Tag - health

 
 

HEALTH

A suicide helpline worker takes calls in Tokyo. Health ministry officials say that comprehensive countermeasures are needed to realize a society in which people do not feel suicidal.
JAPAN / Society
Jan 26, 2024
Suicides in Japan decreased slightly to 21,818 in 2023
The decrease marks the first decline in the number of suicides in two years.
A man is inoculated with a COVID-19 vaccine in New Hyde Park, New York, in September 2023.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jan 26, 2024
COVID and beyond: Labs unite to boost genomic surveillance globally
Teams at two facilities said they were worried governments and funders may pull back from such surveillance.
Some 5 million people globally die of causes related to air pollution from fossil fuels each year and climate change has a huge impact on people's health and psychological well-being.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 24, 2024
We’re finally recognizing climate change’s mental health toll
Climate change's impact on health, including psychological well-being, is overwhelming. COP28 took stock of this and put youth at the center of discussions like never before.
Children make handicrafts on Jan. 15 at a local community center on the island of Notojima, part of the city of Nanao in Ishikawa Prefecture.
JAPAN
Jan 19, 2024
Mental care needed for quake-affected children in central Japan
"When I'm at home, I end up playing games alone all the time."
Residents receive water in Shika, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Monday.
JAPAN
Jan 17, 2024
Japan struggling to make water pipes quake-proof
In Ishikawa Prefecture, where a massive quake struck on New Year's Day, over 50,000 homes are still without water.
A doctor and a nurse check on people affected by the New Year's Day quake in Suzu, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Jan. 6.
JAPAN
Jan 16, 2024
Doctors and nurses support families at morgues after Noto quake
Teams were sent after the 2016 quakes in Kumamoto Prefecture and a major mudslide in Atami in Shizuoka Prefecture in 2021.
Whereas obtaining a test was often difficult in early 2020, now the abundance of cheaper rapid kits in grocery stores and home medicine cabinets has led to a new concern — they don’t seem to work.
WORLD / Science & Health / FOCUS
Jan 13, 2024
Our bodies are responding differently to COVID. Testing for it needs to catch up.
The abundance of cheaper rapid kits in grocery stores and home medicine cabinets has led to a new concern — they don’t seem to work.
Inspectors analyze saliva collected with test kits at SalivaTech.
JAPAN / Science & Health / Regional Voices: Tohoku
Jan 8, 2024
Tohoku startup offers way to detect cancer early using saliva
SalivaTech's SalivaChecker is a test kit that provides high-precision analysis of around 10 types of salivary metabolites.
January may be the month of new diets, but it doesn't have to be a month of short tempers as a result.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jan 6, 2024
Your 2024 diet isn't a blank check to be hangry
The neologism combining "hungry” and "angry” has been around since at least 1956 and made it into the Oxford English Dictionary in 2018.
Take any scientific issue that involves political choices, from public health to climate change, all sides claim to be basing their concerns on science.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 2, 2024
Let’s stop insulting each other as ‘anti-science’
Take any scientific issue that involves political choices, from public health to climate change, all sides claim to be basing their concerns in science.
Though ChatGPT debuted in late 2022, it was really in 2023 that we started to get a sense of what large language models could do, including diagnosing complex medical issues.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 31, 2023
The 10 most intriguing science breakthroughs over the past year
As 2023 has drawn to a close, let’s look back on some of the astounding breakthroughs we’ve seen in the last 12 months.
Smart chemotherapy is in the spotlight again as Big Pharma invests billions in next-generation cancer drugs.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 29, 2023
Targeted cancer drugs finally live up to the hype
The newfound understanding of how these cancer drugs work could lead to broader applications in treating various tumors
Surgeon Paolo Titolo speaks with health care worker Marcello Gaviglio, 55, who underwent a nerve transplant from his amputated foot in an effort to restore movement in his paralyzed hand in the city of Turin, Italy, on Wednesday.
WORLD / Science & Health
Dec 28, 2023
Italian man undergoes nerve transfer from amputated leg to hand
The man suffered serious injuries to his brachial plexus, which connects to the spinal cord, leaving him unable to use either of his hands.
Demonstrators rally against COVID-19 vaccine mandates in Buffalo, New York, in February 2022.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 26, 2023
It’s past time scientists admitted their COVID-19 mistakes
In 2019, 13% of Americans were distrustful enough to say they weren’t confident in scientists to act in the public’s best interest. Now it is 27%.
Desi Permatasari, 32, comforts her daughter, Sheena Almaera Maryam, 5, who was prescribed contaminated cough syrup last year in their home in Bogor, Indonesia.
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Dec 24, 2023
When children take toxic cough syrup — and live
In Indonesia, one of the places most impacted by the contamination, families struggle to care for survivors while taking action against those responsible.
Physical strength among children is on a recovery track as a whole, which the Japan Sports Agency said was a reflection of more opportunities for physical exercise following a relaxation of restrictions related to COVID-19 in the country.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Dec 24, 2023
Physical strength of Japan junior high school girls at record low
Male students, however, scored better in the Japan Sports Agency's annual physical fitness survey for this year.
Digital minister Taro Kono (second from right) and health minister Keizo Takemi hand out leaflets to promote the use of My Number cards as health insurance certificates at Jikei University Hospital in Tokyo last month.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Dec 22, 2023
Japan to scrap health insurance cards from December next year
The government aims to streamline administration and improve health care services by integrating the function of the cards into My Number cards.
Medical fees will be lowered by 0.12% in fiscal 2024, marking the fifth consecutive reduction in the fees that are reviewed every two years.
JAPAN
Dec 20, 2023
Japan fees for medical services and drugs to be lowered by 0.12%
The government will raise its official fees for nursing and disability welfare services by 1.59% and 1.12%, respectively, in fiscal 2024.
The government is considering scrapping the idea of expanding the range of older residents who must pay out of their pockets 20% of the costs of elderly care services provided under public insurance.
JAPAN
Dec 19, 2023
Japan to scrap idea of raising elderly care user fees
Many ruling lawmakers have expressed cautious opinions on the proposed expansion.
"Concussed: Sport's Uncomfortable Truth" by author Sam Peters details the issue of concussions in sports, particularly rugby.
MORE SPORTS / Rugby
Dec 17, 2023
Rugby in denial over concussion problem, author Sam Peters says
Peters' book includes a section on the damage of repeated heading in soccer but is predominantly concerned with rugby.

Longform

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