DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Wife fatally shoots terminally ill husband at Daytona Beach hospital, police say
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-21 | by ( Minyvonne Burke | Minyvonne Burke Is A Senior Breaking News Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +1 min

A 76-year-old woman allegedly shot and killed her terminally ill husband at a Daytona Beach, Florida, hospital following a pact police said the couple made several weeks ago. Officers were called to AdventHealth Daytona Beach Saturday for a report of a person shot, the police department said in a news release on Twitter. When police arrived, the woman was barricaded in her husband's 11th-floor room. Young said the 11th floor is for terminally ill patients, and praised officers for getting people out safely. "This was somewhat of a logistical nightmare which is why again I'm very, very proud of my team," he said.

☆ Successfully applying for Social Security disability is difficult. Applying as a long Covid patient is even trickier
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( Lorie Konish | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

Social Security disability benefits are generally available to workers who have earned enough credits through payroll taxes — typically 40 credits, though younger workers may qualify with less. Supplemental Security Income, or SSI, is a federal benefit available to disabled individuals who may not qualify for Social Security disability based on their work records. Allsup, which works with NASA, helped Perry get his Social Security disability benefits application approved. "That can really make or break a Social Security disability case," he said. Social Security disability benefits are aimed at long-term conditions.

☆ Bank of America just added these biotech stocks to its list of first-quarter picks
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( Weizhen Tan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

BofA has added a number of biotechnology stocks — a sector that is hot on Wall Street right now – to its list of top picks for the first quarter. The bank identified the biotech stocks, as well as some medical technology companies, as part of its thematic investing picks, on themes it says are related to a "transforming world." BofA listed the stocks under themes such as ageing, obesity and pandemic. The bank added biotech firm BioNTech , as well as medical equipment company ResMed , to its list under this theme. The bank added medical technology firm Silk Road Medical , along with biotech firms Cerevel and Denali , to its list of stocks to play this theme.

Long queues formed at the Hong Kong international airport's check-in counters for flights to mainland cities including Beijing, Tianjin and Xiamen. Hong Kong media outlets estimated that thousands were crossing. Beijing has quotas on the number of people who can travel between Hong Kong and China each day. I'm thrilled, I can't believe it’s happening,” said a businesswoman surnamed Shen, 55, who flew in from Hong Kong. The World Health Organisation said on Wednesday that China's COVID data underrepresents the number of hospitalisations and deaths from the disease.

☆ China's 'great migration' kicks-off under shadow of COVID
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-07 | by ( Casey Hall | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

BORDER REOPENINGSunday marks the reopening of China's border with Hong Kong and the end of China's requirement for inbound international travellers to quarantine. More than a dozen countries are now demanding COVID tests from Chinese travellers, as the World Health Organisation said China's official virus data underreported the true extent of its outbreak. In Shanghai, for example, the city government on Friday announced an end to free PCR tests for residents from Jan. 8. China has relied on nine domestically-developed COVID vaccines approved for use, including inactivated vaccines, but none have been adapted to target the highly-transmissible Omicron variant and its offshoots currently in circulation. China reported three new COVID deaths in the mainland for Friday, bringing its official virus death toll to 5,267, one of the lowest in the world.

More young children are getting sick from inadvertently eating marijuana edibles, according to a study published Tuesday in the journal Pediatrics. Eating too much can lead to serious health problems in young children, including confusion, hallucinations, fast heart rate and vomiting, experts said. Nearly a quarter of the children were admitted to the hospital, 8.1% of whom who needed intensive care, the study found. Wang called for regulation of how marijuana manufacturers can advertise their products, including regulations that ensure the advertising doesn't appeal to children. Osterhoudt went a step further: "The safest thing for a parent of young children to do would be not to bring edible THC products into their homes."

☆ COVID travel curbs against Chinese visitors 'discriminatory' -state media
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Bernard Orr | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Global spending by Chinese visitors was worth more than $250 billion a year before the pandemic. China's official death toll of 5,247 since the pandemic began compares with more than 1 million deaths in the United States. UK-based health data firm Airfinity said on Thursday around 9,000 people in China are probably dying each day from COVID. Airfinity expects China's COVID infections to reach their first peak on Jan. 13, with 3.7 million cases a day. China has said it only counts deaths of COVID patients caused by pneumonia and respiratory failure as COVID-related.

