The U.S. Department of Justice said Tuesday that it will appeal a Florida judge’s ruling that struck down a federal mask mandate on airplanes and other forms of public transportation only if the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention determines such a mandate is still needed. “The Department of Justice [DOJ] and the Centers… read on > read on >
A new forecasting center for infectious diseases was officially launched by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday. The goal of the Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics is to act as a “National Weather Service” for infectious disease outbreaks, and to guide public health decisions during outbreaks. These can include developing… read on > read on >
Moderna Inc. announced Tuesday that an updated COVID booster shot that combines Moderna’s original vaccine with protection against the Beta variant appears more effective than current booster shots against Omicron and a number of other variants. Before the highly transmissible Omicron variant surfaced, Moderna was tweaking its original vaccine to provide added protection against the… read on > read on >
Fitness trackers can tell you how well you’re sleeping, how fast you’re walking and, of course, how many steps you’ve taken. But during the pandemic, researchers have also investigated the ability of smart watches to help detect COVID-19 or provide data on recovery. The latest study uses several measures of heart rate data to help… read on > read on >
Lower levels of sex hormones might be tied to tears of the shoulder’s rotator cuff in men and women, a new study suggests. Among women with low levels of estrogen, researchers found the odds of a rotator cuff tear were 48% higher, compared with women with normal estrogen levels. Among men, the odds of a… read on > read on >
At least four people in Michigan infected with a version of the coronavirus found mostly in mink are the first known cases of possible animal-to-human transmission of the virus in the United States. The cases occurred in the first year of the pandemic and were confirmed Monday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and… read on > read on >
Marijuana edibles that mimic the packaging of popular snack foods pose a risk to children, a new study warns. Researchers looked at the packaging of more than 200 types of edible marijuana products and found that nearly one in 10 resembled commercial snack foods, including candies and chips. “At first glance, most of the packages… read on > read on >
The heart inflammation that followed COVID-19 shots in some teens and young adults is rare and a new study affirms that your risk is extremely low. Inflammation of the heart muscle (myopericarditis) is most often caused by viruses but can also occur after vaccination in rare cases. Safety concerns arose after reports of myopericarditis in… read on > read on >
Preschoolers can learn reading skills in a virtual classroom, University of Washington researchers say. “Children are ready to learn to read at the age of 5. But the pandemic robbed children of the opportunity for in-person reading instruction,” said Patricia Kuhl, co-director of the Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences (I-LABS), in Seattle. “What we’ve… read on > read on >
