Hybrid Approach Takes Refractory Afib Ablation Up a Notch
(MedPage Today) -- A "hybrid convergent" surgical-plus-transcatheter procedure was better than endocardial catheter ablation alone for treating refractory atrial fibrillation (Afib) in the CONVERGE randomized trial. Additional ablation of the...
Rheumatoid Arthritis Triple Therapy Little Used in U.S.
(MedPage Today) -- Triple therapy -- with methotrexate, hydroxychloroquine, and sulfasalazine -- is little used for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in the U.S. today, and clinical outcomes showed less efficacy than regimens combining...
REACH2 Highlights Efficacy of JAK1/2 Inhibitor vs Standard Care for Acute GVHD
(MedPage Today) -- Study Authors: Robert Zeiser, Nikolas von Bubnoff, et al.; Nelson Chao Target Audience and Goal Statement: Oncologists, hematologists The goal of this study was to determine the benefit/risk profile of the Janus kinase (JAK...
COVID-19 Testing Lags in Prisons and Jails
(MedPage Today) -- This story, the second on incarcerated individuals, is part of a MedPage Today series examining the impact of COVID-19 on vulnerable populations. Previous reports focused on the homeless, immigrants in detention, the undocumented...
Force-Sensing Ablation Catheter Makes Headway in Persistent Afib
(MedPage Today) -- Outcomes after radiofrequency (RF) ablation with a contact force-sensing catheter were promising for people with persistent atrial fibrillation (Afib) in the PRECEPT study. The device yielded 61.7% freedom at 15 months from...
Detroit Children's Hospital Ousts Wayne State Pediatricians
(MedPage Today) -- A group of Wayne State University pediatricians will not be able to practice at the Detroit Medical Center's Children's Hospital of Michigan, effective July 1. The move is the latest in a years-long rift between WSU and a pediatricians...
COVID-19 Update: CDC Reopening Plan Shelved; Trump Exposed Again?
(MedPage Today) -- Note that some links may require registration or subscription. The Trump administration has decided not to implement a CDC-backed plan to reopen America, including step-by-step advice for mass transit, day care facilities, schools...
Face-Aging Selfies Help Modify Risky Skin Behaviors for Teens
(MedPage Today) -- Witnessing ultraviolet (UV) radiation-induced facial aging firsthand may be a useful tool to convince youth to slather on the sunscreen, a new study suggested. In a randomized trial of high school teens in southeast Brazil...
Body image activists caution about glorifying Adele’s new look
We just shouldn’t be commenting on Adele’s body at all, activists say.
I changed my outlook with one workout
How do you change what’s holding you back? Confront it
Think you’re not cut out for meditating? Think again
It might just melt away your lockdown stress
How to strengthen your resolve to exercise during quarantine
For starters, give up the notion that the inspiration to exercise is going to sweep over you like a sweaty tsunami. “Exercise,” says one expert, “needs to be a non-negotiable if we want to stick with it.”
Sex and social distancing: How to up your sexting game
Don’t know how to start or what’s appropriate? A sex educator has some tips
Toronto’s fitness studios find creative ways to keep clients moving during COVID-19 shutdown
From “Animal Flow” to “Move Like an Avenger” and kids Muay Thai, the city’s many shuttered fitness clubs and studios are offering creative online options to keep you moving.
The healing power of hypnotherapy
This versatile treatment can soothe ills ranging from anxiety and phobias to pain and childbirth.
It’s OK to slow down: Why you don’t have to optimize your coronavirus quarantine
The pandemic has not given us time to self-actualize. It has robbed us of time and exhausted us. And it’s OK to feel that way, experts say.
Take a beginner’s dance class taught by National Ballet’s of Canada First Soloist Tina Pereira
Tina Pereira’s dance repertoire with the company includes The Sugar Plum Fairy in “The Nutcracker,” Katerina in “The Taming of the Shrew,” and the title role in “Carmen” to name a few.
How to access virtual therapy while in-person appointments are out of the question
In this time of social isolation, mental health is top of mind. Here’s a guide to video chat, phone and even text therapy in Canada
Is all this screen time damaging my eyes? (Yes. But here’s what to do)
Avoiding screens before bed and taking breaks to stare out the window will help mitigate the damage.
Stress eating and coronavirus: Weight Watchers rolls out Zoom virtual workshops
In mid-March, WW International, also known as Weight Watchers, decided to close its 3,000 physical locations but didn’t want to leave members to fend for themselves in these trying times.
