Naturalist and author John Muir wrote, “In every walk with nature, one receives far more than he seeks.” That may partly be because walking in nature provides benefits we’ve only recently begun to name and measure. In the 1980s, Japanese researchers discovered that phytoncides—chemical messengers released by plants and trees to protect them from predators—have notable benefits for human health, including boosting the immune system and reducing stress. Spending time in forests, the findings say, leads to increased energy and improvements in both mood and sleep. [...] “Our walks are not naturalist-led walks or fitness hikes,” Horton explains. “They’re slow, mindful strolls crafted to awaken your senses, encourage you to take in nature at a much slower pace than you’re probably accustomed to, and enliven a conscious connection with the inherent healing properties of nature.”
The rate of delirium is rising sharply in many hospital ICUs as more mechanically ventilated patients with COVID-19 are kept under deep and prolonged sedation, often without the evidence-based interventions that could decrease their confusion and agitation and shorten ventilator time. “We’ve been working for 20 years, and we’ve reduced delirium down from 70% in ventilated patients to around 40%,” said E. Wesley Ely, MD, MPH, a professor of medicine and critical care at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn. “But COVID-19 has got it back up to 80%. So in three months, we’re erased 20 years of progress.” [...] “It’s going to be tough because of the prolonged nature of COVID-19 and because there are medication shortages, but when possible we need to get away from benzodiazepines,” Dr. Ely said. In a New England Journal of Medicine case series [...] 50 of 58 patients (86%) with COVID-19 received a benzodiazepine (midazolam), Dr. Ely noted. “We stopped using benzodiazepines years ago because of how deliriogenic they are,” he said. “To see 86% of people on a ventilator getting a benzodiazepine is like going back to how we practiced in 1995.”
Individuals with social anxiety disorder have markedly different personality traits than others. Emotional instability and introversion are hallmarks, according to a new study from Uppsala University published in PLOS ONE. "Social anxiety disorder seems to be a problem that is strongly intertwined with personality, but at the same time it shows great variation," says Professor Tomas Furmark from the Department of Psychology at Uppsala University, who led the study. Researchers have long been looking for the connection between personality factors and the risk of developing psychiatric illnesses. In psychological science, personality is typically described using five well-established dimensions: neuroticism, also known as emotional instability; extraversion, which deals with how outgoing a person is; openness; agreeableness; and conscientiousness - the 'Big Five'.
Anxiety may be soaring under coronavirus lockdown, but a study Wednesday found Americans are enjoying more time with their partners and children, rediscovering hobbies and creative pursuits -- and smoking marijuana. The University of Southern California survey found Americans particularly miss visiting friends and relatives, dining at restaurants and shopping at real-world stores, but are adapting their habits at an astonishing pace. "We've been thrust into the greatest social science experiment of all time," Jeffrey Cole, the study center's director, told AFP. "Except that none of us prepared and none of us volunteered." "We're seeing massive change that would take years, in days," he added. The "Coronavirus Disruption Project" polled 1,000 online respondents across the nation about changes in their lives since the onset of the disease.
Today my radio/TV show starts a new format. The hour begins with my current news and analysis report. After the report comes an interview or other topics. Today’s news focuses on a fake VA study claiming that hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin were causing the deaths of veterans hospitalized with the coronavirus, but I come up with a shockingly different analysis of the VA’s own data—and force a turnabout in the media. After the report, Bob Whitaker, journalist and scientist, gives an extremely informative and lively interview about the latest big lie from psychiatry (it is a whooper) and about encouraging developments in Europe with drug-free inpatient treatment. This is truly a fine interview with one of the most effective people in the psychiatric reform movement. A great Dr. Peter Breggin Hour!
Dr Anthony Fauci warned on Tuesday that the US could be in for a 'bad fall' if coronavirus treatments do not start working soon and that the killer virus is not merely going to 'disappear from the planet' when lockdowns finish. Speaking in an interview with The Economic Club of Washington, D.C, Fauci said that it was 'inevitable' it was going to come back and that it might never fully dissipate.
Dr Anthony Fauci spoke on Tuesday in an interview with The Economic Club in Washington DC
He said that it was 'inevitable' the virus would appear for a second time or that it might not even go away
Fauci is anxious about places reopening too soon which he said would cause a 'rebound' that would set the US back several weeks
Several states are reopening despite the medical risk to get people back to work
As of Tuesday afternoon, the US had more than 1 million cases of coronavirus and more than 58,000 people had died
It comes amid growing concern that a second wave will coincide with flu season which may topple the country's healthcare system, and as the world's science and medical communities race to find a treatment for the virus that is reliable. 'In my mind, it’s inevitable that we will have a return of the virus, or maybe even that it never went away,' Fauci said according to CNBC, adding the virus is 'not going to disappear from the planet'.
Ten nursing homes have at least 30 confirmed coronavirus deaths in New York state as of Friday. The residents are among the most vulnerable in the population. Among those with the highest amount of deaths include several from the New York City, suburban, and Long Island area. The list is based on a survey sent by the state. "We only know what they tell us," Governor Andrew Cuomo said. Below is the list of nursing homes with more than 20 deaths: [...] When asked about the deaths in nursing homes in New York, Governor Cuomo said, "We've taken radical measures vis-a-vis nursing homes. No visitors. Think about how harsh of a policy that is, no visitors in a nursing home. These are people who live for visitors. No visitors. Staff testing. Different cleanliness procedures. More equipment. But, the virus is nothing to be underestimated and the virus is very good at killing, and the virus is very good at killing older people and people with compromised immune systems. and thats why the virus seeks out nursing homes."
Recent studies suggest that daily contact with nature has a long-lasting and deep impact on health, including on depression and anxiety symptoms. We've been hearing more about things like forest bathing, and using nature walks to increase well-being. Gardening is arguably one of the most common ways of interacting with nature and indeed is enjoyed as a popular pastime in many countries. But I rarely hear about the benefits of gardening for well-being. [...] some previous studies have shown that gardening can increase people's life satisfaction, vigor, psychological wellbeing, sense of community, and cognitive function. Reductions in stress, anger, fatigue, and depression and anxiety symptoms have also been documented. So indeed, gardening appears to boost well-being. These studies showed that even short-time (several hours) exercise in gardens can provide an instantaneous beneficial influence on health (e.g. reductions in depression and anxiety symptoms), although it is unknown how long the positive outcomes last after gardening.
Study Rundown: Few studies have examined the long-term neurodevelopmental effects of prenatal exposure to antidepressants and have largely had inconclusive results. Some studies have found that in utero antidepressant exposure may increase the risk of language and cognitive deficiencies and behavioral disorders whereas other studies have found no such correlation. To further investigate the neurodevelopmental effects of in utero antidepressant exposure, the authors of the present study used a Canadian population-based cohort to evaluate children’s scores on the Early Development Instrument (EDI) in kindergarten, a teacher-completed questionnaire with 5 domains. Mothers with a prenatal mood or anxiety disorder were separated into 2 groups – those who took SSRIs and/or SNRIs during pregnancy and those who did not. They found that in utero antidepressant exposure increased the risk of developmental vulnerability in the language and cognitive development domain and also increased the risk of overall vulnerability in 2 or more domains. Although this study does not take into account disease severity and how that may affect neurodevelopmental outcomes, the use of a standardized developmental assessment may allow pediatricians to identify children who may be suffering from the developmental consequences of in utero antidepressant exposure.
As the California Assembly struggles to begin creating new laws on Monday amid the ravages of the coronavirus pandemic, lawmakers are being urged to select only the most vital-to-the-times bills. To contain infections that have topped 43,000 in the state, there will be masks and gloves, and people seated far from each other in cavernous hearing rooms. Virtual testimony is expected. Against that backdrop, the Assembly Health Committee is set to hear bill number 3285, which is being pitched as “more crucial than ever.” The legislation aims to scale back oversight on the most powerful and expensive type of psychiatric drugs prescribed to Californians reliant on the state’s Medicaid plan for mental health services. [...] she stoically faced the panel of senators and described being a child in a group home, prescribed four different classifications of psychotropic medications – antipsychotics, antidepressants, anti-anxiety drugs and mood stabilizers. “I had a swollen tongue, tics all over my body, and I couldn’t stay awake in class,” she testified. “I was normally an A and B student, and all of a sudden I’m failing. I had tunnel vision and I felt like a zombie. I also developed an irregular heartbeat because of these medications.” Ortiz said she tried to talk to the doctor in her group home, but she felt dismissed: “They were all about upping or adding more medication, and not what was really going on with my mental health.”
Surgery, puberty blockers, and hormone replacement therapy will soon be banned for trans-identified youth under the age of 18 in the UK. The UK’s Trade Minister Liz Truss offered this statement to the Times: “Grown adults should be able to make decisions, to have agency to live life as they see fit. But before the age of 18, when people are still developing their decision-making capabilities, they should be protected from making decisions that are irreversible about their bodies that they could possibly regret in the future.” [...] As a trans woman myself, I’ve always been concerned with the reality that tweens and teens were given the choice to permanently sterilize themselves through hormone replacement therapy, which is an effect male-to-female transsexuals experience. While there are many success stories from trans people who made the leap very young, such as famed pop singer Kim Petras, it seems to be that there are just as many stories of regret. The voices of young people who have now “de-transitioned” are also becoming more and more available thanks to social media platforms like Youtube, where new stories are going viral on a consistent basis. It is unconscionable to disregard these stories as invalid while only signal-boosting the success stories.
The numbers are remarkable, and put to bed the idea that Covid-19 is akin to a bad flu season.
You can clearly see that in almost every country, spikes in mortality are *far* higher than what we see from flu etc (grey lines are historical death numbers) https://t.co/EiE5Q3OSmRpic.twitter.com/h4WIDqkBTD
Currently, drug repurposing is an alternative to novel drug development for the treatment of COVID-19 patients. The antimalarial drug chloroquine (CQ) and its metabolite hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) are currently being tested in several clinical studies as potential candidates to limit SARS-CoV-2-mediated morbidity and mortality. CQ and HCQ (CQ/HCQ) inhibit pH-dependent steps of SARS-CoV-2 replication by increasing pH in intracellular vesicles and interfere with virus particle delivery into host cells. Besides direct antiviral effects, CQ/HCQ specifically target extracellular zinc to intracellular lysosomes where it interferes with RNA-dependent RNA polymerase activity and coronavirus replication. As zinc deficiency frequently occurs in elderly patients and in those with cardiovascular disease, chronic pulmonary disease, or diabetes, we hypothesize that CQ/HCQ plus zinc supplementation may be more effective in reducing COVID-19 morbidity and mortality than CQ or HCQ in monotherapy. Therefore, CQ/HCQ in combination with zinc should be considered as additional study arm for COVID-19 clinical trials.
There's growing evidence that #COVID19 causes fatal thrombovascular (clotting) complications.
Hydroxychloroquine is shown to be thromboprotective, reducing thrombosis by 68% in lupus patients.
A serious coronavirus-related syndrome may be emerging in the UK, according to an “urgent alert” issued to doctors, following a rise in cases in the last two to three weeks, HSJ has learned. An alert to GPs and seen by HSJ says that in the “last three weeks, there has been an apparent rise in the number of children of all ages presenting with a multisystem inflammatory state requiring intensive care across London and also in other regions of the UK”. It adds: “There is a growing concern that a [covid-19] related inflammatory syndrome is emerging in children in the UK, or that there may be another, as yet unidentified, infectious pathogen associated with these cases.” [...] “Abdominal pain and gastrointestinal symptoms have been a common feature as has cardiac inflammation. This has been observed in children with confirmed PCR positive SARS-CoV-2 infection as well as children who are PCR negative. Serological evidence of possible preceding SARS-CoV-2 infection has also been observed.”
Doctors at the University of Chicago Medicine are seeing “truly remarkable” results using high-flow nasal cannulas rather than ventilators and intubation to treat some COVID-19 patients. High-flow nasal cannulas, or HFNCs, are non-invasive nasal prongs that sit below the nostrils and blow large volumes of warm, humidified oxygen into the nose and lungs. A team from UChicago Medicine’s emergency room took dozens of COVID-19 patients who were in respiratory distress and gave them HFNCs instead of putting them on ventilators. The patients all fared extremely well, and only one of them required intubation after 10 days. “The success we’ve had has been truly remarkable,” said Michael O’Connor, MD, UChicago Medicine’s Director of Critical Care Medicine. The HFNCs are often combined with prone positioning, a technique where patients lay on their stomachs to aid breathing. Together, they’ve helped UChicago Medicine doctors avoid dozens of intubations and have decreased the chances of bad outcomes for COVID-19 patients, said Thomas Spiegel, MD, Medical Director of UChicago Medicine’s Emergency Department.
