Fox News Flash top headlines for September 23 Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what’s clicking on Foxnews.com. Is the delta variant of the coronavirus worse for kids? Experts say there’s no strong evidence that it makes children and teens sicker than earlier versions of the virus,…
Tracking the shifting landscape of the opioid crisis
Few if any communities in the United States have escaped the opioid crisis, and in 2020, opioid overdose deaths rose sharply across the entire country. But the crisis plays out differently from place to place and over time. In some states, the crisis is more profound in rural communities while…
Breaking the cycle of shame about mental struggles in athletics
Long before sports superstars Naomi Osaka and Simone Biles braved the spotlight to defend their mental health, Graig Chow, a certified mental performance consultant at UC Berkeley, studied the culture that pushes elite athletes like NBA players Chamique Holdsclaw, Kevin Love and DeMar DeRozan to their breaking points. What he…
Whiteness in the time of COVID: Australia’s health services still leaving vulnerable communities behind
Due to the ongoing effects of colonization, First Nations peoples often experience socio-economic disadvantage and health inequality. The pandemic has no doubt worsened these conditions for some. In addition, the health of Australia’s First Nations peoples is framed in a deficit focus. This means representing First Nations people through a…
Is the placebo effect just a myth?
Many people have accepted the idea that taking a placebo—for example, a pill with no active medicine in it—can have powerful effects on the body. The reality is quite different, according to the authors of a Perspective published today by the Medical Journal of Australia. A placebo is designed to…
Four factors that increase the risk of vaccinated people getting COVID
Two weeks after your second COVID-19 vaccine dose, the protective effects of vaccination will be at their highest. At this point, you’re fully vaccinated. If you still get COVID-19 after this point, you’ve suffered a “breakthrough” infection. Broadly speaking, breakthrough infections are similar to regular COVID-19 infections in unvaccinated people—but…
Vaccines could affect how the coronavirus evolves, but that’s no reason to skip your shot
A 2015 paper on a chicken virus showed vaccines could enable more deadly variants to spread—in chickens. But that outcome is rare. Only a minority of human and animal vaccines have affected the evolution of a virus. In most of those cases, evolution didn’t increase the severity of the pathogen….
New discovery on the progression of dementia in Parkinson’s
An international study featuring Murdoch researchers has discovered a genetic variant with a five times higher risk factor for predicting the progression of dementia. Dementia is one of the most debilitating symptoms of disease progression in people with Parkinson’s disease, with a huge influence on quality of life, care givers…
Specialized cells teach the mother’s immune system to maintain a healthy pregnancy
During pregnancy, immune educator cells teach the mother’s immune system to recognize the developing fetus as part of her “self,” protecting it from being attacked as something “other,” according to our new study published in Science Immunology. The immune system normally protects the body from such invaders as infections and…
When the brain’s GPS goes off the grid
In a new study published in Nature today, Weizmann Institute of Science researchers, in collaboration with colleagues from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, unveiled for the first time how three-dimensional space is represented in the mammalian cortex by the brain’s “GPS” system. The team of researchers, led by Prof. Nachum…
Study: Public is torn over the issue of COVID-19 vaccinations in children
New research by a Swansea University expert has highlighted just how torn members of the public are over whether children should be offered COVID-19 vaccines. The study by Dr. Simon Williams revealed there remains a lot of hesitancy—particularly among parents—around an issue which many regard as a minefield. It has…