Information technology
Microsoft's 'biological computing' lab aims to fight diseases by reprogramming cells | Fast CompanyMicrosoft's researchers don't talk about "curing" cancer. Instead, they are aiming to "solve" it. In Cambridge, U.K., it has 150 scientists and software developers working on a wide variety of projects at its little-known "biological computation" unit, which includes a newly installed wet lab. The company says its eventual goal is to make cells into living computers that could someday be programmed—and even reprogrammed—to treat diseases like cancer.
Nadal anti-doping agency data leaked by Fancy Bear hackers | Forbes
Hackers believed to hail from Russia have leaked their fourth batch of medical data stolen from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). The best-known victim in the Fancy Bears' latest info dump is Spanish tennis champion Rafael Nadal, though Britain's Olympic gold medalist Mo Farah also had his data exposed.
FDA wants an app to help solve opiate overdoses | Gizmodo.com
Among the many ways to combat a drug epidemic, an app competition is easily the strangest. The Naloxone App Competition is open to the public and registration doesn't open until Oct. 7, so details on what such an app would look like and what it would do are thin.
Pharmaceuticals
Amgen cholesterol drug reduces arterial plaque buildup: study | ReutersAmgen said on Tuesday its potent new cholesterol fighter, Repatha, met the primary and secondary goals of a study designed to show it can decrease plaque buildup in heart arteries of patients already taking widely used statin drugs, such as Lipitor.
Physicians
So long, Hippocrates. Medical students choose their own oaths | STATOath-taking has become nearly universal at U.S. medical schools, and while oaths of all stripes are often called “Hippocratic,” hardly any schools use the original oath that Hippocrates, the Greek “father of medicine,” is said to have written over 2,000 years ago.
Independent doctors call reimbursement plan a 'shell game' | VTDigger.org
The chief medical officer for an independent practice organization says it's possible to lower prices paid to the University of Vermont Medical Center by 3% and use that money to increase pay to independent doctors by 25%.
Safety, quality and clinical practice
Could it be sepsis? CDC wants more people to ask | The New York TimesDr. Thomas Frieden, director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, wants sepsis to become a household word to get at-risk patients medical treatment sooner.