The scourge of COVID-19 is spreading. Thousands of Americans are dying. What can you do to help? Yes, practice social distancing, wash your hands, and donate masks to local hospitals. Also, talk to your loved ones about advance care planning. Advance care planning means contemplating and deciding the type of medical care you would want if you had a life-threatening illness; you are never too young or too healthy to start these conversations. It involves identifying your goals and values, learning about life-sustaining interventions — such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation (measures to restart your heart and breathing), intubation (use of a ventilator to help you breathe), or artificial nutrition (being fed through a tube in your nose or stomach) — and sharing with loved ones and your doctors your preferences. An advance directive is written documentation of these preferences. [...] While you are home with family during this time of social distancing, do your homework. Discuss these three key components of advanced care [...]
The death toll in Ecuador during the outbreak was 15 times higher than the official number of Covid-19 deaths reported by the government, according to an analysis of mortality data by The New York Times. The numbers suggest that the South American country is suffering one of the worst outbreaks in the world. […] “We will never know what the real number is, because there are no tests,” Ms. Viteri said. […] At the peak of the crisis, the team collected and authorized the burial of five times as many bodies than would normally be buried in the city on any given day.
There were hundreds of decomposing bodies stacked in piles, he said, as if they were sacks of potatoes or rice. “The reek was insufferable,” he said. “The morgue was packed, as were the corridors — they were very long, and filled with corpses. The waiting room was filled with corpses.” […] The wave of deaths is all the more disturbing for being impossible to explain. There is no obvious reason for Ecuador to be devastated far more than other countries. Its population is relatively young, and most people live in rural areas, both factors that should reduce the risk, said Jenny Garcia, a demographer who studies Latin America at the Institut National d’Études Démographiques in France.
Images have emerged of coffins being buried in a mass grave in New York City, as the death toll from the coronavirus continues to rise. Workers in hazmat outfits were seen stacking wooden coffins in deep trenches in Hart Island. Officials say burials are being ramped up at site, which has long been used for people with no next-of-kin or families who cannot afford a funeral. New York state now has more coronavirus cases than any single country. The state's confirmed caseload of Covid-19 is nearly 162,000, of whom 7,844 have died. Spain has recorded about 157,000 cases and Italy 143,600, while China, where the virus emerged last year, has nearly 83,000 cases. The US as a whole has recorded 467,000 cases and about 16,700 deaths. Globally there are 1.6 million cases and 97,000 deaths.
This drone footage captures NYC workers burying bodies in a mass grave on Hart Island, just off the coast of the Bronx. For over a century, the island has served as a potter’s field for deceased with no known next of kin or families unable to pay for funerals. pic.twitter.com/wBVIGlX6aK
Doctors have warned that the coronavirus looks to be causing strokes among adults in their 30s and 40s who otherwise are not particularly unwell, or even not showing any symptoms of the virus at all. They have also said that younger people are less likely to call 911 and seek treatment because they fear the hospitals are overwhelmed by coronavirus patients.
Strokes are caused when a blood clot reaches the brain, destroying the cells
A team of New York doctors has seen a seven-fold increase in young patients
Some had little or no symptoms of Covid-19 or were reluctant to call 911
Doctors are seeing a link between Covid-19 and blood clots but are unsure why
There is an increasing body of evidence to suggest that the Covid-19 infection makes patients more prone to blood clots, and while the reason behind this is unclear, a stroke can be a consequence of that. Strokes occur when a blood clot reaches the brain, blocking an artery that supplies blood to the vital organ. [...] 'The virus seems to be causing increased clotting in the large arteries, leading to severe stroke,' Oxley told CNN. 'Our report shows a seven-fold increase in incidence of sudden stroke in young patients during the past two weeks. 'Most of these patients have no past medical history and were at home with either mild symptoms (or in two cases, no symptoms) of Covid,' he added. 'All tested positive. Two of them delayed calling an ambulance.'
I am a critical care physician, specialising in the use of [ventilators]. I’m flattered by all the attention our tools are receiving. But I fear the current clamour reminds me of nothing so much as the panic buyers of toilet-paper stampeding over each other in early March. When the history of the Covid-19 pandemic in the Western world is written, I do not believe 'massive ramp-up of ventilator manufacturing,' will be credited with our deliverance. Let me explain why. Ventilators do not cure any disease. [...] When we mechanically blow air into your damaged lungs faster and harder than humanly possible, ventilator-induced lung injury may result. Generally, for a person to tolerate the undertaking, we have to sedate them, leading to immobility and severe weakness. While sedated, the person cannot cough or clear their airway effectively, leading to superimposed bacterial pneumonia. This is an awful lot to survive. And in the case of Covid-19, the preliminary outcome data is rather dismal. On Monday, the New England Journal of Medicine published a case series of very ill Covid-19 patients in Seattle with data up to March 23: of the twenty patients who went on a ventilator, only four had so far escaped the hospital alive. Nine had died. Three remained in suspended animation, going on three or four weeks of ventilation. Four escaped the ventilator but remained in hospital.
The world must hold the Chinese government accountable
As the new coronavirus took root across America, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sent states tainted test kits in early February that were themselves seeded with the virus, federal officials have confirmed. The contamination made the tests uninterpretable, and—because testing is crucial for containment efforts—it lost the country invaluable time to get ahead of the advancing pandemic. The CDC had been vague about what went wrong with the tests, initially only saying that “a problem in the manufacturing of one of the reagents” had led to the failure. Subsequent reporting suggested that the problem was with a negative control—that is, a part of the test meant to be free of any trace of the coronavirus as a critical reference for confirming that the test was working properly overall. [...] “It was just tragic,” Scott Becker, executive director of the Association of Public Health Laboratories, told the Times. “All that time when we were sitting there waiting, I really felt like, here we were at one of the most critical junctures in public health history, and the biggest tool in our toolbox was missing.”
About a year and a half ago the biggest threat to my stability came not from my anxiety and depression but from a new form of treatment called transcranial magnetic stimulation, or TMS. The Mayo Clinic website describes TMS as “a noninvasive procedure that uses magnetic fields to stimulate nerve cells in the brain to improve symptoms of depression.” They make it sound simple enough: “An electromagnetic coil is placed against your scalp near your forehead. The electromagnet painlessly delivers a magnetic pulse that stimulates nerve cells in the region of your brain involved in mood control….” Based on my experience with it, nothing could be further from the truth. TMS not only has not improved my mental health but also has robbed me of some of the most important things in life. As it stands, there has been little to no research on or awareness around the negative side effects that TMS can inflict. This must change and is more important than ever as this treatment continues to grow in popularity.
The case for hydroxychloroquine as a preventative seems to be building. India continues to increase it's use in that regard, including giving it to non-diagnosed family members of COVID-19 patients. https://t.co/KQrjSoH8G3
— Hydroxychloroquine News (@niro60487270) April 23, 2020
In spite of the fear mongering, an ongoing trial of hydroxychloroquine for post exposure prophylaxes has found no safety concerns after 783 patients enrolled. 4/7https://t.co/DoKmljM5Lb
— Hydroxychloroquine News (@niro60487270) April 24, 2020
Drug overdoses have increased in Charlotte, according to police, and addiction specialists say they’re concerned people are drinking too much alcohol and resorting to drugs while stuck at home. Since March 26 — when Mecklenburg County began its stay-at-home order — CMPD has responded to 100 emergency calls about drug overdoses. That’s a 24% increase or around 20 additional calls compared to a similar time period last year, said CMPD spokesman Rob Tufano. Out of the 100 calls, ten people died, he said. Director of prevention and intervention at Anuvia, a substance abuse treatment center, Cindy Murphy said that resources and help is available. Prior to the pandemic, there had been a downward trend in overdoses, she said.
‘According to estimates from countries in the European region, up to half of those who have died from Covid-19 were resident in long-term care facilities.’ More than 100,000 people have died of Covid-19 in Europe. Kluge did not provide a country-by-country breakdown of care home deaths, but said the grim figures should be a lesson for governments to invest more heavily in social care. [...] Currently, the government’s daily deaths update only includes patients who die after testing positive for Covid-19 in hospital. But stories are emerging every day of care homes announcing residents are dying with coronavirus symptoms, leading to fears they represent a significant hidden death toll.
Costa Rica is using hydroxychloroquine to treat patients with COVID-19, the country’s medical experts confirmed. The drug’s use in Costa Rica follows the guidance of medical experts from China, where the novel coronavirus is believed to have originated. “In Costa Rica, we have been using hydroxychloroquine since we had a teleconference meeting with personnel from China, personnel from Shanghai and Wuhan,” said Mario Ruíz, Medical Manager of the Costa Rican Social Security System (CCSS, or Caja). [...] The Costa Rican health system has not released data comparing the outcomes of patients treated with hydroxychloroquine to other methods, but it suggested positive results. “The drug has proven to be successful in patients who have been treated currently,” Ruíz said last week.
The number of U.S. coronavirus-linked deaths in long-term care facilities including nursing homes has eclipsed 10,000, as nursing-home owners said they are still struggling to access the testing they need to detect and curb outbreaks. A growing number of state health departments are reporting data, including fatalities, linked to facilities that primarily house older people who often are in frail health and particularly vulnerable to infection from the new coronavirus. [...] The virus has hit at least 4,800 facilities, states have reported. The number of people infected, including residents and staff, totals more than 56,000. Some states, such as California, are reporting details on facilities, including in some cases names of places that have Covid-19 patients, but aren’t releasing fatality data. Meanwhile, some states may only report on nursing-home and assisted-living centers while others will include numbers from other adult-care centers such as behavioral-health facilities.
We all understand that well-nourished people are more resilient in the face of stressors. International organizations have already expressed their concern about the marginal nutritional status of many people in the developing world: What will happen when COVID-19 reaches African nations, or temporary camps that house Syrians forced to flee their country? The fear is that the rate of COVID-19 infection and death will be much higher because of their poor nutritional status, which will compromise their physical immunity. [...] And here is a fact that may not yet be on your radar: Even in our developed, western society, our brains are only marginally nourished, contributing to the epidemic of mental illness visible even before COVID-19 arrived on the scene. The causes of inadequate brain supply of nutrients even in wealthy nations are many—here are just two, both of which we could improve:
A Virginia man who downplayed the seriousness of the coronavirus as merely the media "pumping out fear" has died after contracting the virus. Landon Spradlin, 66, a pastor and traveling musician, died on Wednesday, March 25, at a hospital in North Carolina after testing positive for COVID-19. As first reported by Patch, nearly two weeks before his death Spradlin shared a meme on his Facebook page suggesting the media "can manipulate your life." [...] "We extend our deepest sympathies to the families and loved ones," North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper said in a statement. "This is a stark warning that for some people COVID-19 is a serious illness. All of us must do our part to stop the spread by staying at home as much as possible and practicing social distancing."
Social media posts of an Ohio man who disparaged coronavirus lockdown measures are now circulating online after he died of COVID-19, the disease associated with coronavirus. Screenshots of Facebook posts calling social distancing measures “bullshit” have surfaced online just days after John W. McDaniel, 60, died of coronavirus on April 15. One screenshot of a post dated March 13 included an accusation that the virus was a “political ploy.” “If you’re paranoid about getting sick, just don’t go out,” another post allegedly said. “It shouldn’t keep those of us from Living Our Lives. The Madness has to stop.” The posts have gone viral, even getting the attention of British broadcaster Piers Morgan. “Let his death be a warning to everyone else who wants to be ‘living our lives’ & ignore lockdowns - it may END your life,” Morgan tweeted Tuesday.
A pandemic inside of another pandemic is what many healthcare experts are calling the recent uptick in opioid-related deaths during the coronavirus emergency. “They're not calling 911 necessarily if someone's overdosing,” explained Brittany Shultz, a substance abuse specialist at York County Opioid Collaborative. [...] “They are disproportionately impacted by the loss of income and social isolation, and therefore, I think we're going to see a spike now and over the next couple of months,” Shultz said. Confirmed and suspected opioid deaths in York County tripled in March from January's number. York County Coroner Pam Gay says she 100 percent believes it is a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. "In March, we saw 24 drug opioid-related deaths, and in April we've already seen 17 suspected opioid-related deaths," Gay said.
The numbers are remarkable, and put to bed the idea that Covid-19 is akin to a bad flu season.
You can clearly see that in almost every country, spikes in mortality are *far* higher than what we see from flu etc (grey lines are historical death numbers) https://t.co/EiE5Q3OSmRpic.twitter.com/h4WIDqkBTD
Currently, drug repurposing is an alternative to novel drug development for the treatment of COVID-19 patients. The antimalarial drug chloroquine (CQ) and its metabolite hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) are currently being tested in several clinical studies as potential candidates to limit SARS-CoV-2-mediated morbidity and mortality. CQ and HCQ (CQ/HCQ) inhibit pH-dependent steps of SARS-CoV-2 replication by increasing pH in intracellular vesicles and interfere with virus particle delivery into host cells. Besides direct antiviral effects, CQ/HCQ specifically target extracellular zinc to intracellular lysosomes where it interferes with RNA-dependent RNA polymerase activity and coronavirus replication. As zinc deficiency frequently occurs in elderly patients and in those with cardiovascular disease, chronic pulmonary disease, or diabetes, we hypothesize that CQ/HCQ plus zinc supplementation may be more effective in reducing COVID-19 morbidity and mortality than CQ or HCQ in monotherapy. Therefore, CQ/HCQ in combination with zinc should be considered as additional study arm for COVID-19 clinical trials.
