Acetaminophen overdose

OTTAWA, ON, Jan. 17, 2024 /CNW/ - Summary Product: Pediatrix Acetaminophen Oral Solution, 160mg/5mL Issue: Health products – Product safety What to do: Stop using the affected product. If your child shows sign/symptoms of acetaminophen overdose (as specified below), call your local poison control centre or emergency health care services immediately. Consult a health care professional if you have questions or concerns about your child's health. Affected products Issue Teva Canada Ltd. is recalling one lot of Pediatrix Acetaminophen Oral Solution after routine product testing found a higher than acceptable amount of acetaminophen in the affected lot (approximately 185mg/5mL rather than the approved and labelled 160mg/5mL). This could lead to children receiving too much acetaminophen. Children may be especially at risk of the effects of acetaminophen overdose given their small size and developing bodies. Signs of acetaminophen overdose include nausea, vomiting, lethargy, sweating, loss of appetite and pain in the upper part of the abdomen or stomach. Abdominal pain may be the first sign of liver damage and may not be apparent for 24 to 48 hours. Liver damage may result in liver failure or, in the most severe cases, death. The product is available without a prescription and is used to relieve mild to moderate pain and fever in children from 2 to 11 years of age. Health Canada is monitoring the company's recall and its implementation of any necessary corrective and preventative actions. It will inform the public if any new health risks are identified. Given the limited scope of the recall, it will not have any impact on the general availability of children's acetaminophen products. What you should do Verify the lot number on your medication. The lot number on a medication bottle is commonly found next to the expiration date. Stop using the affected product. If your child shows signs/symptoms of acetaminophen overdose, such as nausea, vomiting, lethargy, sweating, loss of appetite and pain in the upper part of the abdomen or stomach, call your local poison control centre or emergency health care services immediately. Consult a health care professional if you have questions or concerns about your child's health. Return the product to your local pharmacy for proper disposal. Contact Teva Canada Customer Care by calling 1-800-268-4129, or emailing Customer.Service@tevacanada.com, if you have questions about the recall. Report any health product-related side effects or complaints to Health Canada. Également disponible en français SOURCE Health Canada (HC)

New research has found evidence that a novel stem cell treatment, using mRNA technology encapsulated into nanoparticles (LNP) that was successfully used to produce the COVID-19 vaccines, may boost the natural repair mechanism of the liver to regress the diseased tissue caused by either an acute or chronic liver injury. Researchers identified a specific receptor present on the stem cells which can be recognized and activated by the ligand protein called vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGFA). Mortality related to end stage liver disease is ranked as the 12th most common cause of death in the U.S. Liver transplantation remains the only treatment for end stage liver disease, but there is a critical shortage of organ donors, necessitating a dire need for new forms of treatment. New research from Boston Medical Center and Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine's Center for Regenerative Medicine (CReM) found evidence that a novel stem cell treatment, using mRNA technology encapsulated into nanoparticles (LNP) that was successfully used to produce the COVID-19 vaccines, may boost the natural repair mechanism of the liver to regress the diseased tissue caused by either an acute or chronic liver injury. Published in Cell Stem Cell, researchers identified a specific receptor present on the stem cells which can be recognized and activated by the ligand protein called vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGFA). "This potential treatment has important clinical implications for people suffering from chronic liver disease, allowing the liver to heal itself, and potentially avoiding the need for many liver transplants," said corresponding author, Valerie Gouon-Evans, PhD, PharmD, Director of the Boston University Liver Biologist Program, Associate Professor at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, and CReM faculty. "It's our hope that these findings, with further study, will be translated to clinical patient care to alleviate chronic liver disease and the need for transplants as a result of acute or chronic injury." The liver is known for its remarkable regenerative ability through proliferation of hepatocytes. But during chronic injury or severe hepatocyte death, proliferation of hepatocytes is exhausted. To overcome this hurdle, researchers studied VEGFA as a therapeutic means to accelerate biliary epithelial cell (BEC)-to-hepatocyte conversion. Researchers used mice and zebrafish liver disease models. In the zebrafish studies, the liver disease was created by inducing hepatocyte death with genetic and chemical intervention. The experimental group of fish was then exposed to overexpression of VEGFA while the control group was not. Researchers observed a significant increase of newly generated hepatocytes from the BEC-derived stem cells in the presence of VEGFA. In the mouse study, the acute disease was induced with an overdose of the drug acetaminophen, and the chronic disease was promoted with a diet. The experimental groups were treated with 2 injections of VEGFA mRNA-LNP, while the control groups were injected with neutral mRNA-LNP. Researchers demonstrated that delivery of VEGFA mRNA-LNP in both acutely or chronically injured livers induced robust BEC-to-hepatocyte conversion with a five-fold increase compared to control-treated mice, and importantly full reversion of steatosis and fibrosis in the chronic model. This treatment activates the stem cells of the liver, a subset of the biliary epithelial cells (BEC) lining up the liver biliary tree, so that they proliferate and generate new healthy hepatocytes, the functional cells of the liver. Nearly 30% of severe cases of acetaminophen overdose require liver transplantation because the gold standard-of-care NAC currently used in the clinic to neutralize acetaminophen toxic metabolite has a very narrow time frame of efficiency. The data suggest VEGFA mRNA-LNP as an alternative treatment for severe acetaminophen intoxication that would prevent liver failure and, thus, the need for transplantation for the many overdosed patients who come too late to the ER. This study has critical clinical implications establishing potential novel treatments for liver diseases by exploiting and optimizing the naturally occurring BEC-mediated repair mechanism of the liver to a clinically relevant extent by delivery of VEGFA into the liver using the clinically safe mRNA-LNPs.

