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With a lack of certainty surrounding the future, being and feeling healthy may help bring the security that you need during these unpredictable times.

When it comes to your health, there is a direct relationship between nutrition and physical activity that play an enormous part in physical, mental, and social well-being. As COVID-19 continues to impact almost every aspect of our lives, the uncertainty of the future may seem looming. Sometimes improvisation is necessary, and understanding how to stay healthy and fit can significantly help you manage your well-being during these times.

Gyms, group fitness studios, trainers, and professionals can help you to lay out a plan that will either keep you on track through all of the changes and restrictions or help you to get back on the ball so that all of your health objectives are met.

Most facilities and providers are setting plans to provide for their clients and customers to accommodate the unpredictable future. The key to remaining consistent is to have solid plans in place. This means setting a plan A, plan B, and perhaps even a plan C. An enormous amount is on the table for this coming fall and winter; if your gym closes again, what is your plan? If outdoor exercising is not an option due to the weather, what is your plan? Leaving things to chance will significantly increase your chances of falling off of your regimen and will make consistency a big problem.

The key to remaining consistent is to have solid plans in place. This means setting a plan A, plan B, and perhaps even a plan C.

The rise of stress and anxiety as a result of the uncertainty around COVID-19 has affected everyone in some way. Staying active by exercising helps alleviate stress by releasing chemicals like serotonin and endorphins in your brain. In turn, these released chemicals can help improve your mood and even reduce risk of depression and cognitive decline. Additionally, physical activity can help boost your immune system and provide long term health benefits.

With the new work-from-home norm, it can be easy to bypass how much time you are spending sedentary. Be aware of your sitting time and balance it with activity. Struggling to find ways to stay active? Start simple with activities like going for a walk outside, doing a few reps in exchange for extra Netflix time, or even setting an alarm to move during your workday.

If you, like many others during the pandemic shift, have taken some time off of your normal fitness routine, don't push yourself to dive in head first, as this may lead to burnout, injury, and soreness. Plan to start at 50 percent of the volume and intensity of prior workouts when you return to the gym. Inactivity eats away at muscle mass, so rather than focusing on cardio, head to the weights or resistance bands and work on rebuilding your strength.

Be aware of your sitting time and balance it with activity.

In a study published earlier this year, researchers found drug-resistant bacteria, the flu virus, and other pathogens on about 25 percent of the surfaces they tested in multiple athletic training facilities. Even with heightened gym cleaning procedures in place for many facilities, if you are returning to the gym, ensuring that you disinfect any surfaces before and after using them is key.

When spraying disinfectant, wait a few minutes to kill the germs before wiping down the equipment. Also, don't forget to wash your hands frequently. In an enclosed space where many people are breathing heavier than usual, this can allow for a possible increase in virus droplets, so make sure to wear a mask and practice social distancing. Staying in the know and preparing for new gym policies will make it easy to return to these types of facilities as protocols and mutual respect can be agreed upon.

From work to working out, many routines have faltered during the COVID pandemic. If getting back into the routine seems daunting, investing in a new exercise machine, trainer, or small gadget can help to motivate you. Whether it's a larger investment such as a Peloton, a smaller device such as a Fitbit, or simply a great trainer, something new and fresh is always a great stimulus and motivator.

Make sure that when you do wake up well-rested, you are getting out of your pajamas and starting your day with a morning routine.

Just because you are working from home with a computer available 24/7 doesn't mean you have to sacrifice your entire day to work. Setting work hours, just as you would in the office, can help you to stay focused and productive.

A good night's sleep is also integral to obtaining and maintaining a healthy and effective routine. Adults need seven or more hours of sleep per night for their best health and wellbeing, so prioritizing your sleep schedule can drastically improve your day and is an important factor to staying healthy. Make sure that when you do wake up well-rested, you are getting out of your pajamas and starting your day with a morning routine. This can help the rest of your day feel normal while the uncertainty of working from home continues.

In addition to having a well-rounded daily routine, eating at scheduled times throughout the day can help decrease poor food choices and unhealthy cravings. Understanding the nutrients that your body needs to stay healthy can help you stay more alert, but they do vary from person to person. If you are unsure of your suggested nutritional intake, check out a nutrition calculator.

If you are someone that prefers smaller meals and more snacks throughout the day, make sure you have plenty of healthy options, like fruits, vegetables and lean proteins available (an apple a day keeps the hospital away). While you may spend most of your time from home, meal prepping and planning can make your day flow easier without having to take a break to make an entire meal in the middle of your work day. Most importantly, stay hydrated by drinking plenty of water.

While focusing on daily habits and routines to improve your physical health is important, it is also a great time to turn inward and check in with yourself. Perhaps your anxiety has increased and it's impacting your work or day-to-day life. Determining the cause and taking proactive steps toward mitigating these occurrences are important.

For example, with the increase in handwashing, this can also be a great time to practice mini meditation sessions by focusing on taking deep breaths. This can reduce anxiety and even lower your blood pressure. Keeping a journal and writing out your daily thoughts or worries can also help manage stress during unpredictable times, too.

While the future of COVI9-19 and our lives may be unpredictable, you can manage your personal uncertainties by focusing on improving the lifestyle factors you can controlfrom staying active to having a routine and focusing on your mental healthto make sure that you emerge from this pandemic as your same old self or maybe even better.

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5 Most Desirable Medical Specialities Around the Globe - SWAAY

Doctors and experts say that improved medical tactics and earlier treatment are helping improve the outcomes for very sick patients, said Andrew Badley, head of Mayo Clinics Covid Research Task Force.

Health-care preparedness today is much better than it was in February and March, Badley said in an interview. We have better and more rapid access to diagnosis. We have more knowledge about what drugs to use and what drugs not to use. We have more experimental treatments available. All of those contribute to possible improvements in the mortality rate.

One study looked at 4,689 Covid-19 hospitalizations from March to June in New York, adjusting patients mortality rate for factors such as age, race, obesity and any underlying illnesses they might have had. In the first half of March, the mortality rate for hospitalized patients was 23%. By June, it had fallen to 8%. The research hasnt yet been peer-reviewed, a process through which other experts examine the work.

Despite the gains, the U.S. will soon pass 200,000 deaths, and tens of thousands of Americans are confirmed infected each day. The number killed by the disease is still in large part a factor of how many are infected in the first place -- the more people who get sick, the more die. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has emphasized that a mask is still the best available protection from the virus for most people. And experts warn that the virus is still very dangerous and can kill even seemingly healthy individuals.

Even with these improvements, this is not a benign disease, said Leora Horwitz, an associate professor of population health and medicine at New York Universitys Grossman School of Medicine who conducted the New York study of Covid-19 hospitalizations. This does not mean that coronavirus is now a non-dangerous disease. It remains a very serious threat to public health.

Public-health officials, epidemiologists, amateur observers and others have watched as the pandemic has unfolded, looking for how to measure the viruss deadliness. Tallying deaths as a percentage of the greater population sheds light on the scope of the pandemic. Excess mortality compares fatalities to what the death rate is expected to be. But neither method offers insight into whether the virus is becoming more or less deadly for an individual with a severe case.

Even looking at deaths per the number of confirmed cases can be misleading as the result is largely a function of testing, experts say. If many mild or asymptomatic cases are captured, mortality rates will be skewed lower. In Europe, for example, there are anecdotal signs of a similar trend, though much of the lower death rate may be because of more cases being found in younger, healthier people. More infections in young people are being found in the U.S., as well.

You have to understand who youre testing and then what the real fatality rate is for that demographic, said Aaron Glatt, chief of infectious diseases at Mount Sinai South Nassau hospital.

There is even a hypothesis that public health-measures like mask-wearing and distancing can help decrease the amount of virus people are getting infected with, leading to less severe cases because the body isnt overwhelmed with a large dose of virus at once.

Even though theyre getting infected with the virus, perhaps they are getting less of a dose of the virus and so theyre just getting less sick from it, Horwitz said.

In New York, the first major U.S. city hit hard by the virus, knowledge among doctors was limited as cases poured into emergency rooms this spring. There have been more than 27,000 confirmed and probable Covid-19 deaths in the city, the bulk of them at the peak of the outbreak there in March and April.

As the outbreak moved on to other parts of the country, such as Texas, health-care workers had more time to prepare and learn what works.

We kind of had a play book before we even started seeing any patients in Texas, said Robert Hancock president of Texas College of Emergency Physicians. We understand the things that work at this point with Covid much better.

Since March, doctors have learned valuable lessons, not only about how to ensure hospitals dont run out of ICU beds and ventilators, but also that flipping a patient onto their stomach, known as prone positioning, can help. Giving patients steroids early on and treating them with blood thinners can also improve someones prognosis.

Now that we know that we might need to start these patients on blood thinners and Heparin pretty quickly, thats helping, said Diana L. Fite, president of the Texas Medical Association. A lot of these deaths from Covid are because of the blood coagulation; the blood clots ruin their organs.

Though there is still no cure for the coronavirus, all of the improvements in treatment and preventative measures combined contributes toward an improved prognosis for patients, Fite said. In Texas, there have been at least 14,590 deaths from the virus, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.

Even if these things arent cures, they help a small percentage do better, Fite said. You add several of those things up and youve got a better outcome overall.

Original post:
COVID-19 grows less deadly as doctors gain practice and drugs improve - The Boston Globe

Eli Lilly said it planned to discuss with regulators the possible emergency use of baricitinib for hospitalized patients. Other news is about early research on an antibody that might neutralize COVID and how the virus controls the brain, as well.

