Disease

Geofencing is a virtual fence in the real world. When combined with our homing beacon -- the smartphone that identifies us everywhere we go -- it becomes a tool with extraordinary powers, for good and evil. Several recent court cases, which likely have escaped your attention, may give you more than a moment's pause in this era of the coronavirus. 
Dr. Paul Offit, Chief of Infectious Diseases and Director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, discusses COVID-19 vaccines with Eric Topol, MD, Editor-in-Chief of the website, Medscape. From safety to side effects, to how protective they might be.
Four stories: Phylogenetic analysis suggests that coronavirus arrived in the U.S. between late January and early February. The coronavirus has resulted in more than 1.2 million years of life lost (YLLs) in the U.S. The coronavirus isn't the only game in town. And some people who are most likely to be affected by coronavirus are also refusing to go to the hospital.
Pop quiz! Who's dumber? Those courting health risks at the Sturgis motorcycle rally or the authors of the "study" making the rounds on the thousands of infections they created? OK, it's a trick question, because both groups have some explaining to do.
Are there geographical differences in the spread of COVID-19? Does a region's "culture" contribute to the pandemic or simply the population density? Good questions. Let's take a look.
Skin cancers are among the most common tumors; after all, we're all held together by our skin. The improvements in 3D-ultrasounds provide a one-step measurement of a suspicious area's size, depth, margins, and tumor aggression. More importantly, it identifies the tumor invisible to the eye, a critical factor in skin cancer recurrence. 
I read a short article this week about the social history surrounding epidemics. Like much of history, it has eerie similarities to our current times. Is it a precautionary tale, or a random pattern we imbue with meaning as we try to connect the dots?
Everyone knows that the elderly and those with co-morbidities are at greater risk for hospitalization and death from COVID-19. But are all co-morbidities the same? Do some conditions result in more or perhaps fewer hospitalizations and deaths? Let's take a look.
A study that found basically no link between hair color or dye use and cancer predictably was sensationalized by the media anyway.
Loneliness, if you follow the media, is a problem of old age. It worsens one by one, as you lose your companions. Yet at the same time, it seems to be a problem of adolescence, too, as youngsters tries to find their peeps. So loneliness can affect any age, and a new paper suggests the sources of loneliness change over time.
One of the issues in medical data, brought into sharp relief by the pandemic, is what is written on death certificates. For a while, the presumption of a COVID-19 infection without a positive culture was enough to get it listed as a cause of death –- possibly creating a bit of an over-count. But it is not just COVID-19 that is problematic.
A study early in the COVID-19 pandemic linked air pollution, especially smaller particles, to COVID-19's mortality. As it turns out, and as ACSH scientific advisor Dr. Fred Lipfert points out, the linkage is weak -- at best.