Friday, April 30, 2021

Global glacier retreat has accelerated


https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/ez-ggr042921.php

 

News Release 29-Apr-2021
New study analyses roughly 220,000 glaciers
ETH Zurich




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Rising sea levels and water scarcity What was once permanent ice has declined in volume almost everywhere around the globe. Between 2000 and 2019, the world's glaciers lost a total of 267 gigatonnes (billion tonnes) of ice per year on average - an amount that could have submerged the entire surface area of Switzerland under six metres of water every year. The loss of glacial mass also accelerated sharply during this period. Between 2000 and 2004, glaciers lost 227 gigatonnes of ice per year, but between 2015 and 2019, the lost mass amounted to 298 gigatonnes annually. Glacial melt caused up to 21 percent of the observed rise in sea levels during this period - some 0.74 millimetres a year. Nearly half of the rise in sea levels is attributable to the thermal expansion of water as it heats up, with meltwaters from the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets and changes in terrestrial water storage accounting for the remaining third.

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Too much salt suppresses phagocytes


https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/mdcf-tms043021.php

 

News Release 30-Apr-2021
Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association

 

For many of us, adding salt to a meal is a perfectly normal thing to do. We don't really think about it. But actually, we should. As well as raising our blood pressure, too much salt can severely disrupt the energy balance in immune cells and stop them from working properly.


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This has consequences: The lack of energy causes the monocytes to mature differently. "The phagocytes, whose task is to identify and eliminate pathogens in the body, were able to fight off infections more effectively. But this could also promote inflammation, which might increase cardiovascular risk," explains Müller.

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When care teams differ for black, white surgical patients in the same hospitals


https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/mm-u-ctd042921.php

News Release 30-Apr-2021
Care teams differ for black, white surgical patients in the same hospitals
Michigan Medicine - University of Michigan



A new study finds Black patients are more likely to die after their heart bypass surgery if they're at a hospital where some care teams see mostly white patients and others see mostly Black patients. On the other hand, mortality rates are comparable between Black and white patients after heart bypass surgery when the teams of health care providers at their hospitals all care for patients of all races.


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A new study finds Black patients are more likely to die after their heart bypass surgery if they're at a hospital where some care teams see mostly white patients and others see mostly Black patients. On the other hand, mortality rates are comparable between Black and white patients after heart bypass surgery when the teams of health care providers at their hospitals all care for patients of all races.

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Pop those 'BPA-free' drinking bottles into the dishwasher before using them


https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/uoc-pt042921.php

 

News Release 29-Apr-2021
University of Cincinnati researchers find some water bottles thought to be safe actually have transient BPA release
University of Cincinnati

 

As part of a laboratory experiment, Rebecca Holmes examined water bottles that had been acquired from abroad expecting to find bisphenol A (BPA), a human-made component commonly found in polycarbonate plastics used to make consumer products.

What she found, however, was that those water bottles were just fine, yet some control bottles purchased in the United States and supposedly BPA-free actually contained traces of the chemical now thought to negatively impact heart health.


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Researchers washed the Tritan bottles that showed release of BPA up to six times, and at that point there was no longer any detectable release of BPA. A past study by a different group of researchers shows rinsing was effective in removing BPA release from the Tritan bottles they tested, so effectiveness of washing methods likely depends on the specific bottle. The bioactivity of the leached BPA from the bottles in the UC study was confirmed by examining the cardiovascular systems of transparent blackworms and the heart tissue of mice exposed to water in these containers over a seven-day period.

"BPA is an endocrine disruptor, and it acts like estrogen and it can affect the cardiovascular system along with other systems," says Holmes. "It can contribute to irregular heart rhythms."

Wang explains that as part of the team's project Holmes visited a plastics manufacturing factory to get a better understanding of how BPA might have gotten onto BPA-free containers.

"I wanted to go to a plant to see how plastic products are made," says Holmes. "I was able to tour the facility and none of the products in this facility were for consumer purposes. It was to see how the process works. What I found is that similar products with different types of plastic were being made closely together."


More stringent public health measures associated with lower COVID-19 cases, deaths


https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/uom-msp042921.php


News Release 29-Apr-2021
University of Miami

More stringent public health measures associated with lower COVID-19 cases, deaths


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Utilizing The New York Times' GitHub repository of cases and deaths and the COVID-19 Government Response Stringency Index developed by Oxford University's Blavatnik School of Government for the period between March 11, 2020 and March 26, 2021, the researchers found that mitigation efforts to reduce the spread of infection, hospitalizations, and death--including the closure of schools and businesses, the adoption of social distancing measures, the use of facial coverings, and stay-at-home orders--were effective in keeping the overall COVID-19 case count and deaths lower than they would not have been had these efforts not been implemented.

"As we analyzed the data, it was striking to us how the adoption of more stringent policy measures aimed at reducing the spread of COVID-19 infection largely coincided with fewer cases and deaths," said Alex R. Piquero, chair and professor in the Department of Sociology and Arts & Sciences Distinguished Scholar at the University of Miami and corresponding author on the study.

Once the stringencies were loosened, however, researchers noted an initial surge in transmission in the period between the Memorial Day and Independence Day holidays. As statewide stringencies reached their lowest enforcement during October 2020, a second surge in coronavirus cases was seen immediately after.

Any changes in the stringency index were predictive of changes in the incidence of coronavirus cases 10 to 17 days later, the researchers noted.


A third of kids develop a mental health problem after concussion


https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/mcri-ato042821.php

 

News Release 29-Apr-2021

Murdoch Childrens Research Institute

 

A third of children and adolescents develop a mental health problem after a concussion, which could persist for several years post-injury, according to a new literature review.


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It found up to 36.7 per cent experienced significantly high levels of internalising problems such as withdrawing, anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress and 20 per cent externalising problems such as aggression, attention problems and hyperactivity after concussion compared with healthy children or children who sustained other injuries such as an arm fracture.

Pre-existing mental health problems were a strong predictor of post-concussion mental health issues. The review stated 29 per cent of children with a pre-injury mental health diagnoses received a new mental health diagnosis post-concussion. Up to 26 per cent without prior mental health problems went onto develop symptoms.

Ms Gornall said while significant improvements in mental health emerged between three and six months post-injury, a minority of children experienced persisting symptoms for several years afterwards. 

The findings come after a recent study, led by MCRI and published in The Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation, found having a traumatic brain injury in early childhood was associated with lower IQ scores that persist up to seven years post-injury.

Ms Gornall said concussion was a growing public health concern with a third of children experiencing a head injury before 13 years of age. 

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Prenatal exposure to pesticides increases the risk of obesity in adolescence


https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/bifg-pet042921.php

 

News Release 29-Apr-2021

Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal)


Exposure before birth to persistent organic pollutants (POPs)-- organochlorine pesticides, industrial chemicals, etc.--may increase the risk in adolescence of metabolic disorders, such as obesity and high blood pressure. This was the main conclusion of a study by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), a research centre supported by the "la Caixa" Foundation. The study was based on data from nearly 400 children living in Menorca, who were followed from before birth until they reached 18 years of age.

POPs are toxic, degradation-resistant chemicals that persist in the environment. Examples of such compounds are pesticides and organochlorine insecticides (DDT, etc.). POPs have adverse effects on both human health and the environment and their use is regulated globally.

Prenatal exposure to these substances has been associated with cardiometabolic risk factors in childhood, but there were previously no studies assessing whether such associations continue into adolescence, a developmental stage characterised by significant changes in the endocrine system and rapid increases in body mass.


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The results of this study, published in the journal Environment International, suggest an association between prenatal POP exposure and a higher BMI in adolescence, particularly in the case of the fungicide hexachlorobenzene (HCB) and the insecticide compound dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane (DDT).

Exposure to these two organochlorides--HCB and DDT¬--was also associated with higher blood pressure in childhood and adolescence and increased cardiometabolic risk at 14 years of age.

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Martine Vrijheid, study coordinator and head of the Childhood and Environment Programme at ISGlobal, highlights the fact that "some of these substances could be considered endocrine disruptors, that is, chemicals that interfere with hormonal regulation". In her view "more studies are needed in this field, especially focussing on childhood and adolescence, which are critical developmental stages characterised by particular vulnerability".


Tool to predict recidivism in federal inmates could make more prisoners eligible for early release

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/cajr-ttp043021.php

 

News Release 30-Apr-2021
Crime and Justice Research Alliance

 

Passed in 2018, the First Step Act sought to address re-entry challenges for inmates in the federal prison system. The legislation called for developing an assessment tool to identify inmates for release who had the lowest likelihood of recidivism. A new study assessed how the tool was developed and is used, finding that a greater proportion of inmates could reduce their risk and become eligible for early release over time if they participated in a re-entry program and did not incur infractions. This finding has implications for efforts to reduce prison populations during the COVID-19 pandemic.



