DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Rhode Island pediatric beds are 100% full amid surge in respiratory viruses
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( Aria Bendix | Aria Bendix Is The Breaking Health Reporter For Nbc News Digital. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

Rhode Island is among the states most severely affected by the aggressive, nationwide surge of pediatric respiratory infections. As of Monday, 76% of pediatric hospital beds were full nationwide. Like most states, Rhode Island is seeing cases of flu, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), Covid and other respiratory viruses all at the same time. Weed said Rhode Island is unique in that "many states have more than one pediatric hospital, and we only have one." Overly said his hospital might benefit from Rhode Island declaring a state of emergency related to the surge of pediatric respiratory viruses.

☆ As Covid cases tick up, here are latest CDC guidelines for testing and isolation
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Aria Bendix | Aria Bendix Is The Breaking Health Reporter For Nbc News Digital. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

Guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about masking, testing and isolation haven't changed much since the CDC last updated its recommendations in August. When to wear a maskSince February, the CDC has based masking guidelines on three metrics: new Covid cases, hospital capacity and hospital admissions. The Food and Drug Administration recommends that people with a known exposure who test negative take a second test 48 hours later. for at least five days after your positive test (details about when to leave isolation can be found below). If you continue to test positive beyond day 10, the CDC recommends you continue masking.

☆ Highly processed foods are linked to early death, a new study finds
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Aria Bendix | Aria Bendix Is The Breaking Health Reporter For Nbc News Digital. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

That amounts to more than 10% of annual premature deaths in Brazil among that age group. The authors say their study is the first to estimate the impact of ultra-processed food on the risk of early death. The authors applied that model to Brazil's population and level of ultra-processed food consumption. Ultra-processed foods can often be identified by their long list of ingredients, many of which you wouldn’t normally find in your own kitchen. Willett also said that there may be little benefit to replacing ultra-processed foods with certain items, such as more red meat or foods cooked in a lot of butter.

☆ The Powerball jackpot just hit a record $1.9 billion. Here's why people believe they'll win — even when the odds are 1 in 292 million.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Aria Bendix | Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

The $1.9 billion Powerball jackpot is the largest in history, with the next drawing Monday night. Players are more likely to get killed by fireworks than win the prize, but they still purchase tickets. The Powerball jackpot soared to an all-time high after no winners were declared in three recent drawings. Those who enter have about a 1 in 292.2 million chance of taking home the prize, according to Powerball. While it may seem silly to think that we could actually win the lottery, Americans are quite fond of throwing their hat in the ring.

☆ Here's why people believe they'll win the record $1.5 billion Powerball jackpot — even when the odds are 1 in 292 million
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( Aria Bendix | Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

The $1.5 billion Powerball jackpot is the second largest prize in history, with the next drawing Saturday. Players are more likely to get killed by fireworks than win the prize, but they still purchase tickets. The Powerball jackpot is soaring toward a record high after no winners were declared in two recent drawings. Those who enter have about a 1 in 292.2 million chance of taking home the prize, according to Powerball. While it may seem silly to think that we could actually win the lottery, Americans are quite fond of throwing their hat in the ring.

☆ Monkeypox may spread before symptoms appear, study suggests
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( Aria Bendix | Aria Bendix Is The Breaking Health Reporter For Nbc News Digital. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

From the start of the global monkeypox outbreak, researchers have hoped that people could only spread the virus once they developed symptoms. In addition to painful lesions, monkeypox symptoms can include fever, chills, swollen lymph nodes, headaches, muscle aches, back pain and fatigue. The study is the first to demonstrate that poxviruses, which include both monkeypox and smallpox, can spread in this manner. Past research suggested that asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic transmission of monkeypox was possible, but only symptomatic transmission had been documented. With this new observation about pre-symptomatic spread, Freeman said, it may be impossible to reach a point of zero cases.

☆ Effects of Supreme Court abortion ruling: Longer travel time, more requests for pills
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-01 | by ( Aria Bendix | Aria Bendix Is The Breaking Health Reporter For Nbc News Digital. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

Infants born as a result of an unintended pregnancy, meanwhile, face a higher risk of low birth weight or preterm birth. Ashana's article asserts that every hour of delayed care increases a patient’s risk of adverse outcomes or death. But in some cases, abortion restrictions require waiting until a person is hemorrhaging or develops sepsis before performing a lifesaving abortion. Hassan said medication abortion presents "a lot of opportunity to be able to expand into places that are geographically difficult for people to access abortion." "There are a lot of things within the health care system environment that could change, including the way we think about where abortion care can be accessed," Hassan said.

