Tag - health

 
 

HEALTH

People wait in line to take a COVID-19 oral swab test on a sidewalk in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City on June 20.
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 25, 2023
Highly mutated COVID variant BA.2.86 found in two more countries
Omicron offshoot BA.2.86 carries more than 35 mutations in key portions of the virus compared with XBB.1.5, the dominant variant through most of 2023.
A construction site in Dubai, where workers often face temperatures up to 45 degrees Celsius
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Aug 23, 2023
As temperatures climb, millions more people face food insecurity
A recent study shows that extreme heat leads to an impossible conundrum for many workers: Risk your health to earn a living, or go hungry.
Flames reach upward along the edge of a wildfire near Mistissini, Quebec, in June.
ENVIRONMENT
Aug 23, 2023
As wildfires multiply, a new era of air pollution
The average American had already been exposed to 450 micrograms of smoke per cubic meter by early July, worse than from 2006-2022.
Shinobu Yamanaka, a mom of three sons and director of a day care facility in Konan, Kochi Prefecture, serves up to eight "members" six days a week.
JAPAN / Science & Health / FOCUS
Aug 22, 2023
Kochi dementia care center aims to set new paradigm in Japan
A new generation of people with Alzheimer’s in Japan are trying to change not only dementia care but also social attitudes toward patients.
A COVID-19 test swab is placed into a tube in Hilversum, the Netherlands, in November 2020.
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 22, 2023
Two years after catching COVID, patients still risk getting sick
People who were not hospitalized for acute COVID-19 still had a higher risk than uninfected people of developing long COVID-related disorders.
Packages of lecanemab, marketed as Leqembi, for the U.S. market
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 21, 2023
Japanese ministry panel gives OK to Alzheimer’s drug lecanemab
The panel’s endorsement will be followed by official approval by the health minister in coming days.
Digital minister Taro Kono (right) tries out a device that allows the use of My Number cards as health insurance cards at Chigasaki City Hall in Kanagawa Prefecture on Aug. 9.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Aug 21, 2023
My Number and beyond: What's holding back Japan’s digitalization?
The transition from analog to digital in the public sector has been a long-standing challenge for the country, spanning at least the past two decades.
With temperatures around the world reaching record highs this summer, you may want to reconsider which sunscreen you are using, experts say, as not all sunscreens are the same.
WORLD / Science & Health / EXPLAINER
Aug 21, 2023
Extreme heat may mean using a different sunscreen
The two major types — mineral and chemical — handle the sun's ultraviolet rays differently and during extremely hot weather, those differences can matter.
While most players in the field of neurotechnology are exclusively concerned with medical uses, Elon Musk is touting the possibility of telepathy, using the technology to store memories or to enable humans to continue their existence without their bodies.
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 21, 2023
The race to link our brains to computers is heating up
Brain implants have long been trapped in the realm of science fiction, but medical trials suggest the devices could play a big part in humanity's future.
It is still unclear whether BA.2.86 will be able to out-compete other strains of the virus that causes COVID-19, or have any advantage in escaping immune responses from prior infection or vaccination.
WORLD / Science & Health / EXPLAINER
Aug 21, 2023
What you need to know about BA.2.86, the new COVID variant
Scientists are keeping an eye on the new lineage because it has 36 mutations that distinguish it from the currently dominant XBB.1.5 variant.
In 1990, there were five times as many men who had alcohol use disorder than women — now it’s two times, according to the director of a research institute on alcoholism and alcohol abuse.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 18, 2023
Women are drinking more alcohol and it’s killing them
Analysis of data from the CDC found that alcohol-related deaths among women increased by nearly 15% per year between 2018 and 2020.
Novo Nordisk' anti-obesity drug Wegovy
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 18, 2023
Insurers can’t avoid covering weight-loss drugs forever
Evidence is mounting that drugs like Wegovy not only help patients lose weight but also help prevent heart attacks and strokes.
An ayurvedic doctor performs a traditional therapy at SGVP Holistic hospital in Ahmedabad, India, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 17, 2023
WHO holds first traditional medicine summit
The global health body has come under fire from online critics who accused it of providing scientific validation to pseudoscience.
Temperatures in excess of 36 degrees Celsius have done little to deter some players of "gateball" in Tokyo this year.
LIFE
Aug 17, 2023
Japan's elderly 'gateball' players unbeaten by the heat
While the game requires little physical exertion, players have to spend time in the punishing sun as two opposing teams carefully hit balls through gates.
Surgeons work to transplant a pig kidney at a hospital in New York in July.
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 17, 2023
Surgeons say pig kidney functional in human for over a month
The latest experimental procedure is part of a growing field of research aimed at advancing cross-species transplants.
Elizabeth Kutschke at the park with her son Ben, who was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 15, 2023
When a $2 million gene therapy is not enough
Ben is one of a growing number of patients with spinal muscular atrophy whose doctors are turning to additional drugs in addition to gene therapy.
Tourists walk along the road that leads to Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto on Friday.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 14, 2023
New coronavirus variant EG.5 gains momentum in Japan
The prevalence of EG.5, called Eris by health experts, nearly doubled in July to account for 22% of cases in Tokyo.
If you have a specific birth plan in mind, like giving birth at home, it's important to make sure the clinic you use offers that option.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Aug 14, 2023
Giving birth in Japan? Here’s what you need to know.
Giving birth can be overwhelming — even more so if you don’t understand the local language or know the steps you need to take.
Prachi Gupta (left) after the birth of her first child in 2018
JAPAN / Society / FOCUS
Aug 14, 2023
For foreign expecting mothers in Japan, a struggle over maternity norms
Different expectations over things like natural births and weight gain can cause anxieties for non-Japanese.
Whether it is a hot summer or a cold winter, humans spend 90% of their time inside and there is little evidence that seasonal changes affect COVID-19 transmission significantly. 
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 10, 2023
COVID-19’s summer resurgence resists easy answers
Be wary of anyone with a pat explanation for why COVID-19 waves rise and fall.

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?