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Wednesday, April 21, 2021

One in five American adults experience chronic pain


https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/bawh-oif041521.php

 

News Release 20-Apr-2021
Brigham and Women's Hospital

 

Chronic pain is among the most common chronic conditions in the United States, but estimates of its prevalence and impact vary widely. In 2019, the National Center for Health Statistics of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention added a new set of questions relating to pain to its National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), a large household-based annual survey that offers valuable insights into the health statuses of U.S. adults nationwide. In an article published in Pain, researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital and Mass Eye and Ear report that 50.2 million (20.5 percent) U.S. adults experience chronic pain based on analysis of the new NHIS data. They estimated the total value of lost productivity due to chronic pain to be nearly $300 billion annually.


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Medical and ethical experts say 'make general anaesthesia more widely available for dying patients'

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/a-mae041921.php

 

News Release 20-Apr-2021
AAGBI

 

General anaesthesia is widely used for surgery and diagnostic interventions, to ensure the patient is completely unconscious during these procedures. However, in a paper published in Anaesthesia (a journal of the Association of Anaesthetists) ethics and anaesthesia experts from the University of Oxford say that general anaesthesia should be more widely available for patients at the end of their lives.

Painkilling medications (analgesia) are commonly given to dying patients. But they may not be enough, leading to the use of continuous deep sedation (also known as "palliative" or "terminal" sedation).

"However, for some patients these common interventions are not enough. Other patients may express a clear desire to be completely unconscious as they die," explains co-author Professor Julian Savulescu, Uehiro Chair of Practical Ethics, University of Oxford, UK. "Some dying patients just want to sleep. Patients have a right to be unconscious if they are dying. We have the medical means to provide this and we should."



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Efforts to reduce opioid prescriptions may be hindering end-of-life pain management


https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/osu-etr041921.php

 

News Release 20-Apr-2021
Oregon State University

 

PORTLAND, Ore. - Policies designed to prevent the misuse of opioids may have the unintended side effect of limiting access to the pain-relieving drugs by terminally ill patients nearing the end of their life, new research led by the Oregon State University College of Pharmacy suggests.

A study of more than 2,500 hospital patients discharged to hospice care over a nine-year period showed a decreasing trend of opioid prescriptions as well as an increase in the prescribing of less powerful, non-opioid analgesics, meaning some of those patients might have been undertreated for their pain compared to similar patients in prior years.

The findings, published in the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, are an important step toward optimizing pain management and minimizing the suffering of dying patients. Hospice care refers to treatments whose goal is to maximize comfort and quality of life as opposed to prolonging life.


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Preventing evictions remains critical to controlling COVID-19, study finds


https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/uops-per042021.php

 

News Release 20-Apr-2021
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine


Renter protection policies that have curbed mass evictions during the COVID-19 pandemic have played a key role in preventing the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in U.S. cities, according to a new study published in Nature Communications.

Using an epidemiological model to predict how evictions and eviction moratoria would impact the epidemic, the researchers found, for instance, that in a city of 1 million in which 1 percent of households experience eviction monthly, this could lead to up to 49,000 excess COVID-19 infections. In Philadelphia alone, a fivefold increase in evictions, predicted by some economic analyses, could lead to 53,000 extra infections. The study was led by researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Johns Hopkins University, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

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Back pain shows association with increased mortality risk in women


https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/bmc-bps042021.php

 

News Release 20-Apr-2021
Boston Medical Center

 

New research from Boston Medical Center identifies elevated mortality risk for women with back pain when compared to women without back pain. Back pain was not associated with mortality among men indicating long-term consequences of back pain may differ by sex. The overall findings suggest that mild back pain (pain that does not keep a person from exercising or doing daily activities) is unlikely to impact the length of one's life, but risk of mortality was increased among adults with more severe back pain. Published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, this new study raises the question of whether better management of back-related pain and disability, over time, may extend life.


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Potential pathways between back pain and mortality were identified through the study including limitations in activities of daily living, and reduced physical activity that may lead to weight gain and the development or worsening of chronic conditions such as cardiovascular disease. Back pain has also been associated with poor balance and falls, which can result in fragility fractures. Such fractures are in turn associated with increased mortality.

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Stress and death in female baboons


https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/du-sad041921.php

 

News Release 21-Apr-2021
Lifelong burden of higher stress hormones shortens life expectancy
Duke University

 

Female baboons may not have bills to pay or deadlines to meet, but their lives are extremely challenging. They face food and water scarcity and must be constantly attuned to predators, illnesses and parasites, all while raising infants and maintaining their social status.

A new study appearing April 21 in Science Advances shows that female baboons with high life-long levels of glucocorticoids, the hormones involved in the 'fight or flight' response, have a greater risk of dying than those with lower levels.


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Study links wildfire smoke to skin disease

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/uoc--foi041921.php

 

News Release 21-Apr-2021
First of its kind study links wildfire smoke to skin disease
University of California - San Francisco

 

Wildfire smoke can trigger a host of respiratory and cardiovascular symptoms, ranging from runny nose and cough to a potentially life-threatening heart attack or stroke. A new study suggests that the dangers posed by wildfire smoke may also extend to the largest organ in the human body, and our first line of defense against outside threat: the skin.

During the two weeks in November 2018 when wildfire smoke from the Camp Fire choked the San Francisco Bay Area, health clinics in San Francisco saw an uptick in the number of patients visiting with concerns of eczema, also known as atopic dermatitis, and general itch, compared to the same time of the year in 2015 and 2016, the study found.

The findings suggest that even short-term exposure to hazardous air quality from wildfire smoke can be damaging to skin health. The report, carried out by physician researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, in collaboration with researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, appears on April 21 in the journal JAMA Dermatology.


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A good night's sleep could do wonders for your sex life


https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/tnam-agn042021.php

 

News Release 21-Apr-2021
New study suggests that poor sleep quality, not duration, can lead to female sexual dysfunction
The North American Menopause Society (NAMS)

 

CLEVELAND, Ohio (April 21, 2021)--The importance of getting a good night's sleep cannot be overstated. Lack of sleep can lead to a number of health problems and affect a woman's overall quality of life. A new study suggests that insufficient quality sleep also may lead to problems in the bedroom in the form of female sexual dysfunction. Study results are published online today in Menopause, the journal of The North American Menopause Society (NAMS).


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Shift-work causes negative impacts on health, affects men and women differently


https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/uow-scn042021.php

 

News Release 21-Apr-2021
Shift-work and irregular work schedules can cause several health-related issues and affect our defence against infection, according to new research from the University of Waterloo.
University of Waterloo

 

Shift-work and irregular work schedules can cause several health-related issues and affect our defence against infection, according to new research from the University of Waterloo.

These health-related issues occur because the body's natural clock, called the circadian clock, can be disrupted by inconsistent changes in the sleep-wake schedule and feeding patterns often caused by shift work. To study this, researchers at Waterloo developed a mathematical model to look at how a disruption in the circadian clock affects the immune system in fighting off illness.

"Because our immune system is affected by the circadian clock, our ability to mount an immune response changes during the day," said Anita Layton, professor of Applied Mathematics, Computer Science, Pharmacy and Biology at Waterloo. "How likely are you to fight off an infection that occurs in the morning than midday? The answer depends on whether you are a man or a woman, and whether you are among quarter of the modern-day labour force that has an irregular work schedule."


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The results of these computer simulations conclude that the immune response varies with the time of infection. Model simulation suggests that the time before we go to bed is the "worst" time to get an infection. That is the period of the day when our body is least prepared to produce the pro- and anti-inflammatory mediators needed during an infection. Just as importantly, an individual's sex impacts the severity of the infection.

"Shift work likely affects men and women differently," said Stéphanie Abo, a PhD candidate in Waterloo's Department of Applied Mathematics. "Compared to females, the immune system in males is more prone to overactivation, which can increase their chances of sepsis following an ill-timed infection."


PSU study challenges idea that students with cognitive disabilities can't be in STEM


Seems to me that the language is misleading.  I would not say that these people have what I would think of as a "cognitive disability".

 

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/psu-psc042021.php

 

News Release 21-Apr-2021
Portland State University

 

A new Portland State study challenges the idea that youth with cognitive disabilities are unable or lack potential to pursue a career in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

In a study using national data on more than 15,000 adolescents, the researchers found that undergraduates with medicated ADHD or autism appear to be more likely to major in STEM than youth without cognitive disabilities, and youth with autism have the most positive STEM attitudes.

