{"source":"Health","paragraphs":["\u003cp\u003eThe study, published today in the

journal Neurology, reports smaller brain volumes and worse memories in people with
higher-than-average levels of cortisol — popularly known as the stress hormone. But
any media coverage that warns stress is going to shrink your brain is
premature. \"Right now all we can say is A is associated with B, we can’t really
say anything about causality,\" says Sudha Seshadri, a professor of neurology at
the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and senior author on
the study.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eDr. Fauci and Dr. Birx showed charts
indicating that coronavirus cases in New York and New Jersey had risen far higher
than in other parts of the country, a fact that they said gave them hope that the
overall number of deaths might be lower if people in the rest of the states
followed the guidelines for at least the next month. Mr. Trump displayed none of
the carefree dismissiveness that characterized his reaction to the virus in
February and early March, when he repeatedly said that \"we have it totally under
control\" and that \"it’s going to be just fine.\"\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe
mechanism that causes the calcium to be deposited has been difficult to unpick, but
now scientists say they have the answer: it is triggered by a molecule, called
poly(ADP-Ribose) or PAR, that is produced when the cells, or the DNA inside them,
are damaged. That, they say, makes sense: ageing, high blood pressure, smoking and
fatty plaques are risk factors for stiffening of the arteries, and are linked to
damage to cells, or even their DNA.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe study is the
work of researchers at Nottingham University’s School of Medicine who focused on
chemicals known as antigens. These are produced by cancer cells and trigger an
immune response inside humans. In particular, they cause our bodies to make auto-
antibodies that target and try to block those invading antigens. Researchers wanted
to know if they could detect the presence of specific auto-antibodies in patients
and show whether they had been triggered by antigens from tumour
cells.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eA US study saw 12,000 people who were either
obese or overweight given the pills or a placebo – with those who took the drug
shedding an average of 4kg (9lbs) in 40 months. Further analysis showed no big
differences in tests for heart valve damage. Tam Fry, of Britain’s National Obesity
Forum, said the drug is potentially the \"holy grail\" of weight-loss medicine. \"I
think it is the thing everybody has been looking for,\" he
said.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe government’s Office of National Statistics
released figures indicating that deaths could be at least 10 percent higher than
the official toll — 12,107 as of Tuesday — which does not take into account many
people who die in nursing homes or at home. More than 2,000 nursing homes, about 13
percent of the country’s total, have had coronavirus cases, said Dr. Chris Whitty,
the government’s chief medical adviser. Workers in many of the homes have
complained of an acute shortage of protective gear. Care England, a charity
representing independent care agencies, has estimated that nearly 1,000 Covid-19
deaths in nursing homes have gone uncounted. Two major home operators have reported
521 deaths in recent days, many of which are not yet included in official
totals.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eArchie Cochrane, the doyen of evidence-based
medicine, said we should ask three questions of any intervention: can it work, does
it work and is it worth it? The relative risk reduction you quote tells us of
population benefit and answers the first two questions, but it is the absolute risk
reduction that answers the \"is it worth it?\"question. Many patients would be
reluctant to take a tablet if told there was a greater than 97% chance that they
would derive no benefit from taking it over five years and it had no positive
effect on their length of life.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe advice left many
medical experts scratching their heads. The coronavirus is a new pathogen, and
little is known about the disease it causes, called Covid-19, or how patients
respond to common medications. On Wednesday, the World Health Organization said it
was aware of no research showing that ibuprofen should not be taken by patients
with Covid-19.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe hunt began Jan. 10, when Chinese
scientists posted the genetic makeup of the virus on a public database. The next
morning, researchers at the National Institutes of Health’s Vaccine Research Center
in Maryland went to work. Within hours, they had pinpointed the letters of the
genetic code that could be used to make a vaccine. Historically, vaccines have been
one of the greatest public health tools to prevent disease. But even as technology,
genomics and global coordination have improved, allowing researchers to move at top
speed, vaccine development remains an expensive and risky
process.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eDespite the benign assessment of the medical
establishment, Dr. Curry’s flawed reports were amplified by alarmist websites,
prompted articles linking cellphones to brain cancer and served as evidence in
lawsuits urging the removal of wireless classroom technology. In time, echoes of
his reports fed Russian news sites noted for stoking misinformation about 5G
technology. What began as a simple graph became a case study in how bad science can
take root and flourish. \"I still think there are health effects,\" Dr. Curry said
in an interview. \"The federal government needs to look at it more
closely.\"\u003c/p\u003e"]}