"More fundamental, and more subtle and more important is the social contract and social trust in China. COVID CZAROver the past three years, Vice Premier Sun, 72, has been the face of China's COVID fight, a mother-like figure who has executed Xi's zero-COVID policy with a firm hand. In April this year, Sun rushed to Shanghai as the city went under lockdown, according to state media reports. During the Shanghai lockdown, while also on an inspection tour, Sun was bombarded by pleas from residents shouting from their windows: "No more rice! How the current infections are tackled remain a key near-term challenge to COVID czars.

The country spent big on quarantine and testing facilities over the past three years rather than bolstering hospitals and clinics and training medical staff, these people said. "There is no transition time for the medical system to prepare for this," said Zuofeng Zhang, professor of epidemiology at the University of California, Los Angeles. The failure to boost vaccination rates among the vulnerable could imperil China's health system, more than a dozen experts said. The death of a 23-year-old medical student in Chengdu on Dec. 14 fueled public ire at the strain on China's health system. Chen Jiming, a researcher at China's Foshan University, said there was every chance that China's medical system could cope now that the country has ended quarantine for asymptomatic and mild cases.

☆ Philips says tests on recalled products show limited health risks
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( Bart H. Meijer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] Logo of Dutch technology company Philips is seen at its company headquarters in Amsterdam, Netherlands, January 29, 2019. REUTERS/Eva Plevier/File PhotoSummarySummary Companies Philips: Tests show DreamStation devices unlikely to cause harmFoam degradation more likely if unauthorised cleaners usedShares up 3.5%, after recall wiped 70% off market valueAMSTERDAM, Dec 21 (Reuters) - Dutch health technology company Philips (PHG.AS) said on Wednesday independent tests on its respiratory devices involved in a major global recall had shown limited health risks. Philips had already said earlier this year that tests indicated foam degradation was very rare and was linked to the use of unauthorised ozone-based cleaning products. It said further tests now showed machines cleaned with those products were 14 times more likely to have significant visible foam degradation than those treated with authorised products. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is still considering the results and "may reach different conclusions", Philips said.

According to the group's projections, cases in China would peak around April 1, when deaths would reach 322,000. About a third of China's population will have been infected by then, IHME Director Christopher Murray said. China's national health authority has not reported any official COVID deaths since the lifting of COVID restrictions. Based on China's population of 1.41 billion, and without measures such as a mass vaccination booster campaign, that amounts to 964,400 deaths. China's National Health Commission said on Friday it was ramping up vaccinations and building stocks of ventilators and essential drugs.

☆ Morning Bid: Hawk-eyed
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde's forceful hawkish rhetoric has played Grinch, with little sign yet of a Santa rally as we head towards Christmas and the New Year. And so, investors will parse every inch of economic data coming through in the near term to gauge inflationary pressures and recessionary signals, with flash PMI data from the Eurozone and the UK on deck for the day. Of course, the worry remains on what the audit is likely to reveal, and that has put a lid on gains for these stocks. "Some time away from Twitter is good for the soul," Musk tweeted. loadingKey developments that could influence markets on Friday:Economic events: Nov UK retail sales, Flash PMI data for UK, Eurozone, Sweden's unemployment rate for NovemberReporting by Ankur Banerjee; Editing by Edmund KlamannOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

[1/4] People wait in line at a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) test centre in Xinyang, China, this still image obtained from social media video released December 15, 2022. China reported 2,157 new symptomatic COVID-19 infections for Dec. 15 compared with 2,000 a day. There is particular concern about China's hinterland in the run up to China's Lunar New Year holiday starting on Jan. 22. The COVID scare in China also led people in Hong Kong, Macau and in some neighbourhoods in Australia to go in search for fever medicines and test kits for family and friends on the mainland. JP Morgan on Friday revised down its expectations for China's 2022 growth to 2.8%, which is well below China's official target of 5.5% and would mark one of China's worst performances in almost half a century.

