WASHINGTON — Last week, just as the Food and Drug Administration was preparing to issue an emergency authorization for blood plasma as a Covid-19 treatment, a group of top federal health officials including Dr. Francis S. Collins and Dr. Anthony S. Fauci intervened, arguing that emerging data on the treatment was too weak, according to…
“Move the needle away from just pretty, to pretty and ecologically functional.” That’s year-round gardening advice from Ulrich Lorimer, the director of horticulture at Native Plant Trust, America’s oldest plant-conservation organization, formerly known as the New England Wild Flower Society. Mr. Lorimer’s advice is particularly relevant at the moment, as we head into late summer…
This article is part of our continuing Fast Forward series, which examines technological, economic, social and cultural shifts that happen as businesses evolve. When Carrie Shaw was a freshman at the University of North Carolina, her mother, then 49, learned she had early-stage Alzheimer’s disease. “I was really scared of my mom’s diagnosis,” said Ms.…
This article is part of a series on resilience in troubled times — what we can learn about it from history and personal experiences. Friends, I’m afraid I’m not going to make it when the end times come. I’ve made a list of my skills, and “tough” and “capable” aren’t words that spring to mind.…
SAN FRANCISCO — Is this a good time to talk about “enoughness?” It was in long-ago 1973 that the economist E.F. Schumacher first published “Small Is Beautiful,” a seminal (and, to the surprise of some, best-selling) collection of essays critiquing Western economics. Mr. Schumacher was among the first to champion sustainability, localization, small-scale industry and…
At this point in my career, being able to offer cooking advice is a big part of my job. It doesn’t matter that I feel like an impostor sometimes — there’s an expectation that I’ll be able to handle any cooking question. I deal with this by openly admitting when I don’t know something and…
(Edmonton, AB) A University of Alberta researcher has found a treatment that increases the speed of nerve regeneration by three to five times, leading to much better outcomes for trauma surgery patients. “We use the term ‘time is muscle,’” said Christine Webber, an associate professor in the U of A’s anatomy division and a member…
19 August 2020, Cambridge – Researchers have investigated the function of a complex mesh of muscle fibres that line the inner surface of the heart. The study, published in the journal Nature, sheds light on questions asked by Leonardo da Vinci 500 years ago, and shows how the shape of these muscles impacts heart performance…
August 18, 2020 – Edison, NJ — Researchers at Hackensack Meridian Health, New Jersey’s largest and most comprehensive health network, have utilized its statewide observational database of more than 5,000 hospitalized COVID-19 patients to show that a drug normally used in rheumatoid arthritis and cancer treatments, tocilizumab, improves hospital survival in critically-ill patients admitted to…
Clinical and sociodemographic features of early COVID-19 patients in Massachusetts: MGH study suggests vulnerable populations are hardest hit BOSTON – Data from the first COVID-19 patients treated at three large Massachusetts hospitals reveal important trends, including disproportionate representation of vulnerable populations, high rates of disease-related complications, and the need for post-discharge, post-acute care and monitoring.…