Women are more likely than are men to follow guidelines outlined by medical experts to prevent the spread of COVID-19, new research finds. In an article published in Behavioral Science & Policy, New York University and Yale University researchers report that women have practiced preventive practices of physical distancing, mask wearing, and maintaining hygiene to...
Health
COVID-19 Vaccines: Open Source Licensing Could Keep Big Pharma from Making Huge Profits Off Taxpayer-Funded Research
An international, multi-billion-dollar race is underway to develop a COVID-19 vaccine, and progress is moving at record speed, but with nationalistic, competitive undertones. If and when an effective vaccine is invented, its production will require an unprecedented effort to vaccinate people across the globe. However, for the country that invents a safe and effective vaccine,...
SARS-CoV-2 Infection Can Block Pain, Opening Up Unexpected New Possibilities for Research into Pain Relief Medication
Imagine being infected with a deadly virus that makes you impervious to pain. By the time you realize you are infected, it’s already too late. You have spread it far and wide. Recent findings in my lab suggest that this scenario may be one reason that people infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing COVID-19, may...
Private Health Insurers Paid Hospitals 247% of What Medicare Would
Prices paid to hospitals nationally during 2018 by privately insured patients averaged 247% of what Medicare would have paid, with wide variation in prices among states, according to a new RAND Corporation study. Some states (Arkansas, Michigan and Rhode Island) had relative prices under 200% of Medicare, while other states (Florida, Tennessee, Alaska, West Virginia...
Vaccine Proponents and Opponents Are Vectors of Misinformation Online
In a new paper published in the Harvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review, researchers from the George Washington University, University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins University assessed content from the most active vaccine-related accounts on Twitter and found that even accounts with pro-vaccination views and higher public health credibility can be vectors of misinformation in the highly...
Researchers Draw More Links Between Vaping, Smoking, Young People, and Coronavirus
What do vapers, smokers, and non-smokers with chronic conditions such as high blood pressure or diabetes have in common? They all are at higher risk for COVID-19. The scientific explanation behind this is complex and not yet certain — but it may boil down to an enzyme known as ACE2, that lives on the surface...
Rural COVID-19 Mortality Highest in Counties with More Blacks and Hispanics
A recent study by researchers from Syracuse University shows that the average daily increase in rural COVID-19 mortality rates has been significantly higher in counties with the largest percentages of Black and Hispanic residents. The study “COVID-19 Death Rates Are Higher in Rural Counties With Larger Shares of Blacks and Hispanics” was recently published in...
How Birth Control, Girls’ Education Can Slow Population Growth
Widespread use of contraceptives and, to a lesser extent, girls’ education through at least age 14 have the greatest impact in bringing down a country’s fertility rate. Education and family planning have long been tied to lower fertility trends. But new research from the University of Washington analyzes those factors to determine, what accelerates a decline...
COVID Has Likely Tripled Depression Rate
A first-of-its-kind study from the Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) finds 27.8% of U.S. adults had depression symptoms as of mid-April, compared to 8.5% before the COVID-19 pandemic. Published in the journal JAMA Network Open, the study also found that income and savings are the most dramatic predictors of depression symptoms in the time of...
Children Can Have COVID-19 Antibodies and Virus in Their System Simultaneously
With many questions remaining around how children spread COVID-19, Children’s National Hospital researchers set out to improve the understanding of how long it takes pediatric patients with the virus to clear it from their systems, and at what point they start to make antibodies that work against the coronavirus. The study, published September 3 in...