Criminal care

Farid Fata, a once highly respected oncologist in Detroit, Mich., carried a handkerchief into court and wept when a federal judge sentenced him to 45 years in prison.

The 50-year-old, naturalized U.S. citizen from Lebanon admits that between 2009 and 2014 he billed $34.7 million to patients and insurance companies and received payments of $17.6 million for work that was unnecessary and caused harm to his patients (see “Human Race,” Aug. 8).

Fata built an empire consisting of seven oncology practice sites, a pharmacy, a diagnostic testing center, a radiation treatment center, and a sham charity, by diagnosing perfectly healthy people with terminal cancer and then pumping toxic chemotherapy into their veins, sometimes for years, and overtreating patients who did have cancer, according to the Detroit Free Press.

In some cases he administered nearly four times the recommended dosage of aggressive cancer treatments and gave one patient chemotherapy for five years when the standard treatment was six months. He routinely ordered unnecessary maintenance doses of chemotherapy for patients in remission and told terminally ill patients they had a 70 percent chance of recovery in order to keep administering chemotherapy right up to their deaths, Medscape reported. He undertreated patients who had cancer when he was unable to profit from their treatment.

“I have violated the medical oath, and I have caused anguish, hardship, and pain to my patients and their families,” he said in court. “They came to me seeking compassion and care. I failed them.”

Light preservers

Light-emitting diodes (LED lights) may be more than just an energy-saving light source. A team of researchers from the National University of Singapore has discovered that blue LED lights have strong antibacterial effects on major food-borne pathogens.

Bacterial cells contain light-sensitive compounds that absorb blue LED light, which can then cause the cells to die. The discovery may lead to a chemical-free method of preserving acidic foods such as fresh-cut fruits and ready-to-eat meat when used in combination with refrigeration. The technology could be used for cold-food supply chains and retail settings from food courts to supermarkets, said lead researcher Yuk Hyun-Gyun.

“The next step for us is to apply this LED technology to real food samples such as fresh-cut fruits, as well as ready-to-eat or raw sea foods and meat products, to investigate whether LED illumination can effectively kill pathogenic bacteria without deterioration of food products,” Hyun-Gyun said. —J.B.

Bacterial brain

Researchers at Virginia Tech have developed a mathematical model that shows how bacteria can control the behavior of an inanimate object like a robot.

“We found that robots may indeed be able to have a working brain,” Warren Ruder, a biologic systems engineer at the school, told Science Daily.

The bacteria used in the experiment turned green or red, based on what they ate. The theoretical robot, equipped with sensors and a miniature microscope, measured the color of the bacteria and determined where to go, and how fast, based on the color and its intensity.

The robot surprised the researchers when it performed behaviors consistent with higher order functions. When the bacteria directed the robot toward more food, it paused before quickly making its final approach, a classic predatory behavior characteristic of higher order animals that stalk prey.

The discovery could lead to a broad range of applications such as studying interactions between soil bacteria and livestock, further understanding the role of bacteria in controlling gut physiology, and using bacteria-based prescriptions to treat both mental and physical illness. —J.B.