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In the midst of a pandemic, many Americans still view face mask mandates as an assault on their personal freedoms, rather than a means of protecting themselves and others from COVID-19. But a group of researchers out of Duke University say the mask backlash can be turned around — as long as efforts to do so are grounded in empathy, not judgment. As coronavirus cases in the United States soar, face mask mandates have been issued by a growing number of cities, states and national retailers. The mandates make sense, health experts say. “I think face masking is a very important part [of curbing the spread of COVID-19] and ought to be done in this epidemic,” Dr. Robert Brook, distinguished chair of RAND Corporation’s health care services program, said in a HD Live! interview. “It’s one of the few things we can do that will slow the pandemic.” But there’s been no national public health campaign to tell Americans why face masks work, and how to use them properly, Brook added. May Chu, a clinical professor of epidemiology at the University of Colorado’s School of Public Health, concurred. “We have to teach people how to wear it, how to take care of them and when to use them,” she said in the same HD Live! interview. In the meantime, some Americans balk at wearing a… read on >

As the U.S. coronavirus case count passed 4.3 million on Monday, companies launched the final phase of testing for two potential COVID-19 vaccines. In one trial begun on Monday, the first of 30,000 volunteers were either given a vaccine developed by Moderna Inc. and the U.S. National Institutes of Health or a placebo shot, the Washington Post reported. Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer also announced Monday that it was starting a 30,000-person final phase vaccine trial, to be conducted at 120 sites globally. “We are participating today in the launching of a truly historic event in the history of vaccinology,” Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said during a news conference on the Moderna vaccine, the Post reported. He predicted that researchers would probably be able to tell whether the Moderna vaccine was effective by November or December, although he added that it was a “distinct possibility” an answer could come sooner. Pfizer officials have said the company expects to be able to seek regulatory authorization or approval for its vaccine by October, the Post reported. Both vaccines require two doses, spaced several weeks apart. Then researchers will have to wait to see whether people get infected or sick with COVID-19. A clear signal of success or failure will depend on how fast the trials recruit participants and how long… read on >

People with a history of concussion may face increased risks of certain psychological and neurological conditions, a large new study suggests. The study of more than 186,000 Canadians found that those who suffered a concussion were more likely to develop any of several conditions, including: attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); depression or anxiety; Parkinson’s disease; or dementia. Their risks were roughly 40% to 70% higher, compared to people who did not sustain a concussion during the 25-year study period. The researchers stressed that the vast majority of people in the study — concussed or not — did not develop Parkinson’s, dementia or ADHD. Depression and anxiety disorders were more common across the board, with a higher prevalence in the concussion group. “We’re not trying to scare people or have parents keep their kids out of sports,” said lead researcher Marc Morissette of the Pan Am Clinic Foundation in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Beyond that, the findings do not necessarily mean that concussions, per se, were to blame, said Dr. Sean Rose. Rose, who is co-director of the Complex Concussion Clinic at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, was not involved in the study. He said research like this can point to a correlation between concussion and later disease risks — but cannot prove cause and effect. It’s difficult, Rose said, to account for all the other variables that could… read on >

Smoking significantly increases a woman’s risk of potentially deadly brain aneurysms, a new study warns. An aneurysm is a weakened, bulging section of an artery. If an aneurysm ruptures, it can cause fatal bleeding. The study included 545 women, aged 30 to 60, who had brain scans at five large teaching and research hospitals in the United States and Canada between 2016 and 2018. The scans showed that 152 of the women had brain aneurysms that hadn’t ruptured. Compared to nonsmokers, the risk of aneurysm was four times higher in women who smoked, and seven times higher in those who smoked and had high blood pressure. The most common reason for a brain scan among the women was persistent headache, which occurred in 62.5% of those with an aneurysm, compared with 44% of those without an aneurysm, the study authors said. Most of the aneurysms were located in the carotid artery, which is the main blood vessel that leads to the brain. Women with brain aneurysms were heavier smokers than those with normal brain scans (average of 20 versus 12 cigarettes a day) and had smoked for longer (29 years versus 20 years, on average). One-third of the women with brain aneurysms had surgery or other invasive procedures, while two-thirds were placed on monitoring, according to the study published online July 27 in the Journal… read on >

Coronavirus outbreaks throughout the Sun Belt started to show signs of leveling off on Tuesday, but the nation’s top infectious disease expert warned that COVID-19 cases are now on the rise in the Midwest. “We just can’t afford, yet again, another surge,” Dr. Anthony Fauci said Tuesday, as the country reported more than 1,000 coronavirus fatalities for the second day in a row, the Washington Post reported. Florida, Arkansas, Oregon and Montana saw their highest single-day death tolls to date on Tuesday, the Post reported. However, the number of cases nationwide appears to have leveled off to a seven-day moving average of around 66,000 new cases daily, the Post reported. A slight decline in new cases registered Tuesday followed five weeks of steadily rising numbers. On the vaccine front, the final phase of testing for two potential COVID-19 vaccines was launched on Monday. In one trial, the first of 30,000 volunteers were either given a vaccine developed by Moderna Inc. and the U.S. National Institutes of Health or a placebo shot, the Post reported. Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer also announced Monday that it was starting a 30,000-person final phase vaccine trial, to be conducted at 120 sites globally. Fauci predicted that researchers would probably be able to tell whether the Moderna vaccine was effective by November or December, although he added that it was a “distinct… read on >

