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Tag: Product testing

  • The Osmolality Lab Expands Personal Lubricant Certification

    The Osmolality Lab Expands Personal Lubricant Certification

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    Press Release
    •

    Jan 23, 2024

    The addition of the “Better For You” tier further supports World Health Organization recommendations.


    DRAPER, Utah, January 23, 2024 (Newswire.com)
    –
    The Osmolality Lab has announced an additional tier to their THE OSMOLab CERTIFIEDSM personal lubricant certification. This new tier of certification, THE OSMOLab CERTIFIEDSM Better For You, allows for personal lubricants that align with ideal osmolality recommendations from the World Health Organization to stand out on the shelves for consumers. The additional tier was introduced to help further align the certification program’s values and criteria with published research

    The World Health Organization recommends lubricants should have a low osmolality to minimize vaginal and epithelial damage and reduce the risk of infection. Due to limits in sourcing, an interim recommendation was put forth that states lubricants should have an osmolality less than 1200 mOsm/kg, but clarified an ideal osmolality recommendation of less than 380 mOsm/kg. The Osmolality Lab has revised its criteria for personal lubricant certifications to reflect these recommendations. Moving forward, products that meet the interim recommendation (380-1200 mOsm/kg) can be awarded the standard THE OSMOLab CERTIFIEDSM badging. Products that meet the ideal recommendation from the World Health Organization (<380 mOsm/kg) can be awarded the new THE OSMOLab CERTIFIEDSM Better For You badge.

    “The launch of this new tier signifies a new era in intimate well-being,” explains CEO of The Osmolality Lab Nick Gillitt, Ph.D. “This new tier underscores our unwavering commitment to scientific rigor and our goal of empowering consumers with information to make informed choices about their intimate health products.”

    The Osmolality Lab, the global leader in osmolality product testing, was founded in 2018 with the mission “to improve health and safety for all consumers by providing unique services to partners driven to create excellence in their category”. Their team tests and certifies in a variety of industries such as hydration beverages, functional beverages, spring waters, and personal lubricants, skin care, and more to help clients and consumers learn more about how the product performs so they can purchase with confidence. Products that meet The Osmolality Lab’s strict testing and evaluation criteria can also be awarded THE OSMOLab CERTIFIEDSM mark to help communicate the commitment to transparency and product quality to consumers.

    Learn more about osmolality and certifications at TheOsmolalityLab.com or click here to learn about the “Five W’s” of Osmolality Testing.

    Have a product you’d like to certify? Click here to get started!

    Source: The Osmolality Lab

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  • Former Theranos COO Sunny Balwani sentenced to nearly 13 years in prison

    Former Theranos COO Sunny Balwani sentenced to nearly 13 years in prison

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    Former Theranos chief operating officer and president Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani was sentenced to nearly 13 years in prison Wednesday for fraud, after the unraveling of the blood-testing juggernaut prompted criminal charges in California federal court against both Balwani and Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, who on Nov. 18 was sentenced to more than 11 years in prison.

    During the sentencing hearing, attorneys for Balwani attempted to pin the blame on Holmes, telling U.S. District Court Judge Edward J. Davila that “decisions were made by Elizabeth Holmes.”

    Davila had set a sentencing range of 11 years plus 3 months to 14 years, but prosecutors today sought a 15-year sentence given his “significant” oversight role at Theranos’ lab business.

    The final guideline sentence was 155 months, plus three years of probation. Davila set a Mar. 15, 2023, surrender date.

    Sunny Balwani, former president of Theranos Inc., arrives at federal court in San Jose, California, on Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2022.

    David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images

    Balwani and Holmes, former romantic partners, helmed Theranos as the company enjoyed a meteoric rise, attracting backers ranging from the DeVos family to news magnate Rupert Murdoch. It was one of Murdoch’s publications, The Wall Street Journal, that first reported on irregularities with Theranos’ purportedly revolutionary blood-testing machines.

    As COO, Balwani managed both the laboratory business and the financial aspects of the company. Theranos was marred with repeated failures during his tenure, including falsified documents and erroneous test results.

    “I am responsible for everything at Theranos,” Balwani said in a message to Holmes. Balwani assumed broad responsibility for day-to-day operations at the company.

    Theranos claimed the machines required just a few drops of blood to run and could execute more than 1,000 tests. In reality, the Journal reported the company could only process a little over a dozen tests. The Journal’s reporting eventually prompted the company’s dissolution in 2018 and, later, the arrest of Balwani and Holmes on fraud charges.

    Balwani’s sentencing in federal court marks the end of the Theranos saga, which enthralled the public and prompted documentary films and novel treatments.

    With a star-studded investor list, a captivating founder who drew comparisons to Apple’s Steve Jobs, and a potentially revolutionary technology, the company for a time represented the apex of Silicon Valley ingenuity.

    The revelations about Theranos brought about a stunning fall from grace for both Balwani and Holmes, who were in a relationship for much of their tenure at the company. Holmes accused Balwani of abuse in court proceedings, providing text messages and contemporaneous notes from their relationship as evidence.