Dara Shifrer, the lead author and an associate professor of sociology at PSU, says that increasing access to STEM fields for youth with disabilities depends not only on encouraging them to pursue STEM majors but also to enroll in college because STEM occupations often require bachelor's degrees at higher rates.

"We need a diverse STEM workforce so innovation and technologies are meeting the needs of the whole populace," she said.

Shifrer said the findings counter the notion that all youth with cognitive disabilities lack potential and ability. Instead, she says their potential often remains untapped due to inconsistent and subjective disability classifications, placement in lower-level courses, and lower expectations that are then likely to lead to self-fulfilling prophecies of poorer academic achievement and attitudes.

Both achievement and attitudes are important for postsecondary STEM outcomes, she said. The study found that if a student identifies as a math or science person, feels efficacious in their abilities and perceives math and science as useful for their goals, they're more likely to major in STEM. While achievement is important for college enrollment, attitudes are more strongly associated with pursuing a degree in a STEM field.

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Children exposed to intimate partner violence twice as likely to have poorer health


https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/mcri-cet042021.php

 

News Release 21-Apr-2021
Murdoch Childrens Research Institute

 

A new study has found up to half of all children with language difficulties and mental and physical health problems have been exposed to intimate partner violence, prompting calls for health and social care services to provide more effective identification and early intervention.

The research, led by the Murdoch Children's Research Institute (MCRI) and published in The BMJ, showed children exposed to intimate partner violence from infancy were twice as likely to have a psychiatric diagnosis, emotional and behavioural difficulties, and impaired language skills at age 10. They were also more likely to have asthma and sleep problems.

The study also found that children exposed to intimate partner violence in the year they turned 10 were two to three times more likely to experience poor mental health, elevated blood pressure and sleep difficulties. But with the exception of language difficulties and asthma, child health outcomes at age 10 were not affected if their only exposure to intimate partner violence occurred before they turned five, highlighting the need for more effective early intervention.


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Consistent use of food pantries needed to address food insecurity, related health issues


https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/usmc-cuo042121.php

 

News Release 21-Apr-2021
UT Southwestern Medical Center

 

DALLAS - April 21, 2021 - Food banks should be used more consistently rather than only during emergencies to better address food insecurity and related health issues, a joint study by researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center and economists at the University of Dallas shows.

"The main discovery in our research is that encouraging clients and making it easier for clients to receive food frequently improves their food security, health, and well-being," says Sandi Pruitt, Ph.D., associate professor of population and data sciences at UT Southwestern, and senior author of the study. "The food banking system is predicated on the assumption that people need food pantries for emergencies only. But this is a common misconception, as many families and individuals experience food insecurity for months or years at a time and it's more of a chronic condition."

The researchers calculated that a 10 percentage-point increase in the frequency of food pantry visits led to a 5.7 percent reduced likelihood of food insecurity and a 6.2 percent reduction in likelihood of poor health.

In 2018, 11.1 percent of U.S. households reported being food insecure, defined as inconsistent access to adequate food due to lack of financial or other resources, the researchers report. Food insecurity across the country has increased to new historical highs during the COVID-19 pandemic.


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Insurance isn't enough for women at high risk of breast cancer


https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/osu-iie042121.php

 

News Release 21-Apr-2021
Ohio State University

 

Women at high risk of breast cancer face cost-associated barriers to care even when they have health insurance, a new study has found.

The findings suggest the need for more transparency in pricing of health care and policies to eliminate financial obstacles to catching cancer early.


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Does listening to calming music at bedtime actually help you sleep?


https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/ags-dlt042121.php

 

News Release 21-Apr-2021
Journal of the American Geriatrics Society research summary
American Geriatrics Society

 

A new study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society has found that listening to music can help older adults sleep better.

Researchers from the National Cheng Kung University Hospital in Taiwan combined the results of past studies to understand the effect that listening to music can have on the quality of older adults' sleep. Their work suggests that:

    - Older adults (ages 60 and up) living at home sleep better when they listen to music for 30 minutes to one hour at bedtime.

    - Calm music improves older adults' sleep quality better than rhythmic music does.

    - Older adults should listen to music for more than four weeks to see the most benefit from listening to music.


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Inflammatory diet linked to testosterone deficiency in men


https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/wkh-idl042121.php

 

News Release 21-Apr-2021
Wolters Kluwer Health

 

Consuming a diet high in pro-inflammatory foods - including foods that contain refined carbohydrates and sugar as well as polyunsaturated fats - may be associated with increased odds of developing testosterone deficiency among men, suggests a study in The Journal of Urology®, Official Journal of the American Urological Association (AUA). The journal is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer.

The risk of testosterone deficiency is greatest in men who are obese and consume a refined diet that scores high on the dietary inflammatory index (DII), according to the new research by Qiu Shi, MD, Zhang Chichen, MD, and colleagues of West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China. "While these findings do not prove causation, they do support previous research suggesting a pro-inflammatory diet can contribute to testosterone deficiency, among other potentially debilitating health issues," Drs. Qiu and Zhang comment.


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Abrupt ice age climate changes behaved like cascading dominoes


https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/uoc--aia040921.php

 

News Release 9-Apr-2021
University of Copenhagen - Faculty of Science


Throughout the last ice age, the climate changed repeatedly and rapidly during so-called Dansgaard-Oeschger events, where Greenland temperatures rose between 5 and 16 degrees Celsius in decades. When certain parts of the climate system changed, other parts of the climate system followed like a series of dominos toppling in succession. This is the conclusion from an analysis of ice-core data by a group of researchers that included postdoc Emilie Capron and associate professor Sune Olander Rasmussen from the Section for the Physics of Ice, Climate and Earth at the Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, in Denmark. This discovery, just published in the journal Nature Communications, is concerning because the extent of sea ice in the Arctic played an important part in these dramatic climate shifts of the past. Today, sea-ice extent is being rapidly reduced, and it is uncertain whether this part of the climate system can trigger sudden future climate change.

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Snow chaos in Europe caused by melting sea-ice in the Arctic

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/utau-sci041321.php

 

News Release 13-Apr-2021

UiT The Arctic University of Norway



They are diligently stoking thousands of bonfires on the ground close to their crops, but the French winemakers are fighting a losing battle. An above-average warm spell at the end of March has been followed by days of extreme frost, destroying the vines with losses amounting to 90 percent above average. The image of the struggle may well be the most depressingly beautiful illustration of the complexities and unpredictability of global climate warming. It is also an agricultural disaster from Bordeaux to Champagne.

It is the loss of the Arctic sea-ice due to climate warming that has, somewhat paradoxically, been implicated with severe cold and snowy mid-latitude winters.

"Climate change doesn't always manifest in the most obvious ways. It's easy to extrapolate models to show that winters are getting warmer and to forecast a virtually snow-free future in Europe, but our most recent study shows that is too simplistic. We should beware of making broad sweeping statements about the impacts of climate change." Says professor Alun Hubbard from CAGE Center for Arctic Gas Hydrate, Environment and Climate at UiT The Arctic University of Norway.

Melting Arctic sea ice supplied 88% of the fresh snow

Hubbard is the co-author of a study in Nature Geoscience examining this counter-intuitive climatic paradox: A 50% reduction in Arctic sea-ice cover has increased open-water and winter evaporation to fuel more extreme snowfall further south across Europe.

The study, led by Dr. Hanna Bailey at the University of Oulu, Finland, has more specifically found that the long-term decline of Arctic sea-ice since the late 1970s had a direct connection to one specific weather event: "Beast from the East" - the February snowfall that brought large parts of the European continent to a halt in 2018, causing £1bn a day in losses.


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"What we're finding is that sea-ice is effectively a lid on the ocean. And with its long-term reduction across the Arctic, we're seeing increasing amounts of moisture enter the atmosphere during winter, which directly impacts our weather further south, causing extreme heavy snowfalls. It might seem counter-intuitive, but nature is complex and what happens in the Arctic doesn't stay in the Arctic." says Bailey.

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National narcissists likely to support greenwashing campaigns to improve nation's image

So they don't really care about their country.


 https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/uok-nnl041321.php


News Release 13-Apr-2021
University of Kent

 

 New research by the University of Kent and the SWPS University has discovered that national narcissists are more likely to support greenwashing (misleading information about the environmental benefits of a product, a company or a policy) in order to improve their nation's public image.

Findings show that while national narcissists are not likely to support genuine pro-environmental campaigns, they are ready to support political greenwashing campaigns. In business greenwashing decreases consumers' trust and undermines both the image and the profits of the companies that use this strategy. In the realms of politics, it may garner support from those whose strong national attachment is rooted in feelings of underappreciation and belief in their nation's unrecognised greatness.

