Friday 30 October 2020

Mothers pass on allergies to offspring, preclinical study shows

Mothers can pass allergies to offspring while they are developing in the womb, researchers from the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), KK Women's and Children's Hospital (KKH) and Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore reported this week in the journal Science.

Millions more face virus restrictions in northern England

Millions more people in northern England face stricter coronavirus rules next week, the government said Friday as it perseveres with a localised response to surging case rates.

Japan Airlines forecasts over $2.3 bn annual net loss

Japan Airlines said Friday it had forecast an annual net loss of more than $2.3 billion after the coronavirus pandemic grounded air travel around the world.

British Airways parent IAG logs vast loss on virus

IAG, the owner of British Airways and Spanish carrier Iberia, dived into a net loss of 1.76 billion euros ($2.1 billion) in the third quarter on coronavirus fallout, it said Friday.

Twitter shares sink as user growth slows

Twitter shares tumbled Thursday after the messaging platform's quarterly update showed a slowdown in user growth.

New York, northeast US try to hold off second virus wave

New York and other parts of the northeastern United States, which have kept the coronavirus outbreak under control after being an early epicenter in the country, are now seeing a worrying rise in infections.

Facebook quarterly profit jumps despite ad boycott

Facebook's profit jumped in the recently-ended quarter as the leading social network benefitted from a rebounding online ad market despite a boycott, the company reported Thursday.

Apple iPhone sales tumble, trimming profit

Apple shares were sent reeling Thursday on word of a steep drop in sales of iPhones, which are at the heart of the tech titan's money-making engine.

Big Tech delivers strong profits amid pandemic, political scrutiny

Big Tech powerhouses Thursday delivered robust quarterly earnings reports, leveraging the needs of pandemic-hit consumers amid heightened scrutiny of their economic power.

US tops 90,000 coronavirus cases in 24 hours for first time

The United States notched a record number of new coronavirus cases on Thursday, for the first time topping 90,000 diagnoses in 24 hours, according to a tally from Johns Hopkins University.

France back in coronavirus lockdown as US surges to daily record

France headed into a second lockdown on Friday as the resurgent coronavirus pandemic hit new heights in the United States with a daily record of more than 90,000 cases, just five days before the presidential election.

JetBlue is the latest airline to retreat from blocking seats

The days of airlines blocking seats to make passengers feel safer about flying during the pandemic are coming closer to an end.

FBI warns ransomware assault threatens US health care system

Federal agencies warned that cybercriminals could hobbled all 250 U.S. facilities of the hospital chain Universal Health Services, forcing doctors and nurses to rely on paper and pencil for record-keeping and slowing lab work. Employees described chaotic conditions impeding patient care, including mounting emergency room waits and the failure of wireless vital-signs monitoring equipment.

MyH.E.A.L.T.H. app—once only available to military—hits civilian app stores in 2021

U.S. soldiers, family members and veterans have had exclusive access to a smartphone app they used to improve eating, sleeping, exercising and stress, until now.

Hospital floors are hotspot for bacteria, creating route of transfer to patients

The floors of hospital rooms are quickly and frequently contaminated with antibiotic-resistant bacteria within hours of patient admission, creating a route of transfer of potentially dangerous organisms to patients, according to a study published today as part of the proceedings from Decennial 2020: The Sixth International Conference on Healthcare-Associated Infections. Decennial 2020, an initiative of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America, was cancelled in March due to the pandemic. All abstracts accepted for the meeting have been published as a supplement issue in the journal Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology.

Decision conflict before cancer surgery correlates with lower activity after surgery

Nearly one-third of cancer patients who decide to undergo surgery for their condition may have second thoughts, and this decision conflict may lead to less favorable treatment outcomes in both the near- and long-term, according to a team of investigators at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Ariadne Labs, a joint center for health systems innovation at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH).

ICE detention centers saw sustained outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases, says study

More than a dozen U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers experienced large, repeated outbreaks of vaccine-preventable illnesses in the last three years, according to a new study by researchers at UC San Francisco.

Study shows COVID-19 risk to firefighters and emergency medical workers in New York City

Firefighters and emergency medical workers in New York City were 15 times more likely to be infected during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the general public, according to a study published in ERJ Open Research.

Study of COVID-19 levels in oncology staff suggests need for more extensive testing

A study of oncology staff carried out immediately after the spring peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK indicates that many had been infected with the coronavirus as they tested positive for COVID-19 antibodies. This included staff who did not show any symptoms.

Study reveals impact of COVID-19 on oncology staff and their work

The results of a survey of 1038 doctors, nurses, pharmacists, administrators and allied health professionals (such dieticians and physiotherapists) working in oncology in the UK National Health Service (NHS) during the spring wave of COVID-19 will be presented at the NCRI Virtual Showcase.