As the World Health Organization cautioned on Monday that using plasma from COVID-19 survivors to treat other patients is still an experimental therapy, American scientists challenged a key statistic cited by U.S. officials as grounds for emergency approval of the treatment. In announcing the approval on Sunday, President Donald Trump and two of his top health officials spoke of the same stunning statistic — that the treatment had reduced deaths by 35 percent, the New York Times reported. Dr. Stephen Hahn, the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, went so far as to say that 35 out of 100 COVID-19 patients “would have been saved because of the administration of plasma.” But many scientists, including a researcher on the Mayo Clinic study from which the statistic was supposedly gleaned, said Monday they could not ascertain where the number came from and that Hahn had appeared to overstate the treatment’s benefits, the Times reported. “Do I know where the 35 percent comes from?” said Dr. Arturo Casadevall, one of the May Clinic study’s main authors who hails from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. “No.” The actual data from the Mayo Clinic study shows that, among a group of more than 35,000 patients, when plasma was given within three day of diagnosis, the death rate was about 22 percent, compared with 27 percent when it was…  read on >

Just weeks after colleges across the United States reopened their campuses for the fall semester, thousands of coronavirus infections are cropping up in students and staff alike. More than 1,500 American colleges and universities were tallied in The New York Times survey. That included every four-year public institution, every private college that competes in NCAA sports and others that identified cases. The case total: At least 26,000 cases and 64 deaths have been reported since the pandemic began, the Times reported. The trend is unfolding everywhere. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill sent most undergraduates home after COVID-19 clusters popped up in campus housing. In-person classes were delayed at Notre Dame as students tested positive by the hundreds. Clemson, Baylor, Louisville and dozens of other Division I universities have confirmed COVID-19 cases in their athletic departments. Meanwhile, aggressive testing of students moving into dorms turned up scores of cases at Iowa State, the Times reported. Meanwhile, the potential of convalescent plasma as a treatment for severe COVID-19 was still unclear Tuesday, as the World Health Organization cautioned the therapy remains experimental and American scientists challenged a key statistic cited by U.S. officials as grounds for emergency approval of the treatment. In announcing the approval this week, President Donald Trump and two of his top health officials stirred controversy when they used the same…  read on >

Middle-aged men who were anxious or depressed teens are at increased risk for heart attack, according to a large, long-term study. It included more than 238,000 men born between 1952 and 1956 who underwent extensive exams when they were 18 or 19 years old and were followed to age 58. Men diagnosed with anxiety or depression in their late teens had a 20% higher risk of heart attack than those who didn’t, the study showed. The findings only reflect an association. The link was partly, but not fully, explained by poorer ability to cope with everyday stress and lower physical fitness in teens with the mental health conditions, according to findings presented Wednesday at a virtual meeting of the European Society of Cardiology. The takeaway: “Be vigilant and look for signs of stress, depression or anxiety that is beyond the normal teenage angst: Seek help if there seems to be a persistent problem,” suggested study author Cecilia Bergh, a senior lecturer in health sciences at Orebro University in Sweden. “If a healthy lifestyle is encouraged as early as possible in childhood and adolescence it is more likely to persist into adulthood and improve long-term health,” she said in a meeting news release. Bergh said researchers already knew that men who were physically fit but stressed as teens seemed less likely to maintain fitness. “Our previous…  read on >

Some of the leading hotspots in the United States are on track to become even more sweltering in the coming decades — thanks to a combination of greenhouse gas emissions, urban development and population growth. In a new study, researchers estimate that over the course of this century, the biggest relative increases in extreme heat will hit cities in the Sunbelt — including Atlanta; Austin, Texas; Miami and Orlando, Fla. And lest Americans outside those areas breathe a sigh of relief, the study also warns of rising temperatures in major metropolises like New York City, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. That is, at least, if no efforts are taken to counter the trend. The projections are based on a “business-as-usual” model, explained lead researcher Ashley Broadbent. He’s an assistant research professor at Arizona State University, in Tempe. “We’re imagining what would happen if we keep going along as we are,” said Broadbent, who noted that’s not an unrealistic assumption. “But,” he stressed, “there are things we can do.” The biggest and broadest would be tackling greenhouse gas emissions — heat-trapping gases that are spewed into the air when fossil fuels (like coal, oil and natural gas) are burned. But on the local level, Broadbent said, greenhouse gases are not the only contributor to rising temperatures and people’s actual experience of heat. There are also factors…  read on >

As the school year begins across America under the shadow of COVID-19, a new survey shows most parents are feeling overwhelmed and abandoned. Just 1 in 7 parents said their children would be returning to school full time this fall, and most children need help with remote schooling, The New York Times survey released Wednesday found. Yet, 4 in 5 parents said they would have no help in that endeavor, whether from relatives, neighbors, nannies or tutors. As well, more than half of parents said they will be taking on this burden while still holding down paid jobs. Of course, when both parents are wage earners who need to work outside the home, they cannot be in two places at once. But three-fourths of these parents said they will be overseeing their children’s education, and nearly half plan to handle child care, according to the survey of more than 1,000 parents polled between Aug. 4 and Aug. 8. Of the parents who are both working remotely during the pandemic, 80 percent will also handle child care and education, the survey showed. One in five are considering hiring a private teacher or tutor to help with remote learning. “All the choices stink,” Kate Averett, a sociologist at the University at Albany in New York who has been interviewing parents since the spring, told the Times. “There…  read on >

People with diabetes face a higher risk of developing complications from COVID-19, but a new survey reports they have also suffered more economic fallout from the pandemic. In June, 18% of people with diabetes were out of work compared to 12% of the general population. And one-third of people with diabetes have lost at least some income since the pandemic began versus about 29% of the general population, the survey released by the American Diabetes Association and dQ&A found. That loss of work and income can have immediate and serious consequences for people with diabetes. Nearly one in four people with diabetes — and half of those who’d lost income since the pandemic began — said they had to dip into savings, take out a loan or use their stimulus money to get their diabetes supplies. Worse, one in four people with diabetes have rationed their insulin, other medications or diabetes supplies. (Rationing insulin can lead to serious illness requiring hospitalization, and even death.) “When you lose your job, you lose your health insurance. When you lose your health insurance, you might ration your medicines, and then people end up with poorer outcomes. This was going on well before COVID, but now COVID has cast a very bright light on an existing problem,” said Tracey Brown, CEO of the American Diabetes Association. The new research…  read on >

Child abuse reports have plunged during the coronavirus pandemic, a troubling sign that the constraints of social distancing may mean thousands of cases are being missed, a new survey suggests. The survey, conducted by the Children’s National Alliance, found that children’s advocacy centers across the country reported serving 40,000 fewer children nationwide during the first six months of this year than the same period last year, the Washington Post reported. In 2019, more than 192,000 children were served by the centers while just over 152,000 were helped in 2020, a 21 percent drop, the survey showed. But in no way can the decline be viewed as good news, said Teresa Huizar, executive director of the alliance. “We have absolutely no reason to believe the actual incidence rate has declined,” she said. “What we really believe is that there are 40,000 fewer kids that haven’t been saved from abuse.” “What we were dreading did in fact happen,” Huizar told the Post. And the damage may be even more widespread, since the numbers from the centers, which receive referrals from child protective services departments and law enforcement, do not take into account all child abuse reports nationwide. A full third of U.S. counties don’t even have access to a children’s advocacy center, the Post reported. More than two-thirds of child abuse cases are reported by teachers and…  read on >