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Infographic: How do clinical vaccine trials work?
Brian Wallace Medical & Allied HealthcareThe development of the H1N1 vaccine, which built upon existing influenza knowledge, took five to six months, and the fastest vaccine to be created from scratch, for mumps, took upwards of four years. This infographic outlines the process of developing and testing vaccines, including the 19 trial vaccines being tested for COVID-19.
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Airlines, governments, agencies take a stand on masks
Lark Gould Travel, Hospitality & Event ManagementAs cities open up and daily life begins to look like pre-coronavirus normal, COVID-19 cases are spiking and hospital beds filling in some regions due to a growing movement to eschew simple social protections. Most noticeable among these protections? The polite and practical donning of face masks. The practice is encouraged for outside and inside activities, but especially indoors, where one infected person can expose many with concentrated vigor.
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Report: HHS must do more to ensure an adequate number of effectively trained…
Scott E. Rupp Medical & Allied HealthcareThe nation's ability to respond to natural disasters and pandemics is currently being strained. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is responsible for leading the public health and medical response to such emergencies. During the push to battle COVID-19, HHS deployed caregivers enrolled in the National Disaster Medical System (NDMS), who are individuals, including doctors and nurses, that usually work outside the federal government and are used intermittently. However, the Government Accountability Office found HHS didn’t follow critical principles of competent strategic workforce planning.
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RECOVERY trial update: Dexamethasone shows promise for treating COVID-19
Dorothy L. Tengler Medical & Allied HealthcareThe Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19 Therapy (RECOVERY) trial, with an estimated enrollment of 12,000 patients, is currently testing some suggested treatments for the disease. Although the results of this trial are not available until July, interim trial results indicate that dexamethasone, which is used to reduce inflammation in other diseases, reduced death rates by about a third among the most severely ill COViD-19 patients admitted to hospitals.
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Study reveals surprising connection between asthma, oral health
Tammy Hinojos Oral & Dental HealthcareWhat in the world could asthma have to do with gum disease? Apparently, a lot. A recent study published in the Journal of Periodontology reveals that people with asthma are one-fifth more likely to experience gum disease than people who do not have asthma.
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COVID-19 and national responses, part 2 of 2: The United States and around…
Keith Carlson Medical & Allied HealthcareAs the summer of 2020 begins, the COVID-19 pandemic shows no signs of abating. In fact, as many economies open up, spikes in infections are on the rise. While some attribute this phenomenon to increased testing, others also point to increased community transmission. Now that we find ourselves on the brink of six months of this global battle, what can we say about the pandemic response in the bigger picture?
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The new study on COVID-19 transmission that can help convince every patient…
Lisa Mulcahy Medical & Allied HealthcareAs a healthcare professional, you know the critical importance of face masks for stopping the spread of COVID-19. You no doubt also know that some of your patient population is not in compliance with doing so, which is a very worrisome issue. However, a brand-new study from researchers Renyi Zhang, Yixin Li, Annie L. Zhang, Yuan Wang, and Mario J. Molina, "Identifying airborne transmission as the dominant route for the spread of COVID-19," can offer you the informational support your physicians and staff need to communicate the importance of mask-wearing to these patients.
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As close as your own breath: A simple — and free — way to improve your…
Victoria Fann Medical & Allied HealthcareWe breathe approximately 25,000 times a day, and 30-50% of us are doing it improperly. Almost as many of us have respiratory issues and illnesses that affect our sleep, brain function and overall health. How could this be? Breathing happens in the body automatically without us having to think about it. That’s exactly the problem. Most of us are not conscious about this essential bodily function.
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Care specialties most affected by COVID-19 revealed
Scott E. Rupp Medical & Allied HealthcareAs COVID-19 continues to ravage the U.S. healthcare system, reaching its viral hands into nearly every specialty, some are reeling more than others, a new study points out. The study, published in mid-June by FAIR Health, estimated the drop in healthcare utilization for nonhospital providers. As expected, elective procedures have cratered. To that end, oral surgery experienced the most significant reduction in usage in March 2020, declining 80% compared to a similar period in 2019. Gastroenterology was the second largest decline, with a 73% drop in March and a 77% decline in April.
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Pandemic leads to calls for increased domestic pharmaceutical manufacturing
Bambi Majumdar PharmaceuticalThe emergence of the COVID-19 crisis has revealed the glaring truth and danger of how dependent the U.S. is on pharmaceutical imports. Critical shortages of vital pharma and medical resources have hindered the federal government's pandemic response efforts. Experts now say it's time to reduce the reliance on other countries that America has built up over decades in this sector.
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