Cigna tracks every minute that its staff doctors spend deciding whether to pay for health care. Dr. Debby Day said her bosses cared more about being fast than being right: “Deny, deny, deny. That’s how you hit your numbers,” Day said.
On the eve of the 28th anniversary of the Port Arthur massacre in which Walter Mikac lost his wife and two daughters, the gun reform campaigner says it is "bittersweet" to finally see federal government funding for a national firearms register.
Researchers designed an ultrathin pacemaker that can be implanted via minimally invasive techniques, potentially improving recovery time and reducing the risk of complications.
"While industry claims it could be part of a circular plastics economy, experts say that chemical recycling is extremely damaging to the environment and provides no real benefits."
“Chemical recycling is really an industry ploy to convince the public and policymakers that we don't have to reduce plastic production in order to deal with plastic waste,”
Exercising too much (The American Heart Association recommends 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per week) can cause something called “athletic heart,” which can increase the risk of certain heart issues.
People who regularly engage in significant amounts of exercise, as endurance athletes do, may develop enlarged hearts. While athletic heart is adapted for performance, it can be cause for concern.
⚠️ "Half of all plastics ever manufactured were produced in the last two decades, and production continues to rise at an alarming rate, from 2.3 million tons in 1950 to 448 million tons in 2015. "
👉 "..the amount of plastics is expected to double by 2050, with irreversible pollution on land, air and waters, including the ocean. "
👉 Russia, Iran, Cuba, Saudi Arabia are holding hostage the U.N. Treaty against plastics
Having a patent means only that you can stop others from making, using, selling or importing your invention – it doesn’t mean the invention works well or without risk.
“FDA approved” means a product’s benefits have been found to outweigh the risks for a specific purpose – not that it’s of high quality or low risk in general.
Drugs like Ozempic are very effective at helping people lose weight. But will the weight come back after they stop taking them? Yes, for most people, it will. Science Alert looks into whether these medications are just another (expensive) form of yo-yo dieting. https://flip.it/.7L1q2 #Science #Health #Dieting #WeightLoss #Ozempic
Yesterday morning, I woke up with my eye feeling weird. That is not the first time that happened. I have pretty severe allergies and I'll often wake up with crusty, itchy eyes. I chalked it...
Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel says AI will help scientists understand "most diseases" in three to five years.
@Semafor quotes the executive: “The reason we still have people dying of cancer, people suffering from Alzheimer's, is we do not understand the fundamental biology of those diseases.”
AI development could lead to huge advances in the scientific understanding of diseases, Moderna's CEO Stéphane Bancel said at Semafor's World Economy Summit.
People outside the US really have no concept of what it's like inside that country. They haven't for decades. I try to keep this in mind whenever I read about events in another country. We always see such a tiny slice of the situation.
"“What I want to emphasize about this #vaccine strategy is that it is broad,” said UCR #virologist & paper author Rong Hai. “It is broadly applicable to any number of #viruses, broadly effective against any variant of a #virus, & safe for a broad spectrum of people. This could be the universal vaccine that we have been looking for.”
Scientists at UC Riverside have demonstrated a new, RNA-based vaccine strategy that is effective against any strain of a virus and can be used safely even by babies or the immunocompromised.
Medical debt is crushing for many families. Some relief has come with a wave of debt buyouts by county and city governments, charities and even fast-food restaurants that pay pennies on the dollar to clear enormous balances. But these buyouts are only a partial solution, and point to the need for the overall cost of health care to drop. Overall, Americans spend more on health care than people in other wealthy countries do: https://theconversation.com/buyouts-can-bring-relief-from-medical-debt-but-theyre-far-from-a-cure-222247 #health #medical #debt #unitedstates
The suggestion that digital technologies are rewiring our children’s brains and causing an epidemic of #mental #illness is not supported by science.
Worse, the bold proposal that social media is to blame might distract us from effectively responding to the real causes of the current mental-health crisis in young people.
Rather, young people who already have mental-health problems use such platforms more often or in different ways from their healthy peers.
The evidence is equivocal on whether screen time is to blame for rising levels of teen depression and anxiety — and rising hysteria could distract us from tackling the real causes.
After CPAP #Recall, Philips Must Institute New Safeguards in Agreement With #DOJ ==
The settlement comes nearly 3 years after the company acknowledged that an industrial foam fitted inside its machines could degrade and release toxic substances into #patients' masks.
The settlement comes nearly three years after the company acknowledged that an industrial foam fitted inside its machines could degrade and release toxic substances into the masks worn by patients.
Glycerol, a key component of fat, doesn’t get as much attention as fatty acids. But research is accumulating that glycerol plays a key role in disrupting the function of cells and organs and accelerates #aging. So, could reducing glycerol levels slow down the signs of aging?
A research team has found some very promising findings about ADH-1, an enzyme that breaks down glycerol.
Although you get your fatty acid levels routinely checked at the doctor’s, rarely do clinicians and researchers consider the effects of their potentially harmful byproducts.
No one can escape stress, but sometimes it takes a physical and emotional toll that translates to disease and other health effects. The good news is that there are new approaches to treating it.
Experts and organizations working for #cleaner air in Africa recently met in Yaounde to discuss how they can cooperate to monitor air quality using #sensor #technology
Cities are growing rapidly in Africa, but many countries lack effective technologies to measure the associated air pollution. Experts are finding new ways to track air quality in hopes of reducing health risks.
Medicare covers an annual well-check visit that could potentially identify cognitive issues, but only about half of beneficiaries take advantage of them.
if you are an #android user, do yourselves the favor of installing F-Droid, the #FLOSS and anti-surveillance app store. any apps that connect you to upstream surveillance services (like Google Search) are clearly marked as anti-privacy.
“One of the more unfortunate developments is that people have started injecting meth.”
We partnered with the Daily Yonder for a Q&A with William Garriot, an anthropologist who says the impact of meth on rural communities in the U.S. has only gotten worse (but it’s not just a rural problem):
Scientists at Uppsala University have discovered a new class of antibiotics with potent activity against multi-drug resistant bacteria. Phys.org has more, including how antibiotics have become heavily relied on for a multitude of treatments, but a global rise in antibiotic resistance threatens their effectiveness. https://flip.it/djErZ8 #Science #Health #Medicine #Antibiotics #Bacteria #Biology
Scientists at Uppsala University have discovered a new class of antibiotics with potent activity against multi-drug resistant bacteria, and have shown that it cures bloodstream infections in mice.
