Simon Schama on the broken relationship between humans and nature: ‘The joke’s on us. Things are amiss’
More than ever, the relationship between our two worlds has been disrupted, says the historian. If we don ’t mend our ways, will we face even deadlier threats than Covid, Sars and Mpox?In March 2021, the 13th month of the Covid confinement, thepeepers, in their vast multitudes, sang out again. Down in the swampy wetlands below our house in Hudson Valley, New York, millions ofPseudacris crucifer ( “cross-bearing false locusts” but actually minute frogs) puffed up their air sacs and warbled for a mate. That’s spring for you. The peepers are so tiny – an inch or so long – that you’ll never see one, no matter how...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - May 13, 2023 Category: Science Authors: Simon Schama Tags: Epidemics Coronavirus Animals World Health Organization Simon Schama Culture Infectious diseases Science Illegal wildlife trade Environment Vaccines and immunisation Society Microbiology Source Type: news
World Health Organization Says COVID-19 Is No Longer a Global Emergency
GENEVA (AP) — The World Health Organization said Friday that COVID-19 no longer qualifies as a global emergency, marking a symbolic end to the devastating coronavirus pandemic that triggered once-unthinkable lockdowns, upended economies worldwide and killed at least 7 million people worldwide.
WHO said that even though the emergency phase was over, the pandemic hasn’t come to an end, noting recent spikes in cases in Southeast Asia and the Middle East. The U.N. health agency says that thousands of people are still dying from the virus every week.
“It’s with great hope that I declare COVID-19 over as ...
Source: TIME: Health - May 5, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: MARIA CHENG and JAMEY KEATEN / AP Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 wire Source Type: news
Why It Took So Long to Finally Get an RSV Vaccine
Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) can dangerously compromise breathing, especially for infants and the elderly. But there has been no vaccine to prevent it—until today. On May 3, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first vaccine against RSV, from GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), to prevent respiratory disease in people ages 60 and older. The Centers for Disease Control’s vaccine committee will make formal recommendations in June about who should receive the vaccine, but GSK says it currently has enough doses to vaccinate eligible people beginning this fall.
In studies involving 25,000 people that GSK...
Source: TIME: Health - May 3, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Alice Park Tags: Uncategorized Drugs healthscienceclimate Source Type: news
Colombian officials halt research, seize animals at NIH-supported facility after alleged monkey mistreatment
The couple that runs the operation also falsified ethics approvals for both human and animal studies that could affect
at least 24
papers published in
Nature Communications
,
Redox Biology
,
Vaccine
,
PLOS ONE
,
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases
, and elsewhere,
Retraction Watch reported
yesterday, citing allegations by the animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). PETA conducted an
18-month investigation
of the animal facility, part of the
Caucaseco Scientific Research Consortium
in the Colombian city of ...
Source: ScienceNOW - April 28, 2023 Category: Science Source Type: news
Africa: Vaccines Do Not Cause Magnetism, No Evidence Government Is 'Secretly Injecting the Vaccine Into Meat'
[Africa Check] IN SHORT: No vaccines - including ones against Covid-19 - cause the vaccinated to become magnetised, whether human or animal. And there's no government plot to inject meat with Covid-19 mRNA vaccines, despite persistent rumours to this effect online. (Source: AllAfrica News: Health and Medicine)
Source: AllAfrica News: Health and Medicine - April 25, 2023 Category: African Health Source Type: news
Champion of the gorillas: the vet fighting to save Uganda ’s great apes
Under the watchful and resourceful eye of award-winning conservationist Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka, Uganda ’s threatened mountain gorilla population has made an impressive recovery – as has the local communityTheBwindi Impenetrable Forest is tucked away in a remote corner of southwest Uganda. Meaning “place of darkness” in the Runyakitara language, this dense, mist-swathed rainforest makes for a good hiding place for half of the world’s remaining mountain gorillas. The other half, which the American primatologistDian Fossey so famously befriended, live in Rwanda ’sVirunga national park.These majestic but shy creatu...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - April 23, 2023 Category: Science Authors: Fleur Britten Tags: Conservation Animals Animal welfare Animal behaviour Biology Science Environment Uganda Source Type: news
The ‘invented persona’ behind a key pandemic database
When Jeremy Kamil started to sequence samples of the rapidly spreading pandemic coronavirus in the spring of 2020, it was clear where he should deposit the genetic data: in
GISAID
, a long-running database for influenza genomes that had established itself as the go-to repository for SARS-CoV-2 as well.
Kamil, a virologist at Louisiana State University’s (LSU’s) Health Sciences Center Shreveport, says he quickly struck up a friendly relationship with a Steven Meyers, who used a gisaid.org email address. The two often exchanged emails and talked on the phone, sometimes for hours, about the pandemic and da...
