Scientists are narrowing in on the fastest-growing COVID-19 variant, learning more about the strain that has coincided with a rise in cases as Americans head into the holidays. #AureFreePress#News#covid19#covid
NEW research finds maternal COVID-19 infection during pregnancy causally, and substantially, increased the risk of preterm birth—an infant outcome with lifelong consequences for health and socioeconomic well-being.
Today, a young American woman between the ages of 25 and 34 face higher mortality rates than at any other point in more than 50 years. And had the mortality rate remained flat between 2000 and 2021, nearly 40,000 young women would not have died.
~Sara Srygley of PRB
RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT🖊️ Did #covid19 lead to a new health-economy cleavage? 🧵
Lorenzo Cicchi wrote a blog article to summarise the main findings of the #EUI paper on sectoral affectedness and #covid policy preferences.
The authors found out that "[...] personal beliefs and values, including ideological leanings and trust in scientists, emerge as key drivers of policy preferences."
I'm copying a public post below from an interesting Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Data Science at UNCC (not a medical doctor or psychologist).
Everything he is discussing is TENTATIVE but very interesting. I'm sending this out now because there is so little in the popular press about what can actually be done to help people with brain fog and other Long COVID symptoms. The research is still very early, and of course medical professionals should be consulted.
The article link from Nature Magazine describes brain damage caused by SARS-CoV-2 related to cell death and especially to synapse loss, leading to cognitive impairment.
The study in Bioelectric Medicine is extremely small, yet shows the potential of nicotine patches in the treatment of Long COVID symptoms including brain fog. (Another paper from the same publication also goes into why nicotine might help with Long COVID: https://bioelecmed.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s42234-023-00104-7 )
He then points to a study on the NIH PubMed site reporting the encouragement of synapse growth from psilocybin.
A comment in the discussion thread also links to a British Medical Journal article on Metformin improving Long COVID symptoms ( https://www.bmj.com/content/381/bmj.p1306 )
There's further speculation in the discussion thread that other psychoactive substances might be helpful. There are perhaps AI bots in the discussion thread discussing psilocybin microdosing, so be aware of that and maybe not get excited that so many "people" are discussing it.
From: <https://ourislandgeorgia.net/@Wolven/111412769611401616>
Dr. Damien P. Williams
@Wolven
…HUH. Long-COVID destroys synapses, and is a major contributor to the brainfog. <https://www.nature.com/articles/s41380-022-01786-2>
This goes some way to shining a light on the promising results they've been seeing in testing nicotine patches as treatment for long covid: nicotine effects synapse formation and receptivity (tests using patches because they don't habit-form and aren't, y'know, SMOKE [<https://bioelecmed.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s42234-023-00104-7>]).
But what's super interesting to me is that another thing that's also been shown to encourage synapse growth? Is psilocybin.
<https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34228959/>
From: <https://ourislandgeorgia.net/@Wolven/111412769611401616>
~~~
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy #research @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] #Vaccines #COVID #longcovid #science #medicine #hospital #brainfog #sarscov2 #metformin #nicotine #nicotinepatch #psilocybin
It's a day.
I'm in a dark mood but it will pass.
It's a good time to share this art, lol.
This was pure COVID art, made at the beginning when we knew next to nothing & I needed a place to put all my... Everything.
I wasn't concerned with how it looked or how perfect it was, and for me it remains a perfect snapshot of a moment in time- anxiety, angst, & anger trapped on a page.
This article (from 2021) is infuriating on the unwillingness of Very Important Scientists to reconsider their categories and recognize that #CovidIsAirborne during the crucial first phase of the pandemic, and illuminating on how the work of #histodons can help scientists understand how their categories came to be.
The description of the historical work is fascinating - and, of course, leads to a #Chortlemuffin.
The two major "holidays" for disabled people in the US are July 26 - the anniversary of the signing into law of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM) in October. The former at least has real ties to disability activism and history although it is also focused on cheerleading the legislative floor that institutions still haven't met 33 years later.
The latter is aimed at (abled) employers and is even more about cheering the status quo.
"Accommodations" is a term that says inaccessibility is the desired default - anything that differs from that is noblesse oblige from abled people - rather than our actual right as co-equal members of this society.
Because this is nominally for disabled people - this is one of the few University of California events with captions and (presumably ASL) interpretation, and an online option.
Another UC Davis development program for grad students that is only offered in-person during a pandemic, masks not mandated. In fact, masks are sure to be off because food is included.
When people react like disabled students are "cheating" by getting their access needs met, remember all the education/research/career opportunities disabled students weren't even considered part of the intended audience. @academicchatter@disability
Disclaimer: The data in this column come from either mainstream news
media sources or scientific research published in peer-reviewed
journals (each category can be determined by following the links in
the reference section). This column's author acknowledges the cultural
bias of the world scientific community in its belief that the
scientific method is the most viable available alternative for
assessing COVID-19 and its effects in an objective manner through a
structured process of observable and repeatable hypothesis testing.
Summary: A new study finds SARS-CoV-2 directly infects the coronary
vasculature and causes plaque inflammation, which could help explain
why people with COVID-19 have an increased risk for ischemic
cardiovascular complications up to 1 year after infection (see
"COVID-19 Virus Infects Coronary Vasculature" under COVID
Complications).
