Health (Page 135)

The novel coronavirus – SARS-CoV-2 – may have been in Europe for longer than previously thought. Recent studies have suggested that it was circulating in Italy as early as December 2019. More surprisingly, researchers at the University of Barcelona found traces of the virus when testing untreated wastewater samples dated March 12, 2019. The study was recently published on a preprint server, medRxiv. The paper is currently being subject to critical review by outside experts in preparation for publication in a scientific journal. Until this process of peer review has been completed, though, the evidence needs to be treated with caution. So, how was the experiment conducted and what exactly did the scientists find? One of the early findings aboutContinue Reading

Beta amyloid causes damage to the blood vessels. Christoph Burgstedt/ Shutterstock People who suffer from a combination of type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and obesity have a condition known as “metabolic syndrome”. This condition causes the blood vessels to stiffen. When the arteries are stiff or become blocked, there’s a reduced flow of oxygenated blood that’s able to reach the body’s tissues and vital organs. This puts a person at increased risk of heart attack or stroke. But in order to prevent further harm to patients with metabolic syndrome, it’s key to understand what causes damage to the blood vessels – and how this can be treated. Our latest research has identified a previously unknown mechanism byContinue Reading

Shutterstock Figurative language, by which the speaker intends to communicate something other than what is actually said by the words used, is commonplace in human communication. Some claim that metaphorical expressions such as “My home has become a prison” or “My daughter is a monster” are used on average six times during every minute of conversation. People with a diagnosis of schizophrenia will have been, just like anyone else, exposed to non-literal language from childhood. But research suggests that they have difficulty accurately interpreting it. Findings also show that they have trouble generally making sense of language in context – that is, inferring someone’s intended meaning in a particular situation. But it isn’t clear whether these difficulties with metaphor stemContinue Reading

When I open up about my referral for an autism spectrum disorder assessment, I draw on examples from the only popular reference I have for an autistic doctor – what’s portrayed on TV. You have probably seen these medical dramas – The Good Doctor, House, Grey’s Anatomy. There are more. They all have or allude to a stereotype of autism in certain characters. The Good Doctor himself, Dr Shaun Murphy, is a surgical trainee with excellent memory recall and attention to detail who faces stigma but often saves the day because of his traits, proving those who doubted him wrong. Dr Virginia Dixon was briefly head of cardiothoracic surgery in Grey’s Anatomy, with her special interest advertised by her relayingContinue Reading

Originally planned to roll out in May, the UK’s track and trace app has now been delayed until winter. Part of the government’s wider test, track and trace strategy, the app uses Bluetooth on smartphones to see who infected people have been in close contact with, and uses this information to message people at potential risk of infection. The app will require high levels of engagement from lots of people if it’s to be useful. So, while the delay is disappointing, it’s also an opportunity to incorporate knowledge from behavioural science into the app’s design and the communications around it, to influence how it’s used. Ultimately, it will be the public’s behaviour that determines whether the app and track andContinue Reading

Sergey Novikov/Shutterstock It’s Monday morning and I’m running my regular children’s sleep clinic. Except it’s not a Monday morning like any other I have had in my 20 years of practice. I am running the clinic on my laptop, seeing patients and their families on a video screen rather than in person, in an eerily quiet children’s outpatient department. After two months of COVID-19 lockdown and working “all hands on deck” to deal with the pandemic surge, I am allowed to resume my outpatient work. One thing that strikes me in this clinic is another new phenomenon. Parents are reporting that their child’s symptoms have dramatically improved over the last few weeks. Most of the children I see in myContinue Reading

fizkes/Shutterstock More and more politicians are starting to recognise that happiness rather than wealth might be a better way to measure their countries’ success. But with coronavirus causing significant disruption to people’s lives worldwide, what can we expect to happen to global happiness in the wake of the pandemic? To answer that question, we need to understand what factors influence happiness, and what impact the coronavirus is likely to have on these. Happiness can be influenced by a number of things, but research suggests health is the most important. States with populations enjoying high levels of mental and physical health have significantly higher levels of collective happiness than those with poorer health outcomes. On top of that, other factors thatContinue Reading

IR Stone/ Shutterstock Whether you’re an ultra-marathoner or have just started, injuries and muscle soreness from running are inevitable. But instead of taking a break, many runners reach for ibuprofen or other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) to get through injuries or pain. Not only can doing this make recovery more difficult, but frequent use of anti-inflammatories can be dangerous. Our recent research shows that NSAID use is widespread among amateur runners – but most are unaware of the potential risks. While more casual programmes like Couch to 5K or Parkrun UK remain popular, endurance events like marathons and ultra-marathons have seen participation grow over the past 20 years. Amateur endurance athletes’ training routines can be rigorous, resulting in stresses andContinue Reading

Ambulance staff are often the first to attend the site of many difficult scenes. Yau Ming Low/ Shutterstock Being ambulance staff can be a high-stress job. They encounter many situations in their daily line of work that can have a lasting impact on their mental health. According to MIND, around nine in ten emergency services staff have experienced poor mental health at some point in their career. Another study estimated that around 22% of ambulance staff have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Ambulance staff are often the first to attend the site of many difficult scenes, including deaths by suicide. We interviewed ambulance staff about the impact that responding to deaths by suicide has on their mental health. We found thatContinue Reading

Healthy working life expectancy is the average number of years people in a population are likely to be healthy and in paid work from age 50. ALPA PROD/ Shutterstock In 1800, the global average life expectancy was only 29 years. Today, life expectancy continues to rise, with babies born in the UK in 2018 expected to live to 87.6 years for men and 90.2 years for women on average. But as life expectancy rises, so does retirement age. Since retirement is expensive, and state pensions are paid for by workers who pay tax, many governments are now concerned there aren’t enough working adults to fund the growing number of people in retirement. As such, many countries have decided to increaseContinue Reading