Underperforming gowns
Disposable gowns designed to deflect the splatter of bodily fluids, used in thousands of U.S. hospitals, have underperformed in recent and ongoing laboratory tests and may fall short of safety standards, leaving health care workers with a greater risk of infection. One study found that isolation gowns commonly worn in medical units or intensive care units ripped too easily and allowed about up to 14 times the expected amount of liquid to seep through when sprayed or splashed.
Source: scientificamerican.com
The social determinants of mental health
A new national survey outlines the financial and mental health challenges the country is facing with housing, income, employment, education and lockdown restrictions. Results show that since the start of the pandemic, 40 percent of Canadians disclosed that their mental health has worsened as a direct result of their financial situation.
Source: Credit Counselling Canada
Does thinking too hard make you more tired?
If you’re feeling drained at the end of a demanding day on the job, it could be you’ve been thinking too much. After analysing the chemical composition of people performing complex tasks over the course of a work day, researchers have found that too much use of grey matter can lead to mental fatigue, making it harder to make decisions.
Source: Bloomberg
A look at diabetes
Close to 11.5 million Canadians are living with diabetes and prediabetes and it’s the leading cause of vision loss and blindness in those 20-65 years of age. It contributes to 30% of strokes, 40% of heart attacks, and 50% of kidney failure requiring dialysis. Having diabetes can shorten one’s lifespan by 5 to 15 years and cost the healthcare system 30 billion dollars in 2019. Diabetes is also a leading cause of death for all ages in Canada (excluding accidents).
Source: Diabetes Canada
High-risk medications in older adults with cancer
Gerontology researchers teamed up with hematologic-oncology investigators to look at the association between older patients with blood cancers who were taking multiple other non- cancer medications and their corresponding frailty. Now they’ve created a new scale based on a list of Potentially Inappropriate Medications (PIMs) called the Geriatric Oncology-Potentially Inappropriate Medications Scale (GO-PIMs) and found it to be more effective at predicting frailty than conventional methods.
Source: Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network
Does this unlikely protein worsen ALS symptoms?
In a new study where spinal fluids from ALS patients were put into mice, the mice got weak. The protein apolipoprotein B-100 was found to be the culprit and the research suggests that filtering this protein out of cerebrospinal fluid could potentially alleviate symptoms of sporadic ALS.
Source: STAT
Inequity in health technology
A pulse oximeter works by shining light through the skin to measure the amount of oxygen in the blood. It has replaced the arterial blood gas test as a vital sign because it is fast, easy to use, painless, and provides continuous readings. But recent studies have revealed they are not as accurate as once believed. Pulse oximeters do a poor job of reading blood oxygen levels of people with darker skin as melanin interferes with measuring the oxygen level in the blood. People who suspect they have COVID-19 are advised to stay home and check their oxygen levels using a pulse oximeter, but the readings they get may falsely appear to be normal. This could cause some patients to stay home when they really should go to the hospital, delaying treatment. Health tech companies need to help solve this problem by introducing equity into equipment testing to ensure that it works equally well on patients of all races and ethnicities.
Source: statnews.com
Protein nutrition for vegan athletes
More athletes are turning to plant-based diets. Good news—evidence suggests that muscle adaptive responses are similar between consuming high amounts (at least 30 mg) of protein from animal or plant sources. Researchers suggest eating a variety of foods to gain all of the essential amino acids required to support muscle remodelling and recovery, which could also involve the use of nutritional supplements for ease and convenience.
Source: University of Birmingham Opinion
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