There's growing evidence that #COVID19 causes fatal thrombovascular (clotting) complications.
Hydroxychloroquine is shown to be thromboprotective, reducing thrombosis by 68% in lupus patients.
A serious coronavirus-related syndrome may be emerging in the UK, according to an “urgent alert” issued to doctors, following a rise in cases in the last two to three weeks, HSJ has learned. An alert to GPs and seen by HSJ says that in the “last three weeks, there has been an apparent rise in the number of children of all ages presenting with a multisystem inflammatory state requiring intensive care across London and also in other regions of the UK”. It adds: “There is a growing concern that a [covid-19] related inflammatory syndrome is emerging in children in the UK, or that there may be another, as yet unidentified, infectious pathogen associated with these cases.” [...] “Abdominal pain and gastrointestinal symptoms have been a common feature as has cardiac inflammation. This has been observed in children with confirmed PCR positive SARS-CoV-2 infection as well as children who are PCR negative. Serological evidence of possible preceding SARS-CoV-2 infection has also been observed.”
Doctors at the University of Chicago Medicine are seeing “truly remarkable” results using high-flow nasal cannulas rather than ventilators and intubation to treat some COVID-19 patients. High-flow nasal cannulas, or HFNCs, are non-invasive nasal prongs that sit below the nostrils and blow large volumes of warm, humidified oxygen into the nose and lungs. A team from UChicago Medicine’s emergency room took dozens of COVID-19 patients who were in respiratory distress and gave them HFNCs instead of putting them on ventilators. The patients all fared extremely well, and only one of them required intubation after 10 days. “The success we’ve had has been truly remarkable,” said Michael O’Connor, MD, UChicago Medicine’s Director of Critical Care Medicine. The HFNCs are often combined with prone positioning, a technique where patients lay on their stomachs to aid breathing. Together, they’ve helped UChicago Medicine doctors avoid dozens of intubations and have decreased the chances of bad outcomes for COVID-19 patients, said Thomas Spiegel, MD, Medical Director of UChicago Medicine’s Emergency Department.
The scourge of COVID-19 is spreading. Thousands of Americans are dying. What can you do to help? Yes, practice social distancing, wash your hands, and donate masks to local hospitals. Also, talk to your loved ones about advance care planning. Advance care planning means contemplating and deciding the type of medical care you would want if you had a life-threatening illness; you are never too young or too healthy to start these conversations. It involves identifying your goals and values, learning about life-sustaining interventions — such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation (measures to restart your heart and breathing), intubation (use of a ventilator to help you breathe), or artificial nutrition (being fed through a tube in your nose or stomach) — and sharing with loved ones and your doctors your preferences. An advance directive is written documentation of these preferences. [...] While you are home with family during this time of social distancing, do your homework. Discuss these three key components of advanced care [...]
The death toll in Ecuador during the outbreak was 15 times higher than the official number of Covid-19 deaths reported by the government, according to an analysis of mortality data by The New York Times. The numbers suggest that the South American country is suffering one of the worst outbreaks in the world. […] “We will never know what the real number is, because there are no tests,” Ms. Viteri said. […] At the peak of the crisis, the team collected and authorized the burial of five times as many bodies than would normally be buried in the city on any given day.
There were hundreds of decomposing bodies stacked in piles, he said, as if they were sacks of potatoes or rice. “The reek was insufferable,” he said. “The morgue was packed, as were the corridors — they were very long, and filled with corpses. The waiting room was filled with corpses.” […] The wave of deaths is all the more disturbing for being impossible to explain. There is no obvious reason for Ecuador to be devastated far more than other countries. Its population is relatively young, and most people live in rural areas, both factors that should reduce the risk, said Jenny Garcia, a demographer who studies Latin America at the Institut National d’Études Démographiques in France.
Images have emerged of coffins being buried in a mass grave in New York City, as the death toll from the coronavirus continues to rise. Workers in hazmat outfits were seen stacking wooden coffins in deep trenches in Hart Island. Officials say burials are being ramped up at site, which has long been used for people with no next-of-kin or families who cannot afford a funeral. New York state now has more coronavirus cases than any single country. The state's confirmed caseload of Covid-19 is nearly 162,000, of whom 7,844 have died. Spain has recorded about 157,000 cases and Italy 143,600, while China, where the virus emerged last year, has nearly 83,000 cases. The US as a whole has recorded 467,000 cases and about 16,700 deaths. Globally there are 1.6 million cases and 97,000 deaths.
This drone footage captures NYC workers burying bodies in a mass grave on Hart Island, just off the coast of the Bronx. For over a century, the island has served as a potter’s field for deceased with no known next of kin or families unable to pay for funerals. pic.twitter.com/wBVIGlX6aK
Doctors have warned that the coronavirus looks to be causing strokes among adults in their 30s and 40s who otherwise are not particularly unwell, or even not showing any symptoms of the virus at all. They have also said that younger people are less likely to call 911 and seek treatment because they fear the hospitals are overwhelmed by coronavirus patients.
Strokes are caused when a blood clot reaches the brain, destroying the cells
A team of New York doctors has seen a seven-fold increase in young patients
Some had little or no symptoms of Covid-19 or were reluctant to call 911
Doctors are seeing a link between Covid-19 and blood clots but are unsure why
There is an increasing body of evidence to suggest that the Covid-19 infection makes patients more prone to blood clots, and while the reason behind this is unclear, a stroke can be a consequence of that. Strokes occur when a blood clot reaches the brain, blocking an artery that supplies blood to the vital organ. [...] 'The virus seems to be causing increased clotting in the large arteries, leading to severe stroke,' Oxley told CNN. 'Our report shows a seven-fold increase in incidence of sudden stroke in young patients during the past two weeks. 'Most of these patients have no past medical history and were at home with either mild symptoms (or in two cases, no symptoms) of Covid,' he added. 'All tested positive. Two of them delayed calling an ambulance.'
I am a critical care physician, specialising in the use of [ventilators]. I’m flattered by all the attention our tools are receiving. But I fear the current clamour reminds me of nothing so much as the panic buyers of toilet-paper stampeding over each other in early March. When the history of the Covid-19 pandemic in the Western world is written, I do not believe 'massive ramp-up of ventilator manufacturing,' will be credited with our deliverance. Let me explain why. Ventilators do not cure any disease. [...] When we mechanically blow air into your damaged lungs faster and harder than humanly possible, ventilator-induced lung injury may result. Generally, for a person to tolerate the undertaking, we have to sedate them, leading to immobility and severe weakness. While sedated, the person cannot cough or clear their airway effectively, leading to superimposed bacterial pneumonia. This is an awful lot to survive. And in the case of Covid-19, the preliminary outcome data is rather dismal. On Monday, the New England Journal of Medicine published a case series of very ill Covid-19 patients in Seattle with data up to March 23: of the twenty patients who went on a ventilator, only four had so far escaped the hospital alive. Nine had died. Three remained in suspended animation, going on three or four weeks of ventilation. Four escaped the ventilator but remained in hospital.
The world must hold the Chinese government accountable
As the new coronavirus took root across America, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sent states tainted test kits in early February that were themselves seeded with the virus, federal officials have confirmed. The contamination made the tests uninterpretable, and—because testing is crucial for containment efforts—it lost the country invaluable time to get ahead of the advancing pandemic. The CDC had been vague about what went wrong with the tests, initially only saying that “a problem in the manufacturing of one of the reagents” had led to the failure. Subsequent reporting suggested that the problem was with a negative control—that is, a part of the test meant to be free of any trace of the coronavirus as a critical reference for confirming that the test was working properly overall. [...] “It was just tragic,” Scott Becker, executive director of the Association of Public Health Laboratories, told the Times. “All that time when we were sitting there waiting, I really felt like, here we were at one of the most critical junctures in public health history, and the biggest tool in our toolbox was missing.”
About a year and a half ago the biggest threat to my stability came not from my anxiety and depression but from a new form of treatment called transcranial magnetic stimulation, or TMS. The Mayo Clinic website describes TMS as “a noninvasive procedure that uses magnetic fields to stimulate nerve cells in the brain to improve symptoms of depression.” They make it sound simple enough: “An electromagnetic coil is placed against your scalp near your forehead. The electromagnet painlessly delivers a magnetic pulse that stimulates nerve cells in the region of your brain involved in mood control….” Based on my experience with it, nothing could be further from the truth. TMS not only has not improved my mental health but also has robbed me of some of the most important things in life. As it stands, there has been little to no research on or awareness around the negative side effects that TMS can inflict. This must change and is more important than ever as this treatment continues to grow in popularity.
The case for hydroxychloroquine as a preventative seems to be building. India continues to increase it's use in that regard, including giving it to non-diagnosed family members of COVID-19 patients. https://t.co/KQrjSoH8G3
— Hydroxychloroquine News (@niro60487270) April 23, 2020
In spite of the fear mongering, an ongoing trial of hydroxychloroquine for post exposure prophylaxes has found no safety concerns after 783 patients enrolled. 4/7https://t.co/DoKmljM5Lb
— Hydroxychloroquine News (@niro60487270) April 24, 2020
Drug overdoses have increased in Charlotte, according to police, and addiction specialists say they’re concerned people are drinking too much alcohol and resorting to drugs while stuck at home. Since March 26 — when Mecklenburg County began its stay-at-home order — CMPD has responded to 100 emergency calls about drug overdoses. That’s a 24% increase or around 20 additional calls compared to a similar time period last year, said CMPD spokesman Rob Tufano. Out of the 100 calls, ten people died, he said. Director of prevention and intervention at Anuvia, a substance abuse treatment center, Cindy Murphy said that resources and help is available. Prior to the pandemic, there had been a downward trend in overdoses, she said.
‘According to estimates from countries in the European region, up to half of those who have died from Covid-19 were resident in long-term care facilities.’ More than 100,000 people have died of Covid-19 in Europe. Kluge did not provide a country-by-country breakdown of care home deaths, but said the grim figures should be a lesson for governments to invest more heavily in social care. [...] Currently, the government’s daily deaths update only includes patients who die after testing positive for Covid-19 in hospital. But stories are emerging every day of care homes announcing residents are dying with coronavirus symptoms, leading to fears they represent a significant hidden death toll.
Costa Rica is using hydroxychloroquine to treat patients with COVID-19, the country’s medical experts confirmed. The drug’s use in Costa Rica follows the guidance of medical experts from China, where the novel coronavirus is believed to have originated. “In Costa Rica, we have been using hydroxychloroquine since we had a teleconference meeting with personnel from China, personnel from Shanghai and Wuhan,” said Mario Ruíz, Medical Manager of the Costa Rican Social Security System (CCSS, or Caja). [...] The Costa Rican health system has not released data comparing the outcomes of patients treated with hydroxychloroquine to other methods, but it suggested positive results. “The drug has proven to be successful in patients who have been treated currently,” Ruíz said last week.
The number of U.S. coronavirus-linked deaths in long-term care facilities including nursing homes has eclipsed 10,000, as nursing-home owners said they are still struggling to access the testing they need to detect and curb outbreaks. A growing number of state health departments are reporting data, including fatalities, linked to facilities that primarily house older people who often are in frail health and particularly vulnerable to infection from the new coronavirus. [...] The virus has hit at least 4,800 facilities, states have reported. The number of people infected, including residents and staff, totals more than 56,000. Some states, such as California, are reporting details on facilities, including in some cases names of places that have Covid-19 patients, but aren’t releasing fatality data. Meanwhile, some states may only report on nursing-home and assisted-living centers while others will include numbers from other adult-care centers such as behavioral-health facilities.
We all understand that well-nourished people are more resilient in the face of stressors. International organizations have already expressed their concern about the marginal nutritional status of many people in the developing world: What will happen when COVID-19 reaches African nations, or temporary camps that house Syrians forced to flee their country? The fear is that the rate of COVID-19 infection and death will be much higher because of their poor nutritional status, which will compromise their physical immunity. [...] And here is a fact that may not yet be on your radar: Even in our developed, western society, our brains are only marginally nourished, contributing to the epidemic of mental illness visible even before COVID-19 arrived on the scene. The causes of inadequate brain supply of nutrients even in wealthy nations are many—here are just two, both of which we could improve:
A Virginia man who downplayed the seriousness of the coronavirus as merely the media "pumping out fear" has died after contracting the virus. Landon Spradlin, 66, a pastor and traveling musician, died on Wednesday, March 25, at a hospital in North Carolina after testing positive for COVID-19. As first reported by Patch, nearly two weeks before his death Spradlin shared a meme on his Facebook page suggesting the media "can manipulate your life." [...] "We extend our deepest sympathies to the families and loved ones," North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper said in a statement. "This is a stark warning that for some people COVID-19 is a serious illness. All of us must do our part to stop the spread by staying at home as much as possible and practicing social distancing."