    “Kill the old Elizabeth,” Balwani purportedly told her.

    Balwani perpetrated a “decade-long campaign of psychological abuse,” Holmes’ lawyers argued. Balwani is nearly 20 years older than Holmes, who testified that he managed the lab and financial side of the business.

    This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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  • Musk’s company aims to soon test brain implant in people

    Musk’s company aims to soon test brain implant in people

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    Tech billionaire Elon Musk said his Neuralink company is seeking permission to test its brain implant in people soon.

    In a “show and tell” presentation livestreamed Wednesday night, Musk said his team is in the process of asking U.S. regulators to allow them to test the device. He said he thinks the company should be able to put the implant in a human brain as part of a clinical trial in about six months, though that timeline is far from certain.

    Musk’s Neuralink is one of many groups working on linking brains to computers, efforts aimed at helping treat brain disorders, overcoming brain injuries and other applications.

    The field dates back to the 1960s, said Rajesh Rao, co-director of the Center for Neurotechnology at the University of Washington. “But it really took off in the 90s. And more recently we’ve seen lots of advances, especially in the area of communication brain computer interfaces.”

    Rao, who watched Musk’s presentation online, said he doesn’t think Neuralink is ahead of the pack in terms of brain-computer interface achievements. “But … they are quite ahead in terms of the actual hardware in the devices,” he said.

    The Neuralink device is about the size of a large coin and is designed to be implanted in the skull, with ultra-thin wires going directly into the brain. Musk said the first two applications in people would be restoring vision and helping people with little or no ability to operate their muscles rapidly use digital devices.

    He said he also envisions that in someone with a broken neck, signals from the brain could be bridged to Neuralink devices in the spinal cord.

    “We’re confident there are no physical limitations to enabling full body functionality,” said Musk, who recently took over Twitter and is the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX.

    In experiments by other teams, implanted sensors have let paralyzed people use brain signals to operate computers and move robotic arms. In a 2018 study in the journal PLOS ONE, three participants with paralysis below the neck affecting all of their limbs used an experimental brain-computer interface being tested by the consortium BrainGate. The interface records neural activity from a small sensor in the brain to navigate things like email and apps.

    A r ecent study in the journal Nature, by scientists at the Swiss research center NeuroRestore, identified a type of neuron activated by electrical stimulation of the spinal cord, allowing nine patients with chronic spinal cord injury to walk again.

    Researchers have also been working on brain and machine interfaces for restoring vision. Rao said some companies have developed retinal implants, but Musk’s announcement suggested his team would use signals directly targeting the brain’s visual cortex, an approach that some academic groups are also pursuing, “with limited success.”

    Neuralink spokespeople did not immediately respond to an email to the press office. Dr. Jaimie Henderson, a neurosurgery professor at Stanford University who is an adviser for Neuralink, said one way Neuralink is different than some other devices is that it has the ability to reach into deeper layers of the brain. But he added: “There are lots of different systems that have lots of different advantages.”

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    The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • US weather satellite, test payload launched into space

    US weather satellite, test payload launched into space

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    LOS ANGELES — A satellite intended to improve weather forecasting and an experimental inflatable heat shield to protect spacecraft entering atmospheres were launched into space from California on Thursday.

    A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying the Joint Polar Satellite System-2 satellite and the NASA test payload lifted off at 1:49 a.m. from Vandenberg Space Force Base, northwest of Los Angeles.

    Developed for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, JPSS-2 was placed into an orbit that circles the Earth from pole to pole, joining previously launched satellites in a system designed to improve weather forecasting and climate monitoring.

    NASA said there was no immediate data confirming deployment of the satellite’s electricity-producing solar array, but late in the day the space agency announced that it was fully extended.

    “The operations team will continue to evaluate an earlier solar array deployment issue, but at this time, the satellite is healthy and operating as expected. The team has resumed normal activities for the JPSS-2 mission,” a NASA statement said.

    The array has five panels that were collapsed in an accordion fold for launch. The fully deployed array extends 30 feet (9.1 meters).

    Mission officials say the satellite represents the latest technology and will increase precision of observations of the atmosphere, oceans and land.

    After releasing the satellite, the rocket’s upper stage reignited to position the test payload for re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere and descent into the Pacific Ocean.

    Called LOFTID, short for Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator, the device is an “aeroshell” that could be used to slow and protect heavy spacecraft descending into atmospheres, such as those of Mars or Venus, or payloads returning to Earth.

    According to NASA, effectively slowing heavy spacecraft will require greater atmospheric drag than can be created by traditional rigid heat shields that fit within the shrouds that surround payloads aboard rockets.

    The LOFTID shield inflates to about 20 feet (6 meters) in diameter.

    In the thin atmosphere of Mars, for example, having such a large shield would begin slowing the vehicle at higher altitudes and reduce the intensity of heating, according to the space agency.

    Video showed the inflated heat shield separate from the rocket and descend toward Earth. A camera aboard a recovery vessel a few hundred miles east of Hawaii showed the it splash down under a parachute.

    NASA said the shield was picked up by the boat, which then headed to recover a backup data module that was ejected during the descent.

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