Cogent – Curated – Updated || Since 1999 || Information you need-produced by humans
We live in a very unequal society in the United States. Many have pointed this out for years and the COVID-19 pandemic has starkly illustrated this inequality. The poor, the sick, the old, the young, those who are “different”, those with little political power, and on and on … these people have borne the brunt for decades. These people have seen little benefit from economic…
See more
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) causes COVID-19 and is spread person-to-person through close contact. This review investigated the effects of physical distance, face masks, and eye protection on virus transmission in health-care and non-health-care settings. The review covered “172 observational studies in health-care and non-health-care settings across 16 countries and six continents; 44 comparative studies were included in a meta-analysis, including 25 697 patients…
See more
We know that sleep is vital for humans. Lack of sleep, sleep disruption, changes in sleep habits, and more can lead to real problems–physical and mental. For example, we know that not getting enough sleep leads to millions of lost work days and a huge annual economic loss … a problem especially severe in the United States. And, we know that sleep disruption and lack…
See more
“Cumulus clouds make a significant contribution to the Earth’s energy balance and hydrological [water] cycle and are a major source of uncertainty in climate projections.” Sikma, M., & Jordi Vilà‐Guerau, d. A. (2019). Substantial reductions in cloud cover and moisture transport by dynamic plant responses. Geophysical Research Letters, 46(3), 1870-1878. [PDF] [Cited by] “With an average daily occurrence of around 25% in midlatitude and tropical…
See moreWhite, M. P., Pahl, S., Ashbullby, K., Herbert, S., & Depledge, M. H. (2013). Feelings of restoration from recent nature visits. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 35, 40-51. [Cited by] “Exposure to natural environments can help restore depleted emotional and cognitive resources. However, investigation of the relative impacts of different natural environments among large samples is limited. Using data from 4255 respondents drawn from Natural England’s…
See more
Tribalism is the possession of an identity (cultural, ethnic, national, etc.) that divides a member of one group from members of another group. The identity can be based on residence, membership in political parties, skin color, ethnic background, religion, occupation, income level, mental health status, gender, age, health status … all the way to support of different sports teams. There are in-groups and out-groups. We…
See moreMany governments have recommended social distancing guidelines of 6 feet (about 2 meters). A study using surface and air samples obtained in February and early March 2020 “from an intensive care unit (ICU) and a general COVID-19 ward [GW] at Huoshenshan Hospital in Wuhan, China” came to a different conclusion–a maximum transmission distance of about 13 feet. “The main transmission routes for SARS-CoV-2 [COVID-19] are…
See moreAnother look at the association between the number of steps taken per day and health–as measured by the incidence of disease and death. “It is unclear whether the number of steps per day and the intensity of stepping are associated with lower mortality. Design, Setting, and Participants: Representative sample of US adults aged at least 40 years in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey…
See moreWhat can we learn from the past about what we are facing and may face with COVID-19? An increasingly good comparison is the 1918-1919 influenza pandemic (see — 100 years later, we are even more vulnerable to an influenza pandemic). Based on that comparison, we could see a scenario like this — “As America enters this utterly unfamiliar territory, some experts have turned to history…
See moreWhat is the impact of COVID-19 on children? Can children get the disease? If they do, how severe are the symptoms? What does research tell us so far? OBJECTIVES: To identify the epidemiological characteristics and transmission patterns of pediatric patients with COVID-19 in China. METHODS: Nationwide case series of 2143 pediatric patients with COVID-19 reported to the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention from…
See more