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Mink farms could be breeding grounds for future pandemics in humans, new research suggests. That’s because in mink and other carnivorous (meat-eating) animals, three key genes required to detect and respond to infection by pathogens have lost their function. If these genes were working, they would activate inflammatory responses to fight off these disease-causing organisms.…  read on >  read on >

The health impact of wildfires is already huge, and new research suggests it might also raise a mom-to-be’s risk for preterm birth, according to a new study. Wildfire smoke contains high levels of PM 2.5, the deadliest type of pollution from particles so fine they can embed deep in the lungs and pass into the…  read on >  read on >

Unvaccinated U.S. troops must immediately start getting COVID-19 vaccines, says a memo issued Tuesday by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. The Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, which recently received full approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, will be added to the list of required shots for U.S. troops. They’ll be able to get their shots at…  read on >  read on >

When COVID-19 patients are discharged from the hospital, most are far from being well — even if their hospital stay was fairly short. That’s among the initial findings of a study that followed Americans hospitalized for COVID-19 during the pandemic’s “third wave” — the fall of 2020 through early 2021. Researchers found that of 253…  read on >  read on >

Football and other contact sports get a lot of attention for their injury hazards. But for most adults, bike riding is the biggest back-breaker, a new study suggests. Of more than 12,000 sports-related spinal injuries among U.S. adults, researchers found that a full 81% were due to bicycling mishaps. The injuries mostly included vertebral fractures,…  read on >  read on >

Two new government reports confirm that while the power of coronavirus vaccines wanes over time, they still protect strongly against severe disease, even as the highly contagious Delta variant overtakes America. One study that looked at Los Angeles County reaffirmed that fully vaccinated people are far less likely than unvaccinated people to be hospitalized, admitted…  read on >  read on >

WEDNESDAY, Aug.. 25, 2021Johnson & Johnson reported Wednesday that a booster shot of its vaccine dramatically raised the levels of antibodies against the coronavirus. Johnson & Johnson said it will submit its data to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which is evaluating similar studies from Pfizer and Moderna. “We have established that a single…  read on >  read on >