All posts tagged: Health

Ultra-processed foods are not more appealing, study finds | Health

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Ultra-processed foods are viewed as no more appealing than less processed foods, research has found. A University of Bristol study compared the taste perception of different food types to test the theory that calories and level of processing are key factors influencing how much we like and desire food. The study’s lead author, Prof Peter Rogers, said the results “challenge the assumption that ultra-processed foods are ‘hyperpalatable’, and it seems odd that this has not been directly tested before”. Participants in the study, made up of 224 adult volunteers, were presented with colour images of 24 to 32 familiar foods, including avocado, grapes, cashew nuts, king prawns, olives, blueberry muffins, crispbread, pepperoni sausages and ice-cream. The foods all varied in calories, levels of processing (including UPFs) and carbohydrate-to-fat ratio. The volunteers were then asked to rate the foods for taste pleasantness (liking), desire to eat, sweetness and saltiness, while imagining tasting them. Results from the study, published in the journal Appetite, showed that, on average, UPFs were no more liked or desired than processed or …

Respiratory infection clusters in China not caused by novel virus, says health ministry | China

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A surge in respiratory illnesses across China that has drawn the attention of the World Health Organization is caused by the flu and other known pathogens and not by a novel virus, the country’s health ministry said on Sunday. Recent clusters of respiratory infections are caused by an overlap of common viruses such as the influenza virus, rhinoviruses, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and adenovirus, as well as bacteria such as mycoplasma pneumoniae, which is a common culprit for respiratory tract infections, a National Health Commission spokesperson said. The ministry called on local authorities to open more fever clinics and promote vaccinations among children and elderly people as China grapples with a wave of respiratory illnesses in its first full winter since the removal of Covid-19 restrictions. “Efforts should be made to increase the opening of relevant clinics and treatment areas, extend service hours and increase the supply of medicines,” said the ministry spokesperson, Mi Feng. He advised people to wear masks and called on local authorities to focus on preventing the spread of illnesses in …

Stretched NHS even less ready to cope with a new pandemic, scientists warn | Health

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The UK is now worse prepared for a pandemic than it was when Covid-19 first swept the country, a former government health minister has warned. Lord Bethell, an under-secretary of state at the department of health in 2020, told the Observer that in terms of identifying future threats, and handling any new outbreak, he believes Britain’s overstretched health system is now less able to respond to another major viral outbreak. “Britain was poorly prepared for the pandemic,” he said. “We are waiting for important ‘lessons learned’ from the Covid inquiry and in the meantime our pandemic preparedness has gone backwards in key areas such as mass-testing, NHS resilience, global viral surveillance, Whitehall agility, vaccine supply and development, and the underlying health of the nation.” This view is backed by leading scientists who have told the Observer there is little sign of new systems being put in place, as Lady Hallett’s inquiry continues to expose the chaotic initial response of the government to Covid. Some believe the inquiry itself is acting as a brake on progress, …

John Lewis to partner with Randox Health to open clinics in stores | John Lewis

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John Lewis is to team up with Covid testing firm Randox Health to open clinics within its shops in the latest effort to draw in customers amid tough trading conditions. The clinics, which will be run by Randox staff, will offer full-body health checks including tests for vitamin deficiencies, hormone imbalances and key health concerns, among other services. Appointments at the first clinic, which will open in John Lewis’s High Wycombe store, will begin on 18 December. Customers will be able to sign up to Randox programmes, starting at £295. Further openings will follow at stores in Bluewater shopping centre in Kent in December and Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, in January, with the potential for further openings in future. Randox Health has more than 20 clinics across the UK. Its parent company, which was set up in 1982 but grew rapidly as a provider of Covid tests during the pandemic, was at the centre of a lobbying scandal involving the Conservative MP Owen Paterson. John Lewis has been aiming to increase services on offer as the rise …

Callyope monitors mental health through speech-based technology

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French startup Callyope isn’t your average startup as it is addressing a very hard problem in a highly regulated industry. The startup is building a remote patient monitoring platform for people living with schizophrenia, bipolar disorders and potentially other mental health issues. And the company is using the patient’s voice for this monitoring tool. Callyope recently raised a $2.4 million (€2.2 million) funding round co-led by 360 Capital and Bpifrance’s Digital Venture fund. No Label Ventures and several angel investors are also participating in the round. In Fance, 600,000 people live with schizophrenia. More than a million people experience bipolar disorders. Many of them see a psychiatrist regularly. But psychiatrists are overwhelmed and can only see each patient every four to six weeks. “You have plenty of molecules that have been around since the 1970s to more or less stabilize people. And yet, when you go to a psychiatric hospital, half of the people there relapse in the same year,” co-founder and CEO Martin Denais told me. When you see a psychiatrist regularly, they can …