The study, published by the Journal of Environmental Psychology, highlights the importance of group-based underpinnings of anti-environmental attitudes. It shows that nation-based defensiveness is a significant barrier in introducing pro-environmental policies, as it is associated with the preoccupation of national image more than with taking actual pro-environmental action. National narcissism, characterised by a strong need to validate a grandiose ingroup image, is related to support for pretending to be green just to impress others. Thereby, those high in national narcissism support creating pro-environmental appearances (although only to the extent they believe it is a low-cost strategy).


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Lead author, Dr Aleksandra Cislak from the Center for Research on Social Relations at SWPS University said: 'Greenwashing is appealing to those high in national narcissism, as it allows them to maintain external recognition while at the same time refrain from pro-environmental actions. In this, support for greenwashing, while rejecting genuinely green actions, is similar to anti-science attitudes such as vaccination hesitancy. For those high in national narcissism, it feels powerful to reject or undermine policies recommended by other groups, especially the elite.'

Dr Aleksandra Cichocka, a co-author of the research paper and a reader in political psychology at the University of Kent's School of Psychology, added: 'When it comes to green deeds that could actually help protect the environment, those with a narcissistic view of their nation may be reluctant to offer support, especially when those actions are costly or seen as being imposed by other countries.' 


US power sector is halfway to zero carbon emissions


https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/dbnl-ups041321.php

 

News Release 13-Apr-2021
DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

 

Concerns about climate change are driving a growing number of states, utilities, and corporations to set the goal of zeroing out power-sector carbon emissions. To date 17 states plus Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico have adopted laws or executive orders to achieve 100% carbon-free electricity in the next couple of decades. Additionally, 46 U.S. utilities have pledged to go carbon free no later than 2050. Altogether, these goals cover about half of the U.S. population and economy.

These are ambitious targets, but a new look at the past 15 years in the electricity sector shows that large reductions in emissions are possible.


•••••

"Business-as-usual projections saw annual carbon dioxide emissions rising from 2,400 to 3,000 million metric tons (MMT) from 2005 to 2020," said Berkeley Lab scientist Ryan Wiser, lead author of the study. "But actual 2020 emissions fell to only 1,450 MMT. The U.S. cut power sector emissions by 52% below projected levels - we are now 'halfway to zero.'"

According to the study, relative to projected values, total consumer electricity costs were 18% lower; costs to human health and the climate were 92% and 52% lower, respectively; and the number of jobs in electricity generation was 29% higher.

Drivers of change

From technological advances to policy, the study identified the main drivers from the last 15 years that contributed to lower carbon emissions in the U.S. power sector. Total demand for electricity was almost exactly the same in 2020 as it was in 2005, and was 24% lower than projected fifteen years earlier. "This drop in demand was due in part to sectoral and economic changes, but also to greater energy efficiency driven by policies and technology advancement," said Wiser.

The researchers found that wind and solar power dramatically outperformed expectations, delivering 13 times more generation in 2020 than projected. This is also a result of technology development and state and federal policies, as prices plummeted for new wind and solar technologies. In addition, nuclear generation has largely held steady, tracking the past projections and helping to ensure no backsliding in carbon emission.

The study found that switching from coal to natural gas for power generation played a big role in lowering carbon emissions. Natural gas generation grew rapidly, driven by the shale gas revolution and low fuel prices.

The researchers also found that changes over the last 15 years had numerous other economic and environmental benefits. For example, total electric bills for consumers were 18% lower in 2020 than previously projected by EIA, for a total savings of $86 billion per year.

According to the study, reduced sulfur and nitrogen emissions led to lower health impacts, such as respiratory disease, with premature deaths falling from 38,000 to 3,100 per year. "Compared to the business-as-usual projection, not only did the nation significantly reduce its carbon footprint, but it did so while also reducing total energy bills and health burdens," said co-author and Berkeley Lab scientist Dev Millstein.

The study also found that while employment patterns shifted along with changes in the power sector, electricity supply is supporting 200,000 more jobs than might have been the case under the earlier projection.

Looking forward

While a look back shows that dramatic changes in emissions are possible over a 15-year span, the study points out that this does not guarantee the next 15 years will see similar progress.

•••••


Climate change is making Indian monsoon seasons more chaotic


https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/pifc-cci041221.php

 

News Release 14-Apr-2021
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK)

 

If global warming continues unchecked, summer monsoon rainfall in India will become stronger and more erratic. This is the central finding of an analysis by a team of German researchers that compared more than 30 state-of-the-art climate models from all around the world. The study predicts more extremely wet years in the future - with potentially grave consequences for more than one billion people's well-being, economy, food systems and agriculture.

"We have found robust evidence for an exponential dependence: For every degree Celsius of warming, monsoon rainfalls will likely increase by about 5%," says lead author Anja Katzenberger from the Potsdam-Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich, Germany (LMU). "Hereby we were also able to confirm previous studies but find that global warming is increasing monsoon rainfall in India even more than previously thought. It is dominating monsoon dynamics in the 21st century."

Too much rainfall can harm plants

More rainfall is not necessarily a good thing for the farming sector in India and its neighboring countries. As co-author Julia Pongratz from LMU explains: "Crops need water especially in the initial growing period, but too much rainfall during other growing states can harm plants - including rice on which the majority of India's population is depending for sustenance. This makes the Indian economy and food system highly sensitive to volatile monsoon patterns."

A look into the past underlines that human behavior is behind the intensification of rainfall. Starting in the 1950s, human-made forcings have begun to overtake slow natural changes occurring over many millennia. At first, high sun-light blocking aerosol loadings led to subdued warming and thus a decline in rainfall, but since then, from 1980 onwards, greenhouse gas-induced warming has become the deciding driver for stronger and more erratic Monsoon seasons.


•••••


Climate change is making it harder to get a good cup of coffee


https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/pifc-cci041421.php

 

News Release 14-Apr-2021
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK)

 

Ethiopia may produce less specialty coffee and more rather bland tasting varieties in the future. This is the result of a new study by an international team of researchers that looked at the peculiar effects climate change has on Africa's largest coffee producing nation. Their results are relevant both for the country's millions of smallholder farmers, who earn more on specialty coffee than on ordinary coffee, as well as for baristas and coffee aficionados around the world.

"Climate change has conflicting impacts on coffee production in Ethiopia. The area that is suitable for average quality coffee might actually increase gradually until the 2090s, according to our computer simulations," says lead author Abel Chemura from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). "Yet more is not necessarily better. Because on the flipside, the suitable area for high quality specialty coffee types which are valued for their floral, fruity and spicy notes, will likely shrink if climate change continues unchecked. This is an issue not just for coffee lovers, but for local agricultural value creation."


•••••


Air pollution may affect severity and hospitalization in COVID-19 patients


https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/uoc-apm041421.php

 

News Release 14-Apr-2021
University of Cincinnati

 

Patients who have preexisting respiratory conditions such as asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and live in areas with high levels of air pollution have a greater chance of hospitalization if they contract COVID-19, says a University of Cincinnati researcher.


•••••


What does Wi-Fi stand for?

https://www.newscientist.com/question/what-does-wi-fi-stand-for/

 

 By Matthew Sparkes



Wi-Fi became a ubiquitous technology in laptops more than a decade ago and the phrase is in daily use. Now the wireless networking technology can be found in our watches, phones, televisions and smart speakers. We know what it means, but what does Wi-Fi stand for?

You may have read, or made an educated guess, that Wi-Fi stands for “wireless fidelity” just as Hi-Fi stands for “high fidelity”. It would make sense but you’d be wrong.

Phil Belanger, a founding member of the Wi-Fi Alliance, has comprehensively dispelled the idea: “Wi-Fi doesn’t stand for anything. It is not an acronym. There is no meaning.”


•••••


Children are People


April 21, 2021


If you tell me I don't have the right to care if you are mean to your child, don't expect me to care if other people are mean to you.


Thursday, April 15, 2021

DDT exposure in grandmothers linked to obesity, earlier periods in granddaughters


https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/phi-dei040721.php

 

News Release 14-Apr-2021
Young women today may face increased health risks linked to breast cancer due to effects from the banned toxic pesticide lasting over three generations
Public Health Institute

 

In the first study to report on the health effects of exposure to a toxic environmental chemical over three human generations, a new study has found that granddaughters whose grandmothers were exposed to the pesticide DDT have higher rates of obesity and earlier first menstrual periods. This may increase the granddaughters' risk for breast cancer as well as high blood pressure, diabetes and other cardiometabolic diseases.

The research by the Public Health Institute's Child Health and Development Studies (CHDS) and the University of California at Davis was published today in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. It suggests that effects from the pesticide DDT -- despite being banned in the U.S. nearly 50 years ago -- may contribute to the falling age of first periods and increases in obesity rates among young women today.

