HEALTH & WELLNESS

Offering Insight Into Vaccine Hesitancy – Unverified Reports Of Vaccine Side Effects In VAERS Aren’t The Smoking Guns Portrayed By Right-Wing Media Outlets

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

HEALTH & WELLNESS

Offering Insight Into Vaccine Hesitancy – Unverified Reports Of Vaccine Side Effects In VAERS Aren’t The Smoking Guns Portrayed By Right-Wing Media Outlets

HEALTH Matt Motta, Oklahoma State University and Dominik Stecuła, Colorado State University Chances are you may not be not familiar with the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, or VAERS. Co-managed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration, VAERS was established in 1990 to detect possible safety problems with vaccines. Unfortunately, the anti-vaccine movement has used this once-obscure database to spread misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine. VAERS is ripe for exploitation because it relies on unverified self-reports of side effects. Anyone who received a vaccine can submit a report. And because this information is publicly available, misinterpretations of its data has been used to amplify COVID-19 misinformation through dubious...

Payout Plans In Opioid Lawsuit Overlook A Vital Need: Pain Management Care And Research Focused On Smarter Use Of Addictive Drugs

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

HEALTH & WELLNESS, Journalism, VIDEO REELS

Payout Plans In Opioid Lawsuit Overlook A Vital Need: Pain Management Care And Research Focused On Smarter Use Of Addictive Drugs

HEALTH & WELLNESS Mark C. Bicket, University of Michigan The opioid crisis has resulted in more than 500,000 overdose deaths over the past two decades. The federal government, states and other entities have filed litigation against drug manufacturers, suppliers and pharmacies as one approach to address the harm and suffering caused by inappropriate opioid prescribing practices. Billions of dollars of funds have since been awarded, and more is likely to come. To ensure these funds are used in areas relevant to opioids, policy and public health groups led by experts at Johns Hopkins University, Harvard University and other organizations have proposed frameworks detailing priorities on what to do with the money. But none of them address the needs of one critical group: patients who suf...

One Potentially Dangerous Substance Likely To Be Mixed Into Illicit Drugs – Rat Poison

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

HEALTH & WELLNESS

One Potentially Dangerous Substance Likely To Be Mixed Into Illicit Drugs – Rat Poison

Health C. Michael White, University of Connecticut Over 150 people in Illinois started bleeding uncontrollably after using synthetic cannabis-based products – including fake marijuana, Spice and K2 – that contained the rat poison brodifacoum in March and April 2018. By the end of July 2021, these banned products were still being sold in 10 states and the District of Columbia, resulting in hundreds of severe bleeds and several deaths. Illicit drug use was responsible for an estimated 166,613 deaths worldwide in 2017 due to overdose. The increased risk of disease and injury associated with illicit drug use caused an additional estimated 585,348 premature deaths. And it’s impossible to tease out whether people were harmed by the drugs themselves or by the myriad impurities added to them. ...

A New Technique Can Create Treatment Against Drug-Resistant Bacteria In Under A Week And Adapt To Antibiotic Resistance

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

HEALTH & WELLNESS

A New Technique Can Create Treatment Against Drug-Resistant Bacteria In Under A Week And Adapt To Antibiotic Resistance

Kristen Eller, University of Colorado Boulder The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work. The big idea A new technique my colleagues and I developed that can kill deadly, multidrug-resistant bacteria in real time could be used to generate targeted therapies that replace traditional, increasingly ineffective antibiotics. Bacteria follow the same basic genetic process that all organisms do: DNA, which contains instructions on how an organism will look and function, is copied into an intermediate form called RNA that can be translated into proteins and other molecules the organism can use. PNAs can be introduced to interrupt the process in which DNA is converted into protein or other useful biological molecules necessary for life. Kristen Eller, CC BY-ND The techniqu...

For Investing More In Health Care During The Pandemic – Credit Ratings Are Punishing Poorer Countries

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

BUSINESS, HEALTH & WELLNESS

For Investing More In Health Care During The Pandemic – Credit Ratings Are Punishing Poorer Countries

Ramya Vijaya, Stockton University Economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic depends on sustained investment in health care and social services. But while rich countries like the U.S. can borrow and spend relatively easily, low-income nations face a major obstacle: their credit ratings. A credit rating, like a credit score, is an assessment of the ability of a borrower – whether it’s a company or a government – to repay its debts. Lower credit ratings drive up the cost of borrowing. This threat prompted some poorer countries to avoid tapping investors for vital financing during the pandemic, while other governments that made plans to spend more on public services were hit with credit ratings downgrades from private companies. My forthcoming research shows that when credit ratings fal...