AP:Anti-Inflammatory Drug May Shorten COVID-19 Recovery TimeA drug company says that adding an anti-inflammatory medicine to a drug already widely used for hospitalized COVID-19 patients shortens their time to recovery by an additional day. Eli Lilly announced the results Monday from a 1,000-person study sponsored by the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. The study tested baricitinib, a pill that Indianapolis-based Lilly already sells as Olumiant to treat rheumatoid arthritis. (Marchione, 9/14)

The Hill:Drugmaker Says Anti-Inflamatory Medicine May Shorten COVID-19 Recovery TimeThe use of Baricitinib, arheumatoidarthritis drug from Eli Lilly, led to a one-day reduction in recovery time for patients when combined with Remdesivir compared to patients who only took Remdesivir, according to a trial. The finding was statistically significant, Eli Lilly said in a statement. The company did not release the full results of the study but stated the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) is expected to publish full results in peer-review studies and that additional analyses are ongoing to understand clinical outcome data, including safety and morbidity data. (9/14)

In other scientific developments

Fox News:University Of Pittsburgh Scientists Discover Antibody That 'neutralizes' Virus That Causes CoronavirusScientists at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have isolated the smallest biological molecule that completely and specifically neutralizes SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the novel coronavirus. The antibody component is 10 times smaller than a full-sized antibody, and has been used to create the drug Ab8, shared in the report published by the researchers in the journal Cell on Monday. The drug is seen as a potential preventative against SARS-CoV-2. (Deabler, 9/14)

Fox News:Coronavirus Can 'Hijack' Brain Cells To Replicate Itself, Yale Researchers DiscoverThe coronavirus can affect the brain and hijack brain cells to replicate itself, Yale University researchers have discovered. A new study from Yale University, on BioRXiv, which is awaiting peer review, found that the brain is another organ susceptible to an attack by the novel coronavirus. (McGorry, 9/14)

Stat:23andMe Research Finds Possible Link Between Blood Type And Covid-19A forthcoming study from genetic testing giant 23andMe shows that a persons genetic code could be connected to how likely they are to catch Covid-19 and how severely they could experience the disease if they catch it. Its an important confirmation of earlier work on the subject. People whose blood group is O seemed to test positive for Covid-19 less often than expected when compared to people with any other blood group, according to 23andMes data; people who tested positive and had a specific variant of another gene also seemed to be more likely to have serious respiratory symptoms. (Sheridan, 9/14)

Originally posted here:
Drug Company Touts Anti-Inflammatory Drug's Role In Shortening COVID Recovery - Kaiser Health News

Interview by Nicole Aschoff

For the better part of a year the world has battled SARS-CoV-2, a novel coronavirus that has killed nearly a million people and sickened tens of millions. In the United States the virus has wreaked havoc, particularly on older members of the population. Americans aged fifty-five and older account for more than 90 percent of the nearly two hundred thousand US COVID-19 deaths, while roughly 0.2 percent were people under twenty-five.

Efforts to quell the virus have brought additional pain. As of late August, roughly nineteen million Americans were out of work as a result of the pandemic, and food and housing insecurity has increased dramatically. But the pain caused by lockdowns has not been shared equally.

Elites have seen their stock portfolios balloon in value, and many professionals have been able to keep their jobs by working from home. It is the countrys poor and working-class households, particularly those with children, who have borne a disproportionate share of the burden. Lower-income Americans were much more likely to be forced to work in unsafe conditions, to have lost their livelihoods due to business and school shutdowns, or to be unable to learn remotely.

Jacobin editorial board member Nicole Aschoff sat down with two public health experts to discuss the challenge of keeping Americans safe without forcing working people to bear the lions share of pain and risk.

Katherine Yih is a biologist and epidemiologist at Harvard Medical School where she specializes in infectious disease epidemiology, immunization, and post-licensure vaccine safety surveillance. Yih is also a founding member of the New World Agriculture and Ecology Group, a former and current member of Science for the People, and a long-time activist in farm labor and anti-imperialist struggles.

Martin Kulldorff is a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. Kulldorff has developed methods for the detection and monitoring of infectious disease outbreaks which are used by public health departments around the world. Since April, he has been an active participant in the COVID-19 strategy debate in the United States, his native Sweden, and elsewhere. This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

Read more here:
We Need a Radically Different Approach to the Pandemic and Our Economy as a Whole - Jacobin magazine

I have a warm heart for our community. As a NEPA native, Im inspired by the ways The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education and our larger community have navigated together this unprecedented and very challenging time of uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. As a longtime, passionate primary care provider and medical educator, I am especially proud to be witnessing and experiencing the very best of what Ive always known about the noble profession of medicine: that the people maintaining the front lines of health care delivery do so for all the right reasons, striving to serve humanity with an abundance of courage, care and compassion, especially for the most vulnerable among us.

With World Heart Day coming up on Sept. 29, its important to acknowledge that although we dont know what the ongoing public health crisis still has in store for us, there is no doubt that taking care of ourselves and each other and promoting cardiovascular health are just as important as ever.

According to the World Heart Federation, cardiovascular disease is the No. 1 cause of death on our planet, and its primary causes are all too familiar to our regional community: smoking, diabetes, high blood pressure, sedentary lifestyles and obesity. Heart failure which happens when the heart fails to pump enough blood to the body and brain, resulting in symptoms like breathlessness, fatigue and swollen limbs affects 26 million worldwide and it is the top cause of hospitalization. Most concerning at this time is that people with underlying conditions, such as diabetes and heart disease, are most vulnerable to complications and death from COVID-19.

And yet one of the most troubling trends during the pandemic has been that many patients, including those with cardiovascular issues, have been avoiding routine medical care, preventative immunizations and even foregoing emergency room visits for fear of contracting the novel coronavirus within our healthcare systems.

Its absolutely critical that we tackle the double-edged threats cardiovascular disease and COVID-19 pose through raising awareness and promoting prevention and early detection, while offering reassurance. As everyone remains vigilant about staying safe and slowing transmission of the virus by wearing face masks, washing their hands frequently and continuing social distancing, I want to make sure the message is loud and clear that your primary care and specialty doctors offices and hospital emergency rooms are safe.

Please keep your health care on track, including timely acute and chronic disease management visits and also vaccination and cancer screening prevention services. The risks of undertreated hypertension and diabetes and untreated heart attacks and stroke far outweigh the risks of contacting COVID-19. And in times of cardiovascular troubles like heart attacks or strokes, every second counts.

The biggest keys to fighting cardiovascular disease education and prevention through healthy lifestyle behaviors are at the heart of two major Wright Center innovations aimed at enhancing the quality of and lengthening the lives of people in NEPA and across the country.

One is relatively brand new. Our Lifestyle Medicine initiative launched this summer as both a focused field of study for our resident doctors and fellows, as well as a key component of our patient-centered care for all routine clinical visits.

The other initiative is celebrating its 10th anniversary: our pioneering Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship, which launched in response to NEPAs well-documented cardiovascular health needs under the leadership of Dr. Samir Pancholy, with support from Geisinger, the Wilkes-Barre Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Commonwealth Health System.

Lifestyle Medicine encourages prevention by empowering patients to make better choices. We can look after our hearts and help to prevent cardiovascular disease by eating a healthy diet, saying no to tobacco and other risky substances, and getting plenty of sleep and exercise.

Our Cardiology Fellowship, meanwhile, trains doctors in community-based and hospital settings throughout Lackawanna and Luzerne counties. Over the course of their years in the program, fellows train one-on-one with our globally and nationally recognized, NEPA-based, board-certified cardiologists and cardiothoracic surgeons. Under our distinguished facultys guidance and on rotations through cardiac consultations, cardiac care units, cardiac catheterization and cardiovascular surgeries, our fellows acquire the knowledge and skills needed to provide state-of-the-art cardiac care, all while advancing our regional healthcare delivery system through their research projects and system improvement efforts.

The last decade of our Cardiology fellowship has produced a number of cardiac specialists who have stayed in NEPA to serve our community and to make meaningful contributions to our regions comprehensive care opportunities.

Celebrate World Heart Day by paying worthy attention to your self care and optimizing your cardiovascular health. Learn more about Lifestyle Medicine and the Million Hearts National Campaign. Most importantly, when you need help, reach out to your doctor and stay connected to other resources within our local health care community.

Linda Thomas-Hemak, M.D., a primary care physician triple board-certified in pediatrics, internal medicine and addiction medicine, leads The Wright Center for Community Health as CEO and serves as President of The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education. She lives with her family and practices primary care in Jermyn. Send your medical questions to news@thewrightcenter.org.

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The Wright Medicine: Getting to the 'heart' of the matter - Valley Advantage

A monitor depicts the structure of SARS-CoV-2 during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing to discuss vaccines and protecting public health during the coronavirus pandemic on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2020, in Washington. (Michael Reynolds/Pool via AP)

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine said they have isolated a molecule that could be used as a treatment against COVID-19.

According to a report released earlier this week, the scientists isolated the smallest biological molecule that specifically neutralizes the virus that causes the virus.

The molecule has been used to create the drug Ab8 and has been viewed as a potential preventative treatment. Head researchers said the molecule is 10 times smaller than a regular sized antibody, which means it can penetrate into more areas of the body.

Its fully human, meaning that theres no foreign material thats likely to be rejected by the host, explained Dr. John Mellors, Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of Pittsburgh. Its extremely potent.

The molecule also doesnt bind to human cells, which suggests there would be no negative side effects. Researchers are also looking into different ways to administer the treatment and said it could be inhaled rather than injected.

Read more from the original source:
Researchers discover antibody molecule that could be used as preventative to COVID-19 - One America News Network

Rachel Roberts, Opinion contributor Published 6:16 a.m. ET Sept. 18, 2020

The rise of COVID-19 has understandably refocused our attention on health care access and inequities.One component that hasnt gotten as much attention, but should, is access to mental health care.Were in a moment where more of us than ever before could benefit from having an established relationship with a qualified provider.

Although we have seen sustained success in the fields of mental health care, counseling and addiction services in recent decades from gains in medicine to a more aware and understanding publicthe statistics are clear that this is not enough.

Indeed, two of the main drivers behind reports showing life expectancy is declining in the United States are the rising rates of drug addiction and suicide.The public has a good understanding of the importance of addressing the former, but comparatively less attention is given to how to spot and then stop someone from taking his or her life.

Related:Inequity in mental health care is yet another challenge facing the minority community

To understand suicides sizable scope, consider that its number here in the United States is four times higher than those murdered and a third larger than those killed in traffic accidents.Suicide rates are highest among adults between 45 and 64, and those with substance abuse disorders are six times more likely to commit suicide than those without, according toMental Health America.Worldwide, there are 800,000 suicides a year, or an average of one every 40 seconds.

I learned from an early age how much of a difference it makes when someone in crisis gets the care they need.My dad worked as an addiction specialist and had his office on the ground floor of our home.There were many times that I saw him open the door for clients who were struggling to survive, and there is no telling how many lives he and his friends in the field saved.

I will never forget the example he set, and it is one of the reasons why I proudly serve as a board member for Mental Health America of Kentucky andwhy improving access to mental healthand addictionservices across Kentucky is so important to me as a state legislator.

To further that goal, I am sponsoring legislation that would make what I think is a long-overdue change.I chose toannounceit Sept.10 to coincide with World Suicide Prevention Day and Suicide Prevention Awareness Month for our country.

Kentucky Rep. Rachel Roberts, a Democrat,represents District 67.(Photo: provided)

In short, my bill calls for comprehensive health insurance plans to include anannual preventative mental health checkup.

Just as we understand the importance of monitoring blood pressure and cholesterol and regularly visiting the dentist and eye doctor,we shouldcheck on our mental health in the same way.

