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...

SpaceX aims for night crew launch, Musk sidelined by virus

SpaceX aimed for a Sunday night launch of four astronauts to the International Space Station, although the prospects of good weather were just 50-50 and its leader was sidelined by COVID-19. Vice President Mike Pence was expected at NASA's Kennedy Space Center for the long-awaited start of regular crew rotations aboard privately owned and operated capsules. It also marked only the second time in...

Platypuses Glow Under Blacklight. We Have No Idea Why.

When last we checked on the platypus, it was confounding our expectations of mammals with its webbed feet, duck-like bill and laying of eggs. More than that, it was producing venom.Now it turns out that even its drab-seeming coat has been hiding a secret -- when you turn on the blacklights, it starts to glow.Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York TimesAs noted last month in the...

SpaceX and NASA set for first operational astronaut mission to space

The company's newly designed Crew Dragon capsule, which the crew has dubbed Resilience, was set for liftoff atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 7:27 p.m. Eastern time (0027 GMT on Monday) from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The 27-hour ride to the space station, an orbiting laboratory some 250 miles (400 km) above Earth, was originally scheduled to begin on Saturday. NASA...

Cable failures endanger renowned Puerto Rico radio telescope

Giant, aging cables that support one of the world's largest single-dish radio telescopes are slowly unraveling in this U.S. territory, pushing an observatory renowned for its key role in astronomical discoveries to the brink of collapse. The Arecibo Observatory, which is tethered above a sinkhole in Puerto Rico’s lush mountain region, boasts a 1,000-foot-wide (305-meter-wide) dish featured in...

Damage to multiple organs recorded in 'long Covid' cases

Exclusive: study of low-risk individuals finds impairments four months after infectionCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageYoung and previously healthy people with ongoing symptoms of Covid-19 are showing signs of damage to multiple organs four months after the initial infection, a study suggests.The findings are a step towards unpicking the physical underpinnings and...

'There's nothing to keep a lid on it': is lockdown making us eccentric?

Psychologists say changes in behaviour, from talking to yourself to fashion experiments, could be a Covid coping strategyCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverage“Not sure if it’s because of recent times of lockdown etc but Christ I talk to myself a lot these days.” So tweeted the actor and presenter Emily Atack – and she is not alone.Confined to their homes and freed...

Our immune systems can cope with Covid-19 – it's our politicians who can't | Angela Rasmussen

The psychological impact of the virus is profound, but there is nothing to suggest its physical effects can’t be overcomeCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageA great deal of conflicting information has emerged about the immune response that develops in patients who have recovered from Covid-19. A recent study in the UK showed declining antibodies in more than 350,000...

Lithium treatments used for bipolar disorder shown to help fish fight parasite

Brain-controlling parasites can be thwarted in fish by using the same medication used to treat bipolar disorder in humans, according to new research. "It's only the second time people have rescued the behavior of manipulated hosts," said Nadia Aubin-Horth, a biology professor at Laval University in Canada, who conducted the study with her colleagues. The Schistocephalus solidus tapeworm has a...

BioNTech vaccine scientist says jab could halve Covid transmission

Uğur Şahin ‘very confident’ vaccine candidate developed with Pfizer will cause big reduction in casesCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageThe scientist behind the first potential Covid-19 vaccine to clear interim clinical trials says he is “very confident” the jab will reduce transmission of the disease, perhaps by 50%, resulting in a “dramatic” reduction in...

North London church defies lockdown to hold service

Angel church’s pastor says he believes government ban on collective worship is unlawfulCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageAn evangelical church is planning to defy lockdown restrictions by holding a public service, including a baptism.Pastor Regan King, of the Angel church in north London, said he believed the ban on collective worship was unlawful and that the church...

Rock of ages … how asteroid dust may reveal secrets of life on Earth

A six-year mission will soon bring back a few grains of soil that could explain how water arrived on our planetIn a few days, a capsule containing samples of soil from a distant asteroid will be released by a robot spaceship and dropped into Earth’s upper atmosphere. If all goes well, the container will parachute safely on to the Woomera test range in South Australia on 6 December, completing a...

Social media firms must face sanction for ‘anti-vax content’, demands Labour

Opposition claims that online disinformation poses a threat to the effective take-up of coronavirus vaccinesCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageSocial media companies that fail to act to “stamp out dangerous anti-vaccine content” should be subject to financial and criminal penalties, Labour has demanded.As hopes rise that a vaccine against coronavirus could be ready...

The defeat of polio proved that immunisation saved lives, but there's a sting to the tale

The rising number of vaccine-derived polio outbreaks has important implications for how we deal with Covid-19Coronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageHalf a century since its eradication in the west, it is hard today to appreciate the terrible effect that polio had on people’s lives then and how feared it was as a disease. The virus killed hundreds every year in the UK...

Vaccination hesitancy is about lack of trust. Compulsion is not the answer | Kenan Malik

Better to build social solidarity than to dismiss reluctance to be immunised as ignoranceCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverage“If a strain as deadly as the 1918 influenza emerges and people’s hesitancy to get vaccinated remains at the level it is today, a debilitating and fatal disease will spread.” So wrote Heidi Larson in 2018. Larson is director of the...

Cannabis resin now 25% more potent, global study reveals

Concentrations of intoxicating THC have risen, data from more than 80,000 street drug samples gathered over 50 years shows Cannabis resin – or “hash” – has increased in strength by nearly 25% over the past half century, a major international study has revealed.Researchers with the Addiction and Mental Health Group at the University of Bath analysed data from more than 80,000 cannabis...

May I have a word about… the language of epidemiologists | Jonathan Bouquet

Would you admit to being an expert in health and disease at a party? No, me neitherIt seems like only yesterday that another frustrated teacher uttered those fell words: “Bouquet, your behaviour is a disgrace”, a charge that was almost certainly always true. Fast forward to today and what do we find?Epidemiologist after epidemiologist warns that we must modify our “behaviours” if we are to...

Omega-3s did not reduce cardiac events in recent heart attack survivors

Omega-3 supplements in commonly available forms appear to be ineffective in preventing further cardiovascular events among elderly people with recent heart attacks.When compared to a placebo, an omega-3 fatty acids supplement in addition to statin therapy and/or a blood thinner did not reduce the number of cardiac events in a study of more than 1,000 patients in Norway.

Side effects often attributed to statins were the same for those taking a placebo

Study participants who reported side effects from cholesterol-lowering medications known as statins also reported the same side effects when they unknowingly took placebo pills.These side effects are real, and it appears may be mostly due to the psychological rather than the pharmacological effects of statins since symptoms were consistent when taking the placebo.

STRENGTH trial finds new fish oil medication did not reduce the risk of cardiac events

A medication derived from fish oil, containing the omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA, was evaluated in a large, international study of more than 13,000 people who had existing heart disease or who were at high risk of heart disease due to other medical conditions.The medication did not reduce the risk of cardiac events compared to a corn oil-based placebo in the STRENGTH trial.

Sage expert:'flip-flopping' on Covid restrictions unwise

Prof John Edmunds calls for consistent UK government strategy and warns against relaxing measuresCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageEncouraging the public to visit bars and restaurants and then closing down such venues when Covid-19 cases spike is not a “sensible way to run the epidemic”, a government scientific adviser has said.Prof John Edmunds, a member of the...

Elon Musk says 'most likely' has a moderate case of COVID-19

Musk said on Thursday that rapid antigen test results from the same machine and the same test showed he tested positive twice and then negative twice all on the same day. Musk's presence at the weekend launch of four NASA astronauts into orbit aboard his SpaceX company's spacecraft had been thrown into question due to...