COVID-19 on the brain? Here are eight vitamins to get your immune system in shape
Certain vitamins, minerals and other supplements can support your immune system as a whole, even though they haven’t been researched for their impact on COVID-19 specifically.
Children need more screen time during coronavirus crisis, professor says
A professor of psychology at Stetson University says that additional screen time for children during this strange period in history is healthy so they may maintain their social contacts and interact with their peer groups.
Despite battling COVID-19, oncologist continues treating patients virtually
As a medical oncologist in Connecticut, Dr. Justin Persico was all too aware of the people he treats, who would be at greater risk for exposure to the virus.
How to protect yourself and others from infection as COVID-19 cases increase
Officials offer answers to numerous important questions about the coronavirus.
Just stay calm: How to stop worrying about keeping busy and focus on your mental health
How do you avoid overload when you have time to do everything?
Alcoholics Anonymous wrestles with challenge of physical distancing
The international organization has been forced to cancel in-person meetings due to restrictions on group gatherings.
The soothing power of therapy bunnies
Rabbits are the millennial pet of choice, and their affection is more valuable now than ever
How do I know if I’m a hoarder?
Given that the run on toilet paper isn’t over yet, we decided to ask some experts about the psychology of hoarding and other possibly obsessive-compulsive habits.
Gas leak at Indian chemical plant kills 11
Visakhapatnam, India (AFP) May 7, 2020
Eleven people were killed and hundreds hospitalised after a pre-dawn gas leak at a chemical plant in eastern India on Thursday that left unconscious victims lying in the streets, authorities said.
Fears that the death toll from the incident on the outskirts of the Visakhapatnam, an industrial port city in Andhra Pradesh state, were not borne out however.
The gas escaped out of tanks at a
Climate change could reawaken Indian Ocean El Nino
Austin TX (SPX) May 07, 2020
Global warming is approaching a tipping point that during this century could reawaken an ancient climate pattern similar to El Nino in the Indian Ocean, new research led by scientists from The University of Texas at Austin has found.
If it comes to pass, floods, storms and drought are likely to worsen and become more regular, disproportionately affecting populations most vulnerable to clim
India embarks on 'massive' coronavirus repatriation
New Delhi (AFP) May 5, 2020
India has embarked on a "massive" operation calling up passenger jets and naval ships to bring back some of the hundreds of thousands of its nationals stuck abroad due to coronavirus restrictions, the government said Tuesday.
India banned all incoming international flights in late March as it imposed one of the world's strictest virus lockdowns, leaving vast numbers of workers and students s
Indian officials capture rare snow leopard, send it to zoo
Shimla, India (AFP) May 3, 2020
A rare snow leopard captured as it savaged livestock in a remote village in the Indian Himalaya will be sent to a zoo instead of being released, officials said Sunday, triggering outrage from activists.
The endangered creature was found on Saturday after it became trapped inside a pen containing sheep and goats in Giu village near the Tibetan border in India's Himachal Pradesh state.
"T
Search team finds bodies of all Koreans missing in Himalayan avalanche
Kathmandu (AFP) May 1, 2020
A search team on Friday recovered the last remaining two bodies missing after a Himalayan avalanche in January buried four South Korean trekkers and three locals.
A wall of snow hit the trekkers at about 3,200 metres (10,500 feet) near the Annapurna base camp in Nepal on January 17, covering them under metres of snow.
Avalanches and more snowfall since then made it too dangerous to lau
FN America, Colt's awarded $383.3M to make M16A4s for Iraq, others
Washington DC (UPI) Apr 29, 2020
FN America and Colt's Manufacturing received a $383.3 million, five-year contract to manufacture M16A4 rifles for Afghanistan, Grenada, Iraq, Lebanon and Nepal through the Pentagon's foreign military sales program.
The M16A4 is the fourth generation of the M16 series of military rifles. The Marine Corps began phasing out the M16 in favor of the M4 carbine in 2015.
In 2008 the Sta
Air pollution drops in India following lockdown
Paris (ESA) Apr 28, 2020
Lockdowns imposed to halt the spread of the coronavirus have been recently linked with cleaner air quality over Europe and China. New images, from the Copernicus Sentinel-5P satellite, from the European Union Copernicus programme, now show some cities across India seeing levels drop by around 40-50% owing to its nationwide quarantine.
On 25 March 2020, the Indian government placed its popu
YouTube expands fact-check panels in move against misinformation
San Francisco (AFP) April 28, 2020
YouTube on Tuesday began adding fact-check panels to search results in the US for videos on hot-topic claims shown to be bogus.
