How old is your dog, in dog years? The widely used rule of thumb – human years x 7 – is apparently incorrect. The science behind the new formula tells us something about extrapolation and a lot about how both we, and our canine friends, age. And the Hanks-dog graph is kinda cool, too.
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The world desperately awaits a COVID-19 vaccine, one that will stop the spread of this potentially deadly infection and hopefully allow us all to return to our pre-coronavirus lives. But there's no telling when a vaccine will be found -- if it will at all. With that, ACSH's Dr. Josh Bloom, who has decades of experience in drug discovery, believes that the best way forward for now involves use of antiviral drugs, a position he details as co-author of recent piece in the Baltimore Sun. His Op-Ed leads off our June media roundup, a compendium of news sources where ACSH has appeared over the last month.
We have made amazing progress in the treatment of COVID-19. Two therapies – steroids and remdesivir – have already been shown to help. Those who benefit from these treatments owe thanks to patients who volunteered to participate in controlled clinical trials, and the physicians and pharmaceutical companies that lead them.
Right now pretty much everything sucks. It can get mighty depressing, reading about COVID-19 deaths or civil unrest. So let's have some fun! A few minutes of mindless idiocy at the expense of California. Why now? Because their officials decided that my patio umbrella stand is gonna give me cancer. There's even a label to prove it. And if you act now, you'll get some really bad "artwork!"
My inner engineer tells me that air sampling for biologics, especially COVID-19, may be an important way to help measure and contain the pandemic and opening up.
One of the great knocks on our healthcare system is that it emphasizes treatment over prevention. Frailty opens a window on alternate views of that distinction, and how we measure up.
The risk to students of reopening schools is quite small. For instance, more young adults aged 15-24 will drown than die from coronavirus. The challenge for re-opening schools is the risk posed to teachers, staff, and students' families.
Strict lockdowns might work in some countries, but they aren't going to work everywhere. Americans, in particular, reject such restrictions on liberty, which is why a strict lockdown is sort of like abstinence-only sex education.
Telemedicine, what our stories tell us about ourselves, can worms reason, and the role of plate tectonics in our lives and culture.
The Food and Drug Administration recently published an analysis of antibiotic development looking back over the last 40 years. In addition, the paper was accompanied by a compelling editorial. These papers are well worth reading and are highly recommended for everyone, whether they're familiar with antibiotic development or not. And most notably, the hubris of the FDA analysis is astounding.
The flight of birds involves both the flapping of wings and soaring on currents of air. But the act of moving their wings is equivalent -- energetically speaking -- to humans sprinting. So what’s a bird, especially a large bird, like the condor, supposed to do?
There are any number of papers supporting the idea that higher levels of air pollution are inversely correlated with poorer health outcomes. These studies all suffer from the fellow travelers of air pollution, traffic density, poverty, and lesser education which confound a clear linkage between air pollution and health. A new study offers a possibility.
Navalny, a Russian anti-corruption activist and well-known critic of President Vladimir Putin, is being treated in Germany for an apparent case of poisoning by an "organophosphorus neurotoxin." But which one: the insecticide or the chemical weapon? Here are some clues.
My PSA was 22 – but my biopsy only showed inflammation. I was needlessly upset, and it seems like I underwent an unnecessary procedure. There has to be a better way!
Large pharmaceutical companies are multinational organizations with incentives to distribute their vaccines broadly.
In addition to the multiple rhythms that underlie our individual lives, when we come together we tend to "synch" with one another. Whether it be as simple as adjusting the pace of our walking; the give-and-take of our conversation; or as seemingly sophisticated as the murmuration of starlings, it is a biologic phenomenon. How do we entrain, tie together, our independent rhythms?
Antibiotic resistance, or AMR infections, has been with us since the dawn of the antibiotic era. Their numbers grow slowly every year and they are often hidden from view, but we don’t consider this issue a crisis. Why? Because it's been going on for so long? Because AMR infections are a chronic, and not an acute, problem? Why is this not a crisis?
Did you honestly believe that the CDC announcement six months ago – of a 4.1% decline in drug overdoses in 2018 – was a sign of progress in the so-called war on drugs? Of course, it was nothing of the sort. Just an exercise in tweaking numbers. ACSH advisor Dr. Jeff Singer tells us the real story.
The foundation of medical research, which is considered the gold standard, is the Randomized Controlled Trial when individuals are matched with others, and then randomized to one treatment or another. While the beauty of an RCT lies in its process of deliberate randomness, very little attention has been paid to the integrity of its building blocks: categories. It's time to take a more in-depth look.
In March I wrote about Phase IIa results of a novel NSAID-like drug ATB-346 (now called otenaproxesul), which is structurally and functionally similar to naproxen (Aleve). But the non-opioid drug lacks its gastrointestinal side effects, especially ulcers. Now Phase IIb results are in and it still looks good. Will it become the first member of a novel class of pain drugs? We could sure use it. A summary of the company's report to shareholders.
A gigantic amount of ammonium nitrate recently exploded in Beirut, killing hundreds, injuring thousands while causing catastrophic damage. Chemically, it's not at all surprising that ammonium nitrate can detonate. With that, here's the answer to the question people around the world – and especially in Lebanon – are asking themselves: Why does it explode?
Long ago, roughly 100 years past, in a place far away, there were few (if any) effective treatments for pneumonia. One treatment that seemed to help was targeting the lungs with low-dose radiation. Could COVID-19’s attack on the lungs be stopped in a similar way? Several small studies are now underway to find out.
COVID-19 makes us reconsider so many of our normal activities. Sure, from the perspective of exposure, driving is the safest form of travel. Planes? Perhaps not as much, as corporations and your wallet determine the seating relative to other passengers. But what about trains? Hop on board and find out.
"Twelve Diseases That Changed Our World" was originally published in 2007 but has taken on renewed relevance during the COVID-19 pandemic. Will the coronavirus similarly change our world? We review the book authored by Prof. Irwin Sherman.
The World Health Organization, WHO, has had a great deal of ink in the last few months, especially since it has become a "blame-worthy" target of the President. The Financial Times asks and answers the question, Who funds the WHO?
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