☆ Biden administration makes at-home Covid tests available for free again this winter
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Spencer Kimball | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The Biden administration is making rapid Covid tests available for free again this winter through a limited round of ordering. Households can now order a total of four rapid Covid tests for free at CovidTests.gov. The Biden administration shut down the free at-home Covid test program in September because Congress did not pass additional funding to replenish the U.S. stockpile. The relaunch of the free at-home test program is part of the Biden administration's preparedness plan for Covid this winter. The federal government is also calling on hospitals to offer Covid vaccination to patients who are unvaccinated before they are discharged.

☆ Demand for hospital-grade cribs on the rise as viral illnesses continue to surge
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( Carma Hassan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Pediatric hospital beds have been more full than usual for months. Corewell Health Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital has brought out both specialized and non-specialized cribs from storage to meet the demand of pediatric patients. Demand at Hard Manufacturing, which makes cribs, bassinets and youth beds for hospitals, has shot up, President Marjorie Bryen said. “At Nemours Children’s Health, these supply challenges are magnified due to pediatric populations needing more specialized equipment to accommodate different stages of growth. “The Administration has exercised regulatory flexibilities to help health care providers and suppliers continue to respond to COVID-19.

Millions of Ukrainians face a deadly winter — and it isn't just the risk of being hit by Russian bombs. “This winter will be life-threatening for millions of people in Ukraine,” according to Dr. Hans Henri Kluge, the United Nations health agency’s regional director for Europe. Average winter temperatures in Ukraine are around 27 degrees Fahrenheit, and are expected to reach minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit in parts of the country in the coming months, the WHO said. Ukrainian officials say the wreckage of Shahed-136 drones — which are fitted with a warhead and fly directly into their target — have been found at the site of bomb attacks across the country. The city was recently retaken by Ukrainian forces following a Russian retreat.

☆ 'There may be no light for a very long time': Ukrainians face a massive test of survival this winter
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Holly Ellyatt | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Daily life has become a test of survival for many, with basic necessities such as water, food and medical provisions becoming scarce. Kherson residents collect water at a water point in the city that has had no electricity or water since the Russian retreat on November 16, 2022 in Kherson, Ukraine. Firefighters work to put out a fire at energy infrastructure facilities, damaged by Russian missile strike, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in Kyiv region, Ukraine November 15, 2022. EvacuationsUkrainian officials in parts of the country most badly affected by power shortages are warning residents of a harsh winter ahead. Residents talk with train station staff while waiting to be evacuated from Kherson on Nov. 21, 2022 in Kherson, Ukraine.

☆ Philips recalls some previously replaced ventilators -FDA statement
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

AMSTERDAM, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Philips (PHG.AS), which has been struggling with a major recall of ventilators, is recalling some machines it has previously replaced, according to an FDA statement. A Philips spokesperson said on Monday that only Trilogy 100/200 venilator models were potentially affected. The FDA said the company had notified it that the sound abatement foam could come loose in some refurbished models, "lowering the inspiratory pressure". Philips has replaced more than 4 million ventilators and sleep apnoea machines over the past 18 months due to worries that foam used in the machines could become toxic. The spokesperson said Trilogy 100/200 ventilators represent around 3% of the recall, and no sleep apnoea machines were affected.

☆ Eight Pine-Sol disinfectant cleaners recalled over infection-causing bacteria
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Dennis-Romero-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Dennis Romero | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

Eight Pine-Sol disinfectant cleaning products are being recalled over fears they may contain infection-causing bacteria, the Consumer Product Safety Commission announced Tuesday. The Pine-Sol Scented Multi-Surface Cleaners, CloroxPro Pine-Sol All Purpose Cleaners, and Clorox Professional Pine-Sol Lemon Fresh Cleaners produced at a plant in Forest Park, Georgia, may contain the natural bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which can cause infections in those with compromised immune systems, the commission said in a statement. Clorox, the parent company of the Pine-Sol brand, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. "The bacteria can enter the body if inhaled, through the eyes, or through a break in the skin," it said. Included are the Lavender Clean, Sparkling Wave and Lemon Fresh scents of Pine-Sol Scented Multi-Surface Cleaners; the Lavender Clean, Sparkling Wave, Lemon Fresh and Orange Energy scents of CloroxPro Pine-Sol All Purpose Cleaners; and Clorox Professional Pine-Sol Lemon Fresh Cleaners, the commission said.

