HEALTH & WELLNESS

The Disabilities Map Visualizes The Strength And Power Of Millions Of Athletes Around The Globe

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

The Disabilities Map Visualizes The Strength And Power Of Millions Of Athletes Around The Globe

When the Americans with Disabilities Act was signed into law in 1990, it became illegal to restrict access – to employment, education or federally funded institutions – based on disability. The ADA made it easier for wheelchair users, senior citizens or a disabled child to navigate public spaces and to have equal access to learning. Qaphela Dlamini, educator, wheelchair basketball player and disability rights advocate from South Africa. globalsportsmentingprogram/flickr, CC BY-ND Many Americans who are not disabled benefit from the ADA. Building ramps, curb cuts, wider halls and audio instructions at crosswalks were a result of this law. The ADA made it easier for a parent to push a stroller down the sidewalk, to cross the street guided by aural prompts or for students with dyslexia to le...

Oxford-AstraZeneca Vaccine Doesn’t Require Supercold Temperature, And Is Cheaper Than Pfizer’s And Moderna’s

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

HEALTH & WELLNESS

Oxford-AstraZeneca Vaccine Doesn’t Require Supercold Temperature, And Is Cheaper Than Pfizer’s And Moderna’s

The biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca has released data on what is now the third promising vaccine candidate against COVID-19 – and it has several advantages over those of its competitors, Pfizer and Moderna. On Monday, AstraZeneca released interim analysis of its phase 3 trial data of 23,000 volunteers from the U.K. and Brazil. These results show that the test vaccine is between 70% and 90% effective in stopping COVID-19, depending on the vaccine doses administered. Although less effective than the reported results from the Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine candidates, this vaccine is still more effective than annual influenza vaccines that reduce the risk of flu by between 40% and 60%. Notably none of the vaccinated participants needed hospitalizations or reported severe disease. ...

China Beat The Coronavirus, Not Just With Authoritarianism But With Science And Strong Public Health Measures

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

HEALTH & WELLNESS, VIDEO REELS

China Beat The Coronavirus, Not Just With Authoritarianism But With Science And Strong Public Health Measures

I live in a democracy. But as Thanksgiving approaches, I find myself longing for the type of freedom I am seeing in China. One of the Wuhan train stations in fall 2020. The city reopened in April 2020 after a total shutdown. Liu Yan, CC BY-SA People in China are able to move around freely right now. Many Americans may believe that the Chinese are able to enjoy this freedom because of China’s authoritarian regime. As a scholar of public health in China, I think the answers go beyond that. My research suggests that the control of the virus in China is not the result of authoritarian policy, but of a national prioritization of health. China learned a tough lesson with SARS, the first coronavirus pandemic of the 21st century. How China flattened its curve Barely less than a year ago, a nove...

A Global Game Changer, The Oxford AstraZeneca Vaccine

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

COVID-19, HEALTH & WELLNESS

A Global Game Changer, The Oxford AstraZeneca Vaccine

In the long dark tunnel that has been 2020, November stands out as the month that light appeared. Some might see it as a bright light, others as a faint light – but it is unmistakably a light. On November 9, Pfizer announced the interim results of its candidate vaccine, showing it to be “more than 90% effective” in preventing symptomatic COVID-19 in late-stage human trials. The news was greeted with joy. A couple of days later, the Russian Direct Investment Fund announced that the candidate vaccine they are funding – dubbed Sputnik V – showed 92% efficacy in late-stage trials. Not to be outdone, Moderna then announced that its candidate vaccine showed 94.5% efficacy. The latest COVID-19 vaccine announcement comes from Oxford University. And, as with all of the above announcements, it ca...

Wearing Masks Saves Lives, The Earlier You Start The Better, A New Data-Driven Model Shows

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

COVID-19, HEALTH & WELLNESS, VIDEO REELS

Wearing Masks Saves Lives, The Earlier You Start The Better, A New Data-Driven Model Shows

Dr. Biplav Srivastava, professor of computer science at the University of South Carolina, and his team have developed a data-driven tool that helps demonstrate the effect of wearing masks on COVID-19 cases and deaths. His model utilizes a variety of data sources to create alternate scenarios that can tell us “What could have happened?” if a county in the U.S. had a higher or lower rate of mask adherence. In this interview, he explains how the model works, its limitations and what conclusions we can draw from it. Computer scientist Biplav Srivastava provides a demo of the simulation to show that earlier policies to recommend mask-wearing make a bigger difference on the spread of the coronavirus. What does this computer model do? This is a nationwide tool which can show the effect that weari...

