Category: Health News

The spread of COVID-19 in Brazil overwhelmed the health systems in all the country’s regions, particularly in areas where they were already fragile, according to a collaborative effort involving the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), an institution supported by the ‘la Caixa’ Foundation, the University of Sao Paulo, the Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, the D’Or Institute of Research and Education and the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation. The findings, published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, reveal that a large percentage of COVID-19 patients that were hospitalized in Brazil required intensive care and respiratory support, and many did not survive.

The COVID-19 pandemic has put an enormous strain on healthcare systems across the world by increasing the demand for healthcare professionals and the need for beds in intensive care units and respiratory support such as ventilators. However, the mortality rate among confirmed cases has greatly

Amazonas state in northern Brazil on Thursday announced a curfew to try to slow the spread of the coronavirus, as cases soar and hospitals run out of beds and oxygen supplies.

Authorities warned of a dire situation across the vast state. In its capital Manaus, the health system has been pushed to breaking point.

The city has “run out of oxygen and some health centers have become a type of suffocation chamber,” Jessem Orellana, from the Fiocruz-Amazonia scientific investigation institute, told AFP.

Amazonas governor Wilson Lima said the state was “in the most critical moment of the pandemic.”

The 7:00 pm to 6:00 am curfew will begin Friday.

According to official figures, Manaus recorded 198 deaths on Wednesday, the fourth day straight it had set a new record.

Oxygen is needed to treat COVID-19 patients suffering from respiratory complications.

Amazonas produces “significant quantities of oxygen, but

Researchers from the Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience (SITraN) have used a new imaging technique to measure the function of mitochondria in patients with motor neuron disease (MND).

The research, published today in the journal Brain could provide new ways to assess the effectiveness of treatments currently in development for MND.

Researchers used an advanced imaging technique called 31-phosphorus magnetic resonance spectroscopy to measure chemicals that are crucial to energy metabolism in the cell. The research was conducted on patients living with MND as well as age and gender matched healthy controls. The patient perceives the procedure as a standard MRI scan but researchers are able to gain a direct measurement of chemicals so that they can calculate a comprehensive picture of the energy status in patients with MND.

MND, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), as it is also known, is a disorder that affects the nerves—motor

As schools prepare to re-open to all pupils in February, experts warn that UK government plans for mass testing risks spreading COVID-19 more widely.

Writing in The BMJ, Professor Jon Deeks and colleagues at the Royal Statistical Society argue that using the INNOVA rapid lateral flow tests to manage classroom outbreaks, without isolating close contacts, risks increasing disease spread and causing further disruption to children’s education.

Before Christmas, schools limited pupil mixing and activities, and isolated pupil groups at home once a COVID-19 case was identified, they explain. This year the government is relying on the INNOVA rapid lateral flow tests to mass screen staff and pupils, and test close contacts of confirmed COVID cases.

Under this “serial-testing” strategy, close contacts remain in school, are tested daily for seven days, and are only sent home if they test positive.

But scientists are concerned that negative

During April 2020, while the UK was in full lockdown, there was a drop of more than a third in the number of people seeking help for mental illness or self-harm according to research involving 14 million people registered at general practices across the four nations of the UK which was published today in The Lancet Public Health.

The research, ‘Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on primary care-recorded mental illness and self-harm episodes in the UK: a population-based cohort study’, was conducted by the National Institute for Health Research Greater Manchester Patient Safety Translational Research Centre (NIHR GM PSTRC). The Centre is a partnership between The University of Manchester and Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust. The research was jointly funded by the NIHR and UK Research and Innovation as part of their COVID-19 Rapid Response Initiative.

The research looked for the first time people

Britain on Sunday raced against the clock to vaccinate as many people as possible while Germany warned of the “hardest” days yet to come with Europe battling to contain soaring coronavirus infections.

January 11 marks one year since China confirmed its first death from COVID-19, a 61-year-old man who was a regular at Wuhan city’s market, where the pandemic emerged before spreading around the world.

Nearly two million deaths later, the pandemic is still thriving, with new variants again prompting governments from Israel to Australia to impose lockdowns, curfews and restrictions—even with mass inoculation drives underway.

UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock said Sunday that every adult in Britain will be offered a jab by autumn, with officials vaccinating 200,000 people daily in a race to meet a target of 15 million of the most vulnerable by mid-February.

The vaccine drive comes as Britain recorded another 1,035