Data breach affected 121 SA Health patients SA Health has recently disclosed a cyber incident that affected Personify Care, the third-party provider of digital patient pathways for its local health networks. On 16 October, Personify Care detected a breach on its platform used at Central Adelaide Local Health Network and Southern Adelaide Local Health Network, which led to a folder containing the health information of 121 patients getting deleted. The affected folder also included the name and phone number of 12,624 patients used to invite them onto the Personify Care platform. "No evidence has been found that affected documents were copied or downloaded, but the incident resulted in an unauthorised party deleting the contents of a folder used to store some information uploaded by patients and staff using Digital Patient Pathways," SA Health reported. "The incident did not affect the use of the platform at any other SA Health Local Health Networks," it added. SA Health further emphasised that "the incident occurred outside the SA Health network within a specific part of the infrastructure used by Personify Care." In a separate media statement, Personify Care chief executive Ken Saman clarified: "The security of all other patient information entered into the system, including user credentials, have not been compromised." "We have also confirmed the situation has been resolved, and the risk to patient information has been mitigated." As for the reason why the apparent hackers deleted the said folder of patient information, Saman shared that "the forensic analysis could not confirm the identity or motivation of the third party." Te Whatu Ora expands PowerHealth's costing solution implementation across South Island Te Whatu Ora has recently signed a deal to expand further the implementation of a clinical costing solution by PowerHealth across the South Island. Based on a media release, the expanded implementation of the web-based PowerPerformance Manager (PPM) aims to consolidate the region's health costing systems by standardising costing configurations in line with the New Zealand Common Costing Standards. It also seeks to "improve operational decision-making within health services and hospitals, [provide] better data for health service benchmarking and a sound basis for Inter-District Flow pricing by creating consistency in costing and cost allocation within the health service sector and [lift] the quality of cost reporting." The agreement began as a costing tender from the then-Southern District Health Board in 2021. When the New Zealand health system was reformed last year, it adopted a whole-of-country approach to planning and delivery services, hence the decision to expand the adoption of PPM island-wide. PPM, which calculates hospital service delivery costs and delivers comprehensive performance reports, has been used by Te Whatu Ora Canterbury and West Coast since 2003. NSW Health builds new digital register of life-saving drugs NSW Health has established a new Life-Saving Drugs Register to streamline the tracking of vital stock for time-critical emergencies. The digital register, according to a media release, updates daily and pinpoints the exact location of life-saving drugs to specific NSW public hospital departments. These medicines include those used to treat paracetamol overdose, snake and spider bites, and poisoning from heavy metals, including 31 antidotes and 10 antivenoms. The new register, which is accessible via mobile devices, replaces a web-based Excel spreadsheet that is updated every six months. It was also given the ability to link to evidence-based guidelines to provide frontline health workers with directions for the appropriate use of such medications. Healthscope rolls out Genie Solutions' latest e-booking solution Healthscope, the only national private hospital operation and healthcare provider in Australia, has rolled out an electronic booking solution across its network of 38 hospitals. The FHIR-based electronic booking solution by Genie Solutions streamlines the information flow between specialists and hospitals. As the solution allows all procedure and patient information to be securely shared from Genie or Gentu directly to the hospital's booking system, all essential information is provided before planned procedures. It also enables Healthscope hospitals to see theatre bookings instantly.