39 articles from SUNDAY 11.4.2021
Top Beijing official admits efficacy of China’s Covid vaccines is low
Head of country’s disease control centre says vaccines ‘don’t have very high protection rates’Coronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageChina’s top disease control official has admitted that the efficacy of the country’s domestically produced vaccines is low as it emerged the authorities are considering mixing them to try to offer greater protection against...
Grizzly bears prefer walking on gentle slopes at a leisurely pace like humans, study says
Grizzly bears seem to favour gently sloping or flat trails like those commonly used by people, which can affect land management practices in wild areas, says an expert who has written a paper on their travel...
China's plans for Himalayan super dam stoke fears in India
China is planning a mega dam in Tibet able to produce triple the electricity generated by the Three Gorges—the world's largest power station—stoking fears among environmentalists and in neighbouring India.
Rhino population in Nepal grows in conservation boost
Nepal's population of endangered one-horned rhinoceros has grown by more than a hundred over the past six years, officials said, with campaigners hailing the increase as a conservation "milestone".
Famed Egyptian archaeologist reveals details of ancient city
Egypt's best-known archaeologist on Saturday revealed further details on a Pharaonic city recently found in the southern province of Luxor.
Ash-covered St. Vincent braces for more volcanic eruptions
People who ignored an initial warning to evacuate the area closest to a volcano on the eastern Caribbean island of St. Vincent raced to get clear Saturday, a day after it erupted with an explosion that shook the ground, spewed ash skyward and blanketed the island in a layer of fine volcanic rock.
Covid-status certificates could lead to deliberate infections, scientists warn
Immunity certification could foster ‘an erroneous sense of no risk’ in people’s behaviour, according to analystsCovid-status certificates – to allow those who have been vaccinated, recovered from the virus or have tested negative to attend an event or holiday abroad – could do harm as well as good, UK government science advisers have warned.While they could encourage some people to get...
Heaven on earth is not without its sorrows | Brief letters
Loneliness | GPs | Letters | Gorillas | Church of EnglandWhile I was not entirely surprised to learn that nearly three-quarters of the population of West Dunbartonshire had experienced loneliness lately, I was shocked that over half of dwellers in Eden had (3.7m over-16s in Britain often or always feel lonely, ONS finds, 7 April). On reflection, however, I recollected that Adam was 100% lonely...
Personalized cancer vaccine deemed safe, shows potential benefit against cancer
- ScienceDaily
- 21/4/11 17:40
A personalized cancer vaccine raised no safety concerns and showed potential benefit in patients with different cancers, including lung and bladder, that have a high risk of recurrence, according to results from an investigator-initiated phase I clinical trial.
New CAR T approach minimizes resistance, helps avoid relapse in non-Hodgkin's B-cell lymphoma
- ScienceDaily
- 21/4/11 17:40
Early results from a new, pioneering chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell immunotherapy trial found using a bilateral attack achieves a more robust defense and helps avoid relapse.
Immune-stimulating drug before surgery shows promise in early-stage pancreatic cancer
- ScienceDaily
- 21/4/11 17:40
Giving early-stage pancreatic cancer patients a CD40 immune-stimulating drug helped jumpstart a T cell attack to the notoriously stubborn tumor microenvironment before surgery and other treatments, according to a new study.
NASA delays Mars copter flight for tech check
NASA has delayed by at least several days the first flight of its mini-helicopter on Mars after a possible tech issue emerged while testing its rotors, the US space agency said Saturday.
Readers reply: what are thoughts? Where do they come from – and where do they go?
The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical conceptsWhat are thoughts? Where do they come from, and where do they go when they disappear? Are they “filed” somewhere, a bit like memories, where we can find them again, or once a thought has gone is that it? Sue Christian,...
Early findings show new drug could be ‘gamechanging’ for brain cancer treatment
Using ipatasertib, researchers say some brain cancers could potentially be made vulnerable to immunotherapy agentTwo people with advanced brain cancer of the sort that led to the death of the MP Tessa Jowell have responded well in a small trial to an experimental combination of chemo and immunotherapy drugs. In one case, the life-threatening tumour seems to have disappeared.Doctors at the...
India steps up vaccine effort as Covid cases hit record high
States consider tougher restrictions to slow spread of virus as country fights second wave of infectionsCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageNew Covid-19 cases in India surged to a record 152,879 as the country battled a second wave of infections by pushing for faster vaccinations, with some states considering tougher restrictions to slow the spread of the virus.India...
UK’s Covid vaccine programme on track despite AstraZeneca problems
Seventy-five per cent of population can be fully immunised by first week in August, according to forecastsCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageThe UK’s vaccination programme is expected to be effectively completed shortly after the United States’ this summer, and several weeks ahead of the EU, despite falling up to six weeks behind because of problems affecting its...
How big are the blood-clot risks of the AstraZeneca jab? | David Spiegelhalter and Anthony Masters
Young people have as much chance of winning the lottery as of getting serious blood clots from the AstraZeneca vaccineLast Wednesday, the European Medicines Agency stated there was a plausible link between the Oxford/AstraZeneca (Vaxzevria) vaccine and rare types of blood clotting, which the MHRA estimates may happen in one in 100,000 young adults who get the vaccine.It is challenging to think of...