Health & Medicine

Ramadan is celebrated once every year. Zurijeta/ Shutterstock Ayaz Safi, University of Westminster Ramadan began on April 13 this year, and is one of the most important months of the year for Muslims. For the month of Ramadan, the majority of Muslims will fast during daylight hours and cannot eat or drink until the sun sets – after which many …

from www.shutterstock.com Archa Fox, The University of Western Australia and Damian Purcell, The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity The world’s first mRNA vaccines — the COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna — have made it in record time from the laboratory, through successful clinical trials, regulatory approval and into people’s arms. The high efficiency of protection against severe …

Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock Jamie Hartmann-Boyce, University of Oxford A new US study shows that people who are less physically active are more likely to be hospitalised and die with COVID-19. According to these new calculations, being inactive puts you at a greater risk from COVID-19 than any other risk factor except age and having had an organ transplant. If this …

from www.shutterstock.com Luise Kazda, University of Sydney During my daughter’s challenging first year of school, we discovered how much effort it took her to sit and learn. She was the youngest in her class, placing her at higher risk of being diagnosed with ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder). While she struggled with attention and hyperactivity, her problems were always more …

Vanessa Apea, Queen Mary University of London and Yize Wan, Queen Mary University of London The release of the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities report has generated a groundswell of negative reaction, specifically of disappointment and frustration. The report minimises structural racism, a reality for so many that negatively impacts on their opportunities to achieve their full potential. It …

The common cold is usually caused by a rhinovirus. Shutterstock/fizkes Matthew James, Queen’s University Belfast We often assume that viral infections are caused by individual virus types. But in reality, we’re exposed to many viruses on a day to day basis, and co-infection – where someone is simultaneously infected by two or more virus types – is quite common. The …

To stop antibiotic resistance, scientists need to know how bacteria become resistant. Jarun Ontakrai/ Shutterstock Celia Souque, University of Oxford Antibiotic resistance – the ability of harmful bacteria to survive treatment by antibiotics – is a growing threat. It is making it harder to treat life-threatening infections, including tuberculosis, MRSA, and gonorrhoea – and increasing the risks of even minor …

maybealice/Shutterstock Jessica Williams, Cardiff Metropolitan University As COVID-19 has swept across the globe, it seems that high transmission rates have partly been driven by a large number of people catching the virus, not experiencing symptoms and then unknowingly passing it on. Despite this, the screening of asymptomatic people for signs of infection hasn’t been widespread, due to costs and limits …

Shutterstock Anthony Zulli, Victoria University; Maja Husaric, Victoria University; Maximilian de Courten, Victoria University, and Vasso Apostolopoulos, Victoria University The federal government has asked Australia’s medical and vaccine regulators to urgently consider the European Medicines Agency’s finding of a possible link between the Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID vaccine and rare blood clots. This follows reports over recent weeks of blood clots in …

Agnes Arnold-Forster, University of Bristol “After the pandemic is over” must be one of the most frequently uttered phrases of 2021. I am certainly guilty of this kind of optimism, longing for the day when I can get on a plane, have dinner with my friends, and cuddle all the new babies I know who have been born under the …