Tootfinder

In other news, today was my first day learning to use a microINR device, intended to monitor my blood anticoagulation levels. The INR, or International Normalized Ratio, is a measure of how long it takes your blood to clot.

So basically this is what I do:

1. Wash my hands, make sure they’re warm and dry.
2. Take a chip (or test strip) and insert it into the device.
3. The device powers on and I wait until it is ready (it has to heat up to a certain temperature)
4.…

"EU ministers test positive for PFAS in their blood, despite forever chemical phase-outs"
#EU #EuropeanUnion #PFAS

EU ministers test positive for forever chemicals in their blood
PFAS were found in the blood of all the EU ministers sampled, the tests found.

I went down a rabbit hole trying to understand some health issues, and I ended up with an idea for a study that involves Espresso and heart disease risks that would be relatively easy to perform and could help make more informed health decisions. My journey (and this is only one tiny aspect, I've been thinking about this a lot) started a bit more than a year ago when I got a blood test as part of a health checkup that contained some concerning values, notably high glucose and high LDL. 🧵…

The invisible plastic threat you can finally see #environment

The invisible plastic threat you can finally see
Researchers in Germany and Australia have created a simple but powerful tool to detect nanoplastics—tiny, invisible particles that can slip through skin and even the blood-brain barrier. Using an "optical sieve" test strip viewed under a regular microscope, these particles reveal themselves through striking color changes.

UChicago researchers have developed a new liquid biopsy test that uses RNA modifications to detect early-stage colorectal cancer with 95% accuracy with a simple blood draw
https://biologicalsciences.uchicago.edu/news/liquid-biopsy-rna-cancer

Innovative liquid biopsy test uses RNA to detect early-stage cancer
UChicago researchers have developed a new liquid biopsy test that uses RNA modifications to detect early-stage colorectal cancer with 95% accuracy.

A pilot cohort study of a microfluidic-based point-of-care bilirubin measurement system
Jean Pierre Ndabakuranye, Inge W. G. Last, Kay Weng Choy, Peter Thurgood, Jason C. Steel, Genia Burchall, Stella Stylianou, Khashayar Khoshmanesh, Arman Ahnood
https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.08943

A pilot cohort study of a microfluidic-based point-of-care bilirubin measurement system
Objective The concentration of bilirubin in blood or serum is useful for assessing liver function as well as monitoring treatment. This study evaluates the clinical performance of a novel point-of-care (PoC) device for the detection of bilirubin in serum. The PoC device incorporates an integrated miniature optoelectronic sensing module and a microfluidic test cartridge. Methods Patients' serum total bilirubin concentrations, ranging from 2 μmol/L to 480 μmol/L, were measured using the PoC d…

I was amused that on a recent episode of Gen V that a lab-test animal (that gets turned into a blob of blood and gore) is named "Elon Musk" in order to reduce sympathy for its fate.

Just reading the blood test results from yesterday. Seems I have an underactive thyroid. I’m waiting for an operation to remove nodules, anyway, which are common. I’ve had a PET scan, which was clear. I have no apparent symptoms. #medical