People who stuck by UK Covid rules have worst mental health, says survey | Coronavirus

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People who stuck by Covid lockdown rules the most strictly have the worst mental health today, research has found. Those who followed the restrictions most closely when the pandemic hit are the most likely to be suffering from stress, anxiety and depression, academics at Bangor University have found. They identified that people with “communal” personalities – who are more caring, sensitive and aware of others’ needs – adhered the most rigorously with the lockdown protocols that Boris Johnson and senior medics and scientists recommended. However, people with “agentic” personalities – who are more independent, more competitive and like to have control over their lives – were least likely to exhibit those behaviours. “The more individuals complied with health advice during lockdown, the worse their wellbeing post-lockdown,” concluded Dr Marley Willegers and colleagues. The fear of catching Covid proved both an upside and a downside, they found. “While increasing individuals’ worry of infection can effectively drive compliance, it also has negative consequences on people’s wellbeing and recovery,” they said. The researchers based their findings on a …

Hackers accessed sensitive health data of Welltok patients

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Hackers accessed the personal data of more than a million people by exploiting a security vulnerability in a file transfer tool used by Welltok, the healthcare platform owned by Virgin Pulse. Welltok, a Denver-based patient engagement company that works with healthcare plans to provide communications to subscribers about their healthcare, confirmed in a data breach notification filed with Maine’s attorney general last week that hackers accessed the sensitive data of more than 1.6 million individuals. In a letter sent to those affected, Welltok said it was alerted to an earlier alleged compromise of its MOVEit Transfer server, a system that allows organizations to move large sets of often-sensitive data over the internet, after the system’s developer published details of a software vulnerability earlier this year. Welltok said it initially determined in July that there was no indication of a compromise. A second investigation, launched by the company in August, found that hackers “exfiltrated certain data” from Welltok’s MOVEit Transfer server. The compromised data includes individuals’ name, date of birth, addresses, and health information, according to …

What Humans and Nature Get From Each Other

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It’s not a coincidence that America is getting both lonelier and more indoorsy, an Atlantic writer argues. Pete Lomchid / Getty November 18, 2023, 8 AM ET This is an edition of The Wonder Reader, a newsletter in which our editors recommend a set of stories to spark your curiosity and fill you with delight. Sign up here to get it every Saturday morning. Those of us who live in cities are inclined to avoid some of nature’s less-than-appealing creatures. “My aversion to pigeons, rats, and cockroaches is somewhat justifiable, given their cultural associations with dirtiness and disease,” Hannah Seo writes in a recent article. “But such disgust is part of a larger estrangement between humanity and the natural world.” “As nature grows unfamiliar, separate, and strange to us, we are more easily repelled by it,” Seo explains. “These feelings can lead people to avoid nature further, in what some experts have called ‘the vicious cycle of biophobia.’ This cycle has some parallels with another cycle of modern life, Seo writes: “Psychologists know that lonely …

More than half of hospitals in England rated substandard by health regulator | Hospitals

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More than half of all hospitals in England and over two-thirds of those in London offer substandard care, an Observer investigation has found. In one hospital emergency department, inspectors reported patients being treated in corridors and deadly diseases such as sepsis and cancer not being diagnosed. The Observer analysed the ratings by Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspectors of 254 general hospitals – excluding those that provide single services or specialised care. Seven were rated as “inadequate” and 122 as “requires improvement” – 51% of the total. The situation was significantly worse in London. Of 37 hospitals in the capital, 25 (68%) were rated as substandard. One of those was Hillingdon hospital. CQC inspectors found that the hospital “did not always have enough staff to care for patients and keep them safe”, left “telephone calls unanswered” and demonstrated “no evidence of learning lessons from incidents among frontline staffoutside the ward from where the incident occurred”. A spokesperson for the hospital’s NHS trust said it had taken immediate action to address the areas for improvement identified in …

Minister warned about mental pressure of benefits system after applicant kills himself | Mental health

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A coroner has written to work and pensions secretary Mel Stride warning that processes in the benefit system can worsen symptoms of mental illness after a man killed himself amid fears over his application for universal credit. Kirsty Gomersal, the area coroner for Cumbria, issued a prevention of future deaths (PFD) report to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) following an inquest into the death of man diagnosed with severe depression and anxiety who took his own life in March. The coroner stressed she was not making a causal link between the man’s suicide and his anxiety about his universal credit application. The causes of suicide are complex and there is rarely a single event or factor behind them. The DWP was not called to give evidence at the inquest as the concerns around its role only came to light at the hearing itself. But the inquest heard an “ongoing feature” of the victim’s anxiety was his application for universal credit and that this was at the forefront of his mind in the days …