Glycemic control in type 1 diabetes improved during lockdown

(HealthDay)—On average, glycemic control improved during lockdown among people living with type 1 diabetes, according to a study published online Dec. 23 in Diabetes Care.

Cardiovascular risk up with metabolic syndrome in psoriasis

(HealthDay)—Metabolic syndrome (MetSyn) is prevalent among patients with psoriasis and is associated with increased cardiovascular risk, according to a study published online Dec. 28 in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.

Which exercise regimen works best to ease lower back pain?

Chronic lower back pain can make the most routine tasks difficult. But a new study suggests patients can learn new, practical and less painful ways to move through individualized "motor skills training," or MST.

With pot rules relaxed, more U.S. teens driving while high: study

(HealthDay)—America's roads are notoriously unsafe on New Year's Eve, and a new study shows that marijuana legalization could be making the situation even worse.

Ring in the new year with a 'Mocktail'

WEDNESDAY, Dec. 30, 2020 (American Heart Association News)—At a time when many people are stress-drinking, a New Year's Eve sangria that's alcohol-free is a healthy way to say farewell to 2020.

Study of virus screening at concert reports zero infections

The organizers of an indoor music festival in Barcelona to test the effectiveness of same-day coronavirus screening said Wednesday that preliminary results indicate there was zero transmission inside the venue.

Robots with rhythm: Boston Dynamics' dancing androids a hit

These robots have rhythm.

Well-preserved Ice Age woolly rhino found in Siberia

A well-preserved Ice Age woolly rhino with many of its internal organs still intact has been recovered from permafrost in Russia's extreme north.

Facebook to close Irish units at center of tax dispute

Facebook confirmed Wednesday it was closing its Irish subsidiaries at the center of a dispute on profit shifting to avoid taxes in the United States.

Amazon to buy hit podcast producer Wondery

Amazon said Wednesday it signed a deal to acquire the hit podcast production firm Wondery, in a move which boosts the US tech giant's efforts to round out its offerings from its music platform.

Indonesia in $9.8 bln electric vehicle battery deal with Korea's LG

Indonesia said Wednesday it had signed a $9.8 billion electric vehicle battery deal with South Korea's LG as it moves to become a global production hub for the green technology.

Eastern Caribbean issues rare alerts for rumbling volcanoes

Volcanoes that have been quiet for decades are rumbling to life in the eastern Caribbean, prompting officials to issue alerts in Martinique and St. Vincent and the Grenadines as scientists rush in to study activity they say hasn't been observed in years.

US expects to approve UK-backed AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine in April

The United States is expected to approve the low-cost AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine in April, a senior official said, more than three months after Britain's green light on Wednesday.

Canada to require negative Covid-19 test for entry

Canada will require travellers to obtain a negative Covid-19 test before being allowed into the country, the government announced Wednesday.

AstraZeneca vaccine approval unlikely in January: EU

The coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University, which was approved Wednesday in Britain, is unlikely to get a green light in the European Union in the next month, according to the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

US hits record daily Covid-19 deaths as world looks to vaccines in 2021

The US logged its highest ever daily death toll from the coronavirus Wednesday as the world prepares to turn the page on a grim year defined by the pandemic, with much of the globe united in one hope for 2021: that a slew of new vaccines will stamp out COVID-19.

Germany set for longer lockdown as death figures spike

German officials made clear Wednesday that they won't be able to relax lockdown restrictions in early January as the country recorded more than 1,000 deaths in one day for the first time.

China's first vaccine hustled to market as race to inoculate 1.3bn speeds up

China has granted "conditional" market approval to a Sinopharm vaccine with a reported 79 percent efficacy rate against COVID-19, health authorities said Thursday, a major stride towards inoculating the world's largest population.

Brain damage of patients with Covid-19

In an in-depth study of how COVID-19 affects a patient's brain, National Institutes of Health researchers consistently spotted hallmarks of damage caused by thinning and leaky brain blood vessels in tissue samples from patients who died shortly after contracting the disease. In addition, they saw no signs of SARS-CoV-2 in the tissue samples, suggesting the damage was not caused by a direct viral attack on the brain. The results were published as a correspondence in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Moving due to unaffordable housing may jeopardize healthcare

People who move due to unaffordable housing are at increased risk of failing to receive the medical care they need, according to a new study from Cedars-Sinai and the University of California, Los Angeles. The study, published online in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, concludes that the result could be long-term health problems.