Social media posts of an Ohio man who disparaged coronavirus lockdown measures are now circulating online after he died of COVID-19, the disease associated with coronavirus. Screenshots of Facebook posts calling social distancing measures “bullshit” have surfaced online just days after John W. McDaniel, 60, died of coronavirus on April 15. One screenshot of a post dated March 13 included an accusation that the virus was a “political ploy.” “If you’re paranoid about getting sick, just don’t go out,” another post allegedly said. “It shouldn’t keep those of us from Living Our Lives. The Madness has to stop.” The posts have gone viral, even getting the attention of British broadcaster Piers Morgan. “Let his death be a warning to everyone else who wants to be ‘living our lives’ & ignore lockdowns - it may END your life,” Morgan tweeted Tuesday.
A pandemic inside of another pandemic is what many healthcare experts are calling the recent uptick in opioid-related deaths during the coronavirus emergency. “They're not calling 911 necessarily if someone's overdosing,” explained Brittany Shultz, a substance abuse specialist at York County Opioid Collaborative. [...] “They are disproportionately impacted by the loss of income and social isolation, and therefore, I think we're going to see a spike now and over the next couple of months,” Shultz said. Confirmed and suspected opioid deaths in York County tripled in March from January's number. York County Coroner Pam Gay says she 100 percent believes it is a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. "In March, we saw 24 drug opioid-related deaths, and in April we've already seen 17 suspected opioid-related deaths," Gay said.
A stunning interview with Professor of Classics Michael Fontaine, PhD about historical descriptions of the first recorded plague in Ancient Greece. It also raised interesting issues about women and children in classic times. This is one of the most interesting and enlightening interviews I have ever done. It became surprisingly inspiring on how to live today in the face of the coronavirus.
The number of footballers reporting symptoms of depression has doubled since the sport shut down because of Covid-19, a survey by the global players’ union, Fifpro, has found. Anxiety symptoms have also risen amid significant concerns about the long-term impact that coronavirus may have on the football community. Fifpro’s study of 1,602 professional players, conducted between 22 March and 14 April, discovered that 22% of 468 female players and 13% of 1,134 male players reported symptoms consistent with a diagnosis of depression. It also found that 18% of the women and 16% of men reported markers of generalised anxiety. England, Scotland and the Republic of Ireland were among 16 countries – all of which have implemented drastic measures to contain Covid-19, such as home confinement – whose footballers were surveyed. [...] “In football, suddenly young men and women athletes are having to cope with social isolation, a suspension of their working lives and doubts about their future,” the Fifpro chief medical officer, Dr Vincent Gouttebarge, said. “Some may not be well equipped to confront these changes and we encourage them to seek help from a person they trust or a mental health professional.”
It is understandable that many would be wary of the notion that the origin of the coronavirus could be discovered by some documentary filmmaker who used to live in China. Matthew Tye, who creates YouTube videos, contends he has identified the source of the coronavirus — and a great deal of the information that he presents, obtained from public records posted on the Internet, checks out. The Wuhan Institute of Virology in China indeed posted a job opening on November 18, 2019, “asking for scientists to come research the relationship between the coronavirus and bats.” [...] it is a remarkable coincidence that the Wuhan Institute of Virology was researching Ebola and SARS-associated coronaviruses in bats before the pandemic outbreak, and that in the month when Wuhan doctors were treating the first patients of COVID-19, the institute announced in a hiring notice that “a large number of new bat and rodent new viruses have been discovered and identified.” And the fact that the Chinese government spent six weeks insisting that COVID-19 could not be spread from person to person means that its denials about Wuhan laboratories cannot be accepted without independent verification.
Chen Qiushi, a 34-year-old former lawyer, disappeared in February after documenting the coronavirus crisis in Wuhan, China. The Chinese government has been less than transparent about the threat posed by COVID-19. This week, leaked documents revealed that the government waited days to inform the public that the virus could spread from person to person. And Friday, health officials in China said the official death toll for Wuhan, the city of 11 million where the virus first showed up, was initially undercounted by almost 50 percent. In China, citizen journalists have been some of the most reliable real time sources of information about the outbreak and the efforts to contain it. Chen Qiushi, a 34-year-old former lawyer, caught the last train into Wuhan before the city locked down in February. He gained remarkable access to overrun hospitals, funeral homes, and the deserted market where the virus may have infected the first human.
A major survey of 127,545 American adults found that married men are healthier than men who were never married or whose marriages ended in divorce or widowhood. Men who have marital partners also live longer than men without spouses; men who marry after age 25 get more protection than those who tie the knot at a younger age, and the longer a man stays married, the greater his survival advantage over his unmarried peers. But is marriage itself responsible for better health and longer life? [...] Another potential factor is loneliness; is the institution of marriage linked to better health, or is it simply a question of living with another person? Although studies vary, the answer seems to be a little of both. People living with unmarried partners tend to fare better than those living alone, but men living with their wives have the best health of all. Numerous studies conducted over the past 150 years suggest that marriage is good for health. More recently, scientists have begun to understand why married men enjoy better health than their single, divorced, and widowed peers. But before we turn to the why, let's look at how marriage affects specific diseases, including America's leading killers, cardiovascular disease and cancer.
Letting a baby watch a smartphone, tablet or TV at 12 months increases the odds the child will develop autism-like symptoms during the next year, new research suggests. On the other hand, if parents spent active play time with their child every day, the odds of autism-like symptoms decreased. "At 12 months, watching TV or DVDs was associated with more autism symptoms at 2 years," said study author David Bennett. He's a psychologist in the department of psychiatry at the Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia. The study didn't include data on definitive autism diagnoses, only symptoms of the disorder, such as a lack of making eye contact or failing to look when someone points or calls your name. And it could not prove that screen time caused autism symptoms. The researchers noted that their findings may be especially important during the COVID-19 pandemic, as parents may have to work from home while taking care of children at the same time. "It's hard right now and, hopefully, this will not be going on for months and months. We've been encouraging parents to save their sanity and do what they have to do. But try to play and engage your child more," Bennett said. [...] The study was published online April 20 in JAMA Pediatrics.
"Scientific studies have found that chanting can decrease stress, anxiety and depressive symptoms, as well as increase positive mood, feelings of relaxation and focused attention," Perry says. "It is possible that, regardless of the tradition or belief system involved in the chanting practice, chanting may have a physiological and psychological effect no matter what you are chanting." Repetitive vocal chanting can have a direct effect on the parasympathetic nervous system, Perry says, as it can slow breathing and activate the vagus nerve. "We still don't know scientifically if it matters what you chant or not," she says. [...] According to the results of a 2016 study by Perry, Professor Bill Thompson and Dr Vince Polito, also from Macquarie University, chanting the universal mantra "Om" for 10 minutes improved attention, contributed towards a positive mood and increased feelings of social cohesion. Another study, published in the American Journal of Psychiatry in 2018, found that "mantram" repetition therapy — which involves silently repeating a spiritually-related word or phrase selected by each individual from a recommended list — was effective in treating veterans diagnosed with military-related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). A separate paper published last year in Federal Practitioner concluded that similar practices such as mindfulness, meditation, and yoga aided health care workers with "small-to-moderate improvements in emotional exhaustion, sense of personal accomplishment, and life satisfaction". Other research has found that chanting increased cerebral blood flow in areas of the brain known to deteriorate in Alzheimer's patients.
Humans are social animals, and avoiding contact is not natural. In fact, too much social distancing can weigh heavily upon us. It is important that we recognize this fact, and that we all understand that each of us is more stressed these days, more on edge and less certain about what lies ahead. [...] For those already dealing with a mental health challenge, the pandemic can make coping more difficult. But it is important to know that mental health services are still available. It may not be necessary to actually visit your provider. More than 80% of patient visits for mental health services at UC San Diego Health, for example, are currently conducted via tele-health through the use of a smartphone. Concern and care need not be cramped by technology, and virtual contact with your provider can help ensure that you have what you need, from emotional support to an adequate supply of necessary medications. All pandemics end; this one will too. People will recover their physical health, but adverse mental health effects may linger. The post-pandemic world will be different in ways unforeseen. For many of us, it will be tougher, harder and darker — at least for a while. Past research has shown that calamitous events, from natural disasters to mass violence, have significant mental health consequences after the fact.
An anti-inflammation diet might help fight chronic disease, perhaps by changing the gut bacteria. In the past 20 years, research has discovered that the genes of bacteria that live in our gut (the gut microbiome) can affect our health. A study published Feb. 17, 2020, in the journal Gut compared the gut microbiome of about 600 older adults (ages 65 to 79) assigned to either a Mediterranean-style diet — rich in fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes, olive oil, and fish and low in red meat and saturated fats — or to a regular diet. Many previous studies have found that people who regularly consume the Mediterranean diet have lower rates of bowel cancer, insulin resistance, fatty liver disease, and other diseases. The question this study addressed was whether these lower rates of disease might result from changes in the gut microbiome. Among people assigned to the Mediterranean diet, there was indeed reduced inflammation. In addition, the gut microbiome was changed in ways that previous studies have shown is associated with a lower risk of bowel cancer, insulin resistance, fatty liver disease, and cell damage, and associated with improved thinking skills. Finally, the gut microbiome reverted to a less healthy profile after people stopped the Mediterranean diet. Thus, the study suggests that the beneficial health effects of this diet may be due, in part, to changes in the gut microbiome.
At least a dozen nurses on Tuesday protested outside the White House demanding the administration take action to acquire more personal protective equipment (PPE), reading aloud the names of 50 nurses who have died of coronavirus. "We are here because our colleagues are dying. I think that right now people think of us as heroes, but we're feeling like martyrs," one nurse told NBC News.
Happening NOW: NNU union nurses are outside the White House to honor the courageous RNs who have lost their lives on the frontlines of the #COVID19 crisis, and to demand protections for the living.
National Nurses United (NNU) is asking the administration to use the Defense Production Act (DPA) to order the mass production of PPE, ventilators and coronavirus test kits. President Trump has used the DPA on a limited basis in recent weeks to manufacture ventilators and some other equipment to respond to the coronavirus outbreak but has encouraged hospitals and states to take the lead on obtaining other supplies. “NNU is calling on Congress to mandate the DPA’s use to produce the equipment and supplies health care workers need to care for COVID-19 patients as well as to conduct mass testing that is required to control the spread of the virus,” the union said in a statement Tuesday.
Names of forgotten New York nurses who have died on the frontline of the Covid-19 War
We gathered online for a powerful action of mourning and solidarity to honor nurses who died on the front lines of #COVID19. We honor their commitment to their patients.
Why haven't we heard the names or even the numbers of fallen nurses on the news?
Twitter even hides that video on twitter, saying it "includes potentially sensitive content."
People with Parkinson’s disease and depression can experience significant relief of depressive symptoms through telephone-based cognitive behavioral therapy (T-CBT), according to a Rutgers study. CBT is a type of psychotherapy that teaches people to recognize and change negative patterns of thinking and behavior that accompany depression, said lead author Roseanne Dobkin, a professor of psychiatry at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. Depression affects up to 50 percent of people with Parkinson’s disease, she said. [...] “Even for people who don’t have Parkinson’s, depression and anxiety make it much harder to manage daily stressors, which would include managing any chronic illness,” Dobkin said. “Depression and anxiety can also compromise people’s attention, planning and problem-solving capabilities — skills that are also often affected by Parkinson’s. This becomes especially problematic because managing Parkinson’s requires juggling a lot of complex demands on these skills, like following a precisely timed medication regimen, engaging in multiple therapies (e.g., speech, physical and occupational) and exercising regularly, all while responding to unpredictable (Parkinson’s disease) symptoms that can disrupt plans and limit valued activities.”
Nobody knows when or if life will return to normal after the coronavirus pandemic. But as the weeks of stay-at-home orders and school closures continue nationwide, parents are questioning whether isolation measures and physical distancing are doing lasting damage to their kids' emotional development. Will this generation grow up fearful of touching or standing too close? Will they know how to make friends or interact in group gatherings? And how will it affect their academics and job prospects? Psychologists and economists are still gathering data, but here's the consensus for the short-term: Most of the kids will be all right. Some experts see young children poised to bounce back better than adolescents and teens, who are going to face some stress. But in general, children's resilience is inherently tied to the stability and safety of their families.
As the novel coronavirus continues to wreak havoc around the globe, whistleblowers at American psychiatric facilities paint a picture of mismanaged COVID-19 responses and lax safety protocols, putting patients, workers, and the surrounding communities in harm’s way. Some allege coverups of deaths. News outlets nationwide report being contacted by fearful workers and family members, who insist on anonymity to avoid retaliation. [...] On April 3, The Trentonian reported that the Trenton Psychiatric Hospital administration may have covered up the COVID-19 death of a 60-year old man, said to be the first such death within the walls of New Jersey’s four state psychiatric facilities. Further, staffers at TSP told The Trentonian that the hospital’s CEO, Robyn Wramage-Caporoso, “exploded and abruptly ended” a call with union officials regarding conditions at the hospital. Employees allege ongoing coverups of deaths.