People with rheumatic disease and a history of a specific type of cold
virus infection called OC43 are at elevated risk for developing long
COVID (see "A Common Cold Might Set Some Up for Long COVID" under
Virology & Epidemiology).
Two scientists who pioneered an underlying technology to harness
fragile genetic material in a way that ultimately resulted in the mRNA
vaccines used to combat the COVID-19 pandemic were named winners of
the Nobel Prize in medicine (see "Pair of Trailblazers of mRNA Vaccine
Science Win Nobel Prize" under Media News).
When used against current strains of COVID-19, Pfizer's antiviral
Paxlovid is less effective at preventing hospitalization or death in
high-risk patients. But when looking at death alone, the antiviral is
still highly effective (see "Paxlovid Weaker Against Current COVID-19
Variants" under Vaccinations, Treatment & Testing).
Average levels of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID, being found
in wastewater are down about 5%, compared to last week (see
"Wastewater Data Hint at Possible COVID Decline in Some Areas" under
Virology & Epidemiology).
A panel of independent advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) will meet next month to make recommendations on
updated COVID-19 vaccines ahead of the fall season (see "CDC Advisers
Set to Vote on Updated COVID Vaccines Next Month" under Policy).
A long-term study indicates a correlation between COVID-19 and lasting
cardiovascular impairment (see "Cardiovascular Assessment up to One
Year After COVID-19 Vaccine–Associated Myocarditis" under COVID
Complications).
Mean weekly cannabis-involved ED visits among all young persons were
higher during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, 2021, and 2022 (see
"Cannabis-Involved Emergency Department Visits Among Persons Aged <25
Years Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic" under COVID
Complications).
As the rollout of the newly formulated COVID-19 booster shot begins in
earnest, many Americans are finding roadblocks (see "Shortages, Cost,
and Frustration: Quest for the New COVID Shot" under Policy).
Relatives of COVID ICU patients demonstrate a range of coping styles
and impact on quality of life (see "Quality of Life and Coping With
Stress in Relatives of Patients in Intensive Care Units During
COVID-19" under COVID Complications).
The biotech Moderna said Wednesday that its first combination vaccine,
which protects against influenza and Covid-19, had succeeded in an
early-stage trial and could be ready to launch as soon as 2025 (see
"Moderna’s Combo Vaccine Moves Towards Late-Stage Trial" under
Vaccines, Treatment & Testing).
The May 11, 2023 termination of the PHE has made it increasingly
difficult to accurately track COVID-19 new cases or fatalities.
However, new variants of concern continue to emerge, with consequent
infections and deaths.
Since the termination of the PHE, data on vaccination rates are no
longer being tracked. The last known US COVID-19 vaccination rates
(May 10, 2023) are as follows: full
vaccination (two initial doses) 69.3%; at least one updated booster
dose: 17% (see "Track Covid-19 in the U.S." under
Vaccines, Treatment & Testing). "Our World in Data" stopped trying to
track US booster rates on August 30, 2022 and shows a flat line since
then.
.
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NYU Information for Practice puts out 400-500 good quality health-related research posts per week but its too much for many people, so that bot is limited to just subscribers. You can subscribe at @PsychResearchBot
So, one of my favourite #conferences is happening in two weeks. The program looks fantastic. There is also an #accessibility FAQ page. Nice!
Except... does the page mention #covid? No. Maybe the "hybrid experience" page mentions #covid19? No. Nothing on any 'attend' page mentions anything pandemic. You can assure yourself that the venue is non-smoking, but the word "mask" is absent. 🤷♂️ This is what collective denial looks like.
Do better. #CovidIsNotOver#COVIDisAirborne@academicchatter
My CUNY J-school project investigates the common challenges that people with #disabilities in NYC faced prior to #covid when finding a job and keeping it, and explores how the pandemic may have changed things.
The #PanDDemiC portal is updated with new resources! 📢
Several projects, like our sister @horizoneu projects LEGITIMULT and ROBUST are added and useful datasets to learn more about human rights, conflict and policies related to #covid.
Recent blog entry by disability activist Alice Wong.
"This was the first time a host asked me to consider modifying my response. It felt like censorship to me, a way to dampen my valid frustration and disappointment in certain public figures and reshape my remarks in the name of civility, respectability, and palatability." @academicchatter@disability
Just got my COVID booster and everything hurts. But what hurts worse was the pharmacist telling me that she’s had to turn people away WHO WANTED THE SHOT because their insurance providers refuse to cover it (manufacturers are charging ~$120).
If your insurance provider won't cover your booster (or if you don't have insurance) the CDC's Bridge Access Program can help! It covers no-cost COVID-19 vaccines until December 31, 2024, more info here: https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/programs/bridge/index.html
Depressing that "more than half of americans plan to get latest covid booster" is good news, but it's better than last round. Hopefully utterly idiotic partisan divide is starting to wane.
Just get your shots. Yeah even republicans. I fucking hate you but your corpses are fucking up our medical systems, stop it.