Will the Effects of COVID-19 Be Mitigated by the Warm Spring Weather?
One of the best articles I have come across lately regarding COVID-19 with a strong scientific orientation is: Why the Coronavirus Has Been So Successful. I have personally been wondering whether our upcoming warmer weather will ameliorate the effects of the pandemic as we have seen with our yearly influenza outbreaks. Here is the answer to this question extracted from this Atlantic article:Coronaviruses, much like influenza, tend to be winter viruses.In cold and dry air, the thin layers of liquid that coat our lungs and airways become even thinner, and the beating hairs that rest in those layers struggle to evict vi...
Source: Lab Soft News - March 20, 2020 Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Bruce Friedman Tags: Epidemiology Source Type: blogs
COVID-19 Update: A Message From Concerned Physicians
This article originally appeared on the HJLuks site here.
The post COVID-19 Update: A Message From Concerned Physicians appeared first on The Health Care Blog. (Source: The Health Care Blog)
Source: The Health Care Blog - March 19, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Christina Liu Tags: COVID-19 Health Policy Physicians Bryan Vartabedian Carrie Diulus coronavirus Eric Levi Ethan Weiss Howard Luks Joel Topf Nancy Yen Shipley Pandemic Source Type: blogs
A Healthcare System, If We Can Keep It
By KIM BELLARD
We are in strange days, and they
are only going to get stranger as COVID-19 works its way further through our
society. It makes me think of Benjamin Franklin’s response when asked
what kind of nation the U.S. was going to be: “A Republic, if you
can keep it.”
SAUL LOEB / AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
The versions of that response that COVID-19 have me wondering about are: “A federal system, if we can keep it,” and, more specifically, “a healthcare system, if we can keep it.” I’ll talk about each of those in the context of t...
Source: The Health Care Blog - March 18, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Christina Liu Tags: COVID-19 Health Policy coronavirus Healthcare system Kim Bellard Pandemic Source Type: blogs
Why Peak Viral Load makes temperature screening alone insufficient for COVID-19
By TONY ESTRELLA
And how South Korea and Taiwan’s approach to diagnosis and tracking is leading to positive results
By now, the sight of people wearing surgical masks, flinching at the sights and sounds of someone coughing or sneezing, governments restricting large gatherings, and sports leagues suspending or cancelling matches is familiar across the world.
Even though this newest coronavirus we now call COVID-19 is not the deadliest disease as measured by daily deaths, the concern over the outbreak is forcing urgent actions.
Daily deaths from COVID-19 compared to other diseases. Source: informationisbeautifu...
Source: The Health Care Blog - March 16, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Christina Liu Tags: COVID-19 Health Policy Source Type: blogs
Can the US health care system “ pull an Italy? ”
by MATTHEW HOLT
There has been a ton of analysis about COVID-19 and how bad it will get. Some like Joon Yun and Jeremy Faust say the panic is worse than the disease. Others have run the infection rate numbers and predicted that the US will run out of hospital capacity in early May and in Washington state much earlier (end of March).
But there’s no doubt that in the last week or so, sentiment has changed. This week I and 45,000 of my best friends are at home, not at HIMSS in Florida. Many big gatherings like SXSW, Comic-Con and Coachella have been cancelled. Most corporations that can are asking employees to wor...
Source: The Health Care Blog - March 10, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: matthew holt Tags: CORVID-19 Health Policy Italy Source Type: blogs
A Full-Scale Assault on Medical Debt, Part 1
By BOB HERTZ
The recent
proposal by Sen. Bernie Sanders to cancel $81 billion of medical debt is a very
good start—but it is only a start.
The RIP Medical
Debt group—which buys old medical debts, and then forgives them—is absolutely
in the right spirit. Its founders Craig Antico and Jerry Ashton deserve great
credit for keeping the issue of forgiveness alive.
Unfortunately,
over $88 billion in new medical debt is created each year; most of it still
held by providers, or sold to collectors, or embedded in credit card balances.
Tragically, none of this has to happen! In France, a visit to the doctor typical...
Source: The Health Care Blog - March 6, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Christina Liu Tags: Economics The Business of Health Care Bernie Sanders health economics medical cost medical debt Source Type: blogs
New Maritime Report Marked by Factual Errors and Dubious Claims
Colin GrabowThe Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments recently released a report on the U.S. maritime sector that hasgarneredconsiderablepraise from the Jones Act lobby. That ’s no surprise. EntitledStrengthening the U.S. Defense Maritime Industrial Base, the report explicitly calls for the Jones Act ’s retention. Overlooked amidst the plaudits, however, are factual errors and dubious assertions that call its endorsement of the law into question. This blog post will lay some of these out.Factual errorsThe report includes a number of factual errors. In this section, I note these incorrect cl...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - February 28, 2020 Category: American Health Authors: Colin Grabow Source Type: blogs
Smartphone With Laser and Thermal Cameras to Screen Passersby for Fever
The current coronavirus infecting thousands of people in China (COVID-19) is making public health authorities around the world responsible for screening millions of people going through airports, returning from cruises, and crossing borders by land. The number one tool is the thermometer and checking is usually done by placing it against the forehead of every individual undergoing screening. This is slow, tends to cause people to bunch together, and puts staff in close proximity to the people whose temperature they’re measuring, all contributing to increased chances of transmission of the virus.