Health commissioner Judy Persichilli on Tuesday acknowledged dozens of infections but not deaths at state's four psychiatric hospitals. That's not what staff at Trenton Psych have told @Trentonianhttps://t.co/UmZozcp6MA
Wramage-Caproso is also accused of “blatantly ignoring” social distancing mandates, forcing staff to attend meetings where they are sitting in close contact. PPE has not been provided, workers said. And someone connected with the hospital started a Change.org petition about the unsafe conditions directed to New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, which reached nearly 1,000 signatures. On April 10, a NJ Advance Media investigation found that the number of patients and employees testing positive for COVID-19 within the state’s psychiatric hospitals had tripled over the course of the previous week, to over 200 cases. Employees from Ancora and Greystone Park hospitals had sent letters to NJ Advance Media alleging that senior management had not been transparent with staff about the real-time numbers of infections.
The coronavirus quarantine has contributed to a surge in the demand for prescription tranquilizers and sleep aids in the United States, as Americans continue to feel on edge about the uncertainty of the disease, according to a new research report. The largest spike was in prescriptions for anti-anxiety drugs, which rose 34.1 percent from mid-February to mid-March, per the pharmacy benefit management organization Express Scripts. From February 16 to March 15, prescriptions for antidepressants rose 18.6 percent, while sleeping medications ticked up by 14.8 percent. "This analysis, showing that many Americans are turning to medications for relief, demonstrates the serious impact COVID-19 may be having on our nation’s mental health," Express Scripts said. [...] The World Health Organization (WHO) is also facing backlash for its perceived failure to recognize the viral threat during its infancy and has been accused of being complicit in a Chinese cover-up. President Trump announced on Tuesday that the U.S. will halt funding to the WHO after the agency put "political correctness over lifesaving measures."
Withdrawal symptoms can be dangerous when trying to beat an addiction – a doctor gives guidance for those in lockdown. Under usual circumstances - when there is no pandemic - people battling an addiction can access doctors and support groups, either in crisis or as a result of illnesses or injuries secondary to their addictions. Indeed, living in lockdown could well fuel an addiction, making it more severe. Self- isolation, unemployment, increased spare time, and family dynamics could all contribute to this. Loneliness, in particular, has been shown in studies to increase the risk of alcoholism. However, lockdown also means that the supply of whatever you are addicted to may be restricted. If someone in active addiction cannot get adequate supplies, they may face having withdrawal symptoms at a time when services are least able to give them help and support. [...] Many support groups have online forums and telephone support so people do not have to feel alone in this. Organisations such as AA are available in most countries in the world. Accessing them during the pandemic may help you to avoid some of the more serious side effects of withdrawal. The pandemic may be a good time to reflect on the amount of alcohol you consume and reduce it, but for some, it may not be the right time to stop it completely.
Dozens of inmates freed from city jails over fears they were vulnerable to the coronavirus have wasted no time plaguing the city with new crimes, The Post has learned. At least 50 of the 1,500 inmates cut loose amid fears of the spread of COVID-19 behind bars in recent weeks have already landed back in jail — and in some cases were set free yet again, according to police sources and records. The re-offenders — just over 3 percent of those released — include a Rikers Island inmate initially jailed for allegedly setting his girlfriend’s door on fire and choking her mother, who was released early only to return to the Bronx apartment and allegedly threaten to kill the whole family. [...] “Our clients who are seriously ill or at a high risk if exposed to the virus should not face a death sentence on Rikers Island before a jury has even had a chance to judge their guilt or innocence, regardless of the charges against them,” Tina Luongo, the Legal Aid Society’s attorney in charge of criminal cases, said in a statement. But the slew of early releases has irked some in the NYPD, who say the re-offenders are “targeting the most vulnerable victims” once they’re out.
US and China Collaborated to Make a Deadly Coronavirus
US and Chinese researchers, funded by the United States and Chinese governments, teamed up to create a deadly new coronavirus that is extremely similar in its effects to the coronavirus that is causing the current pandemic. The research is described in detail in a December 2015 scientific article published in prestigious Nature Medicine. The article and PDFs of its entire bibliography can be found on www.breggin.com, along with a blog by Dr. Breggin about the implications. In this video, Dr. Breggin describes how the American/Chinese manufactured coronavirus mimicked nearly all aspects of SARS-CoV-2, including pneumonia, increasing lethality in older and/or infirm mice and resistance to treatment. The research also sounds a warning that the manmade 2015 virus was resistant to vaccines. It is beyond belief that the US has funded a collaboration with China involving the creation of a coronavirus that has all the attributes of a devastating biological weapon. The Chinese were from the now-infamous Wuhan Institute which was known to have two potentially deadly hazards: poor safety measures and direct connections to the Chinese military. NIH, including the Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, continued support for the research even after warnings about its dangers were sounded by the research community. See Dr. Breggin's Coronavirus Resource Center
Contrary to the narrative that is being pushed by the mainstream that the COVID 19 virus was the result of a natural mutation and that it was transmitted to humans from bats via pangolins, Dr Luc Montagnier the man who discovered the HIV virus back in 1983 disagrees and is saying that the virus was man made. Professor Luc Montagnier, 2008 Nobel Prize winner for Medicine, claims that SARS-CoV-2 is a manipulated virus that was accidentally released from a laboratory in Wuhan, China. Chinese researchers are said to have used coronaviruses in their work to develop an AIDS vaccine. HIV RNA fragments are believed to have been found in the SARS-CoV-2 genome. [...] “With my colleague, bio-mathematician Jean-Claude Perez [see tweet below], we carefully analyzed the description of the genome of this RNA virus,” explains Luc Montagnier, interviewed by Dr Jean-François Lemoine for the daily podcast at Pourquoi Docteur, adding that others have already explored this avenue: Indian researchers have already tried to publish the results of the analyses that showed that this coronavirus genome contained sequences of another virus, … the HIV virus (AIDS virus), but they were forced to withdraw their findings as the pressure from the mainstream was too great.
In what appears to be another attempt to control the narrative surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, the Chinese government is imposing new restrictions on scientists attempting to research how the coronavirus originated. Now, any paper attempting to do so must pass extra checks and be approved by the government before it can be published, CNN reports. It is important that controversial medical research is carefully vetted before it goes out into the world, of course, but academics trying to study the coronavirus say the government is imposing new censorship under the guise of academic rigor. “I think it is a coordinated effort from (the) Chinese government to control (the) narrative, and paint it as if the outbreak did not originate in China,” an anonymous researcher who had their work obstructed told CNN. “And I don’t think they will really tolerate any objective study to investigate the origination of this disease.”
Because Peter and I came down with an undiagnosed virus in January (and oh, we were sick) I have been practicing extra stringent hygiene since that time. Face masks at home on main floor while we were sick to protect my 93 year old mother were utilized at that time. I disinfected banisters, knobs, door handles, tables, counters, faucet taps and on and on.
We had two weeks of improved health mid February. I was already following the news very closely about the emerging novel coronavirus. News out of Wuhan China was horrific though sparse. Italy was beginning to report tragedy and spreading contagion, especially through Twitter. I had the energy to decide that I needed to make some preparations for my family in the event the virus really emerged in the U.S. and we had to quarantine.
I ordered long term storage food—the kind that has up to a 25 year shelf life. Potatoes, vegetables, fruits all freeze dried. Powdered nut milk, canned meats, corn beef hash. I had already (before the shortages hit) stocked up on toilet paper and cleaning supplies. I beefed up my home medical kit. Read more...
RT @TrumpWarRoom The Obama-Biden Administration reportedly gave $3.7 million to the Chinese lab in Wuhan that is the subject of the investigation into the origin of the coronavirus.
President Trump says "we will end that grant very quickly." pic.twitter.com/B0I4VpL62h
At least 6,900 people living in nursing homes in the U.S. have died of the coronavirus, according to The New York Times. [...] Data from the Times shows much more than that, revealing that about a fifth of deaths from the virus in the United States have been tied to nursing homes or other long-term care facilities. [...] “They’re death pits,” Betsy McCaughey, former lieutenant governor of New York who founded the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths, told the Times. “These nursing homes are already overwhelmed. They’re crowded and they’re understaffed. One Covid-positive patient in a nursing home produces carnage.” The U.S. has about 15,600 nursing homes with 1.3 million residents, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Early on, public health officials warned that the elderly and immune-compromised are particularly at risk of dying from the virus.
Belgium has the highest number of daily coronavirus deaths per head of population of any country in the world - but ministers say this is only because they are being more transparent with their data. The European nation had reported 4,857 deaths from coronavirus as of Thursday, an increase of 417 in 24 hours, despite having a relatively small population of 11.6million people. But, unlike many of its European neighbours, it is counting deaths outside of hospital and deaths where the patient had coronavirus symptoms but had not been tested in those figures. These deaths account for almost half of Belgium's total, meaning that the true scale of coronavirus deaths in other countries could be double the official figures if that trend is replicated elsewhere. [...] 'In Europe, no country counts like the others. We have the most detailed method,' Belgian Health Minister Maggie De Block told the television news channel LN24. It comes after repeated warnings from officials in France, Spain, Italy and the UK that deaths in care homes are being ignored leading to a 'hidden epidemic'. In the UK alone, 4,000 people are thought to have died in homes from coronavirus and are not being counted among the country's 13,729 total deaths.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has ordered the state's attorney general to investigate the high number of COVID-19 deaths in long-term care facilities following a deadly outbreak and grisly scene at one of the state's largest nursing homes. Police, acting this week on a tip about a body stored in a shed at a nursing home in Andover, in the northern part of the state, found 17 bodies stored in a makeshift morgue. Since late March, 57 residents have died at the Andover Subacute and Rehabilitation Center I and II, according to the Sussex County Division of Health. Twenty-six of the victims had tested positive for COVID-19. [...] "Outbreaks are not the result of inattentiveness or a shortcoming in nursing homes,” said a spokeswoman for the American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL). “It's the combination of the behavior of this virus and the unique threat it presents to the people we care for — older adults with multiple underlying health conditions. Nursing homes and assisted living communities are doing everything they can with the limited resources they have been given to slow the acceleration of the virus for our residents." [...] "People are dying in nursing homes, and they are dying in some cases very quickly, and families in some cases are unable to get information or updates on their loved ones,” Facciarossa Brewer said. “It's horrifying."
New Jersey is reporting 1,530 deaths at Long Term Care (LTC) facilities, aka, nursing homes
How deadly is Covid-19 compared to seasonal flu, past pandemics, or car crashes? To offer context, we have produced two charts showing coronavirus deaths along with deaths from other common causes in the past to which the disease has recently been compared. One chart shows deaths for the United States, the other for New York, the state hardest hit.
the number of flu deaths as reported by the CDC and often cited in public discussions — between 24,000 and 62,000 deaths for this past season — is a rough estimate of how many people had the flu and died of illnesses that were likely associated with it, whether or not directly caused. Instead of using estimates, on our U.S. chart, we have shown one line for deaths in which influenza was listed as a cause (which undercounts influenza-associated deaths); and another line showing deaths in which influenza or pneumonia was a cause (which overcounts flu deaths, as many pneumonia cases are not caused by flu).
China is not allowing American companies with factories in the country to ship desperately needed medical items like masks, gowns, and coronavirus test kits back to the US, it has been reported. American companies operating in China are unable to import the critically needed supplies back to the states because the government in Beijing needs those high-quality items for their own efforts to stamp out the pandemic. China imposed export restrictions on American companies with products that have long been approved by the Food and Drug Administration because they are superior in quality to the masks, gowns, and other personal protective items made by domestic Chinese firms. The State Department and several US-based businesses told The Wall Street Journal on Thursday that millions of test kits are stranded in warehouses in China, which has so far refused to clear them for export back to the US.
There is increasing confidence that the COVID-19 outbreak likely originated in a Wuhan laboratory, though not as a bioweapon but as part of China's attempt to demonstrate that its efforts to identify and combat viruses are equal to or greater than the capabilities of the United States, multiple sources who have been briefed on the details of early actions by China's government and seen relevant materials tell Fox News. This may be the "costliest government cover-up of all time," one of the sources said. The sources believe the initial transmission of the virus – a naturally occurring strain that was being studied there – was bat-to-human and that "patient zero" worked at the laboratory, then went into the population in Wuhan. The “increasing confidence” comes from classified and open-source documents and evidence, the sources said. Fox News has requested to see the evidence directly. Sources emphasized -- as is often the case with intelligence -- that it’s not definitive and should not be characterized as such. Some inside the administration and the intelligence and epidemiological communities are more skeptical, and the investigation is continuing.
China has imposed restrictions on the publication of academic research on the origins of the novel coronavirus, according to a central government directive and online notices published by two Chinese universities, that have since been removed from the web. Under the new policy, all academic papers on Covid-19 will be subject to extra vetting before being submitted for publication. Studies on the origin of the virus will receive extra scrutiny and must be approved by central government officials, according to the now-deleted posts. A medical expert in Hong Kong who collaborated with mainland researchers to publish a clinical analysis of Covid-19 cases in an international medical journal said his work did not undergo such vetting in February. The increased scrutiny appears to be the latest effort by the Chinese government to control the narrative on the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, which has claimed more than 100,000 lives and sickened 1.7 million people worldwide since it first broke out in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December.