☆ Surge of viruses leaves children’s hospitals scrambling to free up beds and find room for patients
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Aria Bendix | Aria Bendix Is The Breaking Health Reporter For Nbc News Digital. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

Every inpatient bed at Comer Children’s Hospital in Chicago has been full for more than six weeks. Many of the patients at Comer Children’s have RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, which can cause lung infections. Some hospitals are sending ICU patients directly home once their cases are no longer acute, rather than to another floor. Dr. Kevin Messacar, an infectious disease specialist at Children’s Hospital Colorado, said his hospital is accepting patients from five nearby states. But suctioning can be tricky for parents, according to Dr. Elizabeth Schlaudecker, an infectious disease specialist at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital.

☆ Medtronic to Spin Off Patient-Monitoring, Respiratory Interventions Businesses
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-24 | by ( Sabela Ojea | Peter Loftus | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Medtronic said the separation of its businesses isn’t expected to affect the company’s dividend policy. Medtronic PLC said it is separating its patient-monitoring and respiratory intervention businesses in an effort to boost its long-term prospects. The businesses, which include pulse oximeters and ventilators, generate about $2.2 billion in annual sales, or nearly 7% of Medtronic’s overall revenue. Medtronic said the businesses, with over 8,000 employees globally, were slightly below the company’s overall performance in terms of gross margin and revenue growth.

☆ Philips to cut 5% of its workforce after medical equipment recall
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

AMSTERDAM, Oct 24 (Reuters) - Dutch medical equipment maker Philips (PHG.AS) said on Monday it expected to scrap around 4,000 jobs as it tried to streamline its organisation after a massive recall slashed around 70% off its market value in the past year. "My immediate priority is to improve execution so that we can start rebuilding the trust of patients, consumers and customers," Jakobs said in a statement. The cuts represent just over 5% of the company's workforce based on last year's total of 78,000. The company said it expected the reorganisation to cost around 300 million euros ($295.41 million) in the coming quarters. As flagged in a profit warning earlier this month, Philips said its adjusted earnings before interest, taxes and amortisation (EBITA) had tumbled 60% in the third quarter, to 209 million euros.

☆ Philips to cut 5% of workforce as new CEO acts to counter falling sales
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-24 | by ( Tosterling Bart H. Meijer | Bart H. Meijer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

AMSTERDAM, Oct 24 (Reuters) - Philips' (PHG.AS) new CEO announced plans on Monday to cut around 4,000 jobs following falling sales and after a massive recall slashed around 70% off the Dutch medical equipment maker's market value in the past year. The company said it expected the reorganisation to cost around 300 million euros ($295.41 million) in the coming quarters. Philips is in talks with the U.S. Department of Justice on a settlement following the recall. Comparable sales dropped 6% to 4.3 billion euros in July-September as Philips said supply chain problems were worse than anticipated and would continue to weigh on sales in the last months of 2022. Jakobs said his top priorities were repairing the company's reputation by ensuring the recall is completed as soon as possible, and resolving the supply chain problems.

☆ Surge in cases of RSV, a virus that can severely sicken infants, is filling hospital beds
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-15 | by ( Aria Bendix | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

He tested positive for respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, a common virus that causes lung infections. Aesop was moved to a pediatric ICU on Tuesday after his heart and breathing rates soared. Many RSV patients in Massachusetts are being transferred to nearby states, she added. At Comer Children's Hospital in Chicago, hospital and ICU beds have been full for over a month. He said the volume of RSV patients is "two to three times what we've ever experienced."

☆ Surge in RSV, virus that can severely sicken infants, fills hospital beds
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-14 | by ( Aria Bendix | Aria Bendix Is The Breaking Health Reporter For Nbc News Digital. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +9 min

He tested positive for respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, a common virus that causes lung infections. Aesop was moved to a pediatric ICU on Tuesday after his heart and breathing rates soared. Many RSV patients in Massachusetts are being transferred to nearby states, she added. At Comer Children’s Hospital in Chicago, hospital and ICU beds have been full for over a month. He said the volume of RSV patients is "two to three times what we’ve ever experienced."

Search resuls for: "ventilators"

25 mentions found