Just in time, ...
Source: Medgadget - February 13, 2020 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Medgadget Editors Tags: Diagnostics Informatics Medicine Public Health Source Type: blogs
Fitbit Health Solutions: Interview with Amy McDonough, GM and Senior VP
FitBit, a well know maker of wearable devices, is rapidly expanding into data-oriented health solution services. That was an overarching theme in our conversation with Amy McDonough, General Manager and Senior Vice President for Fitbit Health Solutions. She sat down with us recently to tell us about the company’s offerings and how its solutions improve outcomes and decrease healthcare costs for consumers, employers, and insurance companies. The following is a description of our conversation with Ms. McDonough, taken from notes of the meeting, supplemented by additional information from the company.
Amy McDonough, ...
Source: Medgadget - February 6, 2020 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Medgadget Editors Tags: Cardiology Exclusive Sports Medicine Source Type: blogs
How Digital Health Technology Can Help Manage The Coronavirus Outbreak
“Chinese health authorities say an outbreak of a pneumonia-like illness has sickened 305 people and killed five”… No, this is not an excerpt from a recent news report about the Wuhan virus, but it is actually one from a CNN piece from 2003 when the SARS outbreak was raging. There are many similarities between the current outbreak to the SARS one from its geolocation to its spread to the viruses themselves.
However, much has changed within the 17 year gap between those two pandemics. For one, technology in the healthcare sector has known an exponential boom. New technologies that were nonexistent or...
Source: The Medical Futurist - January 28, 2020 Category: Information Technology Authors: Prans Tags: Artificial Intelligence Future of Medicine digital health digital technology epidemics global health coronavirus Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, January 27th 2020
Fight Aging! publishes news and commentary relevant to the goal of ending all age-related disease, to be achieved by bringing the mechanisms of aging under the control of modern medicine. This weekly newsletter is sent to thousands of interested subscribers. To subscribe or unsubscribe from the newsletter,
please visit:
https://www.fightaging.org/newsletter/
Longevity Industry Consulting Services
Reason, the founder of Fight Aging! and Repair Biotechnologies, offers strategic consulting services to investors, entrepreneurs, and others interested in the longevity industry and its complexities. To find out m...
Source: Fight Aging! - January 26, 2020 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
Coronavirus FAQ
What is a coronavirus?
Coronaviruses are a group of viruses that cause diseases in mammals, including humans, and birds.
Why are they called coronaviruses?
The name derives from the fact that the viral capsule has a “halo” or “crown” surrounding it.
What do coronaviruses do?
In humans, the virus infects the airways giving rise to flu-like symptoms, a runny nose, cough, sore throat and fever, these are usually mild, but in rare cases can be lethal.
Is there a vaccine against coronaviruses?
No.
Are there any drugs to block or treat infection?
No.
When were coronaviruses first discovered?
In the 1960s
...
Source: David Bradley Sciencebase - Songs, Snaps, Science - January 24, 2020 Category: Science Authors: David Bradley Tags: Sciencebase Source Type: blogs
Notes on the SENS Research Foundation Pitch Day, January 2020
The J.P. Morgan Healthcare conference runs every year in San Francisco, a big draw for the biotech industry, and many organizations take the opportunity to host events at the same time. Among these, the SENS Research Foundation has for the past few years hosted a pitch day in which biotech companies in the longevity industry, largely startups, present to that portion of the Bay Area investor community interested in funding the treatment of aging as a medical condition. I was there to present on progress at Repair Biotechnologies, and took some notes on the other companies as they talked about their work.
Kimera Labs
...
Source: Fight Aging! - January 20, 2020 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Investment Source Type: blogs
Easy-to-Remove Superhydrophobic Bandage Speeds Clotting of Wounds
Researchers at ETH Zurich and National University of Singapore have developed a new type of bandage that does not stick to the wound while helping blood to clot beneath it. This is the first time scientists have combined both properties in one material and the capability allows the bandage to promote healing and be easily removed or changed as necessary.
While their quest initially began with developing a material for coating heart and lung assist devices and artificial hearts, these researchers came upon an unexpected discovery. They developed and tried various superhydrophobic materials and one of them repelled blood...
Source: Medgadget - January 10, 2020 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Siavash Parkhideh Tags: Materials Medicine Plastic Surgery Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, January 6th 2020
Conclusion
A great deal of progress is being made in the matter of treating aging: in advocacy, in funding, in the research and development. It can never be enough, and it can never be fast enough, given the enormous cost in suffering and lost lives. The longevity industry is really only just getting started in the grand scheme of things: it looks vast to those of us who followed the slow, halting progress in aging research that was the state of things a decade or two ago. But it is still tiny compared to the rest of the medical industry, and it remains the case that there is a great deal of work yet to be done at all...
Source: Fight Aging! - January 5, 2020 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
