Dr. Howard Smith Oncall

Vidcast:  https://www.instagram.com/p/C2IeRTHra4b/ The CPSC and UBBCARE now recall UBBCARE Play Yard Crib Mattresses since they violate multiple federal safety regulations for crib mattresses including thickness and labeling thus posing a suffocation hazard to infants. About 1,000 of these crib mattresses were sold at amazon.com. Stop allowing your infant to sleep on these crib mattresses and contact UBBCARE via email at  HBoutdoor-us@outlook.com to receive a refund and mattress disposal instructions. https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2024/UBBCARE-Play-Yard-Mattresses-Recalled-Due-to-Suffocation-Hazard-for-Infants-Violation-of-the-Federal-Safety-Regulation-for-Crib-Mattresses-Sold-Exclusively-on-Amazon-com-by-UBBCARE #UBBCARE #crib #mattress #firmness #labeling #suffocation #recall

Vidcast:  https://www.instagram.com/p/C2IdijfrO9A/ The CPSC and Bell Sports are recalling Bell Slope Adult Helmets since their strap anchors can dislodge with applied force violating federal bicycle safety standards and creating risks of head injuries. About 11,000 of these adult bike helmets were sold at Target, Fred Meyer, Academy, other stores nationwide and on websites. Stop wearing these defective bike helmets and contact Bell Sports at 1-800-456-2355 (Option 3) or via email at consumersupport-bell@bellhelmets.com to arrange a refund.  To receive the $$$ you’ll need to upload a photo with cut straps to the email. https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2024/Bell-Sports-Recalls-Bell-Slope-Adult-Bicycle-Helmets-Due-to-Risk-of-Head-Injury #bell bicycle #helmet #strap #safety #headinjury #recall

Vidcast:  https://www.instagram.com/p/C2IbxzWLD_T/ The CPSC and Boot Royalty Company are recalling Justin Boots Keaven WP Met Guard Work Boots Model SE4570 since the boot lacks the metatarsal guard leading to impact injuries of the wearer’s feet. About 3200 work boots were sold at Grainger, Safety Shoes Distributors, Saf-Gard Safety Shoe Company and other stores nationwide and online at grainger.com, justinboots.com, and on other online sites. Stop wearing these boots and contact the Boot Royalty co.at 1-800-550-7327 or via the email customerservice@justinbrands.com to receive free replacement boots. https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2024/Boot-Royalty-Recalls-Mens-Leather-Work-Boots-Due-to-Crush-Hazard #Justin #boots #metatarsal #guard #injury #recall

Vidcast:  https://www.instagram.com/p/C2Ia7yqLHKv/ The CPSC and Retrospec are recalling Scout Kid’s Bike Helmets as they fail to comply with federal positional stability and labeling requirement for bicycle helmets leading to protection failure and head injuries. About 72,000 helmets were sold in the US and about 150 were sold in Canada at T Scheels, Play it Again Sports, and independent bicycle stores nationwide and online at Retrospec.com and Amazon.com. Stop allowing your children to wear these helmets.  Contact Retrospec at 1-888-488-2369 to arrange a full refund.  To receive the refund, you will have to upload a photo of the helmet with cut straps, your initials, the date, and the Retrospec logo to the website retrospect.com/pages/restrospec-scout-recall. https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2024/Retrospec-Recalls-Kids-Bike-Helmets-Due-to-Risk-of-Head-Injury-Violation-of-the-Federal-Safety-Regulation-for-Bicycle-Helmets #scout #bicycle #helmet #protection #headinjury #recall

Vidcast:  https://www.instagram.com/p/C2IZ1BVrA6B/ The CPSC and Alliance4Safety are recalling New Age furniture tip restraint kits since the plastic zip tie included with the kit tends to become brittle and break.  This allows the furniture anchored to the wall by the kit to fall, entrap, and injure children or pets. Millions of these zip tie restraint kits were included with clothing storage furniture sold by nearly every furniture manufacturer from November 2019 through the present day. Immediately check to see if your clothing storage unit has a manufacture date of November 2019 or later.  If so and if your tip-over kit has plastic components, contact Alliance4Safety at 1-855-416-7370 for a free replacement tipper kit. https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2024/Alliance4Safety-and-31-Furniture-Companies-Recall-Millions-of-Plastic-New-Age-Furniture-Tip-over-Restraint-Kits-Due-to-Tip-over-and-Entrapment-Hazards-to-Children #clothingstorage #furniture #tipover #plastic #entrapment #injury #recall