If we want toprioritize mental health and well-being for all Kentuckians, were going to have to do more than we have done.There may be no single answer to get us to that destination, but my bill undoubtedly would move us in the right direction.

If you or someone you know is at risk of committing suicide, please do not hesitate to act.The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is available 24 hours a day and can be reached at 800-273-8255.If it is an immediate emergency, please call 911.

Rachel Roberts, a Democrat,is a Kentucky representative forDistrict 67.

Read or Share this story: https://www.courier-journal.com/story/opinion/2020/09/18/kentucky-bill-would-help-increase-access-to-mental-health-care/5786847002/

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With addiction and suicide on the rise, we must increase access to mental health care - Courier Journal

NEW YORK, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --The Cura Foundation in collaboration with The Marcus Foundation, Sanford Health and Alliance for Cell Therapy Now, is supporting a clinical trial of human cord tissue mesenchymal stromal cells (hCT-MSC) to treat children with Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C). The trial is being led by Dr. Joanne Kurtzberg at Duke University to determine if infusions of hCT-MSCs are safe and can suppress the hyper-inflammatory response and positively impact the symptom course and duration, as well as the long-term effects of this life-threatening syndrome. The hCT-MSCs are manufactured in the Robertson GMP Cell Manufacturing Laboratory at Duke. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the Investigational New Drug (IND) Application, and Dr. Kurtzberg will proceed with a multi-site pilot study later this month.

As the school year is underway more children are being diagnosed with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the cumulative number of coronavirus cases diagnosed in children has more than tripled between July 2 and September 3 from 165,845 to 513,415. As of September 3rd, children represent at least 9.8% of diagnosed cases in the U.S. and in states such as Alaska, Minnesota, Tennessee, South Carolina, New Mexico and Wyoming, children account for more than 15 percent of total cases. Some of these children have developed very serious disease. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that as of September 3rd at least 792 children in 42 states have been diagnosed with Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) and 16 have died.

The Principal Investigator of the study, Joanne Kurtzberg, MD, is the Jerome Harris Distinguished Professor of Pediatrics; Professor of Pathology; Director, Marcus Center for Cellular Cures; Director, Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant Program; Director, Carolinas Cord Blood Bank; Co-Director, Stem Cell Transplant Laboratory at Duke University School of Medicine/Duke Health and a leader in transplantation, cell therapy, and regenerative medicine in children. Clinical sites include Duke University (Durham, NC), Children's Healthcare of Atlanta (Atlanta, GA), New York Medical College (Valhalla, NY), and others as cases occur.

"We hope this is just the beginning of our ability to support the development of cell therapies to treat COVID-19 Related Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children," said Dr. Robin Smith,president of the Cura Foundation. "As students across the country return to in-class instruction, it is more important now than ever to ensure we are equipped with potential treatment options to care for children who develop this serious disease."

About the Sponsors

The Cura Foundationleads a global health movement with the goal to improve human health. Cura unites public and private sectors, partnering with doctors, patients, business leaders, philanthropists and thought leaders to create a collaborative network that tackles major health issues and accelerates funding to advance innovations in medicine. Cura believes that by encouraging interdisciplinary approaches to medicine, promoting preventative measures and advancing the development of breakthrough medical technologies you can improve access to care, streamline health care delivery and eliminate social disparities in health care. The Cura Foundation is a nonsectarian, nonpartisan, public and tax-exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. For more information, please visit: https://thecurafoundation.org/

The Marcus Foundationwas founded in 1989 by Bernie Marcus, co-founder and former CEO of The Home Depot, to support programs in Children and Youth Development, Community, Free Enterprise, National Security, Veterans, Jewish Causes, Healthcare and Medical Research.

Sanford Health, one of the largest health systems in the United States, is dedicated to the integrated delivery of health care, genomic medicine, senior care and services, global clinics, research and affordable insurance. Headquartered in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, the organization includes 46 hospitals, 1,400 physicians and more than 200 Good Samaritan Society senior care locations in 26 states and 10 countries. Learn more about Sanford Health's transformative work to improve the human condition at sanfordhealth.orgor Sanford Health News.

Duke Healthconceptually integrates the Duke University School of Medicine, Duke-NUS Medical School, Duke University School of Nursing, Duke University Health System, Private Diagnostic Clinic (Duke physicians practice), and incorporates the health and health research programs within the Duke Global Health Institute as well as those in schools and centers across Duke University, including the Duke-Robert J. Margolis Center for Health Policy.

Duke Health is committed to conducting innovative basic and clinical research, rapidly translating breakthrough discoveries to patient care and population health, providing a unique educational experience to future clinical and scientific leaders, improving the health of populations, and actively seeking policy and intervention-based solutions to complex global health challenges. Underlying these ambitions is a belief that Duke Health is a destination for outstanding people and a dedication to continually explore new ways to help our people grow, collaborate and succeed.

Alliance for Cell Therapy Now(ACT Now) is an independent, non-profit organization devoted to advancing the availability of and access to safe and effective cell therapies for patients in need. ACT Now convenes experts and stakeholders to develop and advance sound policies that will improve the development, manufacturing, delivery, and improvement of regenerative cell therapies. Seehttp://allianceforcelltherapynow.org/

Contact

The Cura FoundationRobin Smith, MD, +1-212-584-4176[emailprotected]

SOURCE Alliance for Cell Therapy Now

allianceforcelltherapynow.org

More:
FDA Approves Study to Investigate the Use of Cell Therapy to Treat COVID-19 Related Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) - PRNewswire

Decatur, GA DeKalb County Commissioner Lorraine Cochran-Johnson is partnering with Kaiser Permanente to host a special countywide town hall to share important information on how to stay healthy through the COVID-19 pandemic and upcoming influenza season, according to a press release from the county.

The Flu in an Era of COVID-19 Town Hall will take place Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2020, at 6 p.m. and will feature medical doctors that specialize in population health.

According the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there is a high probability that the flu and COVID-19 viruses will begin increasing in October and will spread this fall and winter. Commissioner Cochran-Johnson feels now is the time stress the importance of coupling education with preventative measures to avoid contracting both.

It is vital that we continue to stay steadfast in our efforts to decrease and ultimately stop the spread of COVID- 19, said Commissioner Cochran-Johnson. With flu season approaching, we must be equally intentional in educating the public on what to expect and how to stay healthy in the midst of this pandemic.

The Flu in an Era of COVID-19 Town Hall will educate DeKalb residents on the differences between the flu and COVID-19 and how they can affect each other, according to the press release from the county. In addition, residents will learn from medical experts how the flu and COVID-19 can impact ones mental and physical health, including pregnancies.

Presentations will be made by Dr. Chris Griffith (child, adolescent & adult psychiatrist & obesity medicine at Kaiser Permanente), Dr. Fatu Forna (physician program director for perinatal safety and quality at Kaiser Permanente), Dr. Belkis Pimentel (physician program director, quality performance and population health and flu expert at Kaiser Permanente) and Dr. Lynette Wilson-Phillips (pediatrician and co-medical director for Kids-Doc on Wheels).

COVID-19 and influenza are both respiratory illnesses that are contagious and have similar symptoms, however they are caused by different viruses and neither should be taken lightly, said Dr. Chris Griffith. Kaiser Permanente and its staff of medical professionals understand this and are dedicated to educating the public on the facts and how to stay healthy.

Decaturish.com is working to keep your community informed about coronavirus, also known as COVID-19. All of our coverage on this topic can be found at Decaturishscrubs.com. If you appreciate our work on this story, please become a paying supporter. For as little as $3 a month, you can help us keep you in the loop about what your community is doing to stop the spread of COVID-19. To become a supporter, click here.

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Dekalb County town hall will provide information about flu and COVID-19 - Decaturish.com

Demonstrating what is possible when working together to deliver higher quality care at lower costs, New Hanover Regional Medical Centers Medicare Shared Savings Program Accountable Care Organization (ACO), Physician Quality Partners (PQP), earned top scores in the latest data released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

PQP improved care for almost 20,000 Medicare beneficiaries in New Hanover and the surrounding counties, saving Medicare over $9.7 million by meeting quality and cost goals in 2019, according to recently released performance data from CMS, the federal agency that administers Medicare. PQP reduced the average cost of care by $501 per beneficiary.

PQP earned a quality score of 98.75 percent on performance measures ranging from preventive health checks, to use of electronic health records, to preventing avoidable hospitalizations, according to Medicare data.

Our work to improve care and quality while lowering costs within this group is just the beginning of what we can do to improve our regions health, said NHRMC President and CEO John Gizdic. By growing in our ability to provide new care options and access data that can be used to identify ways to improve care, we can help more people and lower overall costs.

The $9.7 million of gross savings to Medicare that PQP generated also resulted in a shared savings payment of $4.4 million to PQP, which will be used to help fund further investments in quality improvement and care management support to improve our beneficiaries health outcomes.

Partnering with our ACO providers is foundational in better serving patients, driving outcomes, and delivering value in this complex healthcare landscape, said Leelee Thames, MD, MBA, NHRMCs Chief Value Officer and ACO Medical Director. ACOs like ours are not only driving down costs, but most importantly, making remarkable improvements in the health and quality of life of our beneficiaries.

For example, PQP providers strive to improve long-term outcomes by directing efforts to services like annual wellness visits and evidence-based preventative screenings, known to impact disease conditions. The ACO also focuses on ensuring care is coordinated to ensure smooth transitions from the hospital to home or a nursing home if needed. All ACO providers receive detailed information about their performance on quality measures, and clinicians and providers share best practices to coordinate the care beneficiaries receive to prevent complications and repeat hospitalizations.

Through these efforts to improve outcomes, PQPs hospital admission rates dropped 17% and ED rates dropped 6.3% since the programs inception in 2016. Over the last year alone, PQP reduced unnecessary admissions and readmissions by over 2%, and Emergency Department visit rates by over 3%.

ACOs empower local physicians, hospitals and other providers to work together and take responsibility for improving quality, enhancing patient experience and keeping care affordable. The Medicare Shared Savings Program (Shared Savings Program) creates incentives for ACOs to invest in transforming care by allowing them to share in savings they generate after meeting defined quality and cost goals.

According to CMS, 541 Shared Savings Program participants generated $1.19 billion in total net savings to Medicare in 2019. ACOs continued to show improved or comparable quality performance on measures compared to other physician group practices.

The Medicare ACO shared savings program is the largest value-based payment model in the country and a critical tool in moving the health system toward higher value, said Lydia Newman, PQPs Executive Director.

