Daydreaming Can Be Good for You

Dr. Nathanson often prompts patients to take this technique further by engaging with metaphors and visual symbolism. If her patients feel stuck, they might create a scene where they’re standing behind a brick wall that represents their impasse. She helps them interpret the symbol and can also use it as a tool. “I will say:…

Immune-stimulating drug before surgery shows promise in early-stage pancreatic cancer

PHILADELPHIA–Giving early-stage pancreatic cancer patients a CD40 immune-stimulating drug helped jumpstart a T cell attack to the notoriously stubborn tumor microenvironment before surgery and other treatments, according to a new study from researchers in the Abramson Cancer Center (ACC) at the University of Pennsylvania. Changing the microenvironment from so-called T cell “poor” to T cell…

Blood Clots Linked to AZ Vaccine Stem From Rare Antibody Reaction

The antibodies led to a condition called thrombotic thrombocytopenia, which caused both clotting and abnormal bleeding. The researchers suggested naming the newly identified version in these patients “vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia,” or VITT. Various theories have been offered by scientists as to what touches off the immune reaction. The AstraZeneca vaccine employs a chimpanzee adenovirus…

Vaccine Passports: What Are They, and Who Might Need One?

With Covid-19 vaccinations accelerating, attention is turning to tools for people to prove that they have been inoculated and potentially bypass the suffocating restrictions used to fight the pandemic. Though the idea is meeting some resistance over privacy and equity concerns, several types of coronavirus vaccination records, sometimes called “vaccine passports,” already exist, in paper…