Why new COVID-19 variants are on the rise and spreading
(Sara Otto/ The Conversation) –– A new variant of coronavirus has swept across the United Kingdom and been detected in the United States, Canada and elsewhere. Scientists are concerned that these new strains may spread more easily. As an evolutionary biologist, I study how mutation and selection combine to shape changes in populations over time. Never before […]
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Important message regarding VM-Med’s response to the current COVID-19 crisis
At VM-Med, the health and safety of our patients, our staff and our community are a top priority. That is why, in light of the current COVID-19 crisis, and in accordance with recommended safety guidelines, we are limiting the number of appointments at our clinic for an indefinite period. Previously Scheduled Non-Urgent Appointments: If you […]
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Pandemic tougher on mental health for women than men
(Robert Preidt/ Health Day News) — The COVID-19 pandemic may be taking a bigger toll on women’s mental health than on men’s, new research suggests. For the study, researchers examined the results of an online survey of 112 men and 459 women in Canada. The survey took place between March 23 and June 7, 2020. During that time, schools […]
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The problem of ‘long haul’ COVID
(Carolyn Barber/ Scientific American) — It was just a couple of months into the pandemic when patients in online support groups began describing the phenomenon. In some emergency departments, they said, their complaints were largely being dismissed—or at the very least diminished—by health care professionals. The patients felt they were not being heard, or perhaps […]
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Curfew to curtail COVID-19 might worsen public mental health, morale
(Sharon Kirkey/ National Post) — Putting people under curfew, prohibiting them from leaving their homes without a defensible reason, doesn’t do a lot to brighten their sense of solidarity — that “all in this together” spirit, says clinical psychologist Steven Taylor. While they sang out from balconies and rooftops during Italy’s springtime COVID-19 quarantine as […]
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Lifestyle changes to improve your health in 2021 – the pandemic proves you can
(Louis Bezich/ Philly Voice) –– There is much in life out of our control, but when it comes to the most important dimension, our health, we have more power than we realize. The problem is too many Americans, particularly men over age 50, abdicate this power and fall victim to an unhealthy lifestyle. As we […]
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‘Lungs in a box’ to meet the organ shortage
(Laura Vega/ University of Alberta) — A University of Alberta-led trial has demonstrated the potential of the Ex-Vivo Organ Support System (EVOSS) device to increase life-saving opportunities for patients waiting for a lung transplant. The study, published in Nature Communications, confirmed the efficacy of the device in using negative pressure ventilation ex situ lung perfusion (NPV-ESLP) to assess […]
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What We Know About Covid-19 And Children So Far
(Disha Shetty/ Forbes) — Children get sick less often than adults due to Covid-19, but children are at risk. This is the key insight from a paper in the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA), a peer-reviewed medical journal, as the year draws to an end. The paper summarizes the current understanding of how children are affected […]
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How Canadians will know when it’s their turn to get vaccinated
(CBC News) — With the recent announcement that Health Canada has approved Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine, the second being made available to the public, Canadians are likely wondering when it will be their turn to get inoculated. But with the country currently in the first phase of vaccine rollout, that’s still unclear, with much depending on what they do and where […]
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COVID and 2020: An extraordinary year for science
(Ewen Callaway, Heidi Ledford, Giuliana Viglione, Traci Watson, Alexandra Witze/ Nature) — One event dominated in 2020: a deadly and previously unknown virus wreaked havoc across the globe, killing more than 1.5 million people, infecting many more and causing economic devastation. And although there were other newsworthy research developments in 2020, the pandemic set the course of science to […]
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