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An international research team has found that despite being the world’s leading cause of pain, disability and healthcare expenditure, the prevention and management of musculoskeletal health, including conditions such as low back pain, fractures, arthritis and osteoporosis, is globally under-prioritised and have devised an action plan to address this gap.

Project lead, Professor Andrew Briggs from Curtin University said more than 1.5 billion people lived with a musculoskeletal condition in 2019, which was 84 per cent more than in 1990, and despite many ‘calls to action’ and an ever-increasing ageing population, health systems continue to under-prioritise these conditions and their rehabilitation requirements.

“One of the limiting factors to reform efforts is that no global-level strategic response to the burden of disability has been developed – until now. This novel data-driven initiative will be critical to guiding global-level work in health reform, such as that undertaken by the World Health Organization,”

Diversity supports scientific innovation and education. Yet, diversity remains a significant challenge for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields.

Despite making up 30% of the U.S. population, racial and ethnic minorities account for only 9% of STEM PhD recipients.

Increasing diversity in STEM programs is an important research priority. It can help ensure underserved populations or those with significant health disparities benefit from health research.

UConn Health professor of cell biology Kimberly Dodge-Kafka is leading a summer research program to mentor undergraduate students from underrepresented populations. The goal of this program is to inspire and encourage these students to pursue graduate studies and research careers in biological sciences.

This program is supported by a $138,000 grant from the American Heart Association.

“Science benefits from diversity,” Dodge-Kafka says. “To help build a sustainable future for research that truly represents society, universities as well as national funding agencies must encourage participation

A coronavirus variant known as “lambda” is gaining the attention of health officials as it spreads around the world.

The variant, also known as C.37, was first detected in Peru in August 2020, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). On June 14, the agency designated C.37 a global “variant of interest,” or VOI, and named it lambda.

VOI means the variant is increasingly showing up in communities and has mutations that are predicted to have some effect on viral characteristics, such as increased transmissibility. In contrast, officials use the term “variant of concern,” or VOC, once reliable data shows that the variant has increased transmissibility — such as what’s been seen with the delta variant — or other worrying features.

Related: 20 of the worst epidemics and pandemics in history

So far, lambda has been detected in 29 countries, with high levels of spread in South American countries.

Women with urinary incontinence report higher rates of depression and lower levels of self-worth than those who don’t suffer with the condition, according to recent research presented today at the European Association of Urology congress, EAU21.

The team behind the study are urging clinicians to ask women with incontinence about their mental health and to offer potential treatments.

Female urinary incontinence is a common disorder, particularly among older women, but there has been very little research into its impact on women’s mental health.

Margarida Manso and colleagues at the University Hospital Centre of São João drew on data from a population-based survey run by the Portuguese Health Ministry every five years, which asks respondents about various aspects of health and wellbeing. They analysed the responses of around 10,000 women aged 18 or above, comparing the prevalence of depression diagnosis, use of mental health consultations, dimensions of mental health disease and

Editor’s Note: COVID-19 (New Coronavirus Infection) Fact Checking is a series in which we talk to doctors and ask burning questions about everything related to them. COVID-19 (New Coronavirus Infection) – From treatment to vaccines and diagnosis.

If Shakespeare was alive, he would say, “It doesn’t matter if you get it,” because he’s rushing to vaccinate people.

Recently, German Chancellor Angela Merkel Moderna vaccine As her second dose after receiving the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine.

The German Immunization Standing Committee (STIKO) advice People “regardless of age” who received the AstraZeneca vaccine as the first shot and the mRNA vaccine as the second shot.

Canada’s National Advisory Board on Immunization (NACI) Recommended combination vaccine “The mRNA vaccine is currently preferred as the second dose for individuals who receive the first dose of the AstraZeneca / Covishield vaccine,”

How can we communicate scientific uncertainty? Can the use of humor,
serious games and arts help us to make science more understandable? What
can we do to communicate scientific processes in a more transparent
way?

These and more questions were discussed at the WHO global
conference on communicating science during health emergencies, which
took place virtually from 7 to 25 June 2021. In a world marked by the
COVID-19 pandemic, everybody has become a science communicator – may it
be at work, the dinner table or on social media. The conference convened
professional and every-day science communicators from a broad range of
disciplines to identify the challenges they encountered during the
pandemic and find solutions to make science accessible and relevant to
all.

The public opening of the conference featured five renown
keynote speakers from academia and practice. Their presentations

Another, more expansive study last year of almost 5,000 middle-aged men and women of various ethnicities likewise found that 10,000 steps a day are not a requirement for longevity. In that study, people who walked for about 8,000 steps a day were half as likely to die prematurely from heart disease or any other cause as those who accumulated 4,000 steps a day. The statistical benefits of additional steps were slight, meaning it did not hurt people to amass more daily steps, up to and beyond the 10,000-steps mark. But the extra steps did not provide much additional protection against dying young, either.

Realistically, few of us reach that 10,000-step goal, anyway. According to recent estimates, most adults in America, Canada and other Western nations average fewer than 5,000 steps a day.

And if we do reach the 10,000-step target, our feat tends to be ephemeral. A famous

In this time of transition, we’re back with our annual list of health, medicine, and science books to check out this summer — and this time we’ve thrown podcasts in the mix, too.

Read on for recommendations from the likes of Anthony Fauci, Rochelle Walensky, and Chelsea Clinton. Plus, STAT readers from New York to Sweden share their picks, in addition to our staff. Enjoy!

SEE SUGGESTIONS FROM:    NOTABLE FIGURES   |  OUR READERS   |  OUR STAFF

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“The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race”
By Walter Issacson
I recommend it because this captivating book provided clear and accessible explanations of the scientific discovery of CRISPR-Cas9 and its remarkable power as a gene editing tool, interwoven with the complex human stories of Jennifer Doudna and her relationships with the many other accomplished scientists who brought it all together.
— Anthony Fauci, director of