With everyday life turned upside down, efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19 are taking a toll on the well-being and health of American families, a new poll reveals. More than 1,000 parents nationwide were surveyed in early June. “Without question, COVID-19 had a sudden and profound effect on families nationwide,” said survey leader Dr. Stephen Patrick. He’s director of the Center for Child Health Policy at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville. Physical distance requirements, he noted, resulted in total upheaval, with “abrupt closures of schools, child care, community programs and workplaces. Parents lost jobs, child care, social networks. For kids, schools closed, they stopped going to pediatricians.” In many households, access to basic needs like food and supplies has been hard to come by, too. As a result, just over a quarter of parents said their mental health had deteriorated during the pandemic, and about 14% said their kids’ behavioral health suffered. Four percent said their kids’ physical health had suffered and nearly 1 in 5 said their own had also worsened. The online survey found women, unmarried parents and young children appeared to be most vulnerable. But the health impacts were similar for all races and ethnic groups, income levels, educational backgrounds and locations. The poll revealed that insurance coverage and medical routines have been compromised. About 3% of respondents said… read on >

With U.S. coronavirus cases surging past 3.8 million on Tuesday, Congress is negotiating yet another pandemic relief package for cash-strapped Americans. The package is likely to include a payroll tax cut, along with funding that would be tied to whether schools fully reopen, the Washington Post reported. Although local and state officials have said they desperately need more money to combat the ongoing public health crisis, it looks unlikely that they will receive much aid, the newspaper said. President Donald Trump also shifted his stance on face masks dramatically on Monday: He tweeted a photo of himself wearing a face mask and said that wearing them was now “patriotic.” He also announced plans to bring back the daily coronavirus task force briefings, which were stopped in April. Meanwhile, seven states — Florida, Georgia, Nevada, Kentucky, North Dakota, Arkansas and Montana — reported record highs for coronavirus-related hospitalizations on Monday, as did Puerto Rico, the Post reported. In a sign that the reality of rising case and death numbers may be sinking in, top health officials in Maryland’s most populous counties asked the state to roll back reopening plans and Kentucky restored limits on public gatherings, the Post reported. In Florida, more than 100 hospitals have run out of ICU beds for adults. The state has reported more than 10,000 new COVID-19 cases on at least… read on >

Is male bisexuality real? According to a new review, the answer is a definitive “yes.” “The current study found very strong and consistent evidence that bisexual men do in fact tend to have bisexual arousal patterns,” noted study author J. Michael Bailey. “There is no longer reasonable doubt.” Bailey is a psychology professor at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. He and his colleagues came to their conclusion after poring over the findings of eight sexual orientation studies conducted between 2000 and 2019 at four different American, Canadian and British sites. “There has long been a controversy whether men who identify as bisexual are actually bisexual. The bisexual men and many others believe that they are,” Bailey explained. “However, some others — including some scientists and lay persons — have doubted this,” he noted. The reason: a belief that men who claim to be bisexual “are actually either heterosexual or homosexual, and that their claim to be bisexual is based on self-misunderstanding, perhaps due to social pressure not to admit exclusive homosexuality.” Skepticism of female bisexuality — though not the focus of the latest investigation — has largely been more muted, Bailey noted. But Caitlin Ryan, director of the Family Acceptance Project at San Francisco State University, suggests that the controversy surrounding male bisexuality has proved problematic for those who identify as such. (A 2016 study… read on >

For the first time in nearly two months the daily U.S. coronavirus death toll topped 1,000 on Tuesday, with President Donald Trump acknowledging that the country’s outbreak will likely “get worse before it gets better.” Trump’s comments came during the first coronavirus task force briefing he’s held since April, as he conceded there were now “big fires” in the country, particularly in Florida and across the South and West. He also shelved his past resistance to masks, displaying his own and asking Americans to wear them because “they have an impact.” Meanwhile, three states that have been slammed by the pandemic in recent weeks continued to struggle to handle surges of COVID-19 patients in their hospitals, CNN reported. Hospitalizations in Florida have risen by more than a third in the 12 days since the state started releasing daily hospitalization data. There are now more than 9,500 people hospitalized in Florida and least 53 hospitals in 27 counties said they had no more beds in their ICUs, CNN reported. Miami-Dade County has exceeded its ICU capacity, with 130% occupancy on Monday, state officials reported. In California, Los Angeles County has surpassed its record for daily hospitalizations for the fourth time in the past week, Dr. Barbara Ferrer, the county’s public health director, told CNN. The county has at least 2,232 patients currently hospitalized with 26% of… read on >