It used to be common for physicians to give common-sense advice to patients; lose weight, drink less alcohol, stop smoking.

Such shaming may reflect an unequal power relationship, according to a paper in Humanities and Social Sciences Communications which also argues that such shame may create a barrier to accessing services, a fear of being judged, circumstances, coping behaviors, body, illnesses, along with other vulnerabilities.

Data from 513 households and 2,053 people participating in the Coronavirus Household Evaluation and Respiratory Testing (C-HEaRT) study from August 2020 to August 2021 in Utah and from September 2020 to August 2021 in New York City, plus data from the SARS-CoV-2 Epidemiology And Response in Children (SEARCh) study in Maryland, with data collected from November 2020 to October 2021, reveal that isolating from infected family members (separate room) and getting a vaccine helped prevent  severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections.

If you are in a business where costs are both fixed and high, but your number of customers is slashed due to government regulations and public concern about leaving the house, it may not be worthwhile to continue. In more heavy-handed states like California, thousands of restaurants went out of business. In some places, so did doctors.

In the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, doctors faced reduced revenue, staff who stopped wanting to work, and decreased morale, according to an analysis of billing claims data. The work found that nearly twice as many family physicians stopped work in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic compared to previous years.

Land mammals such as horses experience ‘pulses’ in their blood when galloping, where blood pressures inside the body go up and down on every stride. In all mammals, average blood pressure is higher in arteries, or the blood exiting the heart, than in veins. This difference in pressure drives the blood flow in the body, including through the brain. Locomotion can forcefully move blood, causing spikes in pressure, or ‘pulses’ to the brain.

The difference in pressure between the blood entering and exiting the brain for these pulses can cause damage. Long-term damage of this kind can lead to dementia in human beings while horses deal with the pulses by breathing in and out.

A recent survey found that even if the cost was 10X as much (though still a small amount), users would pay more if they liked the feel of a smartphone cover. This means designers might benefit more factoring that into product design.

The caveat; this was a small number of students and Hiroshima University staff so not representative even of Japan. Still, it showed willingness to pay more when the reference smartphone cover price was 100 yen and 1000 yen. The covers were differentiated by surface smoothness, height, slipperiness, dampness, granularity, stickiness, and dryness.

What correlation giveth, correlation can taketh away. Statins, taken by some 40 million Americans, may not be helping a lot of them.

Statins are used to lower cholesterol levels and reduce their risk of heart disease and stroke. They are endorsed by medical groups and the American Heart Association, but many won't benefit from these drugs based on new research. Basically, healthy people with high cholesterol aren't gaining anything.