, the Brazilian government has begun a vaccination campaign aiming to show people why they need the vaccine and what could happen if they don’t get it. People from all 27 states are advised to take the yellow fever vaccine as soon as possible. Before this announcement, the vaccine was still recommended in only 23, not all 27 states.

This decision shows that more and more people are contracting the disease. Before July 2017, there had been 920 reported cases and 300 people died from this condition. Since the same period last year, there have been 610 cases and 196 reported deaths. The numbers show that the disease is making more victims and that vaccination is necessary.

Another problem is that many people believe that vaccination does more harm than good. There are several online communities centered on spreading false reports that link vaccines to autism or worse. This is why the rate of vaccinated people decreases more and more every year. At this moment, in the state of Sao Paulo, 95% of people have received the yellow fever vaccine. In Rio de Janeiro the percentage drops to 68.5% and further down to 54.4% when we look at Bahia, Brazil’s fourth largest state.

Yellow Fever Crossing Borders

Increasingly worrisome is that yellow fever cases are moving closer and closer to Argentina. The Pan American Health Organization mentioned that there have been at least 11 cases of travelers who were unvaccinated. People who are traveling to Brazil should get the vaccine at least 10 days before arrival. It appears that the virus is moving towards the South where it could affect several other countries in the following months.