Published data from Moderna COVID-19 vaccine trial show 94.1 percent efficacy

A peer-reviewed paper published in The New England Journal of Medicine provides data from the much-anticipated COVE study, which evaluated mRNA-1273, a vaccine candidate against COVID-19 manufactured by Moderna, Inc. Results from the primary analysis of the study, which will continue for two years, provide evidence that the vaccine can prevent symptomatic infection. Among the more than 30,000 participants randomized to receive the vaccine or a placebo, 11 of those in the vaccine group developed symptomatic COVID-19 compared to 185 participants who received the placebo, demonstrating 94.1 percent efficacy in preventing symptomatic COVID-19. Cases of severe COVID-19 occurred only in participants who received the placebo.

How did trauma centers respond to COVID-19? New processes provide care to trauma patients while keeping providers safe

As the COVID-19 pandemic emerged, trauma centers faced unprecedented obstacles to providing care for injured patients. A look at steps taken by trauma centers in response to COVID-19 is provided by a survey in the January/February Journal for Healthcare Quality (JHQ), the peer-reviewed journal of the National Association for Healthcare Quality (NAHQ).

Higher red cell transfusion threshold offers no advantage for treating preterm infants

Very low birthweight infants often need blood transfusions to survive. A National Institutes of Health-funded study suggests that providing a higher threshold of red cells within accepted limits offers no advantage in survival or reduction in neurological impairment over a lower threshold. The research was conducted by Haresh Kirpalani, B.M., of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, and colleagues and was funded by the NIH's Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, and National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences. The study appears in The New England Journal of Medicine.

Federal dietary guidelines emphasize healthy eating habits but fall short on added sugars

The American Heart Association, the world's leading voluntary organization focused on heart and brain health, responded to the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) released today by the U.S. Departments of Agriculture (USDA) and Health and Human Services (HHS).

Polysaccharides from red algae affect mice immune systems, say scientists

Carrageenans, biologically active polysaccharides isolated from red algae and widely used in the food industry as stabilizers, thickeners, or jelly agents, have an express effect on the immune systems of mice, according to a new study. The research was carried out by scientists from the School of Biomedicine of Far Eastern Federal University (FEFU), Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and Vilnius University. A related article appears in the Journal of Biomedical Materials Research.

Observations shed more light on the atmosphere of white dwarf GD 424

Astronomers have performed spectroscopic observations of a newly detected white dwarf star known as GD 424. Results of the observational campaign provide more insights into the atmosphere of this object. The study was presented in a paper published December 23 on arXiv.org.

Organic meats found to have approximately the same greenhouse impact as regular meats

A trio of researchers from the Technical University of Munich, the University of Greifswald and the University of Augsburg have found that the meat production process for organic meats produces approximately the same amounts of greenhouse gases as does the conventional meat production process. In their paper published in the journal Nature Communications, Maximilian Pieper, Amelie Michalke and Tobias Gaugler describe their study of the impact of global food production on climate change and what they found.

Torpor: a neat survival trick once thought rare in Australian animals is actually widespread

Life is hard for small animals in the wild, but they have many solutions to the challenges of their environment. One of the most fascinating of these strategies is torpor. Not, to be confused with sleep or Sunday afternoon lethargy, torpor is a complex response to the costs of living.

Designing Dirac vortex topological photonic crystal fibres

Optical fibres made of topological photonic crystals allow improved versatility and control across the modes and polarization of light they transmit. Compositionally, photonic crystals contain bandgaps to prevent the passage of light relative to specific wave energies and momenta much like an on/off switch. In a new report now published on Nature Light: Science & Applications, Hao Lin, and Ling Lu at the Institute of Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences transmitted pure "single mode" light across a large frequency range via a topological feature known as a "Dirac vortex." The concept can lead to applications that transmit light signals more stably across long distances. While the work is theoretical at present, the researchers suggest the use of fibers made from silica based on stack-and-draw methods or three-dimensional (3-D) printing technologies to fabricate and test these theoretical concepts.

Grid or solar: looking for the best energy solution for the rural poor

South Asia has made tremendous progress in connecting rural areas to the electricity grid but the number of people in Africa without access has scarcely changed since 2010. More than a half-billion people in Africa don't have access to electricity, meaning the continent hosts 72% of the world's non-electrified population. The UN Sustainable Development Goals have set a universal goal of ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all by 2030. To achieve this, the continent will require a big electrification push.

When working out makes you sick to your stomach: What to know about exercise-induced nausea

You're doing it! You're working out, reaping all those benefits of exercise that have been drilled into your head.

The Sunburst hack was massive and devastating – 5 observations from a cybersecurity expert

So much remains unknown about what is now being called the Sunburst hack, the cyberattack against U.S. government agencies and corporations. U.S. officials widely believe that Russian state-sponsored hackers are responsible.