PQP is a collaborative that includes the NHRMC Physician Group and Intracoastal Internal Medicine, an independent practice in Wilmington.

Founded in 2013, Physician Quality Partners (PQP) was created by New Hanover Regional Medical Center. The participating providers are united with the common goal of helping beneficiaries receive the right care, at the right time, in the right setting. In 2016, PQP began participating as a Tack 1 ACO in the Shared Savings Program and renewed participation on July 1, 2019 in the new Pathways to Success Model as a Track B participant.

To learn more about Physician Quality Partners, call 910-667-7640 or visit http://www.physicianqualitypartners.com.

You also can call 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227), TTY users should call 1-877-486-2048 and tell the representative youre calling to learn more about ACOs or visit Medicare.gov/acos.html.

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Physician Quality Partners generated $9.7 million in savings while improving care quality [Free read] - Port City Daily

UWMadisons Athletic Training program is transitioning to the masters degree level due to changing national accreditation standards and an anticipated growth in demand for athletic trainers in the coming years.

The new Master of Science in Athletic Training (MSAT) program which was approved by the UW Systems Board of Regents in April is now accepting applications and will enroll its first cohort in the summer of 2021.

Athletic trainers are multi-skilled health care professionals who collaborate with physicians as part of a health care team to provide preventative services, emergency care, clinical diagnosis, therapeutic intervention, and rehabilitation of injuries and medical conditions. Athletic trainers provide this health care in a variety of settings for people involved in all levels of physical activity.

If you enjoy sports and physical activity, solving problems, caring for patients, and working with people then a career in athletic training might be for you, says UWMadisons Andrew Winterstein, who directs the universitys Athletic Training program, which is housed in the School of Educations Department of Kinesiology.

Athletic trainers do everything from creating injury prevention programs at high schools, to providing health care to intercollegiate or professional sports teams. Others help workers safely perform on a factory assembly line, or treat patients of all ages and skill levels in a clinical rehabilitation setting.

Athletic trainers are the health care professionals who use their skills where no two days or job settings are alike, says Winterstein, a distinguished clinical professor with the Department of Kinesiology.

The new MSAT program is replacing the current Athletic Training program offered at the bachelors degree level. Athletic training programs across the country are making the transition following a decision from the Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education (CAATE), the Board of Certification (BOC), and National Athletic Trainers Association. By the fall of 2022, athletic training programs nationally will no longer be enrolling students at the undergraduate level. However, students currently enrolled in athletic training programs and current athletic trainers will not need to earn a masters degree to satisfy this new standard.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that employment of athletic trainers will grow 19 percent from 2018 to 2028, which is much faster than the average for all occupations. Demand for athletic trainers is expected to increase as people become more aware of the long-term effects of sports-related injuries, and as a growing middle-aged and older population remains active.

UWMadisons new MSAT program takes 24 months to complete, beginning with a summer session, and includes capstone clinical preceptorships in local environments and locations around the country. The curriculum, which includes 58 credits, is front-loaded in year one (summer, fall, and spring semesters), with a heavy didactic schedule and limited clinical experiences. The second year (summer, fall, and spring semesters) then stresses immersive clinical field placements supported by innovative courses that include both face-to-face and online formats.

The program at UWMadison gives students the unique opportunity of working with elite Big Ten Conference athletes competing at the highest level of intercollegiate sports. Clinical education is guided by a talented collection of athletic training professionals dedicated to preparing students in the program for their future.

Something new and exciting in the MSAT program is that we will be offering more immersive clinical experiences for the students at a variety of locations around the country and in our own Big Ten settings, says Shari Clark, the programs clinical education coordinator. These intensive experiences will provide authentic clinical learning experiences to prepare students for a range of patient care.

As a comprehensive university, UW-Madison also offers countless collaborative interprofessional education, research, and care opportunities where MSAT students can learn from physicians with the UW School of Medicine and Public Health in the classroom, operating room, and athletic health care setting. Additional opportunities exist alongside other health science students studying to become physical therapists, occupational therapists, and physician assistants.

Im very excited about the opportunities that the new MSAT program will bring to our students, says David Bell, an associate professor with the Department of Kinesiology and the director of the Wisconsin Injury in Sport Laboratory. I believe that students will be able to add to their clinical experience by participating in research that will directly benefit their patients.

Winterstein notes that the changing nature of health care and an increased emphasis on inter-professional practice will make the masters level of education very important to the professions future.

The new UWMadison program is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education and students are eligible to sit for the national Board of Certification exam after successful completion of the MSAT program.

Our Athletic Training program is already a well-respected member of the health sciences community on campus and fully contributes to the research, instructional, and outreach missions of UWMadison, says Winterstein. The transition from the bachelors to the masters degree level will allow for greater collaboration as an interprofessional partner with existing health sciences programs.

For more information visit the MSAT programs website.

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UWMadison launching Master of Science in Athletic Training program - School of Education - University of Wisconsin-Madison

With upwards of 1 million licensed doctors in the United States, there have never been more caretakers to help you maintain perfect health. But nearly all patients would agree that finding the right Doc can be tricky. Yes, most doctors wear a white coat or a pair of scrubs, and can be found in hospitals or steely offices but the truth is that doctors are vastly different from one another, and most have an expertise in one particular area of medicine. There are hundreds of documented medical specialities and related certifications that physicians can pursue in their career, and there is often a special doctor for each affliction or illness, no matter how complex or rare that condition may be.

Where does one start when faced with a specific health issue? First step: It's a good idea to establish care with a primary care doctor, so that you have someone to oversee your healthcare treatment. They'll work with other doctors when the time comes, too: "Your primary care provider is an important first stop when receiving care, and they can help you to determine when you may need to see a specialist," says Craig Hersh, M.D., a board certified family medicine physician and the Chief Medical Officer for Empire BlueCross BlueShield.

"Think of your primary care provider as the front door to the healthcare system, who can also help you navigate and work with the specialist who best matches your needs," Dr. Hersh tells Good Housekeeping.

Sometimes, though, you might need direct access to a specialist say, if you've moved recently and don't have a primary care provider just yet. With the help of Dr. Hersh, we'll explore the most common types of doctors you'll likely turn to for help in your lifetime each of these 26 specialists can help address unique health concerns, and may finally get you the treatment you've been searching for.

This article generalizes the roles and descriptions of common doctors and specialists: It isn't intended to be a complete list, nor is it reflective of laws, statutes, regulations, license issues, or Medical Practice Acts by state. It is meant to be educational in nature and isn't a substitute for actual medical or treatment advice from a licensed professional. Remember: Always call 911 if you are experiencing a life-threatening emergency.

Primary care providers | Internist | Pediatrician | Geriatric specialists | Gynecologist, OB/GYN | Dermatologist | Allergist | Cardiologist | Endocrinologist | Gastroenterologist | Geneticist | Hematologist | Neurologist | Otolaryngologist | Pulmonologist | Nephrologist | Infectious disease specialists | Osteopath | Radiologists | Urologist | Plastic surgeons

Also known as a family physician, a primary care provider is in charge of handling your routine healthcare appointments, including annual physicals and vaccinations over time. Primary care doctors should always be your first call if you have a health concern that isn't an emergency, as they can help treat everything from the common cold to a physical injury. More often than not, they'll attempt to alleviate any symptoms you are experiencing; they may also refer you to another doctor or specialist.

A primary care provider can treat symptoms associated with conditions like:

These doctors work similarly to a primary care provider, in that they can see a patient routinely over their lifetime; unlike their counterparts, however, they usually have a background in internal medicine and spend their time in hospitals. Internists don't usually treat children or preteens, but care for anyone else from young adults to elderly patients, especially those who need help in diagnosing or managing chronic conditions or diseases. They may specialize in certain areas as well, like gastroenterology.

Pediatricians handle scheduled care and check-ins for infants, toddlers, younger children, adolescents, preteens, and most teenagers. They function like a primary care provider, designed for children specifically, but also keep kids' vaccinations up to date and do important screenings as they get older. Pediatricians are also a good point of contact to discuss any particular health concerns or questions about your child's physical or mental development.

Some elderly individuals may transition from a primary care doctor to what's know in the healthcare space as a geriatric specialist. Geriatricians take over primary care of people who are aging, and can help manage conditions that particularly impact the elderly, everything from severe arthritic pain to diabetes and dementia. These docs are on the other end of the family medicine spectrum from pediatricians!

Gynecologists, of course, handle preventative care for women in reproductive health, menopause, and hormone issues and you know that an obstetrician specifically looks after pregnant women and delivers their babies. An ob/gyn office (combining the two specialties) is also be a place where cervical cancer is tested and diagnosed, and where breast exams are performed.

Nearly everyone knows that dermatologists have the best information about routine skincare but they're also the specialist in charge of treating more serious skin issues, hair loss, or nail irregularities. Rashes or severe acne, rosacea or psoriasis, and skin cancer are treated; these specialists examine symptoms, help you manage them as best as possible, and provide a longterm treatment plan if possible.

These physicians are specially trained to determine if someone has an allergy, and they may also be referred to as an immunologist. If you're wondering if you have an allergy, an allergist is the doctor to see. In addition to diagnosing and managing allergies, these specialists may also help manage asthma, certain lung conditions, and immunodeficiency disorders. An allergist can give patients with allergies injections to help manage their allergies in the long run.

These physicians are in charge of taking care of your heart, but they'll most likely step in for direct care if you have high blood pressure, or experience heart failure or irregular heartbeats. Cardiologists often use physical stress tests and electrocardiography to diagnose, treat, and prevent other issues. You'll also have to be under their care after a heart attack, as your primary doctor may need screening done for future heart conditions.

These physicians look after your eyes, both medically and surgically, which is different from a optometrist, who is responsible for eye tests and corrective lenses as well as prescribing medication for some diseases. Opticians solely help you with the fit of your glasses and contacts overall.Ophthalmologists will also be needed if you develop a serious eye impairment, like glaucoma and cataracts as you age.

For those dealing with diabetes or a thyroid issue, an endocrinologist will help you pinpoint the source of trouble or help you troubleshoot longterm solutions. These specialists assess and treat internal glands that produce hormones and other bodily functions.

Digestive issues? If they're not clearing up whether it's diarrhea, bloating, acid reflux, or excessive flatulence it's time to ask for a gastroenterologist's help. Gastroenterologists who are licensed physicians, unlike gastrologists treat anything related to your digestive system (including bad breath!), and for longterm treatment, they help you control issues like irritable bowel syndrome or Crohn's disease. They may also screen you for issues later in life, like a colon cancer screening such as a colonoscopy.