Source: ScienceNOW - April 19, 2023 Category: Science Source Type: news
Superbugs Among Top 10 Threats to Whole Cycle of Life
"If people do not change the way antibiotics are used now, these new antibiotics will suffer the same fate as the current ones and become ineffective” . Credit: Adil Siddiqi/IPSBy Baher KamalMADRID, Apr 11 2023 (IPS) Research after research, world’s scientists renew their loud alerts against the high dangers of human-driven ‘superbugs’ – bacterias and pathogens that no longer respond to antimicrobials, making infections harder to treat and increasing the risk of disease spread, severe illness and death.
No way.
The pressure of giant industrial sectors appear to be heavier than the needed political wel...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - April 11, 2023 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Baher Kamal Tags: Global Headlines Health TerraViva United Nations Antibiotic Resistance Source Type: news
Zoetis Stock Shows Healthy Growth Along With Puppies, Kittens
The number of animal pets in the U.S. shot up during the pandemic, giving a boost to pet and livestock medicines and vaccines maker Zoetis (ZTS). The American Medical Veterinary Association said in an October report that "... the percentage of U.S. households that own at least one dog increased…#zts #amva #relativestrength #rs #zoetis #rsratingforzoetis #rsrating #zoetisstock #smrrating #zoetisstockprice (Source: Reuters: Health)
Source: Reuters: Health - April 10, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
Update on IMBRUVICA ® (ibrutinib) U.S. Accelerated Approvals for Mantle Cell Lymphoma and Marginal Zone Lymphoma Indications
HORSHAM, Pa., April 6, 2023 – The Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, in collaboration with its alliance partner, Pharmacyclics, an AbbVie Company, announced today the intent to voluntarily withdraw the U.S. indications for IMBRUVICA® (ibrutinib) for the treatment of patients with mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) who have received at least one prior therapy, and for the treatment of patients with marginal zone lymphoma (MZL) who require systemic therapy and have received at least one prior anti-CD20-based therapy. This decision was made in consultation with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), c...
Source: Johnson and Johnson - April 6, 2023 Category: Pharmaceuticals Tags: Latest News Source Type: news
Bird shots: Is vaccinating poultry the best defense against a deadly bird flu?
Lakeside, California—
Hilliker’s Ranch Fresh Eggs in this San Diego suburb has 30,000 chickens in three “cage-free,” open-air barns, where birds crowd the floor like rush-hour riders on a big city subway. “A cage-free aviary is a very interesting science experiment,” says Frank Hilliker, who runs the farm his
grandfather started
in 1942. He worries mightily about infections spreading through the massed birds. On his iPhone, he pulls up a list of the vaccines his chickens get: against Newcastle disease, infectious laryngotracheitis, coryza, colibacillosis, salmonella, infectious bronchitis, and fo...
Source: ScienceNOW - April 6, 2023 Category: Science Source Type: news
The Unique Challenges of the Fentanyl Epidemic
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 107,477 drug-related deaths occurred from August 2021 to August 2022, with the majority attributed to the potent synthetic opioid, fentanyl. These provisional estimates reflect a modest (2.57%) decrease from the previous year, defying an increasing trend that has persisted for the last 20 years where opioids have been the primary driver of overdose deaths. Through its evolutions, the current opioid epidemic has proven to be an ever-moving target, and there’s much we still need to learn in order to curb fentanyl exposure and overdose.
The origins...
Source: TIME: Health - April 6, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Jermaine Jones Tags: Uncategorized freelance health Source Type: news
Nanoparticle with mRNA appears to prevent, treat peanut allergies in mice
Key takeawaysPeanuts are one of the most common food allergens for children.UCLA scientists have developed a nanoparticle that delivers mRNA to liver cells in order to teach the immune system to tolerate peanut protein and alleviate allergies.In mice, the nanoparticle successfully dampened symptoms of serious allergy.Peanut allergies affect 1 in 50 children, and the most severe cases lead to a potentially deadly immune reaction called anaphylactic shock.Currently, there is only one approved treatment that reduces the severity of the allergic reaction, and it takes months to kick in. A group of UCLA immunologists is aiming ...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - April 3, 2023 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
Nasal COVID-19 vaccine heads for human testing
Researchers in Germany said a trial of COVID-19 vaccination administered through the nose has shown great promise in animal testing and is now preparing for Phase I clinical trials in humans. (Source: Health News - UPI.com)
Source: Health News - UPI.com - April 3, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
ERLEADA ® (apalutamide), First-and-Only Next-Generation Androgen Receptor Inhibitor with Once-Daily, Single-Tablet Option, Now Available in the U.S.
HORSHAM, Pa., April 3, 2023 – The Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson today announced the availability of an additional tablet strength of ERLEADA® (apalutamide) in the United States. The introduction of the 240mg tablet provides the first-and-only option for a once-daily, single-tablet Androgen Receptor Inhibitor (ARI) approved for the treatment of patients with non-metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (nmCRPC) and for the treatment of patients with metastatic castration-sensitive prostate cancer (mCSPC).With two strengths available, healthcare professionals will have the flexibility to...
Source: Johnson and Johnson - April 3, 2023 Category: Pharmaceuticals Tags: Latest News Source Type: news