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

HEALTH & WELLNESS

Helping Veterans Every Day

As the nation celebrates our 17 million living veterans, it is also important to know that the number of these heroes who are ending their own lives prematurely is rising. In the general population, suicide is the 10th most common cause of death, but among veterans with PTSD, it’s fourth. Among veterans younger than 35, it’s second. Suicide rates are also rising among members of the military. Since 2017, rates for active-duty service members have been above those of civilians. The same is true for National Guard service members since 2015 and and nonactive veterans for the past decade. I’m a researcher who studies risk and resilience in military and veteran families. I can tell you that the single most common stressor for those who attempt or complete suicide is a serious relationship di...

Likely Key To Ending Pandemic Will Be Hard, Keeping Coronavirus Vaccines At Subzero Temperatures During Distribution

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

HEALTH & WELLNESS

Likely Key To Ending Pandemic Will Be Hard, Keeping Coronavirus Vaccines At Subzero Temperatures During Distribution

Just like a fresh piece of fish, vaccines are highly perishable products and must be kept at very cold, specific temperatures. The majority of COVID-19 vaccines under development – like the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines – are new RNA-based vaccines. If they get too warm or too cold they spoil. And, just like fish, a spoiled vaccine must be thrown away. So how do companies and public health agencies get vaccines to the people who need them? The answer is something called the vaccine cold chain – a supply chain that can keep vaccines in tightly controlled temperatures from the moment they are made to the moment that they are administered to a person. Ultimately, hundreds of millions of people in the U.S. and billions globally are going to need a coronavirus vaccine – and potentially two dos...

Researchers Are Working To Prevent An Outbreak Of A Skin-Eating Fungus From Europe That Could Decimate Appalachia’s Salamanders

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

HEALTH & WELLNESS, VIDEO REELS

Researchers Are Working To Prevent An Outbreak Of A Skin-Eating Fungus From Europe That Could Decimate Appalachia’s Salamanders

The Southern Appalachian mountains are a global biodiversity hot spot for salamanders. Dr. Deb Miller and Dr. Matt Gray lead the Amphibian Disease Laboratory at the University of Tennessee and are looking at various strategies to prevent a fungus that is deadly to salamanders from entering the U.S. via the international pet trade. They are also conducting research to learn more about the disease, and looking at potential strategies to reduce the spread of the fungus in case it does enter the country._ Deb Miller and Matt Gray talk about the Bsal fungus and their efforts to protect salamanders. Why do the Appalachian mountains have so many salamanders? The intersection of North Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia is a global biodiversity hot spot for salamanders. Tennessee, for example, has aro...

Air Pollution And COVID-19 Deaths – Studies Raising Questions About EPA’s ‘Acceptable Risk’

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

COVID-19, HEALTH & WELLNESS

Air Pollution And COVID-19 Deaths – Studies Raising Questions About EPA’s ‘Acceptable Risk’

The pandemic is putting America’s air pollution standards to the test as the COVID-19 death toll rises. The U.S. government sets limits on hazardous air pollutants to try to protect public health, but it can be difficult to determine where to draw the line for what is considered “acceptable risk.” Power plants, factories and other pollution sources release hundreds of million pounds of hazardous pollutants into the air every year. As the coronavirus spreads, the pattern of deaths suggests there are serious weaknesses in the current public safeguards. Several studies have explored connections between air pollution and severe cases of the respiratory illnesses. The latest, published on Oct. 26, estimates that about 15% of people who died from COVID-19 worldwide had had long-term exposure ...

It’s Time To Ditch Daylight Saving Time According To Sleep Experts

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

HEALTH & WELLNESS

It’s Time To Ditch Daylight Saving Time According To Sleep Experts

For most of the U.S., the clock goes back one hour on Sunday morning, Nov. 1, the “fall back” for daylight saving time. Many of us appreciate the extra hour of sleep. But for millions, that gain won’t counter the inadequate sleep they get the rest of the year. About 40% of adults – 50 to 70 million Americans – get less than the recommended minimum seven hours per night. Some researchers are concerned about how the twice-a-year switch impacts our body’s physiology. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine, the largest scientific organization that studies sleep, now wants to replace daylight saving time with a move to a year-round fixed time. That way, our internal circadian clocks would not be misaligned for half the year. And it would eliminate the safety risk from sleep loss when transiti...