At this time when families are afflicted with so much stress and yet forced to remain together in the same household, conflicts and tensions are likely to heighten. If approached properly, this close proximity, instead of leading to tragedy, can lead to vastly improved communication and much better relationships. My guest, psychologist Howie Glasser, and I discuss the most basic and important principles for having positive, rational communications that improve our relationships with those who matter in our lives. We provide guidelines and specific examples of how to change our approach to talking with those we care about and live with. This is a good complement to the previous week’s Dr. Peter Breggin Hour, “Talking Together,” in which I cover similar issues in a presentation own my own, drawing on my many years as a therapist, husband and parent.
In 2015, American researchers and Chinese Wuhan Institute of Virology researchers collaborated to transform an animal coronavirus into one that can attack humans. Scientists from prestigious American universities and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) worked directly with the two coauthor researchers from Wuhan Institute of Virology, Xing-Yi Ge and Zhengli-Li Shi. The team succeeded in modifying a bat coronavirus to make it capable of attacking human hosts. Read more…
Microdroplets less than 100th of millimetre in size may spread the coronavirus.
Research in Japan shows microdroplets can remain in the air for 20 minutes in enclosed spaces.
Opening a window or a door can eliminate the droplets.
We’ve all heard the advice about catching sneezes and coughs in a tissue to avoid spreading coronavirus. But new research from Japan suggests that infection could be spread by simply holding a conversation with another person. Using high-definition cameras and laser lighting, NHK, Japan’s public broadcaster, conducted an experiment with a group of researchers to capture the movement of microdroplets – particles that are less than 100th of a millimetre in size. They found these microdroplets are emitted every time we speak – and the louder we talk, the more are emitted. So, two people holding a conversation at a normal distance apart could easily lead to infection. [...] The research sheds new light on the rapid spread of coronavirus. Previous studies focused on sneezes and coughs, which emit larger 1 millimetre droplets that can be seen using a normal camera. NHK found that droplets from a sneeze fall quickly to the ground and do not travel very far, even in still air. But their cameras also picked up microdroplets, less than 100th of a millimetre across. Rather than falling to the ground, the microdroplets float in the air and drift about. The researchers estimate that a single cough or sneeze can produce 100,000 microdroplets. “Microdroplets carry many viruses,” says Kazuhiro Tateda, head of the Japanese Association for Infectious Diseases. “We produce them when we talk loudly or breathe heavily. People around us inhale them and that’s how the virus spreads. We’re beginning to see this risk now.”
DIY Face Mask - NO SEW - Upcycled T-shirt - 5 Minutes
Coronavirus: Is the Six Foot Rule sufficient to guarantee safety?
With the CDC recommending all Americans wear face masks, scientists are in a race to understand how COVID-19 travels through the air. As an expert on the fluid dynamics of disease, MIT associate professor Lydia Bourouiba discusses the implications of airborne transmission.
“There are no more surgeons, urologists, orthopedists, we are only doctors who suddenly become part of a single team to face this tsunami that has overwhelmed us.” —Dr. Daniele Macchini, Bergamo, Italy. March 8, 2020
New York City, just a five hour drive from my home in Ithaca, New York, is the current epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic in America. My neighborhood, my life, seems remarkably quiet. But I am painfully aware of the terror, illness, death, struggle, fear and loneliness ongoing in the big city. My local hospital just sent 51 doctors, nurses and support personnel in two Cornell buses to New York City to assist the hospitals there with the fallen. Over 100 persons originally volunteered from our small university town.
I have friends working the front lines as nurses and doctors. My husband, at 83 with asthma, is too high risk to go out. He maintains his practice with his patients by phone. We are confined in home with my aged mother and our three dogs. My heart turns to thinking of all those I know who are fighting this disease face-to-face. The images I see in the media of modern emergency departments, filled with masked and garbed personnel, are overlaid with other images I’ve seen in history books: nurses in long skirts, aprons, white hats, and yes, masks, tending row upon row of sick and dying patients almost exactly a hundred years ago. Read more....
Taking selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressants during during childhood or adolescence is linked to lower sexual desire in adult women, according to a new study published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine. The use of antidepressants is known to lower sexual desire in both men and women beyond what can be attributed to poor mental health alone. This side effect of antidepressants is especially harmful to women because it is more likely to reduce desire and pleasure. Previous research demonstrated that the negative effects of antidepressants on sexual life can last even after the treatment ceases. [...] Lorenz found that women with a history of taking SSRIs antidepressants during development years had lower solitary sexual desire. Exposure to antidepressants during youth did not affect partnered sexual desire and interest in close relationships in the surveyed young women. The negative effect of SSRIs antidepressants on female solitary sexual desire may be due to SSRIs effects on brain regions related to sexual motivation and reward in women while the desires for intimacy and closeness remain unaffected.
Your dog can actually help reduce your stress and anxieties. Something we could definitely all use during these trying times. [...] Pets can be a great way to help those with certain stresses and anxieties to get out into the world. Your pet lives in the moment and doesn't have a care in the world - let that energy rub off on you. Spending some fun time with your dog can even elevate your serotonin and dopamine levels. In fact, their research found that petting a dog for 15 minutes can lower blood pressure by 10%. When you pet your dog, your body releases serotonin, oxytocin, prolactin and even lowers the stress hormone cortisol. These feel-good hormones lower our stress and anxiety, serotonin being the main thing antidepressants try to replicate. [...] A dog will bring unconditional love and joy into your life. Is there actually any better feeling than coming home after a long day’s work and being welcomed by your furry friend belting down the stairs to greet you? Who else has found themselves curled up on the couch feeling down after a rough day only to be welcomed by your pet coming over and curling up next to you offering you some comfort - they just know . As the saying goes, a dog is the only creature on earth that loves you more than he loves himself.
At this bizarre moment in time, most are digging deep into internal “toolboxes” in an attempt to retain some semblance of zen. Maybe you’re experimenting with meditation and yoga, crafting and cleaning, or indulgent wining and dining, shared with a Brady Bunch-esque setup of telesocializing friends. Yet there’s one thing two University of Washington scholars guarantee can bring relief: nature. And thankfully, Seattleites have abundant access to this healing resource. There’s more good news: Even if you can’t experience the budding trees and chirping birds in person, connecting through a window or computer screen brings welcomed benefits, too. [...] “The way that nature works on us,” he said, “It’s not a single way.” Kahn knows that a prescribed “dose” feels comforting for many, yet he fears that if we start thinking about our interactions with the outside world in a medical way, we diminish the power of nature. In this time of feeling distanced, it’s crucial to see that we are not alone in this vast, mysterious world. “Nature is there as an other,” he said. “As us … it’s not tied to a dose; it’s tied to our very being.”
Daily new deaths in U.S. & worst-hit nations on the decline!
Covid-19 new daily deaths in the most face-mask wearing nation on earth, Japan, versus many "Don't wear a face mask" nations.
Last Friday, at the end of a long interview with Judy Woodruff on PBS’ NewsHour that was mostly about masks, “social distancing,” and other measures to fight the pandemic, Dr. Anthony Fauci provided some important comments about China’s early lack of transparency concerning the new coronavirus. [...] Near the end of the interview, Woodruff asked, “I know you’ve said you don’t like to look back, but … when did you first have a sense that this was different? That what had happened was not just another virus?” Fauci replied: "Well, somewhere in early January when it became clear that what the Chinese had claimed originally – that this was just a virus that jumped from an animal reservoir to a human and wasn’t being transmitted from human to human – well it became very clear pretty quickly that that was not the case; that this was a virus that was being transmitted from human to human. But not only that, the nightmare that we have is that not only is it transmitted from human to human; it does it very efficiently. And when the numbers started coming in as to what the morbidity and mortality was, it was during that period from early to mid-January that it became clear to me that this was not just another SARS, it wasn’t another MERS or Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, this was different."
3 strains of CCP virus & China prepares 52,000 new quarantine rooms
UW professor studies effects of isolation during pandemic
Social distancing is helping Washington flatten the curve. But while saving lives, it's also coming at an extraordinary cost to our mental well-being. “From my perspective as a clinical psychologist, I've never been more concerned for society,” said Jonathan Kanter, director of the UW Center for the Science of Social Connection. He's been studying how people in King County are coping in these uncertain times. “Our data suggests if you have certain troubles coming into this, then the crisis has exacerbated that,” he explained. It's particularly concerning for folks who have substance abuse issues, or have been suffering from depression or anxiety. That's why, with most states under a stay at home order, Kanter is launching his study on a national level. “Just checking in with people every evening on how they're doing, anxiety depression, coping, all of that. But in addition we're also having some tips that we'll be sending people each day. The tips are meant to help people cope better, help people deal with mental health, relationships, connections right now,” Kanter said. As businesses remain closed and people stay in their homes, Kanter hopes his work will eventually help inform public health officials during this pandemic which, for now, has no end in sight. “The more people who are doing well right now will start to struggle and not be doing so well over time. The unpredictability of it is probably one of the driving factors,” Kanter added.
We have a couple good sources of evidence here: (1) direct testing of @seattleflustudy samples collected in Jan and Feb 2020 and (2) phylogenetic evidence showing genetic relationships of sequenced viruses. 2/18
When Sean Thompson developed a stress-related ulcer in college in 1988, a psychology professor recommended he try one simple practice to find relief: meditation. After trying out the professor’s tape of a guided meditation, Thompson made a life-altering discovery. “What happened was it worked,” he said. “I started feeling more relaxed.” Twenty-four years later, Thompson founded the Centered Path Buddhist meditation center in Parker. The center, which he describes as more of a study group than a religious organization, teaches folks of all backgrounds how to harness the power of meditation. “The only people who it can’t help are those who aren’t willing to try,” said Thompson. Many psychologists, including Dr. Justin Ross at UCHealth’s Center for Integrative Medicine, also recommend the practice to reduce stress. [...] Mary Dohrmann, a psychologist with The Golden Wellness Center, encourages meditation as a way to cope with all of the daily changes prompted by COVID-19, she said. “When something gets taken away from you, that causes grief,” she said. “People are trying to function in this new way of being, and that causes anxiety ... for that it would be wonderful to use these techniques to ground yourself every day.”
In this time of going stir crazy from the shutdown, this presentation could save your marriage and your family life. It can help you handle any trouble you may have now or in the future communicating with your husband or wife, your children, your friends, coworkers or boss. From decades of experience, here are four guidelines to vastly improve your life by vastly improving your relationships. I start with Western saloons that had signs, “Leave Your Guns Outside.” Even without guns or other weapons, we humans have so many ways of hurting each other in ordinary conversation. Here we learn how to stop hurting each other and then go on to how to make all of our words improve our communications and our most important relationships. This is among my best-ever presentations and perfect for those of us who are shut-in with family. It could turn those “inevitable” conflicts into the best times of our lives. You may end up grateful to this lousy virus for forcing you into learning how to remake your most important relationships. Meanwhile, thank you America for coming together, in part to save those of us like me who are old enough to be highly vulnerable to the corona virus.
Day 19 of the American lockdown due to the Covid-19 Pandemic. Because we live in New York State, and because I was diagnosed with influenza Type A on March 1st, I have been in isolation in my home since March 1st 2020. As a woman 69 years old with asthma I have risk factors and we are following the government's directions on how to stay safe and keep others safe, while protecting our challenged healthcare system.
I continue to marvel about how we are addressing this scourge. In America, the most industrialized, modern, innovative country in the history of humankind, we have resorted to the original and most primitive solution to virulent disease: quarantine. In the jungles and rural areas of Africa when there is a deadly outbreak, villages isolate. They cut trees across trails and paths, and they do not leave their own territory, often for months, until word of the end of the threat is overheard. This chosen isolation is both the most primitive and the oldest weapon against contagion.
A primitive village in Africa is prepared within their own culture to be self sustaining. It is a hunter/gatherer society and can subsist without trade or exchange of goods.
America, on the other hand, has become globalized and dependent upon exchange and trade with nations and entities around the world. We are seeing that here, in the United States as we all desperately seek out paper goods: toilet paper, paper towels, and anything else with which we can clean ourselves or our habitats. I don’t even know where our American companies produce our toilet paper, do you? Does it come from China? ... Read more...
One hundred Italian doctors have died after contracting coronavirus since the pandemic reached the Mediterranean country in February, Italy's FNOMCeO health association said on Thursday. "The number of doctors who have died because of COVID-19 is 100 - perhaps even 101 at the moment, unfortunately," a spokesman for the association told AFP. The toll includes retired doctors who the government began calling in a month ago to help fight a virus that has officially claimed a world-topping 17,669 lives in Italy. Italian media reports estimate that 30 nurses and nursing assistants have also died of COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus. "We can longer allow our doctors, our health workers, to be sent to fight without any protection against the virus," FNOMCeO president Filippo Anelli said on the association's website.
The new coronavirus has hit more than 2,100 nursing homes and other senior facilities around the U.S., killing over 2,300 people, according to a survey by The Wall Street Journal, an indication the pandemic’s toll in these facilities has been greater than the federal government has reported. Nursing homes and other senior-living facilities in the U.S. have reported at least 15,473 coronavirus cases, according to data collected from 37 states that responded to requests from the Journal, which contacted all 50 health departments.
