Health & Medicine

Shutterstock Evita March, Federation University Australia Humans are curious and social creatures by nature. The news helps us make sense of the world around us and connects us with our local, national and international community. So it’s no wonder we’re drawn to it. Objective, legitimate news also keeps us informed, empowering us with knowledge to make balanced decisions. But the …

The search goes on. Shutterstock/Orpheus FX Lynn Williams, University of Strathclyde Vaccination will be hugely important in controlling future waves of COVID-19. But for it to work, we will need high levels of public acceptance of a vaccine, if and when it eventually becomes available. In recent years, vaccination rates have fallen across the world, and public confidence in vaccines …

صدر الصورة، GETTY IMAGES سمح الفهم الأفضل لطبيعة الفيروس للأطباء بتقديم علاج أفضل للمرضى بما في ذلك علاجات مثل ديكساميثازون وطرق أسهل لدعم التنفس قالت مديرة أقسام الرعاية المركزة البريطانية إن فرص نجاة مرضى كورونا الذين يتم وضعهم على أجهزة التنفس الاصطناعي أصبحت أعلى مما كانت عليه في شهر أبريل //// نيسان الماضي وأضافت دكتور أليسون بيتارد أن نسبة الوفيات …

Hepatitis C led to an estimated 400,000 deaths in 2016. (Shutterstock) John Bergeron, McGill University This year, the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine was awarded to virologists Harvey J. Alter and Charles M. Rice and biochemist Michael Houghton for the discovery of the hepatitis C virus. This recognition is yet a further testimonial of the need for discovery research …

Sheena Cruickshank, University of Manchester As President Trump claims that he is immune to COVID-19 and isolated reports emerge of reinfection, what is the truth about immunity to COVID-19? To date, there have been six published cases of COVID-19 reinfection, with various other unverified accounts from around the world. Although this is a comparably small fraction of the millions of …

Hassan Vally, La Trobe University Last week the World Health Organisation’s special envoy on COVID-19, David Nabarro, said: We in the World Health Organisation do not advocate lockdowns as the primary measure for the control of the virus. This has created confusion and frustration, as many people have interpreted this as running counter to WHO’s previous advice on dealing with …

M-Foto/Shutterstock Rob Reddick, The Conversation Since the early days of the pandemic, attention has focused on producing a vaccine for COVID-19. With one, it’s hoped it will be able to suppress the virus without relying purely on economically challenging control measures. Without one, the world will probably have to live with COVID-19 as an endemic disease. It’s unlikely the coronavirus …

Although cloth masks have been widely adopted, many people still have questions about them. (Usplash/Vera Davidova) Catherine Clase, McMaster University; Edouard Fu, Leiden University, and Juan Jesus Carrero, Karolinska Institute Face masks reduce the spread of viruses passed on from respiratory secretions. While cloth masks are imperfect, widespread use of an imperfect mask has the potential to make a big …

Shutterstock / OPOLJA Salvador Peiró, Fisabio La respuesta sueca a la COVID-19 ha sido mucho menos intensa que en cualquier otro país europeo, incluyendo sus vecinos nórdicos. Suecia no sólo eludió los confinamientos generalizados sino que mantuvo abierta la escuela primaria, continúa desaconsejando el uso de mascarillas (salvo situaciones específicas) y hasta hace poco mantenía sin aislar a los contactos …

Shutterstock / Standret Daura Vega Moreno, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Evolutivamente, la visión en tres dimensiones ha dotado a la especie humana de la capacidad de calcular distancias, percibir la profundidad o visualizar de forma eficaz objetos en movimiento. Y eso ha permitido el desarrollo de habilidades motoras relacionadas con el entorno. ¿Pero qué la hace posible? …