I guess it worked

July 25, Washington Post: “The FDA must sprint, not stumble, on approving the Covid-19 vaccines”

July 30, Stat: “FDA, under pressure, plans ‘sprint’ to accelerate review of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine for full approval”

Sometimes it is lupus

But now there’s a new approved treatment (the first in 10 years): AstraZeneca’s anifromulab. It received FDA approval after the company tweaked the goalposts — showing that the drug improved all organs systems a bit, rather than a few organs a lot.

Burger time!

Everyone knows red meat is bad for you — certainly when compared to, say, chicken. You’re supposed to eat less of it for the sake of your heart.

But what if it wasn’t?

In fact, found an international group of nutrition researchers, there is no difference in cardiovascular risk (or death) between eating unprocessed red meat or eating chicken.

The key word, though, is “unprocessed.” Once you start adding preservatives — or curing/salting* it — well, then the risk jumps.

* And by “salting” we’re including yer nitrates, nitrites, potassium sorbate, sodium this and that, etc.

When a monkey is a herring

Turns out the whole monkeypox thing was just a red herring. After two weeks of monitoring everyone exposed to the guy who had it, there are no new cases.

CMV drug just doesn’t work

Pregnant women infected with the cytomegalovirus (CMV) — which can cause deafness and other birth defects — are often given hyperimmune globulin to prevent the virus from being transmitted to the fetus.

Turns out, it doesn’t work.

Duke researchers found that getting the therapy provided no benefit at all; the risk of transmission was virtually equal.

“We had hoped the therapy would show benefit, because we so desperately need something to address CMV infections. But knowing that this therapy is not effective is helpful. It’s a very expensive treatment — it costs thousands of dollars per infusion — and it has been used fairly aggressively around the country.”

Bambi is out to get us

Not only have white-tailed deer been shown to have been exposed to SARS-CoV-2, a full one-third of them have antibodies, according to a Canadian virologist. Not known: whether they can infect each other … or humans.

A little swish’ll do ya

Want to improve your performance? Get this: Rinsing your mouth with menthol mouthwash will do just that — “improve performance in moderate- and high-intensity exercises of ~20 to >60 min” according to Canadian sports researchers.

How so? They believe that cold receptors in the mouth activate the reward centers of the brain, especially “in hot conditions, at high core temperatures, and during cycling and running exercises.” So if you’re working hard — and only then — the mouthwash acts as a reward.

The Long Read: Footsteps to Follow edition

“The U.K.’s Delta Surge Is Collapsing. Will Ours?” Thanks to (maybe) a combination of vaccination of older people, nationwide contract tracing, and even the end of the European soccer championships, Britain’s Covid cases are plummeting. Could we be so lucky?