Medical institutions should support health care workers with COVID-19 infection, say experts
By mid-November, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had reported that 218,439 health care workers in the U.S. had been infected with COVID-19 a likely underestimate due to incomplete data from states. About 3% to 4% of health care personnel who recover from coronavirus infection are expected to become COVID long-haulers as they cope with debilitating symptoms 12 to 18 months after the acute stage of the infection clears. As COVID-19 surges again, hospitals are facing a shortage of skilled frontline providers who can meet the relentless demands of caring for these patients, says Zeina N. Chemali, MD, MPH, a psychiatrist and neurologist at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and senior author of an article in
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WASHINGTON (Jan. 13, 2021) A report released today estimates that about 10,000 Washington, D.C. residents 65 and older are living with dementia, a general term for a range of memory loss disorders, including Alzheimer s disease. The report also discusses risk factors for dementia and unmet needs of Washington, D.C. residents living with dementia and their care partners. We found that an estimated 13% of the city s 65 and older population are living with dementia, and the prevalence was higher for women, minorities and older D.C. residents, Melinda C. Power, ScD, director of the George Washington University Institute for Brain Health and Dementia, said. Our report also made some recommendations that might help prevent this devastating disorder and help caregivers as well as those already living with memory loss.
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Researchers from the University of Seville and the University of Pavia have identified a link between Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and the accumulation of DNA-RNA hybrids in the genome. The accumulation of these hybrids causes increased genomic damage and boosts genetic instability. This finding will make it possible to better understand the molecular basis of the disease, as well as to propose new solutions to curb it.
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disease of the central nervous system, characterised by progressive degeneration of motor neurons leading to muscle paralysis. Classified as a rare disease, there is no cure despite efforts to understand the disease s molecular basis and research devoted to identifying therapies that can at least slow its evolution.
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Research into the neuronal basis of emotion processing has so far mostly taken place in the laboratory, i.e. in unrealistic conditions. Bochum-based biopsychologists have now studied couples in more natural conditions. Using electroencephalography (EEG), they recorded the brain activity of romantic couples at home while they cuddled, kissed or talked about happy memories together. The results confirmed the theory that positive emotions are mainly processed in the left half of the brain.
A group led by Dr. Julian Packheiser, Gesa Berretz, Celine Bahr, Lynn Schockenhoff and Professor Sebastian Ocklenburg from the Department of Biopsychology at Ruhr-Universität Bochum describes the results in the journal