Out of all doctors on this list, this may be one of the few that often require a referral; these doctors specifically look at whether a health issue has been inherited at birth, or if your genes are causing (or will cause) an issue in the future. They'll often help patients understand how genetic conditions could be passed along to a child preemptively, or they'll help to treat hereditary conditions that turn up.

If you're suffering an iron deficiency, or more serious conditions like anemia or hemophilia (inability to clot), a hematologist will step in to assess issues in your blood. They can be instrumental in preventing and treating cancers of the blood, such as leukemia.

Ah, the good brain doctor. But did you know that neurologists are also in charge of managing symptoms related to the nervous system, or anything that relates to your spine? Most often, neurologists tend to patients who have survived a stroke, or battle serious conditions like Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis (MS), and numbness or nerve pain caused by neuropathy. You may also seek them out for migraines and severe headaches that aren't going away.

These specialized surgeons also take care of your head and neck, but they focus on sinus, hearing, and throat disorders, among other issues. They are more commonly referred to as ENTs because they take care of your "ear, nose, and throat" primarily. You may visit an ENT for sinus issues, allergies and their side effects, as well as swallowing and hearing issues.

Ouch! You'll be heading to a podiatrist if you have foot, ankle, or lower leg pain or issues that can't be addressed by your primary care provider. While a visit to the podiatrist is often because someone has physically injured muscles, joints, or bones in their feet, these foot docs can also manage side effects from chronic conditions like diabetes.

Often mentioned in the same breath as a immunologist, these specialists are in charge of mitigating any pain or health concerns in your lungs and the entire respiratory system. You'll be referred to them for asthma often, but pulmonologists also diagnose and treat conditions like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), emphysema, and lung cancer.

Believe it or not, this doctor is just focused on a singular organ in your body: The kidney. They are often called in for longterm treatment for serious chronic kidney diseases, of which there are many: They may also set up dialysis for those experiencing kidney failure.

These doctors may be known as virologists, or epidemiologists, but more routinely they're called infectious disease physicians. These targeted specialists treat ailments that are caused by viral bacteria or viruses themselves, including conditions like HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria.

A referral to an oncologist might be terrifying for some, especially if they have yet to yield a positive result for any kind of cancer, but oncologists are often first examining your body, blood, or tissue samples beforehand. They may treat a benign tumor, which isn't cancerous by nature, but these specialist are still required. Oncologists are the point people for anyone who is living with cancer, and they'll draft treatment options, plus additional care when you reach remission.

These doctors are different from what's known as a naturopath, or a natural doctor. Osteopaths, titled as D.O.s in the field, receive similar training to a traditional M.D. but a greater emphasis is placed on treating a person for holistic health using elements of alternative medicine. Particularly, they often focus on relieving physical pain and tension in your body, especially in muscles and in joints.

These specialized care providers only see you for a short amount of time, and mainly for one thing only: Tests. Radiologists use imaging of all kinds to make an official diagnosis after another doctor or your primary care provider orders a test. The radiologist will make a detailed report to send back to your primary doctor or the specialist who ordered the test. Their testing services most commonly include:

Another highly targeted care provider, a urologist will treat pain and conditions related to the urinary tract (including bladders and urethra) for both men and women. They may troubleshoot issues like incontinence or help you pass a kidney stone; for men, they also deal with reproductive concerns.

A visit to a plastic surgeon's office isn't always for "craniofacial" adjustments. A bulk of a plastic surgeon's doesn't have to do with cosmetic procedures: They take care of the physical reconstruction of the body, and can help to repair your skin after a serious injury or burn, for example.

A special note on the following healthcare providers: They all address aspects of mental health in one way or another, with differences based on patients' needs. Each of them have different academic qualifications of various degrees, and they work in vastly different settings as well. "Only one type can prescribe medication and treat other medical conditions," Dr. Hersh explains.

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26 Different Types of Doctors - The Most Common Types of Doctors and Specialists - GoodHousekeeping.com

Throughout antiquity, from the Mediterranean to Egypt and todays Middle East, people believed that misfortune, including accidents, diseases, and sometimes even death, were caused by external forces.

Be they gods or other types of supernatural forces (such as a daimon), people regardless of faith sought magical means of protection against them.

While medicine and science were not absent in antiquity, they competed with entrenched systems of magic and the widespread recourse to it. People consulted professional magicians and also practised their own forms of folk magic.

Read more: Spells, charms, erotic dolls: love magic in the ancient Mediterranean

Possibly derived from the Latin word amoliri, meaning to drive away or to avert, amulets were believed to possess inherent magical qualities. These qualities could be naturally intrinsic (such as the properties of a particular stone) or imbued artificially with the assistance of a spell.

Not surprisingly the use of amulets was an integral part of life. From jewellery and embellishments on buildings, to papyri inscribed with spells, and even garden ornaments, they were deemed effective forms of protection.

Amulets have been around for thousands of years. Amber pendants from Denmarks Mesolithic age (10,000-8,000 BC) seem to have been worn as a form of generic protection.

Jewellery and ornaments referencing the figure of the scarab beetle were also popular all-purpose amulets in Egypt, dating from the beginning of the Middle Kingdom (2000 BC).

Read more: Michelle Obama's necklace and the power of political jewellery from suffragettes to a secretary of state

Two of the most common symbols of protection are the eye and the phallus. One or both amulet designs appear in many contexts, providing protection of the body (in the form of jewellery), a building (as plaques on exterior walls), a tomb (as an inscribed motif), and even a babys crib (as a mobile or crib ornament).

In Greece and the Middle East, for example, the evil eye has a history stretching back thousands of years. Today the image adorns the streets, buildings and even trees of villages.

The magic behind the evil eye is based on the belief that malevolence can be directed towards an individual through a nasty glare. Accordingly, a fake eye, or evil eye, absorbs the malicious intention in place of the targets eye.

The phallus was a form of magical protection in ancient Greece and Rome. The Greek sculpture known as a herm in English functioned as apotropaic magic (used to fend off evil). Such artefacts, featuring a head and torso atop a pediment often in the shape of a phallus and, if not, definitely featuring a phallus were used as boundary markers to keep trespassers out.

The implicit threat is that of rape; come near a space that is not your own, and you may suffer the consequences. This threat was intended to be interpreted metaphorically; namely, a violation of anothers property would entail some form of punishment from the supernatural realm.

The phallus amulet was also popular in ancient Italian magic. In Pompeii, archaeologists have uncovered wind chimes called tintinnabulum (meaning little bell). These were hung in gardens and took the form of a phallus adorned with bells.

This phallic shape, often morphing into bawdy forms, presented the same warning as the herm statues in Greece. However, the comic shapes in combination with the tinkling of bells also revealed a belief in the protective power of sound. Laughing was believed to ward off evil forces, as was the sound of chimes.

One scholarly view of magic is that it functions as the last recourse for the desperate or dispossessed. In this sense, it presents as a hopeful action, interpreted by some modern commentators as a form of psychological release from stress or a sense of powerlessness.

In the context of magical thinking, amulets may be dismissed by critical thinkers of all persuasions, but they remain in use throughout the world.

Often combined with science and common sense, but not always, amulets have made a resurgence during the COVID-19 pandemic. The amulets are equally as diverse, coming in all shapes and sizes, and promoted by politicians, religious leaders and social influencers.

A traditional form of adornment and protection in Javanese culture, now popular with tourists, burnt root bracelets, known as akar bahar, have been sold by community shamans. Indonesias Agriculture Minister Syahrul Yasin Limpo, meanwhile, has promoted an aromatherapy necklace containing a eucalyptus potion touted as a preventative against COVID (useless in terms of science but perhaps less dangerous than hydroxychloroquine).

This necklace prompts the question: where does alternative medicine end and magic begin? It is not a new question, since there has been an intersection between magical lore and medical knowledge for thousands of years.

Read more: A murky cauldron modern witchcraft and the spell on Trump

In Babylon, circa 2000-1600 BC, a condition known as kurrum disease (identified as a ringworm, symptoms of which include facial pustules), was responded to by both magicians and doctors. And in one text there is a healer who appears to perform the role of magician and doctor simultaneously.

Other ancient cultures also practised medical magic through amulets. In Greece, magicians prescribed amulets to heal the wandering womb, a condition whereby the womb was believed to dislodge and travel throughout a womans body, thus causing hysteria.

These amulets could take the form of jewellery on which a spell was inscribed. Amulets were also used to prevent pregnancy, as evidenced in a recipe written in Greek from around the second century BC, which instructed women to: take a bean with a bug inside it and fasten it to yourself as an amulet.

In a contemporary religious context, written amulets replace spells with prayers. In Thailand, for example, Phisutthi Rattanaphon, an Abbot at Wat Theraplai Temple in Suphan Buri, has issued people with orange paper inscribed with protective words and pictures.

Designed to ward off COVID-19, the papers represent the crossover between magic and religion; a paradigm as entrenched as the blurring of magic and medicine in numerous historical and cultural contexts. Thankfully, face masks and hand sanitiser are also available at the temple.

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Scarabs, phalluses, evil eyes how ancient amulets tried to ward off disease - The Conversation AU

Photo illustration by Slate. Photos by Samuel Corum/Getty Images, John Moore/Getty Images, and Justin Tallis/AFP via Getty Images.

This is part of Six Months In, a Slate series reflecting on half a year of coronavirus lockdown in America.

Since January, the coronavirus pandemic has killed more than 190,000 Americans, and it has left an especially brutal impact on Black people and people of color. The racist systems that keep many communities of color in a state of perpetual disadvantagefrom housing to education to, yes, medicinehave made them uniquely vulnerable to this plague. Ive been writing about COVID-19s decimation of Black communities since the pandemic reached the U.S., and Ive been speaking with fellow journalists and health professionals for my series Conversations on Moving Forward to get a sense of why Black people have been disproportionately dying of COVID, and what we can do about it. For the latest installment, marking about six months since the pandemic became real for Americans, I spoke with Dr. Uch Blackstock, founder and CEO of Advancing Health Equity and an emergency medical physician, about how the coronavirus pandemic intersects with racism, and what needs to change to ensure this wont happen at the same scale again. Our conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Julia Craven: You left academic medicine to come back into direct patient care.

Uch Blackstock: Im a second-generation physician, which is something I need to mention because only about 2.6 percent of physicians are Black women.* My mother was the original Dr. Blackstock. All the work that I do, especially around health equity, is in her memory.

I left academic medicine because I wanted to do health equity work. I wanted to explicitly address racism in health care. As you may know, sometimes these organizations, even health care orgs, are not always the most hospitable to Black faculty and students and trainees. And I couldnt really work in the authentic way that I wanted to. So I left and started my own organization to work with health institutions regarding racism in medicine and racial health inequities.