The study found that the risk of obesity in young adult granddaughters was 2 to 3 times greater when their grandmothers (who were not overweight) had higher levels of o,p'-DDT (a contaminant of commercial DDT) in their blood during or just after pregnancy. Granddaughters were twice as likely to have earlier first menstrual periods when their grandmothers had higher o,p'-DDT blood levels. DDT and its related chemicals, including o,p'-DDT, are known to be endocrine disrupting chemicals, compounds that can alter and interfere with natural hormones that are essential for development.


•••••


Lower COVID-19 rates seen in US states with higher adherence to mask wearing


https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/p-lcr041321.php


News Release 14-Apr-2021
New evidence supports mask wearing in public as key to reducing spread of COVID-19
PLOS

 

A new state-by-state analysis shows a statistical association between high adherence to mask wearing and reduced rates of COVID-19 in the U.S. Charlie Fischer and colleagues at the Boston University School of Public Health in Massachusetts present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on April 14.

•••••

The analysis showed that, out of 15 states that did not require people to wear masks in public, 14 had high COVID-19 rates. Meanwhile, eight states had self-reported adherence rates of 75 percent of greater, and none of these states had a high COVID-19 rate. States with the lowest adherence rates had the greatest likelihood of high COVID-19 rates in the subsequent month.

The eight states with at least 75-percent adherence to mask wearing had a mean COVID-19 rate of 109.26 per 100,000 residents in the subsequent month, while the mean COVID-19 rate was 239.99 for states with less than 75 percent adherence.

•••••


Bearded dragon embryos become females either through sex chromosomes or hot temperatures


https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/p-bde040821.php


News Release 15-Apr-2021
PLOS

 

Bearded dragon embryos can use two different sets of genes to become a female lizard--one activated by the sex chromosomes and the other activated by high temperatures during development. Sarah Whiteley and Arthur Georges of the University of Canberra report these new findings April 15th in the journal PLOS Genetics.

In many reptiles and fish, the sex of a developing embryo depends on the temperature of the surrounding environment. This phenomenon, called temperature-dependent sex determination, was discovered in the 1960s, but the molecular details of how it happens have eluded scientists despite half a century of intensive research. Researchers investigated the biochemical pathways required to make a female in the new study by studying this phenomenon in bearded dragons. Male bearded dragons have ZZ sex chromosomes, while females have ZW sex chromosomes. However, hot temperatures can override ZZ sex chromosomes, causing a male lizard to develop as a female.

•••••


Later school start times let students get adequate sleep


https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/oupu-lss040821.php



News Release 15-Apr-2021
Oxford University Press USA

 

A new study in SLEEP, published by Oxford University Press, demonstrates the significant benefits of later school start times for middle and high school students' sleep schedules.

Sleep is essential to a student's overall health, social development, and academic achievement, yet lack of sleep is common among children and adolescents. Biological changes to sleep cycles during puberty make falling asleep early difficult for adolescents. This, coupled with early school start times, means that students often end up with insufficient sleep. 


•••••


How common is stroke in people critically ill with COVID-19?


https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/aaon-hci040921.php

 

News Release 15-Apr-2021
American Academy of Neurology

 

A large, year-long study has found that among people with COVID-19 who were hospitalized in an intensive care unit (ICU), 2% experienced a stroke after they were admitted to the ICU. The preliminary study released today, April 15, 2021, will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 73rd Annual Meeting being held virtually April 17 to 22, 2021. The study also found that hemorrhagic stroke, a bleeding stroke, was associated with a higher risk of death among people in the ICU, but ischemic stroke, a stroke caused by a blood clot blocking an artery, was not.


•••••


Good dental health may help prevent heart infection from mouth bacteria


https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/aha-gdh041221.php


News Release 15-Apr-2021
American Heart Association Scientific Statement
American Heart Association

 

Maintenance of good oral health is more important than use of antibiotics in dental procedures for some heart patients to prevent a heart infection caused by bacteria around the teeth, according to a new American Heart Association (AHA) scientific statement published today in the association's flagship journal, Circulation.

•••••


Water scarcity footprint reveals impacts of individual dietary choices in US


https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/uom-wsf041221.php

 

News Release 15-Apr-2021
University of Michigan


A lot of attention has been paid in recent years to the carbon footprint of the foods we eat, with much of the focus on the outsize contribution of meat production and especially beef.

But much less is known about the implications of individual U.S. dietary choices on other environmental concerns, such as water scarcity.

In a study scheduled for online publication April 15 in the journal Nature Food, researchers from the University of Michigan and Tulane University present a water scarcity footprint that measures the water-use impacts of U.S. diets, taking into account regional variations in water scarcity.

Meat consumption is the top contributor to the water scarcity footprint of the average U.S. diet, accounting for 31% of the impacts, according to the study. And within the meat category, beef's contribution is about six times higher than chicken's.

But other foods that require lots of water or that are mainly grown in U.S. regions where water is scarce--including certain fruits, nuts and vegetables--also have high water-scarcity footprints, the researchers say.

•••••

The study also includes examples of dietary substitutions that consumers can make to reduce their personal water scarcity footprint. For example, they can:

    Replace some high water-intensity tree nuts (almonds, walnuts and cashews) with peanuts or seeds.

    Limit consumption of high water-intensity vegetables and replace them with lower-intensity vegetables such as fresh peas, Brussels sprouts, cabbage and kale.

    Replace some beef with other protein sources, such as chicken, pork, soybeans, dry edible beans, peanuts or sunflower seeds.

The concept of the water scarcity footprint is akin to the more familiar carbon footprint, which estimates the greenhouse gas emissions produced by specific human activities, products and processes. One key difference: Greenhouse gas emissions boost levels of heat-trapping gases globally, while the impacts of dietary choices on water scarcity are mainly local.

•••••


Study strengthens links between red meat and heart disease


https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/esoc-ssl041321.php

 

News Release 15-Apr-2021
European Society of Cardiology

 

An observational study in nearly 20,000 individuals has found that greater intake of red and processed meat is associated with worse heart function. The research is presented at ESC Preventive Cardiology 2021, an online scientific congress of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).1

"Previous studies have shown links between greater red meat consumption and increased risk of heart attacks or dying from heart disease," said study author Dr. Zahra Raisi-Estabragh of Queen Mary University of London, UK.2,3 "For the first time, we examined the relationships between meat consumption and imaging measures of heart health. This may help us to understand the mechanisms underlying the previously observed connections with cardiovascular disease."


•••••

In surprising twist, some Alzheimer's plaques may be protective, not destructive


https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/si-ist041321.php

 

News Release 15-Apr-2021
Salk scientists find brain's immune cells form some plaques as a defense in Alzheimer's, suggesting a new therapeutic direction
Salk Institute


One of the characteristic hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the buildup of amyloid-beta plaques in the brain. Most therapies designed to treat AD target these plaques, but they've largely failed in clinical trials. New research by Salk scientists upends conventional views of the origin of one prevalent type of plaque, indicating a reason why treatments have been unsuccessful.

•••••


Estrogen status - not gender - protects against heightened fear recall


https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/e-es-041521.php

 

News Release 15-Apr-2021
Elsevier

 

A new study shows that markers of fear recall differ between men and women, but in a hormone-dependent manner.

Aberrant fear-memory processing in the brain is thought to underlie anxiety disorders, which affect hundreds of millions of people worldwide. The neurobiological mechanisms underlying these disorders remain poorly understood, but recent studies suggest that neural oscillations in the prefrontal cortex can reflect the strength of fear recall activity, providing a physiological measure.

Women suffer from anxiety disorders at twice the rate of men and indeed the literature shows that there are sex differences in fear recall behaviors, but this area of study has not been extended to neural oscillations. Additional studies suggest a modulatory role for the female sex hormone estradiol (E2) for fear recall and extinction recall.

The new study led by Ursula Stockhorst, PhD, at the University of Osnabrück, Germany, specifically shows that peripheral and brain markers of fear recall differ in a hormone-dependent manner between men and women.


•••••


Meatpacking plants increased COVID-19 cases in US counties


https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/uoc--mpi041521.php

 

News Release 15-Apr-2021
University of California - Davis

 

An estimated 334,000 COVID-19 cases are attributable to meatpacking plants, resulting in $11.2 billion in economic damage, according to a new study led by a researcher at the University of California, Davis. The study was published in the journal Food Policy.

It found that beef- and pork-processing plants more than doubled per capita infection rates in counties that had them. Chicken-processing plants increased transmission rates by 20 percent. The study looked specifically at large meatpacking plants generating more than 10 million pounds per month.