Group exercise may be even better for you than solo workouts – here's why

Group exercise is very popular: Nearly 40% of regular exercisers participate in group fitness classes. In advance of the coronavirus pandemic, the American College of Sports Medicine predicted that group fitness would be one of the top three fitness industry trends in 2020 – for good reason.

People eventually adopt healthy behaviors – but it can take time we don't have during a pandemic

Why do we do things that are bad for us—or not do things that are good for us—even in light of overwhelming evidence?

Sweetened beverage sales bounced back quickly after Cook County tax repealed

Following the repeal of the short-lived Cook County, Illinois Sweetened Beverage Tax, sales of sweetened beverages went right back to where they were before the tax went into place, according to a new study led by researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago. The study is published in JAMA Network Open.

New US dietary guidelines: No candy, cake for kids under 2

Parents now have an extra reason to say no to candy, cake and ice cream for young children. The first U.S. government dietary guidelines for infants and toddlers, released Tuesday, recommend feeding only breast milk for at least six months and no added sugar for children under age 2.

Major rail safety technology installed before deadline

The railroad industry has installed an automatic braking system on nearly 58,000 miles of track where it is required ahead of a yearend deadline, federal regulators said Tuesday.

COVID cluckers: Pandemic feeds demand for backyard chickens

The coronavirus pandemic is coming home to roost in America's backyards.

Apple loses copyright suit against security startup

A federal judge Tuesday dismissed Apple's copyright infringement lawsuit against cybersecurity startup Corellium in a case which could have implications for researchers who find software bugs and vulnerabilities.

Restoring longleaf pines, keystone of once vast ecosystems

When European settlers came to North America, fire-dependent savannas anchored by lofty pines with footlong needles covered much of what became the southern United States.

1st reported US case of COVID-19 variant found in Colorado

The first reported U.S. case of the COVID-19 variant that's been seen in the United Kingdom has been discovered in Colorado, Gov. Jared Polis announced Tuesday, adding urgency to efforts to vaccinate Americans.

Young sea lion recovers from shark bite, returns to ocean

A feisty young sea lion is back in the Northern California wild after five weeks of rehabilitation to treat a severe shark bite, domoic acid poisoning and malnutrition.

From the lab to the jab: how BioNTech-Pfizer won the vaccine race

It was over breakfast on the wintry morning of January 24 that Ozlem Tureci and her husband Ugur Sahin decided, "we need to fire the starting gun on this".

Germany's daily Covid-19 deaths top 1,000 for first time

Germany's daily coronavirus death toll has crossed 1,000 for the first time, health authorities said Wednesday.

China's Sinopharm says vaccine '79% effective' against Covid-19

Phase 3 trials of a Sinopharm coronavirus vaccine found it was 79 percent effective, the Chinese pharma giant said Wednesday, lower than rival jabs developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna but a potential breakthrough in the battle to stem the pandemic in Asia.

Imaging of ballistic wounds, bullet composition and implications for MRI safety

According to an article in ARRS' American Journal of Roentgenology (AJR), because patients with ballistic embedded fragments are frequently denied MRI (due to indeterminate bullet composition sans shell casings), radiography and CT can be used to identify nonferromagnetic projectiles that are safe for MRI.

How to outsmart your COVID-19 fears and boost your mood in 2021

After a year of toxic stress ignited by so much fear and uncertainty, now is a good time to reset, pay attention to your mental health and develop some healthy ways to manage the pressures going forward.

Researchers develop high-sensitivity system to detect SARS-CoV-2 in the air

Researchers from the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV), in collaboration with specialists from the University of Valencia (UV), have come up with a new system based on a high-sensitivity mass biosensor that continuously monitors signals for the direct detection of SARS-CoV-2 in environmental aerosols. The device, in prototype phase, makes it possible to assess the quality of the air and allows an early detection of the virus in inside spaces such as homes, classrooms, restaurants, cinemas or means of transportation.

Quadriplegic patient uses brain signals to feed himself with two advanced prosthetic arms

For more than 30 years—following an accident in his teens—Robert "Buz" Chmielewski has been a quadriplegic with minimal movement and feeling in his hands and fingers. But last month he was able to manipulate two prosthetic arms with his brain and feed himself dessert.

What is cedar fever? Experts explain Texas winter irritant

Cedar fever season is almost upon us, and at a time when having a fever—or even catching a slight cold—is concerning, it's more important than ever to understand the symptoms and source of this common Central Texas allergy.