Super Tuesday provided contrasting fortunes for the Democratic candidates hoping to take on Donald Trump. BBC reporters were on the ground with the three leading campaigns as the results came in (but with no decision yet in the all-important Texas and California contests). Here are their verdicts on where Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden and Michael Bloomberg stand now.
Drug Pricing Theme Issue: Is Pharma Earning Too Much?, R&D Costs Required to Bring a New Drug to Market, Probiotic Safety, and moreOne in 4 people in the US has difficulty paying the cost of their prescription medications. This stark fact was recently reported in a 2019 Kaiser Family Foundation public opinion poll among a nationally representative random sample of 1205 adults.1 Persons who reported having the greatest difficulty affording their prescription drugs were those who most needed them, including those who took 4 or more prescription drugs, spent $100 or more per month on their drugs, and reported being in fair or poor health.
Mar.03 — World Health Organization spokesman Tarik Jasarevic speaks from Geneva about the latest advice for avoiding the coronavirus. He also comments on efforts to develop a vaccine and advice for public health workers. He speaks on “Bloomberg Markets: European Open.”
NPR’s Tamara Keith and Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report join Judy Woodruff to discuss the latest political news, including the resurgence of former Vice President Joe Biden’s presidential campaign after the South Carolina primary, the exits of Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg, the strength of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ base and what to look for on Super Tuesday.
From a Philips “2020 Sleep Survey” online release (Mar 2, 2020):
“The decrease in people taking action to improve sleep is alarming, especially when it is clear people around the world deeply value sleep. Sleep deficit impacts people both mentally and physically, so we need to educate people on available sleep resources and empower them with the confidence that their efforts will pay off,” said Mark Aloia, PhD, Global Lead for Behavior Change, Sleep & Respiratory Care at Philips.
From a New Atlas online article (March 1, 2020):
One of the largest and most prestigious photo contests in the world has revealed its first wave of 2020 winners. The Sony World Photography Awards National winners focus on the best regional talent across more than 60 countries around the globe.
The 2020 Sony World Photography Awards received a record breaking 350,000 submissions, with 190,000 entries into its Open category. The Open category spans a number of thematic sections, all seeking the best single photograph from either amateur or professional photographers.
Adam Stevenson won the best Australian photograph with an incredible shot of a Kookaburra watching over the devastation of the bushfires that tore through the country over the past few months. The shot is titled “That’s Nothing to Laugh About” and was snapped with a Iphone X near Stevenson’s home at Wallabi Point in New South Wales.
From a BMJ Opinion article (Feb 28, 2020):
A lack of adequate knowledge is probably the driving force for the public panic, particularly at the early stages of an outbreak—highlighting the fact that information is crucial. Misunderstandings about the information that is available, even worse exaggerating such information, may further aggravate the panic. Unfortunately, these phenomena are not uncommon. To relieve the public panic, an effective approach would be timely publication of trustworthy research evidence in a manner appropriate for the public.
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To date, there have been a number of reports and research papers published in peer reviewed journals. However, this information is largely aimed at researchers and healthcare professionals. The study findings are often obscure for the general public. Some of the published evidence is reporting on early findings and there are some methodological limitations. If inappropriately interpreted, they could misinform the public and could potentially cause further panic or psychological stress. We believe that providing the public with timely and credible evidence and appropriate interpretation is very important. Disseminating the evidence effectively is critical to improving the public’s understanding of the outbreak.
Eat less, live longer- If you want to reduce levels of inflammation throughout your body, delay the onset of age-related diseases and live longer—eat less food. That’s the conclusion of a new study by scientists from the US and China that provides the most detailed report to date of the cellular effects of a calorie-restricted diet in rats.
(Salk News, February 27, 2020)
While the benefits of caloric restriction have long been known, the new results show how this restriction can protect against aging in cellular pathways, as detailed in Cell on February 27, 2020.
Aging is the highest risk factor for many human diseases, including cancer, dementia, diabetes and metabolic syndrome. Caloric restriction has been shown in animal models to be one of the most effective interventions against these age-related diseases. And although researchers know that individual cells undergo many changes as an organism ages, they have not known how caloric restriction might influence these changes.
In the new paper, Belmonte and his collaborators—including three alumni of his Salk lab who are now professors running their own research programs in China—compared rats who ate 30 percent fewer calories with rats on normal diets. The animals’ diets were controlled from age 18 months through 27 months. (In humans, this would be roughly equivalent to someone following a calorie-restricted diet from age 50 through 70.)
On the Mayo Clinic Radio podcast, Dr. Sophie Bakri, a Mayo Clinic ophthalmologist and retina specialist, discusses macular degeneration, a common eye disorder with age. This interview originally aired Feb. 29, 2020.
Dry macular degeneration is a common eye disorder among people over 50. It causes blurred or reduced central vision, due to thinning of the macula (MAK-u-luh). The macula is the part of the retina responsible for clear vision in your direct line of sight.
Dry macular degeneration may first develop in one eye and then affect both. Over time your vision may worsen and affect your ability to do things such as read, drive and recognize faces. But this doesn’t mean you’ll lose all of your sight.
Early detection and self-care measures may delay vision loss due to dry macular degeneration.
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