45 articles from SUNDAY 15.11.2020

Medical costs of discharged German COVID patients 50% above pre-admission levels: study

Medical costs of German COVID-19 patients who have left hospitals are on average 50% higher than before they were admitted, data from a major insurer showed, a sign that even those who have recovered struggle to regain full health. The study from Germany's second-largest health insurer DKV , seen by Reuters on Sunday, looked at the data of 5735 COVID-19 patients, of whom 605 were hospitalised and...

Starwatch: look out for the Leonid meteor shower this week

Shooting stars will be flying in all directions from a point near the head of Leo the lionThis week Earth ploughs through the debris stream that has been left in space from the tail of comet Tempel-Tuttle, and that means meteors. The Leonid meteor shower is so-called because all of the shooting stars associated with it appear to originate from a point just below the head of Leo, the lion. The...

'Nocebo effect' cause of most statin side-effects, study suggests

Negative expectations may play part, with adverse effects reported when taking placebo Many of the side-effects attributed to statins could be down to the “nocebo effect”, which occurs when someone expects to experience negative symptoms – even if the drug is a placebo – a study suggests.Statins are one of the most widely prescribed drugs in the UK, taken by nearly eight million people to...

Mangold-wurzels and their German roots

Vaccine for shielders | Mangold-wurzels | Geordies | Children in Need | Country diaryWhy have those advised to shield from Covid-19 been forgotten when it comes to the priority list for vaccination (How will a coronavirus vaccine be rolled out to the UK population?, 11 November)? The list is mainly based on age, not vulnerability. My healthy wife, aged 65, will have higher priority than me, aged...

The Guardian view on scientific progress: stifled by the profit motive | Editorial

The technology behind the promising Covid-19 vaccine was not of serious interest to big pharma until huge sums could be made from it. That is not a way to advance scienceIn his 2008 book Scientific Freedom, the scientist and author Donald Braben claimed, somewhat controversially, that the 20th century had been transformed because scientists were free to explore the boundaries of their respective...