Vidcast:  https://www.instagram.com/p/C17HxyJrqbb/ As you fill your stomach with food, its distended walls send signals to your brain that its time to stop eating.  MIT mechanical bioengineers have invented an ingestible capsule that triggers these same signals.  When tested in experimental animals, appropriately enough young and growing pigs, the capsules reduced the animals’ intakes by some 40%. The vibrating capsule, named VIBES for Vibrating Ingestible BioElectronic Stimulator, is the size of a multivitamin and includes, besides the electric vibrator, a silver oxide battery, control circuitry, and a switch activated by gastric enzymes.  The capsule, ingested 20 minutes before a meal, vibrates for nearly 40 minutes covering most of the time occupied by active eating.  The capsule then passes harmlessly through the gastrointestinal tract. This mechanical satiation inducer, when commercially available, will be yet another weapon in our relentless battle against obesity.  It will join the wildly popular a

Vidcast:  https://www.instagram.com/p/C17HHpkLtht/ Indwelling Foley-type urinary catheters that are placed in the bladder are unfortunately, a 2 lane highway: urine flows out but bacteria flow into the bladder triggering infections.  CalTech bioengineers have now employed artificial intelligence-powered design tools to create a catheter that prevents the inward bacterial flow.  Since the self-propelled bacteria creep up the tube walls, the optimal anti-bacterial catheter tubing turns out to have tiny downward pointing spikes that impede that migration.  Using a test population of nasty E. Coli bacteria, the researchers demonstrated that their novel catheter tubing was up to 100-fold more effective at suppressing upward bacterial flow in the catheter while urine flows out.  And all this without the need for bacterial-resistance generating antibiotics. This catheter tubing should be commercialized pronto. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adj1741 #urinary #catheters #bacteria #antibiotics #ai #bioe

Vidcast:  https://www.instagram.com/p/C17F_72r5YU/ Lung cancers can be detected with CT imaging, but finding masses is not cancer-specific and this imaging technology is not available to everyone in every country.  Enter MIT nanoscientists with a novel method for lung cancer detection.  They have developed a nano sensor platform named PATROL, short for point-of-care aerosolizable nanosensors with tumor-responsive oligonucleotide barcodes.  This long jargon stands for inhalable nanoparticles with large molecules that lung cancer-associated enzymes split into smaller ones that appear in the urine.  These telltale markers appear in urine as soon as 20 minutes after inhalation.  The best news is that this system is sensitive and precise enough to detect early stage lung cancers at a point when treatment is uniformly successful.  Here’s hoping that this sensitive early warning cancer detection is available to all someday soon. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adj9591 #lungcancer #nanomedicine #earlyd

Vidcast:  https://www.instagram.com/p/C17FU4Sriuj/ Baylor College of Medicine molecular biologists have discovered a novel way to effectively control new genes inserted into patients’ chromosomes as part of cutting edge gene therapy.  Since conventional agents used to control gene expression are substances foreign to the human body, a patient’s immune system will rapidly remove them.  The Baylor researchers have instead inserted a known genetic stop sign, a polyA, that is poly-adenosine sequence.  This signal naturally occurs at the end of any given gene, but artificially inserting it at the beginning of a gene stops that gene from turning on protein production.  To control the on-off function, the investigators bind a polyA neutralizing molecule to the antibiotic tetracycline.  The amount of required protein produced can be regulated by administering more or less of the tetracycline combo.  Very clever. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41587-023-01989-0 #genetherapy #polyA #tetracycline

 Vidcast:  https://www.instagram.com/p/C17EkkQLMdl/ Those Tejocote root weight loss supplements sold on Amazon, TikTok, and Etsy for weight loss are contaminated with the toxic and poisonous yellow oleander.  So warns the FDA after the agency discovered this agent in 9 different products being touted and sold on social media and other more established online marketplaces.  These supplements are not FDA-regulated, cleared, or approved. The contaminated products include: Alipotec Tejocote Root, Nutraholics ELV Tejocote Root, ELVPOTEC Tejocote Root, Science of Alpha Mexican Tejocote Root, Niwali Raiz de Tejocote, Tejocotex, and ELV Alipotec Raiz de Tejocote. Yellow oleander is a poisonous plant native to Mexico and Central America.  Its ingestion can trigger severe and possibly fatal neurologic, gastrointestinal, and cardiovascular side effects including arrhythmias.   Do not take these supplements.  The FDA is now working with online platforms to prevent the sale and distribution of these dangerous supplem