•••••


New paper shows how disease can affect economies for generations


https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/oupu-nps041521.php

 

News Release 15-Apr-2021
Oxford University Press USA

 

A new paper in the Review of Economic Studies indicates that disease can alter the social networks and economic growth of countries for generations, even after the disease itself is eradicated.

Social networks are an important determinant of a country's growth as they affect the diffusion of ideas and the rate of technological progress. But social networks also diffuse diseases that can rapidly spread and dampen growth.

As ideas and germs diffuse through the same human interactions, the network structure of a country ultimately depends on its epidemiological environment. In countries with low prevalence of infectious diseases, high diffusion networks are more likely to emerge as they are better suited to diffuse technology and foster growth. On the other hand, in countries characterized by high prevalence of infectious diseases, low diffusion networks are more likely to emerge as limited connectivity protects people from epidemics. This insight has become particularly pertinent as economists reflect on the long term economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.


•••••


Spending time on household chores may improve brain health


https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/bcfg-sto041521.php

 

News Release 15-Apr-2021
Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care

 

Engaging in household chores may be beneficial for brain health in older adults. In a recent Baycrest study, older adults who spent more time on household chores showed greater brain size, which is a strong predictor of cognitive health.

"Scientists already know that exercise has a positive impact on the brain, but our study is the first to show that the same may be true for household chores," says Noah Koblinsky, lead author of the study, Exercise Physiologist and Project Coordinator at Baycrest's Rotman Research Institute (RRI). "Understanding how different forms of physical activity contribute to brain health is crucial for developing strategies to reduce the risk of cognitive decline and dementia in older adults."


•••••


Penn study suggests those who had COVID-19 may only need one vaccine dose


https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/uops-pss041521.php

 

News Release 15-Apr-2021
Second vaccine important for those who have not had COVID-19 to reach strong immunity
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine

 

People who have recovered from COVID-19 had a robust antibody response after the first mRNA vaccine dose, but little immune benefit after the second dose, according to new research from the Penn Institute of Immunology. The findings, published today in Science Immunology, suggest only a single vaccine dose may be needed to produce a sufficient antibody response. The team found that those who did not have COVID-19--called COVID naïve--did not have a full immune response until after receiving their second vaccine dose, reinforcing the importance of completing the two recommended doses for achieving strong levels of immunity.


•••••


Tuesday, April 13, 2021

Study shows tanning bed ban would reduce skin cancer rates in minors and cut healthcare costs


It would also reduce skin aging.

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/w-sst040721.php

 

News Release 12-Apr-2021
Wiley

 

A recent study indicates that a U.S. ban on the use of tanning beds among minors would prevent thousands of cases of melanoma in adolescents and would save millions of dollars in healthcare costs. The findings are published early online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society.

Indoor tanning has been linked to an increased risk of melanoma, with the highest risk in those who start using tanning beds at a young age. Unfortunately, the use of tanning beds is a common practice among U.S. adolescents.

Despite the risk of indoor tanning, only a handful of countries have implemented policies to ban tanning beds. Such bans have the potential to save lives and treatment-related costs but come with costs of policy implementation and enforcement, as well as lost revenue to the tanning industry.


•••••
The team's simulations revealed that fully adhering to a ban would prevent 15,101 melanoma cases and 3,299 melanoma recurrences among 17.1 million minors, saving $61 in direct and indirect healthcare costs per minor. When including intervention costs and economic losses to the tanning bed industry, banning still saved $12 per minor and a total of $205.4 million over the lifetimes of 17.1 million minors.

•••••


Study finds Americans eat food of mostly poor nutritional quality - except at school


https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/tuhs-sfa040821.php


News Release 12-Apr-2021
Results over 16 years also show persistent disparities by race and ethnicity
Tufts University, Health Sciences Campus

 

Whether eating out or buying food from the grocery store, Americans of all ages are, for the most part, eating poorly everywhere--except at school. The information comes from a new dietary trends study, which also reveals persistent or worsening disparities in meal quality from restaurants, grocery stores, and other sources--but not school--by race, ethnicity, and income.

•••••

By 2018, the most recent year for which national data is available, meals with the lowest nutritional quality came from restaurants, where 65% of adult meals and 80% of children's meals were of poor quality. Entertainment venues and food trucks were next, with 44% of adult meals and 52% of children's meals being of poor nutritional quality. At work sites, 51% of adult meals eaten were of poor dietary quality.

Grocery stores were better sources of food, with 33% of adult meals eaten and 45% of children's meals being of poor quality. Schools were best, where only 24% of meals consumed by children were of poor nutritional quality.

•••••


Prehistoric Pacific Coast diets had salmon limits


https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/wsu-ppc040921.php

 

News Release 12-Apr-2021
Washington State University

 

 Humans cannot live on protein alone - even for the ancient indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest whose diet was once thought to be almost all salmon.

In a new paper led by Washington State University anthropologist Shannon Tushingham, researchers document the many dietary solutions ancient Pacific Coast people in North America likely employed to avoid "salmon starvation," a toxic and potentially fatal condition brought on by eating too much lean protein.


•••••

The researchers point to evidence in California that people offset stored salmon protein with acorns; in Oregon and Washington, they ate root crops like camas as well as more fat-heavy fish such as eulachon. Further north, where plants are more limited, communities often ate marine mammals with high fat content such as seals and walrus. In far north interior, where there are few plants and the salmon runs can go thousands of miles inland, this was particularly challenging. Lean dried salmon was an important food source, and people circumvented salmon starvation through trading for oil with coastal peoples or obtaining fat through processing bone marrow from caribou and elk.

The authors focus on the limits of salmon, which used to be considered a "prime mover" of Pacific Northwest populations, but their analysis also has implications for the study of historical human nutrition. If their argument is correct, it is unlikely that any human society was fully driven by pursuit of protein alone as their diets had to be more complex.

"People try to come up with one 'paleo-diet,' but there was no one specific ideal diet," said Tushingham. There were nutritional baselines that they had to cover, and nutritional limits that they couldn't exceed. There were many good solutions. It depended on where you lived and the history of your community." 


Combining mask wearing, social distancing suppresses COVID-19 virus spread


https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/aiop-cmw040821.php

 

News Release 13-Apr-2021
American Institute of Physics

 

 Studies show wearing masks and social distancing can contain the spread of the COVID-19 virus, but their combined effectiveness is not precisely known.


•••••

"Neither social distancing nor mask wearing alone are likely sufficient to halt the spread of COVID-19, unless almost the entire population adheres to the single measure," author Maurizio Porfiri said. "But if a significant fraction of the population adheres to both measures, viral spreading can be prevented without mass vaccination."

•••••


Scientists identify severe asthma species, show air pollutant as likely contributor

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/lu-sis041221.php

 

News Release 13-Apr-2021
For the first time, an analysis identifies non-atopic childhood asthma as more than a set of symptoms, but a distinct disease, driven by early exposure to Benzo[a]pyrene from fossil fuel combustion
Lehigh University

 

Asthma afflicts more than 300 million people worldwide. The most severe manifestation, known as non-Th2, or non-atopic childhood asthma, represents the majority of the cases, greater than 85%, particularly in low-income countries, according to Hyunok Choi (https://health.lehigh.edu/faculty/choi-hyunok), an associate professor at the Lehigh University College of Health (https://health.lehigh.edu/). Yet, whether non-Th2 is a distinct disease (or endotype) or simply a unique set of symptoms (or phenotype) remains unknown.

"Non-Th2 asthma is associated with very poor prognosis in children and great, life-long suffering due to the absence of effective therapies," says Choi. "There is an urgent need to better understand its mechanistic origin to enable early diagnosis and to stop the progression of the disease before it becomes severe."

Studies show that nearly 50% of the children whose asthma is poorly controlled are expected to emerge as severe adult cases. Yet, a one-size-fits-all treatment approach, currently the norm for asthma, is ineffective and, says Choi, and partially responsible for asthma's growing economic burden.

"The primary reason for lack of therapeutic and preventive measures is that no etiologic, or causal, driver has ever been identified for the non-Th2 asthma," says Choi.

Now, for the first time, an epidemiological study, led by Choi, has shown that not only is non-Th2 a distinct disease, its likely inducer is early childhood exposure to airborne Benzo[a]pyrene, a byproduct of fossil fuel combustion. Choi and her colleagues are the first to demonstrate air pollution as a driver of the most challenging type of asthma, the severe subtype which is non-responsive to current therapies.


