Vaping warning over 'popcorn lung' risk as there is 'no cure'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
4 hours ago
- The Guardian
US pediatric organization diverges from CDC in Covid-19 vaccine advisory for children
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is urging that children as young as six months and up to 23 months old receive the Covid-19 vaccine – a position that diverges from the current federal guidance given by the Trump administration's health agencies. The AAP released its updated childhood immunization schedule, which outlines recommendations for vaccines against Covid-19, influenza and RSV for individuals under 18. 'It differs from recent recommendations of the advisory committee on immunization practices of the CDC, which was overhauled this year and replaced with individuals who have a history of spreading vaccine misinformation,' the organization said in a statement. The announcement follows a decision from health and human services secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr in late May to halt CDC recommendations for healthy children to receive the Covid-19 vaccine. Previously, the CDC advised vaccination for everyone six months and older with the latest available dose. The CDC currently advises that Covid-19 vaccinations for children aged six months through 17 years should be determined through 'shared clinical decision-making'. The AAP recommends vaccination for anyone under 18 who is at higher risk of serious illness from Covid-19, resides in a longterm care or congregate living facility, has not previously been vaccinated, or shares a household with someone at elevated risk. 'The academy has been making pediatric immunization recommendations since the 1930s, that has not changed,' Dr Susan Kressly, president of the AAP, told ABC News. 'But what has changed is that this year, we're doing it in the environment of misinformation, which makes it more important than ever that we provide clear and confident guidance, because the majority of American families really depend on us for this guidance.' AAP says infants and toddlers between six and 23 months face the greatest risk for severe outcomes from Covid-19 and vaccination offers protection against serious illness. Even as medical groups continue to disagree with federal agencies, insurers often base coverage on guidelines from the CDC's advisory committee on immunization practices (ACIP). If ACIP declines to endorse a vaccine, families may have to pay out of pocket, and the shot may not be provided through the federally funded Vaccines for Children program. Kennedy's restructured vaccine panel has maintained support for annual flu shots but voted to limit them to single-dose formulations without the preservative thimerosal. The AAP, however, maintains that the preservative poses no risk and said physicians should administer any approved flu vaccine suitable for the patient.
The Guardian
4 hours ago
- The Guardian
US pediatric organization diverges from CDC in Covid-19 vaccine advisory for children
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is urging that children as young as six months and up to 23 months old receive the Covid-19 vaccine – a position that diverges from the current federal guidance given by the Trump administration's health agencies. The AAP released its updated childhood immunization schedule, which outlines recommendations for vaccines against Covid-19, influenza and RSV for individuals under 18. 'It differs from recent recommendations of the advisory committee on immunization practices of the CDC, which was overhauled this year and replaced with individuals who have a history of spreading vaccine misinformation,' the organization said in a statement. The announcement follows a decision from health and human services secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr in late May to halt CDC recommendations for healthy children to receive the Covid-19 vaccine. Previously, the CDC advised vaccination for everyone six months and older with the latest available dose. The CDC currently advises that Covid-19 vaccinations for children aged six months through 17 years should be determined through 'shared clinical decision-making'. The AAP recommends vaccination for anyone under 18 who is at higher risk of serious illness from Covid-19, resides in a longterm care or congregate living facility, has not previously been vaccinated, or shares a household with someone at elevated risk. 'The academy has been making pediatric immunization recommendations since the 1930s, that has not changed,' Dr Susan Kressly, president of the AAP, told ABC News. 'But what has changed is that this year, we're doing it in the environment of misinformation, which makes it more important than ever that we provide clear and confident guidance, because the majority of American families really depend on us for this guidance.' AAP says infants and toddlers between six and 23 months face the greatest risk for severe outcomes from Covid-19 and vaccination offers protection against serious illness. Even as medical groups continue to disagree with federal agencies, insurers often base coverage on guidelines from the CDC's advisory committee on immunization practices (ACIP). If ACIP declines to endorse a vaccine, families may have to pay out of pocket, and the shot may not be provided through the federally funded Vaccines for Children program. Kennedy's restructured vaccine panel has maintained support for annual flu shots but voted to limit them to single-dose formulations without the preservative thimerosal. The AAP, however, maintains that the preservative poses no risk and said physicians should administer any approved flu vaccine suitable for the patient.
The Independent
8 hours ago
- The Independent
Researchers discovered by accident a possible alternative to LASIK surgery
LASIK eye surgery has been performed successfully in the U.S. since the late 90s, helping nearly 40 million patients to improve their vision through a procedure that cuts into the eye using lasers. Some 600,000 of the Food and Drug Administration-approved surgeries are carried out on American adults each year. Now, researchers say they have come up with an alternative method that wouldn't need invasive incisions and could be cheaper. It uses a process called electromechanical reshaping, which helps to reshape the cornea using electrical current. The cornea is a dome-shaped, clear structure at the front of the eye that helps us to process images. Irregularly shaped corneas are the cause of nearsighted and farsighted vision and astigmatism, and LASIK fixes that by burning away tissue to reshape it. 'The whole effect was discovered by accident,' Brian Wong, a professor and surgeon at the University of California, Irvine, explained in a statement. 'I was looking at living tissues as moldable materials and discovered this whole process of chemical modification.' While the work is in its early stages, it could offer an alternative to LASIK. Although the surgery has been safely performed for nearly 30 years with rare complications, it has some limitations and risks. The surgeons say that cutting the cornea compromises the structural integrity of the eye. This procedure has yet to be performed in humans, but researchers previously used electromechanical reshaping to alter scars and skin in pigs and reshape cartilage-rich rabbit ears. Working with rabbit eyeballs, they constructed platinum 'contact lenses' that served as a template for the corrected shape of the cornea, placing them over a rabbit eyeball in a saline solution meant to mimic natural tears. After about a minute following a small electric charge to the lens, the cornea's curvature conformed to the shape of the lens. That happened in the same amount of time as LASIK, with fewer steps, no incisions, and less expensive equipment. Then, they repeated the step on 12 other rabbit eyeballs. Of those dozen, 10 were treated as if they had nearsighted vision, and the researchers found success. In others, they saw that their technique might be able to reverse some chemical-caused cloudiness to the cornea, which is currently only treatable through a complete transplant of the cornea. In the future, the researchers are planning tests on living rabbits, and looking at far-sightedness and astigmatism. Uncertainties in the team's scientific funding have put those plans on hold, but Michael Hill, a professor of chemistry at Occidental College, will present their findings this week at the fall meeting of the American Chemical Society. 'There's a long road between what we've done and the clinic. But, if we get there, this technique is widely applicable, vastly cheaper and potentially even reversible,' said Hill.