The Google-owned video streaming service said it is expanding to the US a fact-check information panel feature launched last year in Brazil and India.
Fact-check information panels highlight credible findings by third-parties so YouTube viewers can make informed
Airbus will support France and India to monitor climate change with TRISHNA
Paris (SPX) Apr 28, 2020
The French Space Agency (Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales, CNES) has recently signed a contract with Airbus Defence and Space for the development and manufacture of the thermal infrared instrument for the TRISHNA satellite.
TRISHNA (Thermal infraRed Imaging Satellite for High resolution Natural resource Assessment) will be the latest satellite in the joint Franco-Indian satellite fleet d
Two bodies found in Nepal search for missing Koreans
Kathmandu (AFP) April 26, 2020
Two bodies believed to be of South Koreans missing after being hit by a Himalayan avalanche in January have been found, officials said Sunday, a day after discovering the corpse of their Nepali guide.
A wall of snow hit a trekking trail at about 3,230 metres (10,600 feet) near the Annapurna base camp in Nepal on January 17, burying four South Koreans and three locals.
Avalanches and more
'Poor like us suffer': Nepal quake survivors struggle in crammed homes
Bhaktapur, Nepal (AFP) April 24, 2020
It has been five years since an earthquake devastated Nepal, but Krishna Maya Khadka is still struggling to come to terms with losing her husband and the home she lived in for generations.
Like hundreds of thousands of Nepali quake victims, the 68-year-old now lives in a small one-bedroom hut with a blue corrugated iron-sheet roof - one of many that scar the picturesque villages turned to r
Large scale survey telescope to be built in northwest China
Xining, China (XNA) Apr 24, 2020
Chinese experts will build a survey telescope with wide field and high resolution in Lenghu (Cold Lake) Town, in northwest China's Qinghai Province, sources here said.
On April 16, the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) signed a cooperation agreement with the Haixi Mongol and Tibetan autonomous prefecture in Qinghai province. They plan to build the telescope on top of Sai
No last goodbye for Gulf migrant workers lost to pandemic
Dubai UAE (AFP) Apr 24, 2020
The body of the Indian migrant who died from coronavirus far from home was kept inside the ambulance in front of the crematorium in case a friend came by for a last goodbye.
But nearly an hour later no one had appeared, and the workers in protective suits had to carry out their grim task.
In silence, the four men carefully moved the body, wrapped in a white plastic bag, to a furnace
India develops unique model to hit enemy targets without positioning error
New Delhi (Sputnik) Apr 22, 2020
Due to the unavailability of a reliable model to predict the electron density of the ionosphere, navigation errors remain, creating technological hurdles. A new model developed by Indian researchers has potential applications in calculating these Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) positioning errors.
In a major development that could have a wider impact, ranging from accurate aiming
Airborne particle levels plummet in Northern India
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Apr 22, 2020
On March 25, 2020, the Indian government placed its 1.3 billion citizens under a strict lockdown to reduce the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus. The country-wide mandate decreased activity at factories and severely reduced car, bus, truck, and airplane traffic. After just a week of reduced human activities, NASA satellite sensors observed aerosol levels at a 20-year low for this time of year i
Med Schools Bringing Back Students, Flooded With Applicants
Removed from patient care in March, students at many medical colleges will begin seeing patients again in the next few months.
Medscape Medical News
COVID-19 Daily: Be Wary of New Treatments, HCW Infections
These are the coronavirus stories you need to know about today.
Medscape Medical News
Magnification on Headsets Challenges Visually Impaired
First-generation headsets helped magnify objects for people with impaired vision, but they also prompted motion sickness. A redesign is aimed at fixing this, but problems persist as patients adjust.
Medscape Medical News
Pandemic-Related Stress Rising Among ICU Clinicians
Many ICUs are very busy dealing with the pandemic these days, and a recent survey shows that clinicians in the ICU are feeling the stress.
Medscape Medical News
Operation Quack Hack: FDA Targets Fraudulent COVID-19 Products
Some companies are selling fraudulent products with claims to prevent, treat, mitigate, diagnose, or cure coronavirus.
Medscape Medical News
COVID-19 and Psychosis: Is There a Link?
A team of Johns Hopkins researchers is investigating a potential secondary, long-term impact of COVID-19 exposure -- greater susceptibility to psychosis.
Medscape Medical News
Novel Inflammatory Syndrome in Children Possibly Linked to COVID-19
Although rare, health authorities advise any children presenting with Kawasaki-like symptoms be taken immediately to a specialist in pediatric infectious disease, rheumatology, or critical care.
Medscape Medical News