An extract of Curcuma longa (CL), commonly known as turmeric, was found to be more effective than placebo for reducing knee pain in patients with knee osteoarthritis. #arthritis #pain #turmeric Wang Z, Jones G, Winzenberg T, Cai G, Laslett LL,… Read More ›
Month: September 2020
Covid-19: Social distancing is more effective than travel bans
Forecasting the spreading of a pandemic is paramount in helping governments to enforce a number of social and economic measures, apt at curbing the pandemic and dealing with its aftermath. Now researchers present an efficient model to study and forecast… Read More ›
Thousands of excess deaths from cardiovascular disease during the COVID-19 pandemic
A major new study has identified 2085 excess deaths in England and Wales due to heart disease and stroke during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. On average, that is 17 deaths each day over four months that probably could… Read More ›
Pandemic Charting – Weaponizing Uncertainty – Countries Do better with a Light touch – Python Data
Currently, all countries which took a surgical approach as opposed to draconian lockdowns appear to fair far better (Data Wise). Given the rise to observational data that mitigating pandemics in reference to possibility over probability is no better than superstition… Read More ›
People with ‘silent’ COVID-19 have as much coronavirus as those with symptoms
People with ‘silent’ COVID-19 infection have as much coronavirus in their noses and throats as those with symptoms, reveals research published online in the journal Thorax. Given how many of these people there are—a fifth of those infected, the study findings… Read More ›
Lower zinc levels in the blood are associated with an increased risk of death in patients with COVID-19
New research presented at this week’s ESCMID Conference on Coronavirus Disease (ECCVID, held online from 23-25 September) shows that having a lower level of zinc in the blood is associated with a poorer outcome in patients with COVID-19. The study… Read More ›
Lower zinc levels in the blood are associated with an increased risk of death in patients with COVID-19
New research presented at this week’s ESCMID Conference on Coronavirus Disease (ECCVID, held online from 23-25 September) shows that having a lower level of zinc in the blood is associated with a poorer outcome in patients with COVID-19. The study… Read More ›
Johns Hopkins researchers publish COVID-19 ‘prediction model’
Using a combination of demographic and clinical data gathered from seven weeks of COVID-19 patient care early in the coronavirus pandemic, Johns Hopkins researchers today published a “prediction model” they say can help other hospitals care for COVID-19 patients —… Read More ›
UK lockdown and air pollution: Nitrogen dioxide halved but sulphur dioxide doubled
A University of Liverpool study of air pollution in the UK during the first 100 days of lockdown has revealed that whilst nitrogen oxide levels were cut by half, levels of sulphur dioxide increased by over 100%. Researchers from the… Read More ›
Fructose made in the brain could be a mechanism driving Alzheimer’s disease
New research released from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus proposes that Alzheimer’s disease may be driven by the overactivation of fructose made in the brain. The study was published in the Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience and outlined the hypothesis that… Read More ›
US study shows decline in viral load of patients with COVID-19 as pandemic progressed
A US study from the city of Detroit, presented at this week’s ESCMID Conference on Coronavirus Disease (ECCMID, online 23-25 September) shows that the initial SARS-CoV-2 viral load in nasopharyngeal samples has been decreasing as the pandemic progressed. The authors… Read More ›
Berry good news — new compound from blueberries could treat inflammatory disorders
Various plants and their products are known to contain “bioactive” ingredients that can alleviate human diseases. These “phytocompounds” often contain restorative biological properties such as anti-cancerous, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory effects. Thus, understanding how they interact with the body can lead… Read More ›
World first study links obesity with reduced brain plasticity
A world-first study has found that severely overweight people are less likely to be able to re-wire their brains and find new neural pathways, a discovery that has significant implications for people recovering from a stroke or brain injury. In… Read More ›
Accuracy of commercial antibody kits for SARS-CoV-2 varies widely
There is wide variation in the performance of commercial kits for detecting antibodies against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), according to a study published September 24 in the open-access journal PLOS Pathogens by Jonathan Edgeworth and Blair Merrick of Guy’s… Read More ›
Study of UK key workers shows around half who had COVID-19 symptoms probably did not have the disease
New research from Public Health England (PHE) presented at this week’s ESCMID Conference on Coronavirus Disease (ECCVID) shows up to half of UK key workers from a cohort of just under 3,000 individuals recruited (including police, fire and healthcare workers)… Read More ›
Cooked carrots can trigger allergic reactions
The consumption of raw carrots triggers allergic reactions in many people. Contrary to popular belief, cooked carrots can also have this effect. This was recently discovered by a research team at the University of Bayreuth. The carrot’s allergen, Dau c… Read More ›
Adequate levels of vitamin D reduces complications, death among COVID-19 patients
E-MAIL (Boston)–Hospitalized COVID-19 patients who were vitamin D sufficient, with a blood level of 25-hydroxyvitamin D of at least 30 ng/mL (a measure of vitamin D status), had a significant decreased risk for adverse clinical outcomes including becoming unconscious, hypoxia… Read More ›
COVID-19 spurs anxious, upsetting dreams
WASHINGTON — The anxiety, stress and worry brought on by COVID-19 is not limited to daytime hours. The pandemic is affecting our dreams as well, infusing more anxiety and negative emotions into dreams and spurring dreams about the virus itself,… Read More ›
Dealing with the global tsunami of mental health problems during and post COVID-19
In a special session addressing global mental health before, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic held at the ESCMID Conference on Coronavirus Disease (ECCVID) Professor Vikram Patel H(arvard Medical School, USA) will present a new review of the impact of… Read More ›
Criticism of COVID-19 models by democratic political leaders may erode public trust in science
Criticisms of COVID-19 models by Democratic elites in May 2020 appeared to undermine public support for the models’ use – and trust in science more broadly – according to a series of survey experiments conducted with the participation of more… Read More ›