Net of history, infant and postneonatal mortality rates are substantively higher under Republican-controlled state legislatures than under non-Republican–controlled ones, according to a new study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Findings suggest that effects may be greater for Black infants than for White infants. “These findings support the politics hypothesis that the social determinants […]
Health officials from both the US Food & Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended on Tuesday a temporary pause on the use of Johnson & Johnson's (J&J) COVID-19 vaccine over concerns about a potential link to a rare type of blood clot in six women who received the vaccine. The […]
Scientists at The Wistar Institute discovered that Early Growth Response 1 (EGR1), a protein that turns on and off specific genes during blood cell development, inhibits expression of pro-inflammatory genes in macrophages. As part of their function to protect the body against pathogens, macrophages play a major role in initiation, maintenance, and resolution of inflammation. […]
At just nine years old, Isabella developed a large spot under her eyebrow and little ‘bumps’ under the skin on her forehead. As she got older, the skin problems worsened and her self-esteem plummeted as other people would constantly comment on her appearance. Now 22, the social and website manager from Kent, has spent years […]
Among the things to give thanks for this year is the fact that stubborn, persistent problems seem to have an irresistible sort of magnetic pull for scientists and mathematicians. Things that would leave most of us bewildered are their daily bread. And that is one reason researchers are making progress in the ongoing fight against […]
It has been a pandemic since at least biblical times, and unless effective strategies harness the global tuberculosis scourge, the disease will remain problematic and pervasive—an unending plague throughout many regions of the world. Although tuberculosis has taken a backseat in 2020 to the COVID-19 pandemic, it remains an unrelenting cause of respiratory infections and […]
Early on in the pandemic, lockdown and physical distancing measures were able to slow the spread of COVID-19 and bring case numbers down. But as the U.S. has begun to reopen, the number of new cases has surged in many places. To reopen safely and keep from overwhelming hospital capacities, according to public health officials, […]
Calls to poison control centers regarding exposure to household cleaners and disinfectants have spiked amid the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new report. The report authors found that, from January to March this year, poison control centers received 45,550 calls related to cleaner and disinfectant exposure. That’s up 20% compared with calls over the same […]
Scientists at the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) have designed a new control material that laboratories can use to check the correct functioning of their coronavirus tests and to avoid false negatives. The coronavirus disease COVID-19 is caused by a virus called SARS-CoV-2. Timely and accurate laboratory testing is an essential part of tackling […]
The COVID-19 pandemic is unprecedented and may have long lasting global effects. Until a vaccine is available, we have four main measures at our disposal: We are in a partial lockdown state now, but it has been gradual. Different restrictions have been added on a rolling basis over a few weeks now, with schools still […]
