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ED visits for pediatric poisonings increased nine times following cannabis legalization

Ontario saw nine times more emergency department (ED) visits per month for cannabis poisonings in young children under the age of 10 after Canada legalized recreational cannabis, according to a study published in JAMA Network Open.

7 Jan 2022

Supreme Court weighs Biden’s workplace vaccine requirements

The Supreme Court on Friday took up one of the most contentious issues of the covid-19 pandemic, hearing a series of cases challenging the Biden administration's authority to require workers to get a covid vaccine or be tested for the virus regularly.

7 Jan 2022

NEJM article distills available data into a compendium about rapid diagnostic tests for COVID-19

A clinical practice article in the New England Journal of Medicine distills available data and clinical experience into a compendium about rapid diagnostic tests for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

7 Jan 2022

Vaccine breakthrough COVID-19 infections found to be less likely transmitted

A new study displays that vaccine breakthrough COVID-19 infections are far less likely to transmit from the index patient to contacts than infections in partially or unvaccinated individuals.

7 Jan 2022

Exploring neurodevelopmental effects on infants from in-utero exposure to COVID-19

A new study aimed to determine the associations between fetal exposure to maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection, in-utero, and child neurodevelopmental status.

7 Jan 2022

Researchers isolate Omicron variant, leveling the path to vaccine development and vaccine efficacy studies

Researchers from India have now successfully grown and isolated the Omicron variant from hamsters in vivo with further culturing in the Vero CCL-81 cells in vitro, in a step forward towards testing the effectiveness of existing SARS-CoV-2 vaccines and generation of new Omicron appropriate vaccines.

7 Jan 2022

Epidemic model for estimating relative transmissibility and immune escape of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant in South Africa

A new study developed a stochastic, multi-strain, compartmental epidemic model to estimate the relative transmissibility and immune escape capacity of the Omicron variant.

7 Jan 2022

California ballot will be heavy on health care

When Californians go to the polls later this year, they will confront contentious health care choices.

7 Jan 2022

Broad cross-neutralization antibodies found to be effective against SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant

A new study aimed to explore whether there is a way to induce the production of potent neutralizing antibodies capable of neutralizing all SARS-CoV-2 variants - including Omicron.

7 Jan 2022

RCSI study highlights the impact of pandemic on patients having emergency surgery

Patients undergoing emergency abdominal surgery spent less time in hospital during COVID-19, without any negative impact on outcomes, according to a new study from RCSI National Clinical Programme in Surgery and the Health Outcomes Research Centre at RCSI.

7 Jan 2022

SARS-CoV-2 Omicron less pathogenic in hamsters

A new research paper posted as a preprint to the bioRxiv* server attempts to throw some light on this question by studying viral pathogenicity in golden hamsters, a valuable model for severe COVID-19 due to the development of reproducible weight loss and pneumonia after infection with the virus.

6 Jan 2022

Study estimates the global prevalence of dementia in 2050

The number of adults (aged 40 years and older) living with dementia worldwide is expected to nearly triple, from an estimated 57 million in 2019 to 153 million in 2050, due primarily to population growth and population aging.

6 Jan 2022

PLOS and CSHL expand partnership to offer new options for sharing preprints in medicine

The Public Library of Science (PLOS) and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) today announced an expansion of their longstanding partnership to offer authors more options for rapidly and easily sharing their research before publication in a journal.

6 Jan 2022

Switching to smokeless tobacco associated with lower cardiovascular disease risk in smokers

Regular smokers are at heightened risk of developing cardiovascular disease, but crushing the butts in favor of a "smokeless" alternative like chewing tobacco, snuff or tobacco lozenges may go a long way toward bringing the danger down to a more normal level, a new UCLA-led study shows.

6 Jan 2022

CDC raises awareness of the risks of rabies from bats in the U.S.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is raising awareness of the risks of rabies from bats in the U.S. after three people, including one child, died from rabies between late September and early November 2021.

6 Jan 2022

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Contagion confusion

The covid-19 pandemic is now entering its third year, and the ever-evolving health advice to combat an ever-evolving virus is leaving Americans more cranky and confused than ever.

6 Jan 2022

Mental health conservatorships led to lengthy inpatient stays among homeless people with mental illness

At a time when public and private agencies and the legal system are grappling with how to best assist people who live at the intersection of homelessness and mental illness during a global pandemic, UCLA researchers have found mental health conservatorships for people with disabling, severe mental illness who are also homeless can result in lengthy psychiatric hospitalizations.

6 Jan 2022

Food pantry clients experienced economic hardship and psychological distress during COVID-19

A novel study by UT Southwestern researchers who conducted interviews as the nation shut down due to COVID-19 tells the stories of those who routinely faced hunger before the pandemic upended their lives. The research, which could be used to improve the response in future emergencies, finds food pantry clients experienced increased economic hardship, food insecurity, and psychological distress.

6 Jan 2022

Malta as a primer for rapid and effective COVID-19 vaccination strategy

A research paper recently published in the journal Health Sciences Review shows how high vaccine availability and low population vaccination hesitancy were two pivotal factors for the successful control of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Malta, Europe.

6 Jan 2022

New method to estimate how individual mutations affect transmission of SARS-CoV-2

A new study, posted to the medRxiv* preprint server, constructs an analytical SIR-based epidemiological model to analyze the effects of mutations on SARS-CoV-2 transmission from genomic surveillance data.

5 Jan 2022

Public Health News and Research

ED visits for pediatric poisonings increased nine times following cannabis legalization

Supreme Court weighs Biden’s workplace vaccine requirements

NEJM article distills available data into a compendium about rapid diagnostic tests for COVID-19

Vaccine breakthrough COVID-19 infections found to be less likely transmitted

Exploring neurodevelopmental effects on infants from in-utero exposure to COVID-19

Researchers isolate Omicron variant, leveling the path to vaccine development and vaccine efficacy studies

Epidemic model for estimating relative transmissibility and immune escape of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant in South Africa

California ballot will be heavy on health care

Broad cross-neutralization antibodies found to be effective against SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant

RCSI study highlights the impact of pandemic on patients having emergency surgery

SARS-CoV-2 Omicron less pathogenic in hamsters

Study estimates the global prevalence of dementia in 2050

PLOS and CSHL expand partnership to offer new options for sharing preprints in medicine

Switching to smokeless tobacco associated with lower cardiovascular disease risk in smokers

CDC raises awareness of the risks of rabies from bats in the U.S.

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Contagion confusion

Mental health conservatorships led to lengthy inpatient stays among homeless people with mental illness

Food pantry clients experienced economic hardship and psychological distress during COVID-19

Malta as a primer for rapid and effective COVID-19 vaccination strategy

New method to estimate how individual mutations affect transmission of SARS-CoV-2

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