•••••


There is no 'one size fits all' approach to treat severe asthma; this study shows why

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/uop-tin041321.php

 

News Release 13-Apr-2021
University of Pittsburgh

 

Wheezing, coughing that doesn't stop, a pale and sweaty face: clinically, severe asthma attacks look very similar from patient to patient. But biologically, not all severe asthma is the same--and a team of scientists has, for the first time, identified the key difference in people, a finding that has important implications for treatment. //www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/uop-tin041321.php


•••••


Life expectancy lower near superfund sites


https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/uoh-lel041321.php

 

News Release 13-Apr-2021
Lower still for those with low incomes
University of Houston

 

Living near a hazardous waste or Superfund site could cut your life short by about a year, reports Hanadi S. Rifai, John and Rebecca Moores Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Houston. The study, published in Nature Communications and based on evaluation of 65,226 census tracts from the 2018 Census, is the first nationwide review of all hazardous waste sites and not just the 1,300 sites on the national priority list managed by the federal government.

The analysis shows a decrease of more than two months in life expectancy for those living near a Superfund site. When coupled with high disadvantage of sociodemographic factors like age, sex, marital status and income, the decrease could be nearly 15 months, according to the analysis. Prior studies confirmed that those living near hazardous waste sites generally have greater sociodemographic disadvantage and, as a result, poorer health. The average life expectancy in the U.S. is 78.7 years, and millions of children have been raised within less than a one-mile radius from a federally designated Superfund site. ps://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/uoh-lel041321.php


•••••


UBCO engineer cautions pregnant women about speed bumps


https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/uobc-uec041321.php

 

 News Release 13-Apr-2021
The slower the better while driving over them, says researcher
University of British Columbia Okanagan campus

 

Slow down. Baby on board.

So says UBC Okanagan researcher and Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering Hadi Mohammadi. His new research, conducted in collaboration with Sharif University of Technology, determines that accelerating over speed bumps poses a danger for pregnant women and their fetuses.

"There is lots of research about the importance of movement for women during pregnancy," explains Mohammadi, who teaches in the School of Engineering. "Our latest research looked specifically at the impacts of sudden acceleration on a pregnant woman."

Using new modelling based on data from crash tests and fundamental dynamic behaviours of a pregnant woman, Mohammadi and his co-authors found that accelerating over speedbumps raises concern. If driven over quickly, they caution this can lead to minor injuries to the fetal brain, cause an abnormal fetal heart rate, abdominal pain, uterine contraction, increasing uterine activity and further complications.

Occupants in a vehicle, especially pregnant women, are subjected to relatively large forces suddenly and over a short period when a vehicle accelerates over a speedbump, he explains. 

.....

In fact, they advise slowing a vehicle to less than 45 km/h [28mph]when hitting a speedbump, and preferably as low as 25km/h [15 mph] to reduce risk to the fetus.

.....


Monday, April 12, 2021

Chronic sinus inflammation appears to alter brain activity


https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/uows-csi040721.php

 

News Release 8-Apr-2021
Study findings may help explain patients' complaints of poor concentration and other cognitive symptoms that accompany sinusitis
University of Washington School of Medicine/UW Medicine

 

The millions of people who have chronic sinusitis deal not only with stuffy noses and headaches, they also commonly struggle to focus, and experience depression and other symptoms that implicate the brain's involvement in their illness.

New research links sinus inflammation with alterations in brain activity, specifically with the neural networks that modulate cognition, introspection and response to external stimuli.


•••••

"We know from previous studies that patients who have sinusitis often decide to seek medical care not because they have a runny nose and sinus pressure, but because the disease is affecting how they interact with the world: They can't be productive, thinking is difficult, sleep is lousy. It broadly impacts their quality of life. Now we have a prospective mechanism for what we observe clinically."

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Sunday, April 11, 2021

Study calls for urgent climate change action to secure global food supply


https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/cu-scf040721.php

 

News Release 8-Apr-2021
Curtin University

 

New Curtin University-led research has found climate change will have a substantial impact on global food production and health if no action is taken by consumers, food industries, government, and international bodies.

Published in one of the highest-ranking public health journals, the Annual Review of Public Health, the researchers completed a comprehensive 12-month review of published literature on climate change, healthy diet and actions needed to improve nutrition and health around the world.

Lead researcher John Curtin Distinguished Emeritus Professor Colin Binns, from the Curtin School of Population Health at Curtin University, said climate change has had a detrimental impact on health and food production for the past 50 years and far more needs to be done to overcome its adverse effects.

"The combination of climate change and the quality of nutrition is the major public health challenge of this decade and, indeed, this century. Despite positive advances in world nutrition rates, we are still facing the ongoing threat of climate change to our global food supply, with Sub-Saharan Africa and part of Asia most at risk" Professor Binns said.

"For the time being, it will be possible to produce enough food to maintain adequate intakes, using improved farming practices and technology and more equity in distribution, but we estimate that by 2050 world food production will need to increase by 50 per cent to overcome present shortages and meet the needs of the growing population.

"Our review recommends that by following necessary dietary guidelines and choosing foods that have low environmental impacts, such as fish, whole grain cereals, fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, berries, and olive oil, would improve health, help reduce greenhouse gases and meet the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, which in turn would improve food production levels in the future."


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Saturday, April 10, 2021

Training in compassion improves the well-being of relatives to people with mental illness

I suggest reading the whole article.


https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/au-tic040721.php

 

News Release 7-Apr-2021
Aarhus University

 

If relatives of people with mental illness become better at accepting the difficult emotions and life events they experience - which is what training in compassion is about - their anxiety, depression and stress is reduced. These are the results of a new study from the Danish Center for Mindfulness at Aarhus University.

Being a relative of a person with a mental illness can be very burdensome. It can feel like a great responsibility, and many people struggle with feelings of fear, guilt, shame and anger. A new study from the Danish Center for Mindfulness shows that eight weeks of training in compassion can significantly improve the well-being of relatives.

Compassion is a human quality that is anchored in the recognition of and desire to relieve suffering. In other words, compassion occurs when we come into contact with our own or others' suffering and feel motivated to relieve our own or others pain.

"After completing the course, the relatives had increased their well-being on several parameters. They could deal with the illness in a new and more skillful way, and we saw that the training reduced their symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress," says psychologist and PhD student Nanja Holland Hansen, who is behind the study.

And the positive results were maintained after a six month follow-up.


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Friday, April 09, 2021

Having both hearing and vision loss may double risk of dementia


https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/aaon-hbh040121.php

 

News Release 7-Apr-2021
American Academy of Neurology

 

Losing some hearing or eyesight is often a part of getting older, but a new study says losing function in both senses may put you at greater risk of dementia and cognitive decline years later. The research is published in the April 7, 2021, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The study did not find such a link between losing just one of those senses.

"Depending on the degree of hearing or vision loss, losing function in your senses can be distressing and have an impact on your daily life," said study author JinHyeong Jhoo, M.D., Ph.D., of Kangwon National University School of Medicine in Chuncheon, Republic of Korea. "But our study results suggest losing both may be of particular concern."


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Thursday, April 08, 2021

Sidney Powell Claims No Reasonable Person Would Conclude That [Her] Statements Were Truly Statements Of Fact

https://sos.ga.gov/index.php/elections/the_kraken_cracks_under_pressure_sidney_powell_claims_no_reasonable_person_would_conclude_that_her_statements_were_truly_statements_of_fact


•••••

The filing says that the claims Powell made in interviews on Fox News and Fox Business, and in a press conference at the Republican National Committee are not statements of fact. In particular, her claims “that she had evidence that the election result was the ‘greatest crime of the century if not the life of the world,’” or that Democrats “developed a computer system to alter votes electronically” would not be accepted by a “reasonable person” as “statements of fact.”

Powell and her lawyers go further, citing Dominion’s criticism that Powell’s claims were “wild accusations,” “outlandish claims,” “inherently improbable,” or “impossible” as evidence that “reasonable people would not accept such statements as fact but view them only as claims.”

Finally, Powell and her lawyers admit that her claims about voter fraud, stolen elections, or switched votes were “her opinions and legal theories” only.


IRS extends additional tax deadlines to May 17


https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-extends-additional-tax-deadlines-to-may-17

 

COVID Tax Tip 2021-45, April 7, 2021

Following the extension of the filing and payment deadline for individuals to May 17, 2021, the IRS announced other tax deadline extensions to the same date.

Here's what's affected:
Contributions to IRAs and health savings accounts
People now automatically have until May 17, 2021, to make 2020 contributions to their:

    Individual retirement arrangements (IRAs)
    Health savings accounts
    Archer medical savings accounts
    Coverdell education savings accounts

The deadline for reporting and paying the 10% additional tax on amounts included in gross income from 2020 distributions from IRAs or workplace-based retirement plans is now May 17, 2021. Lastly, the due date for Form 5498 series returns related to these accounts is now June 30, 2021,
2017 unclaimed refunds

The law provides a three-year window to claim a refund. Normally, April 15, 2021, is the deadline to claim a refund from tax year 2017 but, the IRS has extended it to May 17, 2021. To get the unclaimed refund, a taxpayer must properly address and mail the tax return, postmarked by May 17, 2021. If a taxpayer doesn't file a return within three years, the money becomes property of the U.S. Treasury.