For Many Black Parents, Barriers To Mental Health Care Begin Before The First Call For Help

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

HEALTH & WELLNESS

For Many Black Parents, Barriers To Mental Health Care Begin Before The First Call For Help

Black people who need help during or after pregnancy face hurdles with cultural differences that affect diagnosis, a fear of overpolicing, and medical professionals who may not have the resources -- or interest. Candice Norwood Originally published by The 19th Cinnamon Foster knew something was off after she had her daughter two and a half years ago. She would go from crying uncontrollably one day to feeling inexplicably angry on another. She was anxious and stressed and did not have close family nearby, she said, but the first-time mom swept her feelings under the rug because she felt like she had to be a superhero. It wasn’t until Foster’s obstetrician suggested she might be experiencing postpartum depression that she decided to find a therapist. “I am a firm believer that my mood c...

Male Infertility And Sexual Dysfunction Could Be Caused By COVID-19 – But Vaccines Do Not

26Jul

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

HEALTH & WELLNESS

Male Infertility And Sexual Dysfunction Could Be Caused By COVID-19 – But Vaccines Do Not

Ranjith Ramasamy, University of Miami Contrary to myths circulating on social media, COVID-19 vaccines do not cause erectile dysfunction and male infertility. What is true: SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, poses a risk for both disorders. Until now, little research has been done on how the virus or the vaccines affect the male reproductive system. But recent investigations by physicians and researchers here at the University of Miami have shed new light on these questions. The team, which includes me, has discovered potentially far-reaching implications for men of all ages – including younger and middle-aged men who want to have children. What the team found I am the director of the Reproductive Urology Program at the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine. My col...

Frequent Use Of Lye-Based Hair Relaxers Linked To A Higher Risk Of Breast Cancer – 25-Year-Long Study Suggest

2Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

HEALTH & WELLNESS

Frequent Use Of Lye-Based Hair Relaxers Linked To A Higher Risk Of Breast Cancer – 25-Year-Long Study Suggest

Kimberly Bertrand, Boston University The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work. The big idea Frequent and long-term use of lye-based hair straightening products, or relaxers, may increase the risk of breast cancer among Black women, compared with more moderate use. Boston University’s Black Women’s Health Study followed 59,000 self-identified African American women for over 25 years, sending questionnaires every two years on new diagnoses and factors that might influence their health. Using these data in our own study, my team of epidemiologists and I found that Black women who used hair products containing lye at least seven times a year for 15 or more years had an approximately 30% increased risk of estrogen receptor positive breast cancer compared with more i...

Designer Babies – Soon To Be The Norm In Reproductive Healthcare

1Jul

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

HEALTH & WELLNESS

Designer Babies – Soon To Be The Norm In Reproductive Healthcare

When human desires and wants are quantified as unalienable rights, then, ethics and morals become easily compromised, and a disaster often awaits. Designer babies will soon be the norm in reproductive healthcare, a reflection of desire passed off as an individual right. Soon, a couple will be able to walk in a reproductive healthcare facility and select all the features that they would prefer their child to have or not have. If permitted from clinical trials to practical applications, couples will have the freedom and right, depending on affordability, to decide the features that their child will have, in the process creating a child that they want. Therefore, based on their preference, a couple can decide to have a child with green eyes, less chances of becoming obese, high probability o...

COVID Lockdowns – Was It Worth It? Why Nobody Will Ever Agree

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

HEALTH & WELLNESS, Journalism

COVID Lockdowns – Was It Worth It? Why Nobody Will Ever Agree

James D. Long, University of Washington; Mark A. Smith, University of Washington, and Victor Menaldo, University of Washington As an increasingly vaccinated world emerges from lockdowns, lots of people are talking about whether the fight against the pandemic was too strong or too weak. Some people argue restrictions did not go far enough; others maintain the attempted cures have been worse than the disease. One reason for these conflicting views is that the answer depends on both facts and values. Relevant facts include features of the virus like transmission rates and deaths. Government policies were often guided by scientific findings to reduce the spread of the virus and the resulting illnesses and deaths. Relevant values include health and longevity, but also prosperity, opportunit...