QLD Biomedical Engineers

Good morning, everyone! 🌟

For those unaware, 2024 ABEC will be held in Melbourne from November 17th to 20th! This is a fantastic opportunity to network and discover the latest innovations in Australia.

Don't miss out! Find out more at LinkedIn, Engineers Australia Biomedical College or EPSM's website! Links below!

https://www.epsm.org.au/
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7256572017594818560

Engineering and Physical Sciences in Medicine Conference 2024 - Melbourne, VIC Engineering and Physical Sciences in Medicine and Australian Biomedical Engineering Conference 2024 17 – 20th November 2024 Grand Hyatt

COVID-19 may be primarily seen as a respiratory illness; however, it can also have negative effects on cardiac health. For instance, in 2020, doctors discovered that 20-30% of patients admitted to the hospital with COVID-19 experienced heart damage despite having no pre-existing heart conditions.

Professor James Hudson and his team utilized stem cell technology to engineer miniature hearts, enabling them to study the impact of COVID-19 on their 'organoids.'

They concluded that the heart damage was caused by the patient's own immune system, particularly by the severe inflammation that occurs following infection. They identified the signaling pathway responsible and are now screening existing drugs that can help prevent this potentially life-threatening symptom of this terrible diesease.

For more details, please visit:

Finding a drug to protect the heart from damage by COVID-19 COVID-19 can be fatal for patients with heart disease. Even patients without heart disease can suffer damage to their heart. Bioengineer Professor James Hudson has found a drug which could protect our hearts from this damage.

A recent study released this month found that 22 out of the 25 tested melatonin gummies in America had inaccurate labels, often under-estimating the amount of hormone present in their products. In the most extreme case, one product was found to contain 347% of the melatonin stated on the bottle. This is of concern because the U.S. CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) found a 503% increase in pediatric melatonin ingestion calls between 2012 and 2021. With about 94.3% of those ingestions are found as accidental overdosing by parents. Although here in Australia you require a prescription for melatonin if you are under 55s, you should exercise extra care when sharing some of these supplements with your kids.

Click here to read more about the US study:
https://www.morningbrew.com/daily/stories/2023/04/25/melatonin-gummies-may-give-you-more-zzzs-thank-you-asked-for?cid=31283300.3680129&mid=736e33b39fb2d094454ea954281cec76&utm_campaign=mb&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_source=morning_brew

Or here to find out more about melatonin overdose in children and alternatives for helping them sleep: https://health.clevelandclinic.org/melatonin-overdose-in-child/

Melatonin gummies give you more Zzzs than you asked for A new study found that gummies often contain more of the hormone than is listed on the label.