Public Health

What is UK's plan B if another more transmissible or severe or vaccine evading variant emerges at 100,000 cases a day? The UK by relaxing its restrictions even more at high cases per day encourages new variants including homegrown variants. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. The marvelous new vaccines ensure that, with new 2nd and 3rd generation even more effective vaccines on their way. . Light at the end of the tunnel - we will get out of this pandemic, how quickly we get there is up to us - case of “vaccines and” not “vaccines only” But right now with so few vaccinated, much can…

"That’s what viruses do, they evolve, but we can prevent the emergence of variants by preventing transmission. It’s quite simple. More transmission, more variants. Less transmission, less variants."   Dr Tedros (Director General of the WHO) (click to watch on Youtube) Dr Tedros: I know that globally there is currently a lot of concern about the Delta variant and WHO is concerned about it too. Delta is the most transmissible of the variants identified so far. It has been identified in at least 85 countries and is spreading rapidly among unvaccinated populations. As some countries ease…

Many new mothers will become pregnant again, and given that a new paper argues for continue anti-smoking campaigns after children are born to reduce the risk of future preterm births. The longitudinal analysis of surveys results examined the records and histories across 23 years, of 63,540 Australian women with more than one child, who smoked during their first pregnancy. Lead researcher, Professor Gavin Pereira from Curtin's School of Population Health said more than one third of women who smoked during pregnancy were able to stop smoking for their next pregnancy. "While the benefit of…

One little-known secret in the medical community is that it is not greedy doctors or insurance companies or hospitals that made health care so expensive. It is unnecessary tests and procedures doctors and hospitals must do in order to check off the boxes for the inevitable lawsuit. They are waiting to pounce on doctors and hospitals while wrapping themselves in the flag of 'holding the medical establishment accountable' and that keeps doctors and hospitals doing some things twice. And some things doctors know are unneeded but must do. From neurosurgery to dermatology, nearly all doctors…

Old age is the biggest risk factor for most diseases, but if you have solid nutrition your health is likely to be better throughout all periods of life. Including during the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet the USDA dietary guidelines produced every five years won't tell you how to optimize nutrition for where you are at in life. They are one size fits all for broad swaths of age and gender, and that needs to change The dietary guidelines were created to make sure consumers are kept in touch with the latest science and that taxpayer-funded programs like school lunches are properly feeding developing…

In the early days of agriculture, everyone was somewhat equal. While one farmer could work harder or longer than another, it wasn't by an order of magnitude. Oxen and other beasts of burden changed that. A farmer with an ox was doing the work of 7 humans, and that meant a huge advantage over someone who didn't agree with progress - that the old ways were the only way to have "real" food. Thus began economic disparity, as did modern civilization. When not everyone had to hunt and grow their own food, they didn't. They could become craftsmen and priests and mathematicians. Culture was born.…

LeRoche Benicoeur/ConceiveEasy; EU Natural Inc.; Fertility Nutraceuticals LLC; SAL NATURE LLC/FertilHerb; and NS Products, Inc. have received warning letters from the US FDA due to their selling fraudulent treatments that claim to help with infertility. Though dietary supplements are mostly exempt from FDA scrutiny due to the Clinton administration giving them a free pass if they put a small disclaimer on the packaging, companies still can't do things like claim to treat cancer, or anything that legitimate medicine does. They can only use marketing to suggest they might make you feel better…

In a recent study, scholars did a prospective review of charts of nearly 300 adult patients hospitalized for COVID-19 at Michigan Medicine during the pandemic's first wave between March and April 2020. They analyzed discharge locations, therapy needs at the time of release and if they needed durable medical equipment or other services.. The investigators found that 45 percent of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 experienced significant functional decline after being discharged. Of survivors who experienced functional decline, 80 percent were referred for additional therapy after being…

Men may be more reluctant to go to a doctor for chest pain but when they get to a care facility, a new analysis finds they get it quicker than women. In this look at the data, all of the patients were younger, from 18-55.  Compared with men, women were triaged less urgently, waited longer to be seen, and were less likely to undergo basic tests or be hospitalized or admitted for observation to diagnose a heart attack, according to a demographic look presented at the American College of Cardiology meeting.  Since this was an observational study, the authors could only speculate about…

Unidentified sources made their way into the Wall Street Journal a short while ago and by stating that the Biden administration was going to ban menthol cigarettes the article caused tobacco stocks to plummet.FDA has until the end of the month to do what the President wants, it was said. It's entirely believable but what is interesting is the new reason for the ban; the government has pivoted from claiming menthol cigarettes "target" people of color to instead claiming they are used by children. We can only speculate about reasons for the shift but it may be the awkward distrust people of…