I spoke with you earlier this year about the pandemic and how it was going to have a really hard effect on Black communities and other communities of color. Give us an overview of what we have seen so far.

Its been horrible. When we look at the COVID-19 mortality rates, Black Americans have died at the highest rates. The virus has been allowed to essentially run throughout our communities because of lack of any federal leadership around the pandemic.

What does this say about the way racism works in our country, particularly how it intersects with our medical and public health systems?

For a long timeand this is true for myself and other clinicians I knowweve always thought about health as being just related to the care thats available. If you have access to health care, then youre healthy, right? But I think what this moment has brought into clarity is the fact that we know structural racism is a key driving force of the social determinants of health. If you have jobs that are putting you on the front lines, youre going to be exposed to the coronavirus. If you are living in overcrowded housing, which is more likely to occur in our communities because of lack of affordable housing and lack of opportunities for homeownership, then youre going to be in environments where youre more likely to be infected. Even thinking about who is using public transportation and who is less likely to be able to afford a car, were looking at our communities.

What systemic racism has done is limit the opportunities Black Americans have, to the effect that its placed us in a situation where we are most vulnerable to this virus. Add onto that the fact that our communities carry the highest burden of chronic diseasewhich, again, is a result of racism, lack of access to care, lack of quality care, lack of investment in our communities, lack of opportunities for finding healthy food options in our neighborhoods. All of what were seeing right now just shows how deeply embedded racism is in this country, in every aspect of the lives that we lead.

What happens when you compound that with the stress everyones feeling?

We also know that the chronic stress of living in areas where there has been this disinvestment, that increases your stress response, increases cortisol levels, influences gene expression. Some of the high rates of diabetes and autoimmune diseases that we see among Black Americans are due to this idea of epigenetics: the fact that the stress of racism can change which genes are turned on and off. All of those factors combined have left Black communities essentially sick.

Why is an anti-racist framework important in medicine, whether it be structurally or in your interpersonal interactions?

We actually have been having a discussion among physicians about whether social justice and systemic racism are things we should learn within our education and training. How can you adequately care for your patient on an interpersonal level, and how can institutions adequately and equitably care for communities, if we dont understand the broader structural forces that are influencing peoples health? If there are underlying socioeconomic factors like poverty, inequality, lack of education, whatever I do is not going to make a difference, right? Thats why I think this is a call to action for health care institutions to be thoughtful and more transformative in thinking about how are we educating and training anyone interacting with patients. How do we give them a framework for understanding what especially Black patients and communities have gone through in this country for centuries?

That has my gears turning about how Black medical schools, historically Black medical schools, have closed. If they were still here, how do you think this would have abated the difference that were seeing with the coronavirus?

In the early 1900s, there was an educational specialist named [Abraham] Flexner who was commissioned by the Carnegie Mellon Foundation and the American Medical Association to look at medical education. He came up with these rigorous medical standards that didnt necessarily correlate with better education or training, but did lead to the closing of a number of the majority of Black medical schools. A study showed that between 20,000 and 30,000 physicians, mostly Black physicians, would have been trained or in the workforce if those schools had remained open.

Another study came out last week on infant mortality. The Black babies who were more likely to be cared for by Black physicians at birth, their infant mortality rate was significantly lesser compared with the Black babies cared for by white doctors. We know that having more Black physicians is not going to end health care inequities, but it is one significant factor to addressing them. When we talk about reparations and talk about what needs to be done now, to have Black medical schools where we are focusing on educating Black health care professionals would be key.

I think about how vital it is to have Black doctors in place, because I know from my own experience, if it werent for Black doctors

I had a patient, a young Black woman, who came in and said, I want to make sure youre Black because I want to make sure that I feel listened to. And I said, Yes, I am here. I will listen to you. I realized that its so important for patients to feel seen, heard, and valued by the person caring for you.

I also think that, being a patient, thats the most vulnerable you can be as a human being, to put your care, your health, into the hands of this complete stranger. And we have a lot of data and literature that shows that most clinicians, regardless of their race, have a preference for white patients over Black patients. Weve seen that manifest in terms of who gets pain medication and who doesnt. Weve seen that implicated as a factor in the Black maternal mortality crisis. We see it with infant mortality data. We have to think about training a workforce that is competent in providing care to Black patients. Part of that is having more Black physicians, but part of it is training other health care professionals who may not be Black in taking care of Black patientswhich is crazy, but that just shows you how deeply embedded racism is, right?

Another thing I wanted to get into is the mental health effects of the pandemic on communities of color. I saw a study from the CDC saying that there is an increased rate of respondents saying they were suffering from depression and anxiety and having suicidal ideation. And that increase was higher among people of color. When we start talking about a community that already has limited access to mental health care options, what are we looking at here?

That shows how racism is not just affecting physical health, right? Black people have to deal with our fellow Black citizens being killed by the police. Thats the stress of everyday racism. Our communities have suffered the more significant economic losses, in terms of small businesses, in terms of jobs. All of those factors are making this crisis even more of a crisis for us in particular. Add that onto the fact that in our communities, were under- and uninsured and dont have access to mental health professionals. I think were going to see this second wave of mental health issues. Were thinking of physical issues in terms of the virus, but also thinking about the long-term effects of what this will do in terms of the mental health of our communities.

Any local and state efforts that are going to address racial health inequities, its not just going to be about increasing testing availability, its not going to just be about making sure that the health care institutions in our communities are more well resourced, but its going to be about making sure people have housing and financial assistance and that they have access to mental health services. Its going to have to be a multipronged approach.

Its frustrating that people dont have access to these very basic needs.

Thats why, however horrible and depressing this moment is, I also think its a moment to think about transformative structural change and about how, just from a health care perspective, we can provide better care to people. Im all for universal health coverage, single-payer. Thats something weve seen across the world: Countries have done better when people have health insurance. But we need to also be thinking about how our health care institutions function and ensure theyre engaged with the communities theyre serving, that theyre working with community-based organizations on the ground who already have trusted leaders in the community. How can we liaise with these organizations to make sure the COVID patients were discharging have somewhere to stay, have financial assistance, have health insurance? These are ways that health care institutions can start thinking a little bit more progressively and competently about how you care for patients in these communities. It needs to be what we call structurally competent care.

There was a piece about pulse oximeters and how they dont give accurate reads on melanated skin. I was wondering if thats something people should be concerned about, considering that pulse oximeters and blood oxygen levels play such a big role in coronavirus treatment.

Absolutely. I saw that piece and obviously was very disturbed by it, but it made sense to me that that would happen, because often we are not enrolled in clinical trials or in testing of medical devices, right? There is that whole other issue with recruiting usyou have bias in and bias out. So I would say to be extra vigilant if youre having any symptoms. I tell my patients to come back even if its just to get your oxygen checked, because we can also do other testing for you to see how youre doing. What we see with the pulse ox is that this is also a way that technology itself can be embedded with bias that could be harmful to our patients.

I wanted to ask you about the election and the coronavirus. One narrative weve seen popping up is that an administration change could dramatically shift the response that were seeing.

Im trying to be realistic because the fact is we had racial health inequities during prior administrations. We had the killing of Black Americans during prior administrations. So I dont know if were going to see radical enough change on that level. I do think that if we have a change in administration, there will be improved testing availability, an emphasis on preventative measures, and more effective leadership, hopefully. But I think its going to take a while for us to see any real improvement.

What about sending kids back to school? For Black and Latino Americans, for people who have essential jobs, this is a big issue, and day care is very expensive.

The fact is, schools have essentially become a safety net for our children. Im in NYC, which has 1.1 million children in the public school system, including my own children, and most of them are Black and Latino. The kids dont just go to school for education but for health care: We have hundreds of clinics in schools. They go for special education services.

Our children not being in school is going to have profound effects, worse than educational gaps. But we also know that our communities are also the ones that have been most disproportionately affected by the coronavirus, and the schools may not have the resources to bring people back safely. So, its almost a false choice, right? I think for many families, it will be deeply personal depending on what their priorities and needs are.

I remember seeing early on how a lot of folks were concerned about kids being able to eat, because school is often the only place some kids can get food. I know that in D.C., at least a couple of the schools said, Kids can come here and get their food. Its been interesting to see how our social systems have shifted to meet this moment, because some of them werent meeting the moment before. Same with evictions: It was very clear, once the pandemic kicked in, that we dont have to evict people.

Yeah, I think this is opportunity for us to think about transformational change in all aspects of how we do things. So, as I mentioned, even with how we take care of patientsthinking about it as beyond the interpersonal and more structural. So even though this is an unprecedented time, and theres been a significant amount of human suffering, this is an opportunity for us to move forward in thinking about how can we create structural and sustainable change that will help support our communities.

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Correction, Sept. 14, 2020: Uch Blackstock originally misstated that 2.6 percent of Black women are doctors. That percentage of physicians are Black women. Her quote has been edited.

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Why Black Americans are dying of the coronavirus at such disturbing rates. - Slate

Posted Sep 13, 2020, 5:26 pm

Michael WentzelSpecial to TucsonSentinel.com

As the COVID-19 pandemic has progressed, we have seen an alarming amount of disinformation spread online, including by our elected officials. Take the conspiracy video "Plandemic," which alleges that the coronavirus was created in a lab and intentionally spread to generate profit.

The video went viral and has been viewed more than eight million times. In comparison, informational videos from the scientists at the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control and World Health Organization typically get no more than a few thousand views.

"Plandemic" is just one of many sources of disinformation that offer inaccurate advice to protecting oneself from COVID-19.

Conspiracy videos recommend everything from drinking water every 15 minutes and avoiding ice cream to drinking silver and consuming a lot of garlic.

Doctors find themselves powerless to help patients who dismiss the severity of the virus and listen to conspiracists over the advice of medical professionals.

Some patients are going as far as ingesting disinfectants because they have heard it will treat the virus; according to the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, more than 800 patients have died after consuming highly concentrated alcohol in ill-guided attempts to treat the prevent or treat the virus.

A company that calls itself "Genesis II Church of Health and Healing" even proclaimed its "Miracle Mineral Supplement," which contains industrial bleach that can cause kidney, respiratory, or liver failure if ingested, could treat and prevent COVID-19.

The FDA had to hurriedly warn the public about the risks of consuming the product.

As if we don't have enough to deal with, our elected officials routinely ignore science too.

Less than two weeks before the virus put the entire country into lockdown, President Donald Trump still insisted that COVID-19 was a hoax, but even once he realized it clearly was not, he still did not take it seriously.