Vidcast:  https://www.instagram.com/p/C17DMTRL_Y0/ Biochemists at Harvard’s Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have identified a so-called stapled lipopeptide that can be sprayed in the nose and prevent the Covid virus from infecting human tissues.  A stapled lipopeptide is a bioactive protein stabilized by addition of a “staple” sequence and linked to a lipid or fatty molecule which helps localize this blocking compound on the surface of vulnerable human cells.   This blocking molecule mimics the CoVid virus’ "landing gear” effectively preventing infection, a process called fusion inhibition. This same staple lipoprotein technology has previously been used experimentally to inhibit infection by both the HIV and the RSV viruses. The researchers have been modifying the locations of both the staple and the lipid linkage in an effort to optimize effectiveness.  Once perfected, this fusion inhibition approach to CoVid prevention could best the vaccine approach as it seems not to be weakened by viral mutations

Vidcast:  https://www.instagram.com/p/C17CYkqr09t/ From Harvard’s engineering School and Boston University’s rehabilitation sciences college comes a soft, wearable, motorized garment that completely neutralizes the freezing gait of those with Parkinson’s Disease.  The gentle push from the garment stops the halting walk and permits wearer to walk faster and further.  Buoyed by their sucess, the Harvard-BU collaborative group has already developed a new,, improved second generation device. This freezing elimination provided by the device is far more effective than currently available medications or surgical approaches.  The sudden halting while walking often leads to devastating falls. The Harvard biodesign team has previously engineered other robotic units to assist stroke patients and those with neurodegenerative diseases.  These devices have already been commercialized by the ReWalk Robotics company. This walking aid will help countless Parkinson’s victims walk more smoothly and much more safely.   htt

Vidcast:  https://www.instagram.com/p/C17BmuLrIHM/ You’ve heard of SIDS, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, but a significant number of toddlers are also victims of sudden death.  The older babies and children are said to be victims of SUDS or Sudden Unexplained Death Syndrome.  NYU neurologists now report a preliminary case study of 7 children for whom home video recordings were available to document their last sleep periods.  The group included 4 boys and three girls varying in age from 13 to 27 months.   Each of the videos revealed a period of seizures preceding the time when the child stopped breathing.  Four of the seven children appeared to survive for 2.5 minutes or more following their convulsion.  Six of the 7 children ended up face down. The authors also reviewed the cases of 248 children 5 years or younger with unexplained deaths but no video. Of the group 29.4% had a history of febrile seizures.  Other studies have shown that these young children with unexplained sudden death frequently had a fami

Vidcast:  https://www.instagram.com/p/C17A0UXrw5n/ Even minimal alcohol and tobacco use by pregnant women affects their child’s brain performance later.  This the conclusion of a multisite, collaborative study helmed by Columbia University psychiatrists.  The researchers reviewed the brain wave studies of 649 children at various ages from 5 to 11 years looking at abnormalities as a function of maternal exposures to alcohol and/or tobacco. The good news is that 52% of the children’s mothers used NO alcohol and 87% did NOT smoke tobacco.  The remainder of children demonstrated significant brain wave aberrations in association with their mothers’ exposures.  Looking at alcohol exposures, children who mothers continued drinking through pregnancy evidenced double the EEG abnormalities compared with those who mothers discontinued drinking after the first trimester.  Tobacco smoking during pregnancy led to significant EEG changes in the young offspring, but, interestingly enough, more so in young boys. Other stu

Vidcast: https://www.instagram.com/p/C16_cbcLOaX/ While CoVid has already killed 1.1 million Americans, the CDC reports that more than 5000 of our friends and neighbors have succumbed to Long CoVid.  The fatalities include 1491 persons during 2023 and 3544 from 2020 through 2022.  These CDC statistics implicate CoVid as a continuing, significant public health problem.  The Long CoVid proportion of CoVid-related deaths peaked in June 2021 at 1.2% of the total and again in April 2022 at 3.8% of the total.  Roughly half of Long CoVid deaths occurred in those 65 years and older but also one in every 4 such deaths occurred in those 54 to 65 years. The risk of death associated with Long CoVid remains elevated for 6 months following even a mild, acute infection and for 2 or more years following more severe CoVid requiring hospitalization. How can you prevent this grim outcome? Other studies have shown that Long CoVid as well as acute CoVid is muted in those who have been vaccinated and boosted.   The bad news:

