Just two months ago, the incredible performance of new vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer had people cheering for an imminent end to the pandemic. But an onslaught of fast-spreading and potentially dangerous mutations of the virus changed that.
So now, even as pharma companies ramp up production in the early stages of a massive rollout, they are racing to retool their vaccine strategies. Robert Langreth reports that booster shots could give drugmakers a lucrative new revenue stream.
The heart is a hero. It works relentlessly to deliver oxygen and nutrients to the body. But just like all heroes, sometimes it gets tired, and can’t do its job as well. This is called heart failure – the inability for the heart to pump enough blood and oxygen to the lungs and rest of the body. In this video, Northwestern Medicine cardiologists Clyde W. Yancy, MD, MSc and Jane E. Wilcox, MD, MSc explain what heart failure is and the integrated and collaborative approach used to diagnose, stage and treat heart failure at Northwestern Medicine. For more information, visit http://heart.nm.org
The heart is a muscle and it’s main job is to pump blood but certain things can cause that muscle to fail. There are genetic reasons, there are reasons related to valve disease, and there’s a viral infection that affects the heart called myocarditis.
The most common cause of heart failure is a heart attack. Fatty plaque builds up in the blood vessel that supplies the heart itself and unless that blood vessel is opened up immediately that muscle will die. The rest of the muscle that’s not dead anymore has to do extra to keep on pumping the blood and overtime it cannot keep and that’s when heart failure develops.
Factual and reliable information is vital to creating trust in vaccines and to overcoming the pandemic. Ed Carr, The Economist’s deputy editor, and Natasha Loder, our health policy editor, answer some of the big questions about the global vaccination drive.
Chapters 00:00 – Challenges in vaccinating the world 00:45 – Trust in vaccines 02:30 – mRNA vaccines 03:23 – Impact of variants on vaccination 04:29 – Time between vaccine doses 06:09 – Mandatory vaccines for travel?
As the rollout of #Covid-19 vaccinations gathers pace, the mammoth task of inoculating billions of people across the globe has seen a number of unusual sites and buildings converted into #vaccination centres, from Disneyland in California, to an ancient UK cathedral and a bus converted into a mobile vaccination unit.
As countries like the United States and United Kingdom inoculate their residents with never-before used vaccine technology, others, including Russia, China, and India, are investing in more traditional approaches, like inactivated coronavirus vaccines. But no matter the technique, together they have the potential to create multiple lines of defense against SARS-CoV-2. Science senior correspondent Jon Cohen explains how each of these vaccines can protect us from severe illness—and what understanding the details of our immune responses could mean for the future of human trials.
The unfortunate reality is that COVID-19 might not be the last pandemic. The threat of the next pandemic will always be hanging over our heads—unless the world takes steps to prevent it. You can learn more about this topic in our 2021 Annual Letter at http://gatesnot.es/3a5KOLU
Macular degeneration is a leading cause of visual impairment in people over 65 and can lead to blindness. One in three people will eventually suffer some degree of macular degeneration, which is caused by abnormal blood vessels under the retina, the light-sensitive part of the eye. We treat both the more common “dry” as well as the more dangerous “wet” forms of macular degeneration. While there is currently no cure for this disease, we offer the latest treatments to reduce the risk of vision loss and blindness. These include anti-VEGF drugs—which attack proteins that create the abnormal blood vessels that cause macular degeneration—and photodynamic therapy, in which patients ingest medication that is then activated with a laser.
As new coronavirus variants sweep across the world, scientists are racing to understand how dangerous they could be. WSJ explains. Illustration: Alex Kuzoian/WSJ
Join CNET during CES 2021 for talks with three medical luminaries to discuss what we’ve gained — and need to fix — with telehealth over a turbulent pandemic year.
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