Somnambulism—otherwise known as sleepwalking—is a phenomenon which has fascinated the public and neurologists for decades, but a lot of what causes it remains a mystery. Affecting up to 4% of adults, sleepwalking is a non-rapid-eye movement (NREM) sleep parasomnia that not only gives someone a poor night’s sleep, but also puts them at serious risk […]
The coronavirus jab’s most tantalising side effects? It may help fight cancer, chronic pain… and even Alzheimer’s Scientists have documented the unexpected benefits of vaccines for decades Some experts suggest vaccines can ‘train’ the immune system, strengthening it Others say increased stress hormones affect cells’ ability to target infections Joan Wakefield has barely been able to walk […]
Developers of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine expect to have a modified jab to cope with the South Africa coronavirus variant by autumn, the vaccine’s lead researcher said Sunday. Health officials in Britain are trying to contain the spread of the variant first identified in South Africa amid concerns that it is more contagious or resistant to […]
HEALTH NOTES: Could parasitic worms become the new weapon in the fight against dementia? Parasitic worms could be a new weapon in the fight against inflammatory conditions such as heart disease, dementia and arthritis. Hookworms were once a common problem in the UK when drinking water was unclean, but were mostly eradicated in the 1900s. […]
More than 100 million COVID-19 cases have now been recorded worldwide, according to an AFP tally on Tuesday, as newly-inaugurated President Joe Biden pledged to ramp up the United States’s struggling vaccine program. The number of cases, compiled from data provided by national health agencies, represents just a fraction of the real infections as the […]
The global community is missing the chance to end the “modern tragedy” of tuberculosis, the biggest infectious killer, experts said Monday, warning how Earth’s other pandemic will worsen during COVID-19. The fight against tuberculosis—a respiratory disease that is preventable and treatable yet kills more than 1.4 million people every year—is chronically underfunded, with diagnosis and […]
Health leaders have found themselves projected onto the public stage as never before. Professor Chris Whitty, the UK government’s chief medical adviser, and Sir Patrick Vallance, its chief scientific adviser, have occupied the front pages and dominated the airwaves for months. They have become household names, better known than most ministers. Anthony Fauci, the veteran […]
The car stopped at the traffic lights and the girl in the passenger seat looked over. I caught her glance as I pushed my bike with its broken chain slowly up the steep hill in the pouring rain towards the train station, dressed only in shorts and a T-shirt, soaked to the skin. And rather […]
Germany will impose tougher rules on mask wearing and keep fans out of stadiums until at the least the end of the year to combat a worrying rise in coronavirus infections, under a draft seen by AFP on Thursday. Chancellor Angela Merkel is set to meet with the leaders of Germany’s 16 federal states later […]
Influenza researchers have long focused most of their efforts on the epithelial cells lining the lungs because these are the cells that become infected and killed while producing new copies of the virus. But other cells lining the upper airways are exposed to viruses in the same amounts and somehow aren’t as likely to be […]