☆ Clocks turn back this weekend, but the future of daylight saving time is far from settled
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( Aria Bendix | Aria Bendix Is The Breaking Health Reporter For Nbc News Digital. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

ET on Sunday, clocks in the U.S. will turn back one hour as daylight saving time ends, marking the beginning of winter's dark evenings. Sleep experts don't support year-round daylight saving timeIdeally, the sun should reach its highest point at noon, according to sleep experts. Then at night, daylight saving can lead people to go to bed later, which can delay the body’s production of melatonin. These cumulative health risks likely influenced Mexico’s Senate vote last week to eliminate daylight saving time there. The original argument for delaying daylight doesn't hold upThe U.S. first adopted daylight saving time in 1918 to save oil and electricity during World War I.

☆ Conservative policies linked to higher mortality, except regarding marijuana
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Aria Bendix | Aria Bendix Is The Breaking Health Reporter For Nbc News Digital. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

Conservative state policies regarding the environment, gun safety, labor, taxes and tobacco have been associated with higher mortality rates among working-age people relative to liberal policies, new research found. Conservative policies did the opposite. The link between liberal marijuana policies — such as legalization and access to medical cannabis — and higher mortality was also unexpected, Montez said. By contrast, if all had adopted the most conservative policies, nearly 218,000 more working-age people might have died. Warraich's own research has shown that death rates in counties that voted for Democrats in presidential elections fell 22% between 2001 and 2019, while death rates in Republican-voting counties declined by just 11%.

☆ Surge of viruses leaves children’s hospitals scrambling to free up beds and find room for patients
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Aria Bendix | Aria Bendix Is The Breaking Health Reporter For Nbc News Digital. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

Every inpatient bed at Comer Children’s Hospital in Chicago has been full for more than six weeks. Many of the patients at Comer Children’s have RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, which can cause lung infections. Some hospitals are sending ICU patients directly home once their cases are no longer acute, rather than to another floor. Dr. Kevin Messacar, an infectious disease specialist at Children’s Hospital Colorado, said his hospital is accepting patients from five nearby states. But suctioning can be tricky for parents, according to Dr. Elizabeth Schlaudecker, an infectious disease specialist at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital.

Oct 25 (Reuters) - Biogen Inc (BIIB.O) on Tuesday said the Alzheimer's disease drug it is developing with Japan's Eisai Co Ltd (4523.T) would be used by doctors in a competitive market as investors wait for data from rival therapies made by Eli Lilly and Co (LLY.N) and Roche (ROG.S). The drug, lecanemab was shown to slow the progress of the disease by 27% in a trial last month, and additional data is expected next month. "The data needs to be seen from the other anti-amyloid therapies before we decide what is going to be meaningful," said Biogen interim research chief Priya Singhal. Its costs were about halved as the company significantly cut back on commercial infrastructure around the launch of Aduhelm, its previous Alzheimer's drug that has sputtered amid controversy over efficacy and lack of coverage by health insurers. read moreInvestors have been pinning hopes on the Alzheimer's drug as cheaper generics of Biogen's multiple sclerosis treatment Tecfidera have entered the market, hurting sales.

☆ Monkeypox emergency orders are set to expire, but eradication isn't likely
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-22 | by ( Aria Bendix | Aria Bendix Is The Breaking Health Reporter For Nbc News Digital. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

San Francisco will not renew its monkeypox public health emergency declaration when it expires at the end of the month. Many experts are optimistic that, eventually, the U.S. could sometimes see no new monkeypox cases within a limited time frame. That’s unfortunately the reality of public health in the U.S., and it needs to change," Roess said. Racial inequities also persist in vaccine distribution, so Black and Hispanic people consequently make up a disproportionate share of monkeypox cases. Despite the delays and failings in the U.S., Morse said, the monkeypox outbreak "could have been a lot worse."

