News about PaperPanda, Open Access, and Research
The human mind, it seems, is a very powerful thing. According to a new study involving over 45,000 patients, most of the adverse reactions people experienced after having a COVID-19 vaccination could be due to the nocebo effect. The nocebo effect is a bit like the ‘evil twin’ of the placebo effect, occurring when … Read more
For female patients, operation outcomes tend to be significantly better when their surgeon is also female, recent research out of Canada has found. No one really knows why that is just yet, but a new model comparing the sex of the surgeon, the sex of the patient, and the outcomes of the surgery have now revealed an … Read more
Women vaccinated against COVID-19 saw a slight delay in their period of almost a day compared to those who were unvaccinated, a US government-funded study said Thursday. But the number of days of bleeding was not affected, according to the research carried out on nearly 4,000 individuals and published in Obstetrics & Gynecology. Lead … Read more
There are a lot of unexplained objects out there in the Universe, and astronomers have just found another one – a strange, dusty object that may be causing its host star to dim by up to 75 percent. Often, when we see something block out the light of its star it’s an exoplanet or … Read more
US life expectancy dropped by 1.8 years in 2020, final official figures showed Wednesday, the steepest drop in more than 75 years driven in large part by the COVID-19 pandemic. Life expectancy at birth was 77.0 years for the total US population last year, down from 78.8 years in 2019, according to the Centers … Read more
The world’s first injectable medication to reduce the risk of acquiring HIV has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the agency announced Monday (December 20). The injectable drug – called Apretude or its generic name, “cabotegravir extended-release injectable suspension” – provides an alternative to daily pills for HIV prevention, such as Truvada and Descovy. These pills are … Read more
For people with post-traumatic stress disorder, recalling memories of physical or sexual assault, combat or disaster-related events can induce intense anxiety or panic attacks as well as debilitating flashbacks. In the US, about seven percent of people suffer from PTSD and lose an average of about four working days each month as a result. … Read more
Two doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine shot offered about 70 percent protection against hospitalization during a recent surge in Omicron cases in South Africa, preliminary real-world data found. This was a drop from about 92 percent in a previous Delta wave, the researchers from Discovery Health, South Africa’s largest insurer and South Africa’s Medical Research Council, said … Read more
The replicability of scientific studies is under the microscope like never before: scientists are increasingly examining just how many studies can be repeated with the same results a second or third time around. If a study doesn’t pass the so-called replication test, that casts some doubt over the findings; newly published investigations are now indicating … Read more
As extreme weather events in Canada and around the world are linked to human-made climate change, there is one story that continues to be left out: the connection between climate change and the products we purchase. Recent research shows that across a product’s life cycle – from raw material extraction through manufacturing, distribution, use … Read more