Vidcast:  https://www.instagram.com/p/C1tfMb2LD2U/ The FDA and Blue Ridge Beef have recalled Blue Ridge Beef Kitten Grind, Kitten Mix, and Puppy Mix due to contamination with salmonella and listeria monocytogenes.  Ingesting these pet foods can lead to gastrointestinal infections.  Humans may also contract infections from their infected pets or by handling these contaminated pet foods.  All lots  with use by dates of 11-12-2024 are affected. These pet foods were sold in: Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland,, North Carolina, NewYork, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Do not handle these products or feed them to your pets.  Contact Blue Ridge Beef  at blueridgebeefnc@yahoo.com to obtain a full refund and instructions regarding safe disposal of these pet foods.  For additional information, call 1-704-880-4500. https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts/blue-ridge-beef-issues-voluntary-recall-blue-ridge-beef-kitten-grind-blue-ridge-kitten-mix-and-blue #blueridge #dogfood #catfood #salmon

Vidcast:  https://www.instagram.com/p/C1tej_ULcAK/ The FDA and Astor Chocolate Corporation have recalled Choceur Caramel Candy Bars since the presence of coconut in this candy bar is not listed on the label.  Those with an allergy to coconut could develop a serious or life-threatening allergic reaction should they consume this product.  Affected is lot number 0101614649. These candy bars were sold at Aldi stores in Florida.   Return these candy bars to the place of purchase for a full refund.  For additional , call Astor Candy at 1-732-901-1000. https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts/astor-chocolate-corporation-issues-allergy-alert-undeclared-coconut-burnt-caramel-bars #chocew #carmelcandybar #coconut #allergy #recall

Vidcast:  https://www.instagram.com/p/C1tdzwDLoH9/ The FDA and Tampa Bay Fisheries, Inc are recalling 365 WHOLE FOODS Market Beer Battered Pollock and Cod Fillets due to undeclared soy.  Affected are pollock lot number 32508201 and cod lot numbers 32348201 and 32628201. Those with an allergy to pollock or cod could develop a serious or life-threatening allergic reaction should they consume these products.  If you, household members, or visitors have fish, pollock, or cod allergies, return these products to your Whole Foods store for a full refund.  For additional information, call Tampa Bay Fisheries at 1-800-seafood. https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts/tampa-bay-fisheries-inc-dover-florida-voluntarily-recalling-1-lot-365-whole-foods-market-beer #wholefoods #365 #beerbattered #pollock #cod #allergy #recall

Vidcast:  https://www.instagram.com/p/C1tc8VmLOhb/ The FDA and World Variety Produce, Inc.have recalled Melissa’s Hot Kimchi due to the omission of fish on the allergy information panel.  Those with an allergy to fish could develop a serious or life-threatening allergic reaction should they consume this product.  Affected lots are 48528201, 48858701, and 49003901. This affected kimchi has been sold in Sun International stores in Florida, Brookshire Brothers stores in Texas, OK Produce - Grocery Outlet in California. Do not consume this product.  Return it to the place of purchase for a full refund.  For more information about this recall, phone World Variety Produce at 1-800-588-0151. https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts/world-variety-produce-inc-recalls-kimchi-hot-because-possible-health-risk #melissas #kimchi #fish #allergy #recall

Vidcast:  https://www.instagram.com/p/C1tcTLortrH/ The FDA and Nam & Son have recalled Sam Sung Soybean Sprouts due to contamination with listeria monocytogenes. This bacterium causes a severe and sometimes fatal systemic infection in the very young, older frail individuals, and those with weakened immune systems.  Listeria can also trigger miscarriages and stillbirths.  This product has been sold in Virginia. Do not consume these sprouts.  Return them to the place of purchase for a full refund.  For more information, call Nam & Son at 1-443-896-6738. https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts/nam-son-md-recalls-soybean-sprouts-because-possible-health-risk #samsung #sprouts #listeria #infection #recall