Seattle and Portland, Oregon, were first and second, respectively, in the global ranking of places with the poorest air quality, according to IQAir, a Swiss company that measures air pollution. Air quality issues have persisted for about a month because of the prolonged fires burning west of the Cascades. That’s what’s been contributing to the persistent air quality issues we’ve had." Sports and other outdoor activities in the Pacific Northwest have been called off due to the poor air quality. The problem is worst in the West, where rising air pollution levels due to smoke have reversed decades of improvements in overall air quality.

☆ Gas stoves can leak chemicals linked to cancer, mounting evidence shows
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( Aria Bendix | Aria Bendix Is The Breaking Health Reporter For Nbc News Digital. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

Natural gas stoves and ovens can leak harmful chemicals inside homes even when they're not in use. The World Health Organization has said there’s no safe level of benzene exposure when it comes to cancer risk. Decades of research has suggested that gas stoves are a source of indoor air pollution. Another co-author of the study, Drew Michanowicz, previously identified 21 hazardous air pollutants from gas stoves and outdoor gas lines at Boston homes. Pregnant women, infants and young children may be particularly susceptible to adverse health outcomes from long-term benzene exposure, De Vizcaya Ruiz said.

☆ Babies born to Black mothers who use fertility treatments die at far higher rates than those born to white mothers
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-19 | by ( Aria Bendix | Aria Bendix Is The Breaking Health Reporter For Nbc News Digital. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

Babies born to Black mothers are twice as likely to die in the first month than infants born to white women. That death rate was 1.6% among babies born to Black mothers, compared with just 0.3% for babies born to white mothers. Death rates were twice as high among newborns of Asian, Pacific Islander and Hispanic mothers who used fertility technologies compared with babies born to white mothers. Black women are also twice as likely to have stillbirths or preterm births than white women, according to Lisonkova's study. Indeed, Black women in the study who conceived using fertility treatments were slighter older on average than white women who did so.

☆ How to survive a nuclear bomb attack: Minute-by-minute steps to protect yourself
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-19 | by ( Aria Bendix | Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

If a nuclear bomb were headed toward the US, residents would have 30 minutes or less to shelter. Russian Presidential Press Service/APA nuclear attack remains highly unlikely, but it's not out of the question, experts say. Redlener said the best way to learn of an impending nuclear attack would probably be TV or radio. Survivors of a nuclear attack would have about 15 minutes before sandlike radioactive particles, known as nuclear fallout, reached the ground. The US Department of Health and Human Services recommends staying indoors for at least 24 hours after a nuclear explosion.

"Look we all love Emmanuel the Emu but he has avian flu. Avian flu experts, too, said touching an infected emu isn't advisable, given that the virus can jump from animals to humans in rare cases. H5N1, the bird flu strain currently spreading, is highly contagious among birds, and it can be deadly to them. "Once an avian virus can move to mammals, now we’re in the realm of 'Yeah, we better be careful.'" All three experts said scientists are watching this bird flu closely even though the risk to humans is low.

☆ Surge in cases of RSV, a virus that can severely sicken infants, is filling hospital beds
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-15 | by ( Aria Bendix | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

He tested positive for respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, a common virus that causes lung infections. Aesop was moved to a pediatric ICU on Tuesday after his heart and breathing rates soared. Many RSV patients in Massachusetts are being transferred to nearby states, she added. At Comer Children's Hospital in Chicago, hospital and ICU beds have been full for over a month. He said the volume of RSV patients is "two to three times what we've ever experienced."

☆ Surge in RSV, virus that can severely sicken infants, fills hospital beds
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-14 | by ( Aria Bendix | Aria Bendix Is The Breaking Health Reporter For Nbc News Digital. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +9 min

He tested positive for respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, a common virus that causes lung infections. Aesop was moved to a pediatric ICU on Tuesday after his heart and breathing rates soared. Many RSV patients in Massachusetts are being transferred to nearby states, she added. At Comer Children’s Hospital in Chicago, hospital and ICU beds have been full for over a month. He said the volume of RSV patients is "two to three times what we’ve ever experienced."

