Philadelphia Restores Indoor Mask Mandate Amid New Wave Of COVID-19 Cases
Philadelphia is restoring its indoor mask mandate as the number of COVID-19 cases rise across the region. The Philadelphia Department of Public Health announced the reinstatement of the mandate on Monday, giving residents and businesses a “one-week educational period” to prepare for the change. Advertisement COVID-19 rates are rising in Philadelphia, with an average of […]
COVID Makes Everything Worse in Pregnancy
Pregnant women with COVID-19 had worse outcomes across the board, especially if the mother-to-be was also co-infected with HIV, according to a study from Botswana. Adverse birth outcomes, such as premature delivery and stillbirth, were observed in 31% of women who tested positive for COVID-19 compared with 26% of women who did not (adjusted RR […]
Sidewinding young stellar jets spied by Gemini South: Crystal-clear images of meandering bipolar stellar jets from young stars captured with adaptive optics
Sinuous stellar jets meander lazily across a field of stars in new images captured from Chile by the international Gemini Observatory, a Program of NSF’s NOIRLab. The gently curving stellar jets are the outflow from young stars, and astronomers suspect their sidewinding appearances are caused by the gravitational attraction of companion stars. These crystal-clear observations […]
South Africa Braces For COVID-19 Wave Propelled By Omicron
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Worried scientists in South Africa are scrambling to combat the lightning spread across the country of the new and highly transmissible omicron COVID-19 variant as the world grapples with its emergence. In the space of two weeks, the omicron variant has sent South Africa from a period of low transmission to rapid […]
Trees on the move: Researchers reveal how wildfire accelerates forest changes
Refugees are on the move in forests across the western U.S. As climate conditions change, the ranges of tree species are shifting, especially toward cooler or wetter sites. A new Stanford analysis provides some of the first empirical evidence that wildfire is accelerating this process, likely by reducing competition from established species. The study, published […]
Should Medicare Pay the Same Amount Regardless of Where a Service Is Provided?
WASHINGTON — Medicare should do a better job of equalizing payment for outpatient care across all settings — physician offices, hospital outpatient departments, and ambulatory surgical centers — but there still should be some allowances for different costs between sites, according to members of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC). “I think we do need […]
Stressed Healthcare Workers Face Another Threat: Harassment
Healthcare workers across the country, already strained by the demands of caring for COVID-19 patients, face another threat in the workplace: medical conspiracy theorists harassing them with phone calls, and even showing up at their hospitals. Last week, a Chicago hospital treating known anti-vaxxer and QAnon supporter Veronica Wolski for COVID became the target of […]
Should Physicians Invest in Cryptocurrency?
In 2009, I came across a white paper written by Satoshi Nakamoto describing a digital currency based on a peer-to-peer network, completely independent of central banks, autonomous, decentralized, and digital, which would provide access to finance and banking to the masses. This “magical internet money,” as it was described at the time, would come to […]
Humans managed shellfish and their predators for millennia
Due to their protected status, sea otter populations have rebounded across the Pacific Northwest Coast following their near elimination during the historic maritime fur trade. But the recovery of these shellfish predators and the federal laws now protecting them challenge local Indigenous communities who hold constitutionally protected rights to harvest those same shellfish but who […]
Kids’ Mental Health During COVID; Dirty Air and Dementia; Back-to-Work Stress
Across the globe, an estimated 25.2% of children and adolescents suffer from depression, and over 20% battle anxiety symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic. (JAMA Pediatrics) The investigational NMDA receptor antagonist AXS-05 succeeded for treatment-resistant depression versus placebo in the 44-participant, phase III MERIT trial, Axsome Therapeutics announced. However, the FDA sent a letter to Axsome […]