Despite advice from our public health leaders to practice social distancing and wear masks to prevent the spread of the virus, Trump and Vice President Mike Pence refuse to wear masks in public. Pence leads the White House's coronavirus task force, yet he toured the Mayo Clinic without a mask on April 28 (that same day, the U.S. reached one million COVID-19 cases). Meanwhile, Trump encouraged Americans to take hydroxychloroquine to prevent COVID-19 without reputable evidence that the drug was effective. The FDA then rushed to give emergency authorization of the drug, only to revoke it a few months later after research concluded it is not an effective treatment or preventative measure against COVID-19.

Amid lies and conspiracy theories, our light at the end of the tunnel is scientific innovation.

Thanks to a round-the-clock collaboration between the public and private sectors, there are several COVID-19 vaccines and treatments in development. One, for example, blocks the novel coronavirus from binding to human cells and reproducing; by stopping the virus from connecting with human cells, the drug prevents it from multiplying and attacking the body.

There are more than 100 different vaccines at various stages of development, and researchers are using different avenues such as gene therapy, DNA, and antibodies from survivors to develop an effective vaccine.

U.S. health care innovation has saved millions of lives.

HIV is now a manageable disease, no longer a death sentence. Thanks to developments in early-detection mammogram technology, female breast cancer cases dropped by 40 percent in 2016. We now have a drug that can treat over 90 percent of Hepatitis C patients, whereas older drugs took nearly a year to become effective and even then only worked on 50 percent of patients.

History teaches us that our best bet is to support the researchers working to develop treatments and vaccines for COVID-19.

We owe it to the frontline essential workersour grocery store workers, healthcare workers, sanitation services, public transit operators, and so many morerisking their lives every day to do better in this pandemic.

We need to ignore disinformation, whether it comes from the Internet or the White House, and instead follow the advice of our public health professionals. Supporting and investing in their research and innovation will get us through this crisis.

Michael Wentzel, M.D., was a nurse for 16 years with experiences ranging from trauma and intensive care to flight nursing and nursing hospital supervisor, both military and civilian, before going to medical school.

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Ignore disinformation & rely on science to get through COVID-19 pandemic | Guest opinion - TucsonSentinel.com

Dr. Bens Grams likes to say he does things a little differently. The Little Falls based chiropractor assesses the entire body to determine not only the source of someones pain, but the cause of that pain. Then he works to treat the body with various therapies, not just by correcting a misalignment, but focusing on long-term treatments as well as preventative care.

Our goal here has always been to provide our community with non-drug, non-surgical options for pain relief, Grams said.

To help with his goal, Grams recently acquired an Erchonia laser, an FDA approved non-invasive method to help treat chronic and acute pain.

Erchonia is a cold laser, meaning it doesnt heat the tissue. The special light targets the bodys cells to encourage healing.

Its pretty incredible. To understand how it works you have to understand how cells heal. So we have these little power factories inside the cells called mitochondria. So mitochondria produces energy, ATP, in the cell and then the cell uses that to perform its basic function. One of its most fundamental functions is to repair itself under injury or damage, Grams said.

The energy components of a cell can burn out and are not able to provide the energy needed to heal cells, he said. The laser essentially jump-starts the cell into working more efficiently, and the body takes the healing process from there.

If the cells cant heal, the tissue cant heal. If the tissue cant heal, the person cant heal, Grams said.

In just two months since offering laser treatments, Grams has had dozens of patients try the Erchonia, and with some great results.

The treatment takes anywhere from five to 10 minutes, and the patient shouldnt feel anything but some possible tingling. Some patients may need one or two sessions while others may need a couple dozen, Grams said. It all depends on the condition.

When youre in practice that long, you get used to how things heal, but some of our tougher cases are healing faster than you ever could have hoped, Grams said. People are kind of excited about new technology that helps their body.

The laser treatment can help with issues from pain related to a recently sprained ankle to chronic pain from older issues. Conditions such as tendinitis, bursitis, sciatica, rotator cuff injuries and even digestive issues can be corrected with the Erchonia, Grams said.

You can treat just about any muscle or joint in the body with it. Whats also exciting is it also has healing effects in body systems as well. It not only affects the musculoskeletal system but it affects the organs by helping cells communicate better with each other, Grams said.

Dr. Ben Grams introduced the Erchonia laser at his practice in Little Falls to help his patients with pain conditions. He even uses the laser to treat his wrist pain from years of wear as a chiropractor.

When a patient comes in, Grams works to find not only the source of the pain, but the cause of the problem. Erchonia is a double laser allowing both areas of the body to be treated. Sometimes, he said, lower back pain can be due to a hip problem, even if the patient doesnt feel pain in the hip, both areas need to be addressed to truly treat the pain and its cause.

Many patients use the laser treatment in conjunction with other rehabilitative therapies. Since not all conditions can be treated with the laser, Grams offers a multitude of similarly non-invasive, drug free options, including adjustments, muscle therapy, corrective movement therapy, therapeutic ultrasound and more.

The chiropractor has various certificates for several techniques, including working in pediatric and perinatal areas. Grams used these methods on his wife and new baby during and after the pregnancy. His daughter was aligned within a few minutes of being born, which can help with colicky babies.

I think its so important for kids to be checked regularly as far as alignment and making sure the joints are holding property alignment. It can help them the rest of their life, he said.

Grams passion for natural methods of pain treatment and prevention ignited when he was in college and his grandmother was being treated at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester.

She was in the hospital having some tests and she suffered a perforated ulcer, the lining of your stomach wears thin and the acid contents basically spills in the guts. Its incredibly painful and its life threatening, Grams said.

Luckily, his grandmother made it through her surgery and her life was saved. But Grams wondered why such a thing would happen in the first place. The surgeons answer led Grams to where he is today.

He nonchalantly said, Well, its likely due to her daily use of Ibuprofen for pain relief. And it just hit me like a lightning bolt, Grams said. There were these things that were supposed to be helping her, but were actually hurting her. At that moment I decided I was going to help people be pain free and healthy, but I was going to do it without prescribing medications or doing any surgeries.

After shadowing some of what Grams said were the most intelligent and holistic thinking chiropractors hes met, Grams curated his focus as a chiropractor focusing on the entire body, beyond perming adjustments. Now Grams is in his ninth year at his Chiro Plus Rehab clinic in Little Falls.

The doctor even wrote a book, The Solution to Back and Neck Pain, which was a top seller on Amazon.com in the chiropractic, chronic pain, and alternative medicine sections.

The book was read worldwide and, to Grams astonishment, encouraged a man to fly from Beijing, China to seek his treatment, twice.

We do things different than the average chiro, Grams said. Were happy to just adjust someone if they just want to get cracked and go on their way. But, if people are wanting to change and really get after the underlying cause of the problem, I think were set up pretty well to accomplish that.

For more information on Grams practice visit http://www.chiroplusrehab.com or call (320) 632-9224.

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LF chiropractor offers non-invasive cold laser treatment for pain, focused on holistic therapies - ECM Publishers

ARLINGTON, Va. (PRWEB) September 14, 2020

Kalorama Information recently released its report on the 80+ billion dollar in vitro diagnostic market. Among other information and intense market segmentation in the 1,800+ page report was the following:

What does that mean? Less than one might think. Theres still opportunity in this industry. The remainder of the market is held by 100s of companies; some, of which, specialize in specific test segments and others serve their local markets. IVD remains dynamic. There are constant innovations. This report documents these innovations in each segment market chapter. The IVD industry is a high R&D spend industry, and there is routine interest from venture capital firms in diagnostic products

More information can be found in The Worldwide Market for In Vitro Diagnostic Tests, 13th Edition: https://kaloramainformation.com/product/the-worldwide-market-for-in-vitro-diagnostics-13th-edition/

About Kalorama Information:Kalorama Information, part of Science and Medicine Group, is the leading publisher of market research in healthcare areas, including in vitro diagnostics (IVD), biotechnology, healthcare, medical devices, and pharmaceuticals. Science and Medicine Group supports companies seeking to commercialize the rapidly changing marketplace at the intersection of science, medicine, and technology. Comprised of industry-leading brands, Science and Medicine Group serves analytical instrument, life science, imaging, and clinical diagnostic companies by helping them create strategies and products to win markets and provide platforms to digitally engage their markets through a variety of innovative solutions. Kalorama Information produces 30 reports a year. The firm offers a Knowledge Center, which provides access to all published reports.

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The 80-Billion Dollar IVD Market: Five Fast Facts from New Report - PR Web

The move part of a broader agreement with the Boston Teachers Union on reopening schools that was announced Thursday comes as the city has been grappling with wide variations in coronavirus cases among its neighborhoods. Of particular concern is East Boston, which has the highest weekly positivity rate, 8.7 percent.

If East Boston were its own school system, state guidelines would strongly recommend keeping classrooms closed because its positivity rate is so high. However, Bostons overall weekly positivity rate is 1.7 percent, according to the most recent city data, enabling the districts classrooms to reopen.

Boston will begin online classes citywide on Sept. 21 and then gradually bring students back into classrooms in waves, starting in October with the highest-need students, including those with profound disabilities and those who do not know English.

Mayor Martin J. Walsh announced the union agreement as part of his routine briefings on the citys virus efforts. He highlighted the provision about the routine COVID-19 testing of union employees and other measures in the agreement such as additional training for educators on how to teach remotely and the ability to bring their own children to school if they cant secure child care.

The focus of this framework is ensuring the safety of everyone in our schools, Walsh said.

Jessica Tang, president of the Boston Teachers Union, described the testing program as a good first step, but said she would like to see more wide-scale testing of staff. She noted educators report to their schools from across the city and the region while students also criss-cross the city to get to their schools many relying on public transit creating ripe conditions for a widespread outbreak.

If we are focusing efforts on places with highest risk of infection, hopefully it will help prevent or limit spread, Tang said.

She said she would like the district to administer rapid testing for educators exhibiting symptoms to determine whether they have been infected or are instead suffering from the flu, allergies, or something else. Tang said the move would decrease potentially unnecessary quarantines that would keep teachers away from their students.

Boston appears to be one of just a handful of districts in the state that is planning to test teachers.

Cambridges school committee made routine testing for teachers a condition of reopening school buildings for students next month. The city is finalizing plans with the Cambridge-based Broad Institute to offer a testing program for all staff who will work in school buildings, said Lyndsay P. Brown, chief strategy officer for Cambridge Public Schools. The plan will not have to be approved by the school committee, said Brown.

Wellesley and Hanover plan to test staff before they enter schools, according to union agreements with the districts. Wellesley will also provide free testing once a week for staff for preventative monitoring. Watertown, Everett, Revere, and Lexington are also planning to offer at least some testing to school staff, according to the Massachusetts Teachers Association.

