Month: October 2021

By Annie Berman Updated: 55 minutes ago Published: 1 day ago Alaska on Friday reported four more COVID-19 deaths, just over 800 new cases of the virus and yet another day of high hospitalizations. The deaths involved two Anchorage men in their 50s and 70s, respectively, along with a Nome man in his 60s and a Soldotna man in his 80s or older. Transmission of the virus appears to have plateaued somewhat over the past six to eight weeks, but case counts, hospitalizations and deaths statewide have remained stubbornly elevated, even as cases around the country have begun to fall. Alaska’s seven-day case rate remains the highest among U.S. states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. By Friday, there were at least 220 people hospitalized with COVID-19. In facilities, ...

For the first time, researchers have used human data to quantify the speed of different processes that lead to Alzheimer’s disease and found that it develops in a very different way than previously thought. Their results could have important implications for the development of potential treatments. The international team, led by the University of Cambridge, found that instead of starting from a single point in the brain and initiating a chain reaction that leads to the death of brain cells, Alzheimer’s disease reaches different regions of the brain early. How quickly the disease kills cells in these regions, through the production of toxic protein clusters, limits how quickly the disease progresses overall. The researchers used post-mortem brain samples from Alzheimer’s patien...

As Halloween kicks off the holiday season, officials are hoping not to see a surge in COVID cases as people travel and gather in numbers not seen since the pandemic began. (Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times)After months of significant declines, California's new weekly coronavirus cases and hospitalizations have plateaued just as the critical holiday season approaches. The state's coronavirus transmission rate has long been among the lowest in the country, and officials hope vaccine requirements and other safety rules will prevent another spike in cases and deaths this winter. But the arrival of Halloween will kick off a packed slate of fall-and-winter festivities, tempting many residents to travel and gather in numbers not seen since before the pandemic. Combine that with cooler weather incr...