Some recent health related items.
Higher levels of "good" cholesterol in the fluid surrounding your brain
and spinal cord may help protect you from Alzheimer's disease,
a new study suggests.
...
The study linked a higher number of small HDL particles in cerebrospinal
fluid with two key indicators that they might protect against Alzheimer's.
Stunning stat: Mortality risk was reduced by 50% for older adults
who increased their daily steps from around 3,000 to around 7,000,
according to new medical research.
...
Between the lines: "It's not an all or nothing situation," says Paluch.
Even just boosting daily step count to 5,000 - for 60 and older - and
7,000 - for younger folks - slashed mortality risk by 40%.
COVID-related American death data shows dramatic differences between
Republican and Democratic counties, with the reddest tenth of the nation
in October chalking up a death rate six times higher than that of the
bluest tenth.
...
Of 800,000 American COVID deaths, at least 179,400 more Republicans
than Democrats have died. Was it FOX, Trump, or something else?
The organization says that initial guidance covered airborne precautions
in health-care settings, but notes that: "As the evidence on the
transmission of COVID-19 has expanded, we have learnt that smaller-sized
infectious particles known as aerosols also play a role in transmission
in community settings, and WHO has adapted its guidance and messages
to reflect this in the December 2020 update to our mask guidance."
...
Part of the problem was how emphatic the WHO was at the beginning
of the pandemic, says Heidi Tworek, a historian and public-policy
specialist at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.
"To say that COVID was definitively not airborne unfortunately meant
there was a massive hill to climb to undo that," she says.
Right from the beginning, the WHO and other public-health authorities
and governments should have emphasized that SARS-CoV-2 was a new
coronavirus, and that guidelines would inevitably change, she says.
"And when they do, it's a good thing because it means we know more."