Swedish Parliament Committee Says Government Failed in Pandemic Handling

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Sweden’s centre-left, minority government failed in several aspects of its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, parliament’s constitutional committee said on Thursday. The government was slow to put in place a testing and tracing system, failed to protect the elderly, and there was a lack of clear lines of responsibility between national and

Disparities in COVID-19 rates among adults with kidney failure in New York City

In an analysis of patients on hemodialysis in New York City, there were substantial racial/ethnic disparities in COVID-19 rates that were not explained by neighborhood social vulnerability. The findings appear in an upcoming issue of JASN. The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected socially disadvantaged groups, including Black and Hispanic individuals, those with limited English proficiency,

Cystic fibrosis center prioritizes screening for depression and anxiety

Cystic fibrosis is a genetic, progressive disease that causes persistent lung infections and impacts the most basic physical processes. While recent breakthroughs have significantly extended the lifespan of patients with CF, the disease presents patients and their caregivers with significant, lifelong daily challenges. The primary purpose of cystic fibrosis clinics is to treat the physical

Vietnam approves China's Sinopharm vaccine for use against COVID-19 -media

FILE PHOTO: A nurse holds a box of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine made by the Beijing Institute of Biological Products, a unit of Sinopharm subsidiary China National Biotec Group (CNBG), at a vaccination center during a government-organized visit, in Beijing, China, April 15, 2021. REUTERS/Thomas PeterHANOI (Reuters) – Vietnam has approved China’s Sinopharm vaccine

Secret shopper study sheds light on barriers to opioid treatment for women

After a 2020 Vanderbilt University Medical Center study showed women have a difficult time accessing treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD), investigators analyzed comments received from the study’s participants to further shed light on barriers to care, which included everything from long on-hold times to difficult interactions with clinic receptionists during phone calls seeking appointments.

CRC Screening: 45 Is the New 50, and 85 Is the New 75

Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door. Find an accurate, completely noninvasive method for colorectal cancer screening and you’ll probably win the Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology. But until then, we’ll have to make do with colonoscopy, fecal immunochemical testing (FIT), and other messy but necessary means

Xenon Gas MRI Detects Longer-Term Lung Damage After COVID Not Picked Up by Routine CT Scan

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Hyperpolarized xenon-129 MRI (XeMRI) can detect lung abnormalities in patients with breathlessness following COVID-19 pneumonia that are not evident on routine tests, according to a preliminary report from researchers in the U.K. In nine patients evaluated at three months or longer after hospital discharge for COVID-19, XeMRI showed alveolar-capillary diffusion

Using base editing to treat sickle cell disease in mice

A team of researchers from the Broad Institute, Harvard University and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital has used a base editing technique in a novel way to treat sickle cell disease (SCD) in mice. In their paper published in the journal Nature, the group describes their new technique and how well it worked when tested