☆ Russia's war in Ukraine raises a harrowing question: How widespread would fallout from a nuclear bomb be?
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-14 | by ( Aria Bendix | Azmi Haroun | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

"Ukraine doesn't have nuclear weapons, so the risk of nuclear war in this scenario is if, somehow, the conflict escalated to pull in NATO countries or the US," she added. "That raises the risk of nuclear confrontation because some of the NATO countries have nuclear weapons." The US, for instance, has about 5,500 nuclear weapons, while Russia has about 6,000, according to the Federation of American Scientists. When a nuclear bomb strikes, it sets off a flash of light, a giant orange fireball, and building-toppling shockwaves. The fallout of a nuclear bomb also depends on how a country chooses to detonate it.

☆ Biogen's Alzheimer's drug could be more competitive than peers, Stifel says in upgrade to buy
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-13 | by ( Sarah Min | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Biogen 's new Alzheimer's treatment could lead to even stronger gains for the biotech company going forward, according to Stifel. Analyst Paul Matteis upgraded shares of the biotech company to buy from hold, saying that upcoming data for Alzheimer treatments from competitors Roche and Eli Lilly could show that clinical results for Biogen's product, lecanemab, could be more competitive than feared. "Gantenerumab and donanemab readouts are overhangs for Biogen, but there's reason to think that in most scenarios, lecanemab will have a competitive clinical profile," he added. Shares of Biogen outperformed this year, up 5.7%, as investors pivoted into health care companies for their defensive attributes. Still, the analyst is concerned about challenges for the biotech company, including uncertainty around the company's future CEO.

☆ Babies born during the pandemic may have delayed communication skills
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-12 | by ( Aria Bendix | Aria Bendix Is The Breaking Health Reporter For Nbc News Digital. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

Babies born into Covid-related lockdowns have taken longer to reach certain developmental milestones than babies born pre-pandemic, a study found. The results were based on a questionnaire given to parents of 309 babies in Ireland during the pandemic. In January, researchers at Columbia University found that babies born in New York City from March to December 2020 had less developed motor and social skills by six months than babies born between November 2017 and January 2020. Contrary to the other observed trends, the researchers in Ireland found that 97% of pandemic babies were able to crawl at 1 year compared to 91% of babies born earlier. Her team will continue to observe the same babies to see how their communication skills change by age 2, or perhaps even older.

☆ In a novel experiment, brain-like human tissue implanted in rat brains influenced the rodents' behavior
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-12 | by ( Aria Bendix | Aria Bendix Is The Breaking Health Reporter For Nbc News Digital. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

Their results, published Wednesday in the journal Nature, showed that the brain-like human tissue integrated with the rat tissue, then continued to mature. The researchers injected the human tissue into the rats’ somatosensory cortexes — regions that receive and process sensory information like touch or pain. The researchers also used a puff of air to prod the rats’ whiskers, then observed how the human neurons responded. "We found that human neurons respond very quickly after we stimulated the whiskers. "Human neurons become part of the rat circuitry," Pașca said, adding that the neurons were "sparkling with electrical activity" under a microscope.

☆ Covid death rates higher among Republicans than Democrats, research shows
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-06 | by ( Aria Bendix | Aria Bendix Is The Breaking Health Reporter For Nbc News Digital. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

Covid deaths are unevenly distributed among Republicans and Democrats. Excess death rates in Florida and Ohio were 153% higher among Republicans than Democrats during that time, the paper showed. But the June study suggested that Covid vaccine uptake explained just 10% of the partisan gap in the deaths. Both Wallace and Sehgal said their studies shouldn't be misinterpreted as blaming Republicans for Covid deaths. Gerald predicted that the partisan gap in Covid deaths could narrow over time as more people get Covid and acquire immunity, regardless of their vaccination status.

☆ New research points to health benefits of eating earlier in the day and within a 10-hour window
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-05 | by ( Aria Bendix | Aria Bendix Is The Breaking Health Reporter For Nbc News Digital. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

That eating window also improved blood pressure and blood sugar levels among firefighters with underlying health conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Late eating could 'tip the scale' toward weight gainThe first of the two new studies involved 16 people who were overweight or obese. The researchers measured participants' hormone levels and found that late eating decreased levels of leptin — a hormone that helps people feel full — by 16% on average. Late eating also doubled the odds that people felt hungry (people self-reported their appetite level at 18 times throughout the day). Among firefighters with pre-existing risk factors for heart disease, time-restricted eating decreased blood pressure and blood sugar levels.

Search resuls for: "ARIA"

25 mentions found