Texas Clinics Cancel Abortion Appointments After Court Reinstates Ban
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas clinics on Saturday canceled appointments they had booked during a 48-hour reprieve from the most restrictive abortion law in the U.S., which was back in effect as weary providers again turn their sights to the Supreme Court. The Biden administration, which sued Texas over the law known as Senate Bill […]
COVID-19 hospitalizations increase among unvaccinated pregnant women: Cases at major public hospital show role of Delta variant in severe illnesses
Unvaccinated pregnant women are increasingly being hospitalized with COVID-19 during a nationwide surge of the Delta variant, according to research from UT Southwestern Medical Center. The study — which covers more than 1,500 cases in the Dallas area since May 2020 — offers a snapshot of what doctors believe is happening in communities across the […]
COVID Deaths Surpass 1918 Flu Deaths
U.S. COVID-19 deaths have now surpassed the 675,000 estimated deaths that occurred during the H1N1 influenza pandemic of 1918, but SARS-CoV-2 hasn’t exacted as heavy a toll as that pandemic. With a national population of around 103 million people at that time — about a third of the current total of 330 million Americans — […]
More Than a Nursing Shortage: A ‘Skills Gap’, Too
During the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, hospitals have closed beds, shut down elective surgeries, and called in federal assistance due to a shortage of a critical healthcare resource — nurses. Shortages of nurses and other healthcare workers are plaguing hospitals throughout the U.S., especially those in COVID hotspots. Mississippi has 2,000 fewer nurses […]
2020 Was Not a Good Year for Infection Control
Healthcare-associated infections (HAI) in acute care hospitals soared during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, potentially erasing years of progress in combating these infections, researchers said. Significant increases in the national standardized infection ratios for central line-associated bloodstream infections, catheter-associated urinary tract infections, ventilator-associated events, and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteremia were noted in 2020 over […]
Health Insurance Coverage Stable in 2020, Despite Pandemic
Rates of health insurance coverage remained mostly stable during the pandemic, with an estimated 1.6 million more Americans gaining coverage in 2020, according to an early release from the CDC’s National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). From 2019 to 2020, the uninsured rate dropped from an estimated 10.3% (33.2 million) to 9.7% (31.6 million), a non-significant […]
Bacterial bloom as the Earth thawed: Photosynthetic organisms during the Snowball Earth
Some researchers hypothesize that ice sheets enveloped the earth during the Marinoan glaciation (650-535 million years ago) in what is dubbed the “Snowball Earth.” The glaciation also impacted the climate and chemical compositions of the oceans, restraining the evolution of early life. Yet, as the earth warmed, and the Ediacaran period dawned, biotic life began […]
Mom’s Obesity During Pregnancy Linked to Colon Cancer in Offspring
Overweight and obesity in mothers during pregnancy increased the risk for colorectal cancer (CRC) in their children later on in life, according to a population-based study. Compared with underweight/healthy weight during pregnancy, both obesity and overweight were associated with increased risk of CRC in offspring (adjusted HR 2.51, 95% CI 1.05-6.02 and adjusted HR 2.12, […]
‘Words Can Mean Life or Death’: What We Heard This Week
“Words have consequences and during a public health emergency like COVID-19, those words can mean life or death for patients.” — Joe Knickrehm, vice president of communications for the Federation of State Medical Boards, on their statement that physicians who spread COVID misinformation could face disciplinary action. “Our plan is to protect the American people […]
Surgical Tray Recalled After Two Infant Deaths
Cardinal Health issued a recall of an insertion tray used during emergency intravenous catheter placement for critically ill newborns after its scalpel was implicated in the death of two infants, the FDA said on Friday. Notably, the agency classified this as a class I recall, the most serious type, which is reserved for cases where […]