A study published by the University at Buffalo and Harvard Business School in the journal “Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin” last month found that investing all your identity in wealth is a recipe for unhappiness, one which is exacerbated by quarantine. “When people base their self-worth on financial success, they experience feelings of pressure and a lack of autonomy, which are associated with negative social outcomes,” says Lora Park, University at Buffalo associate professor of psychology and co-author of the study, “Can’t Buy Me Love (or Friendship): Social Consequences of Financially Contingent Self-Worth,” in a press release. [...] “Depression and anxiety are tied to isolation, and we’re certainly seeing this now with the difficulties we have connecting with friends during the COVID-19 pandemic,” says study researcher Deborah Ward. “These social connections are important. We need them as humans in order to feel secure, to feel mentally healthy and happy. But much of what’s required to achieve success in the financial domain comes at the expense of spending time with family and friends.”
Investigators at the University of Sydney showed that adults in locations with more COVID-19 cases had higher levels of distress, as well as lower levels of physical and mental health and life satisfaction. The study included researchers at Tongji University and the University of Adelaide and surveyed 369 adults living in 64 cities in China that had been under one-month of lockdown in February 2020. “As many parts of the world are only just beginning to go into lockdown, we examined the impact of the one-month long lockdown on people’s health, distress and life satisfaction,” said Stephen Zhang, who led the study from the University of Adelaide. “The study offers somewhat of a ‘crystal ball’ into the mental health of Australian residents once they have been in the lockdown for one month.” Generally, people who were able to continue working during the lockdown had fewer issues. Unexpectedly, study participants who exercised more than 2.5 hours a day reported worse life satisfaction in more affected sites compare to those who exercised for half an hour or less per day.
The World Health Organization has been Covid-19's Best Friend
Covid-19 new daily deaths in the most face-mask wearing nation on earth, Japan, versus many "Don't wear a face mask" nations.
In February, family members gathered for a Chicago-area funeral. A family friend who had been out of state attended and was just a bit sick with mild respiratory symptoms. Before long, 16 people between the ages of 5 and 86 had been infected (seven confirmed and nine probable), and three had died. The case study, published Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is one of the most detailed looks at how covid-19 moves through communities and shows how a single person can set off a chain reaction of infections. The transmissions — traced to a funeral and birthday party held three days apart — took place before major social-distancing policies were implemented and may have facilitated transmission of covid-19 to the broader Chicago community. The CDC also investigated how those aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship that had docked in Japan became infected. [...] The CDC hypothesizes that these clusters may have facilitated transmission of covid-19 more broadly in Chicago and that they show why social-distancing measures — and in particular, avoiding gatherings with multiple people — have been critical as the virus moved out of retirement communities, cruise ships and other more contained places. In New Orleans, local officials blamed another type of “super-spreading” event, Mardi Gras, for accelerating the transmission there. Outbreaks also have been traced to a French ski resort and an Italian soccer game.
NYC DOC: COVID19 - A New disease requiring NEW treatment
Same observation by Italian doctors that Covid-19 does not resemble ARDS as expected
You were/are correct! COVID-19 is not a typically ARDS. A lot of patients characterized by vasoconstricton in the small vessels. PEEP could exacerbate that... phenotyping is needed ASAP to lower mortality rate. pic.twitter.com/UwrXaSDPzn
Blood is on the hands of the Chinese Communist Party
Here was the WHO denying human-to-human transmission after it was spreading
Preliminary investigations conducted by the Chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel #coronavirus (2019-nCoV) identified in #Wuhan, #China??. pic.twitter.com/Fnl5P877VG
Here is a news report of numerous hospitalizations on January 5th, one week before WHO tried to persuade the world human-to-human transmission was impossible. How could the world's top medical authority be so insanely and dangerously wrong? At every turn the WHO has tried to persuade the world to reduce its vigilance against an historically virulent pathogen, trying to persuade the world to not impose travel bans, and to this day trying to persuade us it is not airborne despite copious evidence that it is. Covid-19 has had no better ally in the world than the WHO.
New York, the hardest-hit state in America, on Wednesday reported its highest number of coronavirus-related deaths in a single day with even veteran doctors and nurses expressing shock at the speed with which patients were declining and dying. [...] Doctors and nurses say it isn’t just elderly or patients with underlying health conditions who appear to be fine one minute and at death's door the next. It can happen for the young and healthy, too. Patients "look fine, feel fine, then you turn around and they're unresponsive," said Diana Torres, a nurse at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, the epicenter of the pandemic in the United States, where the virus has infected more than 415,000 people. "I'm paranoid, scared to walk out of their room." Cuomo said 779 people died in the past day in his state. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy said 275 had died there. Both totals exceeded one-day records reported just a day earlier.
Coronavirus face covering “do’s” as you get ready to go to the grocery store, the pharmacy, or to your doctor’s office: Do make sure you can breathe through it. Do wear it whenever going out in public. Do make sure it covers your nose and mouth and do wash after each use. pic.twitter.com/F0bVHK5MpT
In this time of going stir crazy from the shutdown, this presentation could save your marriage and your family life. It can help you handle any trouble you may have now or in the future communicating with your husband or wife, your children, your friends, coworkers or boss. From decades of experience, here are four guidelines to vastly improve your life by vastly improving your relationships. I start with Western saloons that had signs, “Leave Your Guns Outside.” Even without guns or other weapons, we humans have so many ways of hurting each other in ordinary conversation. Here we learn how to stop hurting each other and then go on to how to make all of our words improve our communications and our most important relationships. This is among my best-ever presentations and perfect for those of us who are shut-in with family. It could turn those “inevitable” conflicts into the best times of our lives. You may end up grateful to this lousy virus for forcing you into learning how to remake your most important relationships. Meanwhile, thank you America for coming together, in part to save those of us like me who are old enough to be highly vulnerable to the corona virus.
How can we assess the total number of #SARSCoV2 infections that have occurred up to this point? As others have noted, it's not easy to extrapolate from confirmed cases to total infections. Some thoughts here, but no real answers. 1/9
Worry and anxiety are strongly linked to fluctuations in levels of inflammatory markers, which can compromise the immune system, potentially leaving individuals at increased risk for physical illness, new research suggests. Investigators at the Ohio State University College of Medicine in Columbus found that increases in levels of the inflammatory cytokines interleukin-6 (IL-6) and interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) corresponded to increased levels of worrying.
"We are not heroes and we are afraid too."
The coronavirus pandemic is taking a huge toll on the mental health of frontline health care workers around the world. pic.twitter.com/FzArIz5KlA
The next few months will be full of grim updates about the spread of the new coronavirus, but they will also be full of homecomings. Patients hospitalized with severe COVID-19, some having spent weeks breathing with the help of a mechanical ventilator, will set about resuming their lives. Many will likely deal with lingering effects of the virus—and of the emergency treatments that allowed them to survive it. “The issue we’re all going to be faced with the most in the coming months is how we’re going to help these people recover,” says Lauren Ferrante [...] COVID-19’s immediate assault on the body is extensive. It targets the lungs, but a lack of oxygen and widespread inflammation can also damage the kidneys, liver, heart, brain, and other organs. Although it’s too early to say what lasting disabilities COVID-19 survivors will face, clues come from studies of severe pneumonia—an infection that inflames the air sacs in the lungs, as COVID-19 does. Some of these infections progress to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), in which those sacs fill with fluid. That condition sometimes leads to scarring that can cause long-term breathing problems, Ferrante says, but studies show that most ARDS patients eventually recover their lung function.
Stanford economic policy research experts state that “the firm recommendation against masks in community settings appears incompatible with the available evidence”. Modeling by Yale researchers estimates that “the benefits of each additional cloth mask worn by the public are conservatively in the $3,000-$6,000 range due to their impact in slowing the spread of the virus”. [...] Prof David Heymann CBE, a World Health Organization (WHO) adviser, said, “I think that wearing a mask is equally effective or more effective than distancing. [...] A Food and Drug Administration analysis of the flu estimates that if 50% of the population uses a mask, virus transmission is reduced by half. If 80% of the population uses a mask, the virus is “essentially eliminated”. [...] If we can’t rely on our governments to take this step, then we will have to take things into our own hands. We must rely on grassroots community efforts to get up to that magic 80% compliance number.
Surgical masks may help prevent infected people from making others sick with seasonal viruses, including coronaviruses, according to new research that could help settle a fierce debate spanning clinical and cultural norms. In laboratory experiments, the masks significantly reduced the amounts of various airborne viruses coming from infected patients, measured using the breath-capturing "Gesundheit II machine" developed by Dr. Don Milton, a professor of applied environmental health and a senior author of the study published April 3 in the journalNature Medicine. [...] The current study (along with earlier ones) shows, by contrast, that tiny, aerosolized droplets can indeed diffuse through the air. That means it may be possible to contract COVID-19 not only by being coughed on, but by simply inhaling the breath of someone nearby who has it, whether they have symptoms or not. Surgical masks, however, catch a lot of the aerosolized virus as it's exhaled, he said.
or several years, Heather Fuller says she’s been concerned about the “epidemic of loneliness” people of all ages are reporting in increasing numbers. “There’s a ton of research on this,” says Fuller, an associate professor with North Dakota State University's Human Development and Family Science Department. “We know the importance of having a good social support network at any age really.” But a solid social network has become a challenge for everyone during the coronavirus pandemic, and the resulting social distancing recommendations and stay-at-home orders keep people apart. That’s why Fuller, a gerontologist who focuses on later life and how people can age successfully, is researching just what social distancing is doing to older adults in the region — and looking for strategies that could help others get through a challenging time. Social isolation can be “such a big” risk factor for older adults, according to Fuller. She says it’s linked to higher levels of depression and mental health issues, as well as higher rates of hypertension and cognitive decline.
The coronavirus pandemic has not just threatened the physical health of millions but also wreaked havoc on the emotional and mental well-being of people around the world. Feelings of anxiety, helplessness and grief are rising as people face an increasingly uncertain future — and nearly everyone has been touched by loss. A nationally representative poll conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation finds that nearly half of all Americans — 45 percent — feel that the coronavirus has negatively affected their mental health. Which raises a question: Is there anything people can do to cope with the emotional fallout of this confusing and challenging time? How people respond to adversity is a topic I’ve investigated for years as a journalist. Over the past decade, I’ve interviewed dozens of people about their experiences of extreme stress and have scoured the academic research in psychology on resilience to understand why some people are broken by crises while others emerge from stressful experiences even stronger than before.
MedCram Update 50: Dip in Daily New Deaths; Research on Natural Killer Cells
Studies from multiple scientific journals published in the last decade point to something that resembles the Mediterranean diet as being the most protective against depression and other negative mental health outcomes. A 2017 study found that diets that consisting of high amounts of fruit, vegetables, whole grain, fish, olive oil, and low-fat dairy was associated with decreased risk of depression. Meanwhile, high amounts of red and processed meats, refined grains, sweets, high-fat dairy products, butter, and low-intake of fruits and vegetables was associated with increased risk of depression. Another 2017 meta-analysis found meat consumption was associated with higher risk of depression. Research on the Mediterranean diet specifically has shown it can prevent brain diseases, reduce depression risk, and even help reduce depression risk in people with Type 2 diabetes.
Richard Ebright, a Rutgers microbiologist and biosafety expert, told me in an email that “the first human infection could have occurred as a natural accident,” with the virus passing from bat to human, possibly through another animal. But Ebright cautioned that it “also could have occurred as a laboratory accident, with, for example, an accidental infection of a laboratory worker.” He noted that bat coronaviruses were studied in Wuhan at Biosafety Level 2, “which provides only minimal protection,” compared with the top BSL-4. Ebright described a December video from the Wuhan CDC that shows staffers “collecting bat coronaviruses with inadequate [personal protective equipment] and unsafe operational practices.” Separately, I reviewed two Chinese articles, from 2017 and 2019, describing the heroics of Wuhan CDC researcher Tian Junhua, who while capturing bats in a cave “forgot to take protective measures” so that “bat urine dripped from the top of his head like raindrops.” And then there’s the Chinese study that was curiously withdrawn. In February, a site called ResearchGate published a brief article by Botao Xiao and Lei Xiao from Guangzhou’s South China University of Technology. “In addition to origins of natural recombination and intermediate host, the killer coronavirus probably originated from a laboratory in Wuhan. Safety level may need to be reinforced in high risk biohazardous laboratories,” the article concluded. Botao Xiao told the Wall Street Journal in February that he had withdrawn the paper because it “was not supported by direct proofs.”