Debate over whether to routinely test educators has been unfolding over the summer as districts prepare to reopen schools. It intensified after Governor Charlie Baker announced plans to dispatch mobile COVID-19 testing units to schools experiencing potential clusters of cases. Teachers unions criticized the move as too reactive as they pressed for wide-scale free testing of teachers and students as a preventative measure.

The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, however, has not issued any guidelines on routine testing, while the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention doesnt recommend universal testing for asymptomatic school employees and students.

In its guidance, the CDC said it is not known if testing in school settings provides any additional reduction in person-to-person transmission of the virus beyond what would be expected with implementation of other infection preventive measures, such as social distancing, mask wearing, hand washing, and enhanced cleaning procedures.

The guidance also says universal testing could present some challenges, including whether all students, parents, and staff would be receptive to the idea.

But Joshua Barocas, an infectious disease physician at Boston Medical Center and a faculty member at Boston University School of Medicine, said there can be value in doing sample testing if it is part of a broader COVID-19 prevention plan. He compared it to the kind of surveillance and population testing occurring in nursing homes, shelters, and other congregate settings, which aim to test between 20 to 40 percent of people every two or four weeks.

It can be effective at recognizing an outbreak early, said Barocas, but it also can lead to the need for further investigation and testing. Im hopeful if someone sees a possible signal of an outbreak . . . that they would increase testing to determine if its actually a signal or just noise.

He said going with a sampling of 5 percent of union members each week is a good starting point and from there the district could assess whether its large enough to be effective in either spotting potential outbreaks or instilling confidence among educators, students, and parents that they will be safe.

At 5 percent, the testing program is a potentially ambitious effort for the BPS, and could mean testing up to approximately 375 educators a week or 1,500 over the course of a month, according to Globe calculations. The Boston Teachers Union has about 7,500 active members, including nurses, classroom aides, and guidance counselors across 125 buildings.

But not all union members would be eligible for testing. The agreement limits testing to only those who report to school buildings with students inside. Members can only be tested every 14 days. Results would be available within 24 to 48 hours.

The district will provide weekly public reports on incidents of infection by school, according to the agreement.

Many details of the testing program are still being worked out with the Boston Public Health Commission, a school spokesman said Thursday night. The school system also had no estimated cost for the program and did not say where the money would come from to cover the testing.

Thomas Scott, executive director for the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents, said he has mixed feelings about routine testing, especially the cost and the possibility of false positives for employees with no symptoms.

Having regular testing probably has some value," he said, but he added, "I dont know if it will make a difference for districts in preventing transmissions.

Beth Kontos, president of the American Federation of Teachers Massachusetts, which Boston teachers belong to, said she views the BPS COVID-19 testing as a win for public health. But she wishes the state would create a routine testing program for all districts instead of just providing emergency testing.

Its a shame we have to wait for people to get sick until we do the right thing, she said.

Felicia Gans and Naomi Martin of the Globe staff contributed to this report.

James Vaznis can be reached at james.vaznis@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @globevaznis. Bianca Vzquez Toness can be reached at bianca.toness@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter at @biancavtoness.

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Boston to randomly test teachers and other educators weekly for COVID-19 - The Boston Globe

Although few called it polio at the time, an increasing number of Canadians had started to become aware of a mysterious cluster of cases of infantile paralysis in the fall of 1910.

In early September of that year, the Toronto Star reported that medical authorities attributed a recent local spate of infantile paralysis in young children to injuries. It had nothing to do, they said, with the cases reported in various places across the line in the United States, or in Hamilton, where a little girl had died of polio in August.

By December, it was no longer possible to deny it was part of a larger problem. Macleans (then called the Busy Mans Magazine) reported that there were ten little children suffering from infantile paralysis at a ward in the Hospital for Sick Children and connected it to outbreaks across Canada and around the world. Polio was hard to pin down, though, since its progression was wildly unpredictable.

With polio, no two cases were the same, explains Christopher J. Rutty, a professional medical/public historian and adjunct professor at the University of Torontos Dalla Lana School of Public Health. That epidemic was actually one of the closest parallels to COVID, especially in terms of the variability of impacts, from very mild to very severe.

Polios worldwide death toll was in the millions. In Canada, tens of thousands recovered but were left with some form of disability. Some developed flu-like symptoms after they were exposed to the polio virus and recovered relatively swiftly and easily. Some never developed symptoms at all; others started showing symptoms up to three weeks after exposure.

Just like with COVID-19, there was a sub-clinical factor to it, where people have it without realizing theyre affected, which helps it spread quite effectively, says Rutty. By the time you had paralytic cases in the area it had pretty well spread everywhere. So it took a long time to really get a handle on it, but its not really till the late 40s or early 50s that we started understanding the epidemiology.

For over four decades, between the earliest clusters of modern polio in the early 20th century and the Salk vaccine in the mid-1950s, people lived often terrified in its shadow. And there was no shortage of misinformation about transmission, prevention and cures, according to Gareth Williams, professor of medicine at the University of Bristol and author of Paralysed With Fear: The Story of Polio.

These ranged from the sensible to the bizarre, from barring children from theatres and pools to a panic over house pets that saw 70,000 cats and 8,000 dogs turfed from their homes and euthanized, despite public health departments reassurances that the pets were all right. All manner of homeopathic cures and tonics hit the market, as well as warnings that seafood, dairy or certain fruits and vegetable were to blame.

Several researchers prescribed big doses of vitamin C and one nutritionist, Benjamin Sandler, zeroed in on sugar and high-carb diets as the culprit in his book Diet Prevents Polio a theory pretty similar to the ones that back the new crop of corona-diets touted by various contemporary pundits in the COVID era.

Cutting back on sugar and/or upping vitamin C is one thing, but other tactics were more detrimental. In Texas, where many associated polio with houseflies, DDT was liberally sprayed in rivers, city streets and even on people. In Canada, one particularly popular preventative in the mid-1930s was a picric acid-alum nasal spray that was devised by Simon Flexner, director of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research in New York. He thought polio entered the brain through the nose (it didnt), so the thing to do was to blast it with acid while it was still in the nose.

Flexner was basically king of American medical research in the 1920s and 1930s and, on the basis of not very good experiments, he decided that the polio virus got in through the nose, says Williams. So the whole thing about picric acid is that this is a nasty, nasty toxin. Even before they worked out just how carcinogenic it was, you could tell organic chemists because their fingers were often stained yellow with picric acid.

However awful and useless picric acid may have been, it was arguably better than some of the supposed cures, especially the red-hot poker cure and brain washout therapy. The first is as its name suggests, a procedure wherein paralyzed children were branded with a fire iron immediately above the vertebrae affected in the hopes that the inflammation would suck the virus out of the spinal cord through the skin. The brain washout saw a mild saline solution injected into an afflicted child with hopes the virus would pour out through a spinal tap inserted into their back.

You might ask yourself why on earth they did that, but the answer is that there was nothing else at all, says Williams. And the terrible thing about polio is that it was a disease that dropped out of a clear summer nights sky and lifted off kids that had been playing perfectly happily the day before. So youve got to put yourself in the place of parents who were desperate to do anything.

The good news is that science has come a long way since then. We know way more about viruses than we did circa 1910 to 1955, which makes it pretty unlikely that were 40-something years away from a vaccine. Even so, both our experts warn that no safe vaccine is likely to be widely available until early next year.

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Still, a year isnt the same as four decades. So we should be able to muster up some patience and resist the call of cures such as potentially toxic oleander or Miracle Mineral Supplement: a drinkable industrial bleach. Also and this is key to disregard the misinformation when we finally do get a safe vaccine.

Any vaccine is only going to work if people take it, says Williams. And you can already go online and find people rehearsing arguments for a vaccine that doesnt exist yet. So thats another area that I think people are going to have to watch very carefully.

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How polio was the COVID-19 of its era, right down to the misinformation and bogus cures - TheSpec.com

The intent of flu shots is to avoid the flu. We know this. Its been drilled into our heads again and again. And yet, a little less than half of adults in the US got the routine jab for the 2018 to 2019 flu season. (This was actually a pretty high vaccination rate; in recent flu seasons, adherence has hovered around 40%.)

The reason for this shouldnt be the costmost insurance and Medicaid covers the flu vaccine as preventative medicine. Nor should itbe conveniencethe US passed a law in August allowing pharmacists across all 50 states to give flu shots. Instead, its the myth that the flu shot itself makes you sick.

Like most misconceptions that stick around, theres alittletruth to it. Its normal to feel peakyfatigued, achey, or warm with a low-grade feverafter getting a flu shot. This is the robust immune response as the bodys creating antibodies, actual protection against the flu, says Juanita Mora, an immunologist practicing in Chicago and volunteer medical spokesperson with the American Lung Association. It happens to about 10% of people who get the shot, she says.

In other words, feeling like youre in the early stages of getting the flu is actually a sign that youll be protected from the actual virus. What youre feeling is the bodys defense system gearing up.

Most versions of the flu shot are comprised of inactivated viruses, meaning they cant actually infect your cells. Immune cells, though, fire off chemical alarms as soon as they notice any virus-like particle. They activate the innate immune system, a generalized response that tries to make the body unlivable for any potential pathogen. That inflammatory reaction can cause a bit of a fever or a tiny swollen lump near the injection site.

The fatigue you might feel comes from gearing up a more specialized immune defense. Tiny, specialized cells called B-cells create antibodies, which are cellular fighter pilots specific to each virus. Making these antibodies requires expending a little extra energy at first, but the payoff is future protection: Once theyre present in your plasma, the antibodies can patrol for future flu viruses.

It is possible to get sick after getting the flu shot, Mora says. But it wouldnt be a result of the vaccine itself. If your body was in the early stages of fighting off another kind of infection, like a cold or strep throat, and then you get the shot, your B-cells can get overwhelmed. Instead of making antibodies to fight off the actual infection, they get pulled into making flu antibodies, which leaves you vulnerable to another ailment.

Additionally, it takes about two weeks for your body to whip its flu antibodies into shape; you could pick up a flu strain in the window between getting your jab and when protection kicks in. Thats why its important to make sure you only get a flu shot, or any vaccine, when youre feeling healthy.

Not everyone notices these symptoms after getting the flu shot. But if you do seem a bit off, the feeling shouldnt stick around for more than a day or two, and shouldnt require a visit to your healthcare provider. If you do have a more severe reaction, its worth giving them a callthere could be something else going on.

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Can the flu shot make you sick? - Quartz