February 26, 2025
A New Edition of Journal of Medical Humanities Is Now Available
Journal of Medical Humanities (vol. 46, no 1, 2025) is available online by subscription only. Articles include:
Covid-19
February 25, 2025
Scientists Discover New Coronavirus With Potential to Infect Humans: What to Know
(Gizmodo) – New research out this month showcases the ever-present danger posed by coronaviruses, the family of viruses that gave rise to the covid-19 pandemic. Scientists in China have reportedly found a new coronavirus in bats that may be capable … Read More
February 24, 2025
COVID Broke the Rules of Virus Evolution
(The Atlantic) – In truth, scientists were both right and wrong about the speed at which SARS-CoV-2 mutates. The rate of mutations as this virus jumps from person to person is indeed unimpressive. But scientists were not aware of a … Read More
February 19, 2025
Scientists Describe Rare Syndrome Following Covid Vaccinations
(New York Times) – The Covid-19 vaccines were powerfully protective, preventing millions of deaths. But in a small number of people, the shots may have led to a constellation of side effects that includes fatigue, exercise intolerance, brain fog, tinnitus … Read More
February 18, 2025
Flu deaths may have surpassed COVID deaths nationwide for first time since start of pandemic, early CDC data suggests
(CBS News) – For the first time since the beginning of the pandemic, more people in the U.S. died of influenza than from COVID-19 in the week ending on Jan. 25, according to weekly figures published by the Centers for … Read More
January 22, 2025
Long-Covid Patients Are Frustrated That Federal Research Hasn’t Found New Treatments
(KFF Health News) – Some doctors and researchers are also critical of the agency’s research initiative, called RECOVER, or Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery. Without clinical trials, physicians specializing in treating long covid must rely on hunches to guide their … Read More
January 16, 2025
Families failed by Covid jabs tell inquiry of pain
(BBC) – Families of those harmed by Covid vaccines told the UK Covid Inquiry they were forced to support each other during the pandemic because there was no other help. Kate Scott, who represents the group Vaccine Injured and Bereaved … Read More
December 31, 2024
The Elusive Goal of Nationwide Disease Prediction
(Undark) – The CDC is piloting a disease forecasting service called Insight Net. Could it be a game-changer for public health? Can we predict the ebb and flow of infectious disease the way meteorologists predict the weather? The federal government … Read More
December 27, 2024
Pig kidney transplants, new schizophrenia drug: Here are 5 of the biggest medical breakthroughs in 2024
(ABC) – From a pig kidney transplant to restoring genetic deafness, 2024 was a year full of medical breakthroughs. The breakthroughs include the discovery of a cause of an autoimmune disease, the development of a “game-changing” drug and potential hope … Read More
December 26, 2024
Behind Closed Doors: The Spy-World Scientists Who Argued Covid Was a Lab Leak
(Wall Street Journal) – “The Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the National Intelligence Council’s work on Covid-19 origins complied with all of the Intelligence Community’s analytic standards, including objectivity,” the spokeswoman said. But an investigation by The … Read More
December 23, 2024
Top 10 Causes of Death in America
(U.S. News & World Report) – Nearly 3.1 million U.S. residents died in 2023, according to final data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – roughly 189,000 fewer than in 2022. The age-adjusted rate of mortality in 2023 … Read More
December 18, 2024
Controversial COVID study that promoted unproven treatment retracted after four-year saga
(Nature) – Paper on hydroxychloroquine led by French researcher Didier Raoult is second-most-cited study ever to be withdrawn. A study that stoked enthusiasm for the now-disproven idea that a cheap malaria drug can treat COVID-19 has been retracted — more … Read More
December 17, 2024
Infamous paper that popularized unproven COVID-19 treatment finally retracted
(Science) – Study on hydroxychloroquine by Didier Raoult and colleagues gets pulled on ethical and scientific grounds A 2020 paper that sparked widespread enthusiasm for hydroxychloroquine as a COVID-19 treatment was retracted today, following years of campaigning by scientists who … Read More
December 9, 2024
FDA must disclose more COVID-19 vaccine records, US judge rules
(New York Post) – A federal judge has ordered the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to publicly disclose more information underpinning its authorization of COVID-19 vaccines, after failing to persuade the court to end the public records lawsuit. In a ruling, on … Read More
December 9, 2024
The Man Who Fought Fauci—and Won
(Wall Street Journal) – Karmic justice strikes as Jay Bhattacharya, a dissenting physician who was made a pariah during Covid, is nominated as director of the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Bhattacharya believes “very strongly that I have a purpose … Read More
December 6, 2024
A New Edition of Nursing Ethics Is Now Available
Nursing Ethics (vol. 31, no. 8, 2024) is available online by subscription only. Articles include:
December 3, 2024
House COVID-19 panel releases final report: 3 key takeaways
(The Hill) – The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic released its final report Monday, laying out numerous conclusions from its review of the federal pandemic response, including what the Republican-controlled panel believes to be the likely origins of … Read More
November 18, 2024
Alcohol-Associated Liver Disease and Alcohol Use Disorder on the Rise in Older Adults
(Medscape) – The prevalence of and number of deaths from alcohol-associated liver disease (ALD) and alcohol use disorder (AUD) are growing among people age 70 and older in the United States, according to the results of a new study. Even … Read More
November 13, 2024
Cases hit pre-COVID lows as virus season begins
(Axios) – The U.S. may be heading into Thanksgiving with respiratory disease levels at lows not seen since before the pandemic, and with few immediate signs of another tripledemic. The big picture: Instead of seasonal flu, COVID-19 or RSV, the … Read More
November 6, 2024
New approach to growing coronaviruses is research boon—but also raises safety concerns
(Science) – Now, researchers have devised a strategy to circumvent that problem. Reporting in Nature, scientists say they have equipped human cells with custom-designed receptors that the viruses can bind to and use to sneak inside a cell. The study … Read More
November 5, 2024
Opinion: An Honest Discussion of Covid Vaccine Side Effects Is Overdue
(Undark) – Experiencing a severe side effect is rare, but officially documenting such cases is vital to designing better vaccines. I wrote about the experience in 2021 in The Boston Globe, after the FDA attached a warning to the J&J shot, citing an … Read More
October 28, 2024
Ontario man granted euthanasia for controversial ‘post COVID-19 vaccination syndrome’
(National Post) – The case is among several highlighted by an Ontario MAID death review committee involving people who weren’t terminally ill An Ontario man in his late 40s with a history of mental illness died by euthanasia after his … Read More
October 21, 2024
FDA asks Texas court to shut down COVID-19 vaccine records lawsuit
(Reuters) – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has asked a federal judge in Texas to throw out a public records lawsuit related to COVID-19 vaccines, arguing that it has already spent more than $3.5 million to produce more than … Read More
October 21, 2024
A New Edition of Research Ethics is Now Available
Research Ethics (vol. 20, no. 4, 2024) is available online by subscription only. Articles include:
October 16, 2024
GSK sues Moderna over mRNA vaccine technology
(Axios) – GlaxoSmithKline is suing Moderna for allegedly using technology patented by GSK in its COVID-19 vaccine. Why it matters: It’s the latest in a series of legal fights over who owns the intellectual property behind mRNA technology and whether … Read More