Ecuador struggles to cope with the overwhelming death toll from coronavirus. Bodies being left out on the streets, families waiting for days before bodies from their homes are collected by officials. pic.twitter.com/eVp4jnBSOA
— Shana M (UPDATES ON CORANAVIRUS) (@shana2727) April 3, 2020
In 2003, the WHO vocally criticized Chinese leadership for covering up the initial spread of the virus that caused SARS. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, however, the organization has pointedly refused to denounce China’s concealment of information, even after it became clear that authorities in China had muzzled doctors. In mid-January, the WHO said it had no evidence of person-to-person transmission of a virus that has subsequently shown a remarkable ability to spread through communities. And the WHO has relied on Chinese official data even when their veracity have been called into doubt – most recently by the U.S. intelligence community, which believes China deliberately manipulated numbers to mask the severity of its COVID-19 toll. [...] Andrew Cooper, a professor at the Balsillie School of International Affairs in Waterloo, Ont., who studies global health governance, is blunt: For WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, “his priority is to maintain good relations with China.” Beijing has provided more cash than Washington to the WHO COVID-19 response. But China remains far from the largest contributor to the WHO, giving less than 10 per cent of what the United States provided last year.
The World Health Organization (WHO) is now haunted by a tweet it sent earlier this year when it cited Chinese health officials who claimed there had been no human transmissions of the novel coronavirus within the country yet. The Jan. 14 tweet came less than two months before WHO declared COVID-19 to be a global pandemic. “Preliminary investigations conducted by the Chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel #coronavirus (2019-nCoV) identified in #Wuhan, #China,” the organization had said. It also relied on information from Chinese health authorities who have been accused of obscuring facts and figures during the course of the outbreak.
COVID-19 struck fast and hard when the whole world was unprepared for it. From social distancing, working from home (WFH) and panic buying, life took a sudden turn for the worse. As the new normal takes a foothold, mental health has become a bigger national concern as more Americans are forced to remain isolated away from loved ones and support systems. New studies are popping up to show the benefits and concerns of social distancing and remote working. These studies run the gamut from fears and vulnerabilities to a rise in virtual meetings that might be the future of work.
Would you do us a favor? Would you be willing to describe how the coronavirus is affecting your mental health? Is the combination of isolation and existential stress making you feel more depressed and anxious? Or is the family togetherness and the pause from normal life giving you a greater sense of belonging and equilibrium? How would you describe your psychological state? What are you doing to cope? If you’re a mental health worker, what are you seeing out there? If you’re willing to share, please fill out the form at the end of this column. The Times may publish some responses online and I’ll write another column reporting on what you say. I ask for a couple of reasons. This is a moment that calls for deeper conversations and emotional accompaniment. We’re all going through something together. We’ll be more resilient if we can see others experiencing it in the same way.
A nationwide study reported this week that 53% of Americans said they had felt lonely or isolated within the past week, particularly those in the 18-to-29 and 30-to-49 age ranges — groups that may be more likely to be single and childless. While mental health plays a considerable role in how individuals cope with being alone, scientists have recently come to reveal that the hungry brain looks strikingly similar to the lonely one. A prescient new study by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology being previewed in BioRxiv prior to peer review is the first to show that both loneliness and hunger trigger deep centers of the human brain eliciting feelings of desire and craving. They say their findings suggest that the need for social interaction is as primordial as the need to eat. [...] “We found that this brain area specifically responded to the cues after deprivation but only to cues of what they had been deprived of,” said Tomova — meaning that periods of solitude were not soothed by pictures of participants’ favorite snacks. The brain’s response correlated with the subjects’ self-reports of how lonely or hungry they felt, though their reported feelings of hunger were consistently stronger than feelings of loneliness.
The rapidly-spreading coronavirus can be transmitted between your feline pets, according to a new Chinese study. Researchers at Harbin Veterinary Research Institute found that cats are not only susceptible to contracting COVID-19 but can pass it on to their furry friends as well. But other animals — such as dogs, chicken and pigs — are not likely to catch or spread the virus, the study found. And there is no direct evidence that cats would be able to infect people. “We found that SARS-CoV-2 replicates poorly in dogs, pigs, chickens, and ducks, but efficiently in ferrets and cats,” reads a summary of the study. “We found that the virus transmits in cats via respiratory droplets.” [...] The study comes after a cat in Belgium tested positive for the coronavirus last Friday — after catching the potentially deadly bug from an infected owner.
Some coronavirus patients may suffer brain damage as a result of the devastating infection, doctors around the world are warning. One Florida patient in his 70s lost the ability to speak at least temporarily, The New York Times reported. Brain scans of a woman in her 50s taken in Detroit revealed that some of her brain cells had died as a result of a rare complication of the infection. And similar attacks on the central nervous system have been seen in Italy and China. While neurological complications so far seem to strike a small subset of the more than 700,000 people who have the virus around the world, the reports paint a worrying picture of its potential for long-term effects. [...] Brain swelling may trigger seizures in these patients too, as was seen in the 74-year-old man with coronavirus in Boca Raton, Florida. He also suffered from chronic lung disease and Parkinson's, but his loss of speech combined with the other symptoms tipped the man's doctors off to the possibility of encephalitis. Reports of this complication have only been sporadic in the US thus far, but Italy has seen enough cases for one hospital at the University of Brescia to create an entire 'NeuroCovid' unit to administer to patients who had pre-existing or developed neurological conditions.
“Stupid coronavirus!” I heard my six-year-old mumble while talking in her sleep. Earlier that day her swimming and basketball lessons were cancelled, a birthday party postponed, and she had to race with me between several meetings before the university campus shut down. “Stupid coronavirus indeed!” Hearing this reminded me these are strange and worrying times for young children. While we need to look after ourselves and others, we also need to consider how all this is affecting our kids, and how we can help them through it. Australian research found child anxiety diagnoses almost doubled from 2008 to 2013. It’s difficult to say whether this is due to a true increase or we’re simply recognising anxiety better in children. Feeling anxious or worried sometimes is a part of healthy development. But at times, children may feel more anxious or worried than usual. Climate change, the bushfires, and COVID-19 may have contributed to and continue to fuel increased anxiety. We need research to better understand the effects these crises have had on children’s well-being.
A recent study by the University of Michigan found that the outbreak is already taking its toll on parents. The online survey of 562 adults, released Tuesday, showed that a majority of parents -- 52% -- said that self-isolating and financial worries were getting in the way of their parenting. Other findings include:
About 1 in 6 parents reported having spanked or slapped their children during the crisis. Eleven percent said they had done this multiple times.
About 19% said they were screaming more and 15% said they had increased their use of discipline during the pandemic.
As children stay home from school in the weeks and months to come, they'll have less adults to report any physical and mental abuse, said Shawna Lee, associate professor of social work at the University of Michigan and the study's lead author. Educators are often the main source of reporting child abuse, she said. My concern is that kids are actually suffering and there’s no adults there to help them out and intervene," she said.
As the coronavirus advances across the country, more people are being quarantined in their homes. While social distancing is considered essential to slowing the spread of COVID-19, it can have a tremendous impact on your mental health. Here are 10 tips to manage your mental health during this time from Psychology Assistant Professor Mei Yi Ng, and her research team in the Mechanisms Underlying Treatment Technologies (MUTT) Lab at FIU’s Center for Children and Families. ...
So far, the worst of the problems in the United States have been temporarily empty shelves at some stores. But the consulting company Fitch Solutions says that it sees “risks at all levels of the supply chain, from production to trade” that could lead to a “re-acceleration in food price inflation globally.” The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization says it expects disruptions in food supply in April and May. How bad could it get in the United States? What happens in California and abroad could provide a big part of the answer. The food industry is one of the nation’s most labor-intensive. California produces a third of the nation’s vegetables and two-thirds of its fruits and nuts. The statewide “shelter in place” order gave an exception to agriculture, but counties are enforcing it differently, and there are concerns about outbreaks of Covid-19 among farm workers. Delays and higher prices could result. Making matters worse, the food industry relies on more than 200,000 guest workers each year. About 90 percent of the H-2A temporary visas these workers need are issued in Mexico, where American consulates have shut down. Last Thursday, the State Department made the visa process easier for returning workers, but prolonged delays in temporary help could further limit farm production in California.
I got a nice surprise by the government today.
Cloth masks with disposable filters are being distributed to each house.
Even the quality is great too.
Thank you.
Let's protect ourselves and stay safe everyone.#COVID19 in S. Korea#JLifeinKoreapic.twitter.com/N4gv39AP60
China has concealed the extent of the coronavirus outbreak in its country, under-reporting both total cases and deaths it’s suffered from the disease, the U.S. intelligence community concluded in a classified report to the White House, according to three U.S. officials. The officials asked not to be identified because the report is secret, and they declined to detail its contents. But the thrust, they said, is that China’s public reporting on cases and deaths is intentionally incomplete. Two of the officials said the report concludes that China’s numbers are fake. The report was received by the White House last week, one of the officials said.
Researchers, using a lab-grown miniature of the developing human brain, found that the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) paroxetine had numerous neurotoxic effects. They write that their results demonstrate the harmful effects of SSRIs on the developing fetus. “These results identify paroxetine as a potential human developmental neurotoxicant, and suggest that the contraindication for its use should be evaluated and possibly extended far beyond the first trimester of pregnancy.” The researchers were led by David Pamies at the Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing (CAAT) at Johns Hopkins and published their results in Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience. [...] Paroxetine did not appear to directly kill neurons. Instead, it damaged a number of elements of neuronal connection. According to the researchers: “At therapeutic blood concentrations, which lie between 20 and 60 ng/ml, Paroxetine led to an 80% decrease in the expression of synaptic markers, a 60% decrease in neurite outgrowth and a 40–75% decrease in the overall oligodendrocyte cell population, compared to controls.” The harms observed in this study are consistent with the disruption of the serotonin system in the developing brain and could explain the increased prevalence of autism in children whose mothers took an SSRI. They write that these findings should inform further statements about the dangers of paroxetine in pregnant women.
Depression is common in people with Parkinson's disease and contributes to faster physical and mental decline, but it is often overlooked and undertreated. Cognitive-behavioral therapy has shown promising results for treating depression in people with Parkinson's, yet many people don't have access to therapists who understand Parkinson's and can provide this evidence-based depression treatment. [...] "These results are exciting because they show that specialized therapy significantly improves depression, anxiety and quality of life in people with Parkinson's disease and also that these results last for at least six months," said study author Roseanne D. Dobkin, Ph.D., of Rutgers-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in Piscataway, N.J., and a member of the American Academy of Neurology. "While these findings need to be replicated, they also support the promise of telemedicine to expand the reach of specialized treatment to people who live far from services or have difficulty traveling to appointments for other reasons."
It shouldn’t have come to this, but here we are. The world is running out of face masks for health care workers, which is one reason American officials, including the surgeon general, have warned members of the public against buying their own masks for protection against the coronavirus. But that doesn’t mean face masks for the public are a bad idea, if we had enough masks. Contrary to what American officials told us, manystudiesshow that widespread mask-wearing might be a very effective complement to hand-washing, social-distancing and other measures to mitigate the pandemic.
Health officials in China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan suggest that people wear masks in certain situations — if they’re symptomatic, for instance, or if they’re in crowded, not-very-well-ventilated places, like airplanes. Studies have also shown that mask-wearing (in conjunction with hand-washing) reduces the spread of infection within households or other shared living spaces, like residence halls. But how to get your hands on a mask, when there are no masks? The internet has a plan: Make your own.
The number of people reporting significant levels of depression and anxiety rose significantly after Boris Johnson’s announcement of a historic lockdown of the country, according to a study. Researchers found that on Tuesday 24 March, the day after the prime minister ordered people in Britain to stay at home due to the coronavirus pandemic, 38% of study participants reported significant depression and 36% reported significant anxiety. This compared with 16% reporting significant depression and 17% reporting significant anxiety the day before the announcement. [...] The study, conducted by researchers from the University of Sheffield and Ulster University, said as well as a rise in rates of anxiety and depression, the data showed resilience among the population. The team said rates remained elevated later in the week but not as high as immediately after the announcement.
During my last few years at Columbia, the times I regret most were those of self-isolation. There were moments when my anxieties felt too overwhelming and unimportant to voice out loud, especially if other humans were present. Most of these moments were followed by spontaneous overshares to the right humans, which made them feel much more manageable. Now, self-isolation is a public health necessity. We’ve been pulled from our shared campus, where loneliness already seems to run rampant, which means that many of us are now physically alone. Confined to my basement bedroom, I’m faced with a choice between shifting to a physically-distant social life or complete social isolation. [...] Now that we’re all isolating, I’m grateful to have learned these lessons while social support was abundant and expressing love was easy. For your own sake, I urge you all to attempt practicing kindness from the safety of your homes. I know it isn’t easy when we’re so far apart, but that makes it all the more important.
This gives you an idea how many layers of protection doctors must protect themselves everyday from the coronavirus ? pic.twitter.com/BtWAMCb1FK
Given that everyone is sheltering in their homes to protect against the coronavirus it won’t come as good news that UC Davis researchers are suggesting parents delay introducing their kids to video screens. New research from UCD suggests that parents should delay introducing their children to any screen media, as well as limit preschool-age children’s use of mobile devices, including smartphones and tablets. The research was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Pediatrics this week. Over a two-and-a-half-year period, researchers assessed 56 children aged 32 to 47 months and surveyed their parents.
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Psychiatric Reform Accomplishments