Marcos Magaña
Marcos Magaña is an environment, health and science intern at the Los Angeles Times through the CDLS Environmental Justice and Science Journalism Fellowship. He was born and raised in the Eastern Coachella Valley, a predominantly agricultural desert region in Southern California. His academic work has focused on issues closely affecting his home community, including environmental justice, spatial inequality and climate vulnerability, with a handful of articles published or awaiting publication in academic journals. Currently, Magaña is pursuing his doctorate at UCLA's Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, where he is investigating the biosocial dimensions of extreme heat exposure in low-income and racialized communities, with a focus on desert geographies. Outside of work and school, he enjoys watching Dodger baseball with his fiancée and playing on his friends and families' slow-pitch softball team.
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Los Angeles Times
2 days ago
- Los Angeles Times
Marcos Magaña
Marcos Magaña is an environment, health and science intern at the Los Angeles Times through the CDLS Environmental Justice and Science Journalism Fellowship. He was born and raised in the Eastern Coachella Valley, a predominantly agricultural desert region in Southern California. His academic work has focused on issues closely affecting his home community, including environmental justice, spatial inequality and climate vulnerability, with a handful of articles published or awaiting publication in academic journals. Currently, Magaña is pursuing his doctorate at UCLA's Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, where he is investigating the biosocial dimensions of extreme heat exposure in low-income and racialized communities, with a focus on desert geographies. Outside of work and school, he enjoys watching Dodger baseball with his fiancée and playing on his friends and families' slow-pitch softball team.
San Francisco Chronicle
2 days ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Mental recovery from COVID often takes longer than physical healing, study finds
A new study from UCLA researchers has found that while people with COVID-19 symptoms typically recovered physically within three months, many continued to struggle with mental well-being for up to nine months. Even a year later, one in five participants still reported poor overall health. Published Tuesday in Open Forum Infectious Diseases, the study tracked more than 1,400 individuals who experienced COVID-like symptoms between December 2020 and August 2022. About 75% of the participants tested positive for the virus. Over a year, researchers surveyed them every three months on key aspects of health-related quality of life, including sleep, fatigue, cognitive function and social engagement. The findings revealed a significant gap between physical and mental recovery. While most participants regained physical health within the first three months, improvements in mental health — particularly in areas such as anxiety, depression and fatigue — progressed more slowly, with the most noticeable gains occurring between six and nine months after illness. 'The findings showed that health care professionals need to pay more attention to their patients' mental well-being after a COVID-19 infection and provide more resources that will help improve their mental health, in addition to their physical health,' said Lauren Wisk, co-lead author and assistant professor of medicine at UCLA. Participants fell into four health categories: optimal health, poor mental health, poor physical health and poor overall well-being. Among those with the worst outcomes, 42% identified as having long COVID — highlighting a strong connection between long COVID and lasting health struggles. Surprisingly, those who tested positive for COVID were slightly more likely to return to full health than those who tested negative. Researchers suggest this could be due to undiagnosed conditions or false-negative test results. "Future research should focus on how to improve the treatment models of care for patients who continue to experience COVID-19 symptoms and their impact on patients' quality of life, especially as 1-in-5 patients may continue to suffer over a year after their initial infection, which likely reflects long COVID," Wisk said.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Officials unleash surprising new weapon in fight against deadly mosquitoes in US: 'There's now evidence that it can be incorporated'
Officials in Southern California have come up with a plan to control an invasive mosquito species and the diseases they spread, the Los Angeles Times reported. Scientists at local vector districts – agencies responsible for controlling disease-carrying species – applied a technique that's been used on invasive insects since the 1950s. In 2023, one vector district released thousands of sterile male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes across select neighborhoods to study the effects, according to the LA Times. The results were clear. Populations of the species diminished by 33% in one year. The Aedes aegypti, also known as the yellow fever mosquito, is believed to have originated in sub-Saharan Africa. These bugs can only fly about 150 to 200 yards, but manage to travel internationally on freight ships and other methods of trade. They're considered invasive to other regions because they transmit diseases like yellow fever, dengue, and the Zika virus. Aedes aegypti are distributed primarily across tropical and subtropical areas throughout the world. But the black-and-white striped mosquitoes have now invaded the southern United States and, because of the planet's overheating, are moving to the north and west. Right now, the mosquitoes are present in more than a third of all counties in California. The idea behind the mission is simple. Male mosquitoes don't bite, and therefore can't spread disease to humans. Females are the primary culprits there. When the sterile males are released, the mosquitoes can still mate, but the females lay unfertilized eggs that don't hatch, decreasing the population size. Vector district officials found that releasing sterile male mosquitoes into the environment was incredibly effective. Last year, a local vector control agency for part of Los Angeles County began releasing 1,000 sterile males bi-weekly, bumping the numbers to 3,000 during peak season from August to November. "Many medium to smaller districts are now interested to use our approach," Solomon Birhanie, scientific director for West Valley Vector Control, told the LA Times. "Because there's now evidence that it can be incorporated into abatement programs without the need for hiring highly skilled personnel or demanding a larger amount of budget." Should we be actively working to kill invasive species? Absolutely It depends on the species I don't know No — leave nature alone Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
