45 articles from SUNDAY 15.11.2020

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...