Month: April 2017

(credit: FDA)

Hyland’s, one of the country’s leading makers of homeopathic products, is finally bowing to pressure from the Food and Drug Administration and recalling its infant teething tablets, which have been linked to severe illnesses and deaths of infants.

The FDA has been investigating the issue for years and has received reports of more than 400 cases of infant illnesses, some involving seizures, fever, and vomiting, plus 10 infant deaths. In January, the agency confirmed that the tablets contained widely inconsistent levels of the toxic substance belladonna, aka deadly nightshade. Poisoning by belladonna produces symptoms in line with those reported in the sickened infants.

Documents obtained by a Freedom of Information Act request revealed the heart-wrenching details of those cases. In one FDA report, a mother wrote: "My daughter had a seizure, lost consciousness, and stopped breathing about 30 minutes after I gave her three Hyland’s Teething Tablets... She had to receive mouth-to-mouth CPR to resume breathing and was brought to the hospital.”

Enlarge / Harris brothers pose in uniform with prop tricorders from the Star Trek series. (credit: XPRIZE)

The quest is over for the most promising automated diagnostic gadget, inspired by the fictional “tricorder” used by Dr. McCoy in Star Trek. A seven-member, self-funded team took first place at the international Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE competition—and a $2.6 million prize.

The team’s prototype, called DxtER (pronounced Dexter) works with an iPad and is designed to walk a patient through self-diagnosing 34 medical conditions, The Washington Post reports. The team beat out 312 other teams, including some backed financially by governments and corporate sponsors.

The team was led by Dr. Basil Harris, an emergency medicine doctor from Pennsylvania who founded Final Frontier Medical Devices with friends and three of his siblings to come up with the device. They will now move their beta version on to the next stages of development and, potentially, FDA testing.

Jonathan Gitlin

NEW YORK—It seems like barely any time has passed since our last major auto show, but the world's auto makers are back in Manhattan this week for the 2017 New York International Auto Show. You'll be able to read (and watch) our take on many of the new vehicles on display in the coming days, but what follows are our picks for the best new models you'll be able to see at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, starting today when the auto show opens to the public.

Outstanding in the Automotive Technology Field: Cadillac Supercruise

Since this is a technology site, we'll kick things off with the best new automotive technology of this year's NYIAS. That honor belongs to Cadillac, which is joining the semi-autonomous driving fray with its new "level 2" system, called Supercruise. We have driven some pretty good semi-autonomous systems recently: Audi, Volvo, and Tesla all spring immediately to mind. These use a combination of adaptive cruise control and lane keeping assists to keep your car on track on the highway, backing up the human driver to counteract fatigue and provide a little digital helping hand on long drives. Supercruise combines those two driver assists with a few extra neat features that mark the next step on the road to fully self-driving vehicles.