•••••

No extension for estimated tax payments

April 15, 2021 is still the deadline to make first quarter estimated tax payments. Withholding is automatic for most employees, but some taxpayers' income isn't subject to income tax withholding. These taxpayers must generally make quarterly estimated tax payments. Income that may require estimated tax payments include:

    Self-employment
    Interest
    Dividends
    Alimony
    Rentals

Taxpayer should review IRS Notice 2021-21 for more information about these extensions.

IRS will recalculate taxes on 2020 unemployment benefits and start issuing refunds in May

If you are happy to get this tax break, remember that NO republican members of Congress voted for this.


https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-will-recalculate-taxes-on-2020-unemployment-benefits-and-start-issuing-refunds-in-may

 

COVID Tax Tip 2021-46, April 8, 2021

Normally, any unemployment compensation someone receives is taxable. However, a recent law change allows some recipients to not pay tax on some 2020 unemployment compensation.

The IRS will automatically refund money to eligible people who filed their tax return reporting unemployment compensation before the recent changes made by the American Rescue Plan. These refunds are expected to begin in May and continue into the summer.

Under the new law, taxpayers who earned less than $150,000 in modified adjusted gross income can exclude some unemployment compensation from their income. This means they don't have to pay tax on some of it. People who are married filing jointly can exclude up to $20,400 – up to $10,200 for each spouse who received unemployment compensation. All other eligible taxpayers can exclude up to $10,200 from their income.

This law change occurred after some people filed their 2020 taxes. For taxpayers who already have filed and figured their 2020 tax based on the full amount of unemployment compensation, the IRS will determine the correct taxable amount of unemployment compensation. Any resulting overpayment of tax will be either refunded or applied to other taxes owed.

The agency will do these recalculations in two phases.

    First, taxpayers who are eligible to exclude up to $10,200.
     
    Second, those married filing jointly who are eligible to exclude up to $20,400, and others with more complex returns.

Taxpayers only need to file an amended return if the recalculations make them newly eligible for additional federal tax credits or deductions not already included on their original tax return.

For example, the IRS can adjust returns for taxpayers who claimed the earned income tax credit and, because the exclusion changed their income level, may now be eligible for an increase in the EITC amount.

However, taxpayers would have to file an amended return if they did not originally claim the EITC or other credits but are now eligible to claim them following the change in the tax law. Taxpayers can use the EITC Assistant to see if they qualify for this credit based upon their new taxable income amount. If they now qualify, they should consider filing an amended return to claim this money.


•••••


Cycling study transforms heart health of dialysis patients


https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/uol-cst040821.php

 

News Release 8-Apr-2021
University of Leicester

 

Cycling at moderate intensity during dialysis could drastically improve the heart health of patients with kidney failure and result in significant savings for the NHS, according to new research by the University of Leicester supported by the charity Kidney Research UK and National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Leicester Biomedical Research Centre.

Patients in the CYCLE-HD study were offered 30 minutes of moderate intensity exercise on a specially adapted bicycle during their regular dialysis sessions. Dialysis can lead to long-term scarring of the heart, which can accumulate over time and lead to heart failure. The study set out to examine whether exercise could reduce these side-effects.

After six months, participants' hearts were assessed with an MRI scan and compared with pre-trial imaging. Patients who had cycled showed improvements in several aspects of heart health - their hearts were more like a 'normal' size, they had less scarring, and there was less stiffness of the major blood vessels.

Analysis of the study also demonstrated a saving in healthcare costs of more than £1,400 per patient which, when balanced against the cost of the exercise equipment, could result in significant savings for the NHS.


•••••


Heart failure and stroke rising in men under 40


https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/uog-hfa040821.php

 

News Release 8-Apr-2021
University of Gothenburg

 

Heart failure and stroke are unusual diagnoses among younger people. But they are now clearly on the rise in men below the age of 40, according to a University of Gothenburg study. The scientists have found links to obesity and low fitness in the upper teens.


•••••

"These factors -- that is, overweight, obesity and low fitness -- partly explain the large increase in heart failure we see in the study, and the rise in stroke as well," states David Åberg. An Associate Professor at Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, and specialist doctor at Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Åberg is the study's first author.

•••••

The fact that the trends for cardiovascular diseases move in differing directions over time suggests that other, unknown factors are involved as well. According to the researchers, post-enlistment weight trends may be one such factor, but stress and drug use may be others. Especially for heart attacks, researchers believe that a sharp fall in smoking underlies the decline. The fact remains, however, that overweight and obesity are influential.

"We see that heart attacks would have decreased even more if it hadn't been for the rise in overweight and obesity. Our results thus provide strong support for thinking that obesity and, to some extent, low fitness by the age of 18 affect earl


Billboard and storefront ads for cannabis linked to problematic use in teens


https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/joso-bas040221.php

 

News Release 8-Apr-2021
Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs

 

Adolescents who frequently see billboard or storefront advertisements for recreational cannabis are more likely to use the drug weekly and to have symptoms of a cannabis use disorder, according to a new study in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.

Despite use being illegal for those below age 21 even in states that have approved recreational marijuana, "legalization may alter the ways that youth use cannabis," write the study authors, led by Pamela J. Trangenstein, Ph.D., M.P.H., of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.


•••••


tags: drug use, drug abuse,

Dead eagles found across the US had rat poison in their blood

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2273735-dead-eagles-found-across-the-us-had-rat-poison-in-their-blood/


 7 April 2021
By Ian Morse



In a sample of eagles from across the US, rat poison was found in about 80 per cent of the birds. This widespread exposure to toxic chemicals could impair their health or even lead to death.

“This really suggests that despite the best efforts to use these compounds wisely and minimise the opportunity for the raptor species to be exposed, they’re still somehow getting exposed,” says Mark Ruder at the University of Georgia.blood/#ixzz6rTkuR39W

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Tuesday, April 06, 2021

Study links prenatal phthalate exposure to altered information processing in infants


https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/uoia-slp040621.php

 

News Release 6-Apr-2021
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, News Bureau

Exposure to phthalates, a class of chemicals widely used in packaging and consumer products, is known to interfere with normal hormone function and development in human and animal studies. Now researchers have found evidence linking pregnant women's exposure to phthalates to altered cognitive outcomes in their infants.

Most of the findings involved slower information processing among infants with higher phthalate exposure levels, with males more likely to be affected depending on the chemical involved and the order of information presented to the infants.


•••••

Transportation noise pollution and cardio- and cerebrovascular disease


https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/doc--tnp040621.php

[Surely other noise would have the same effect.]


News Release 6-Apr-2021
Dpt of Cardiology - University Medical Center Mainz

 

Epidemiological studies have found that transportation noise increases the risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, with high-quality evidence for ischaemic heart disease. According to the WHO, ?1.6 million healthy life-years are lost annually from traffic-related noise in Western Europe. Traffic noise at night causes fragmentation and shortening of sleep, elevation of stress hormone levels, and increased oxidative stress in the vasculature and the brain. These factors can promote vascular dysfunction, inflammation and hypertension, thereby elevating the risk of cardiovascular disease.


•••••


Canada-wide ban on menthol cigarettes leads to significant increases in quitting among smokers

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/uow-cbo040521.php

 

News Release 6-Apr-2021
University of Waterloo

 

Bans on menthol cigarettes across Canada from 2016 to 2017 led to a significant increase in the number of smokers who attempted to quit, smokers who quit successfully, and lower rates of relapse among former smokers, according to a new research study from the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project (the ITC Project) at the University of Waterloo.

Menthol is the most common flavoring for cigarettes in many countries. Menthol creates a cooling sensation, which reduces the harshness of cigarette smoke. Because of this, menthol leads to increased experimentation and progression to regular smoking among new smokers, especially among youth.



•••••

tags: drug use, drug abuse,


Cannabis legalization and link to increase in fatal collisions

No surprise.


https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/cmaj-cla033121.php

 

News Release 6-Apr-2021
Canadian Medical Association Journal

 

Legalization of recreational cannabis may be associated with an increase in fatal motor vehicle collisions based on data from the United States, and authors discuss the implications for Canada in an analysis in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).

"Analyses of data suggest that legalization of recreational cannabis in United States jurisdictions may be associated with a small but significant increase in fatal motor vehicle collisions and fatalities, which, if extrapolated to the Canadian context, could result in as many as 308 additional driving fatalities annually," says Ms. Sarah Windle, Lady Davis Institute/McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, with coauthors.


•••••

tags: drug use, drug abuse,