Running Nose Like Water

Starting on December 1, the CMA CGM Group will offer incentives to importers to pick up their containers from terminals at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach within eight days of their arrival. This early container pickup incentive program will run for 90 days and is intended to help improve fluidity at America's largest import gateway. Shippers who pick up their containers within the eight-day window will receive $100 per container for daytime weekday pickups and $200 per container for night and weekend pickups. CMA CGM says the incentive funds will "offset costs incurred by tensions on [customers'] supply chains." The company anticipates that it could pay out more than $22m in the program's 90 days. CMA CGM will also financially support the Fenix Marine Services terminal in expanding its hours of operation so that containers can be picked up day and night seven days a week. "The CMA CGM Group is committed to doing everything we can to assist in improvi...

A research team at Seoul National University Hospital (SNUH) has found an optimal concentration of atropine therapy for slowing down myopia in children. A group of researchers at Seoul National University Hospital have found an optimal concentration of atropine therapy for suppressing nearsightedness in children. The research team, led by Professors Kim Young-kook and Jung Jae-ho of the Department of Pediatric Ophthalmology, discovered that the 0.05 percent concentration of atropine showed the safest and most effective outcome in the study, the hospital said. Researchers analyzed existing atropine studies registered in academic databases, such as Pubmed, and comparative samples of 3,273 people who received atropine for at least a year. The study results revealed that those who received 1, 0.5, and 0.05 percent concentrations of atropine showed excellent therapeutic effects. In comparison, the 0.05 percent group was found to be the best option when considering sa...

So you've got a cough, runny nose and low-grade fever. You're feeling achy, sluggish and generally miserable. You took a COVID-19 test and, thankfully, it's negative. Congratulations, you've got a case of the common cold! There are more than 200 different virus strains out there that infect millions of people each year with the cold. While there's currently no way to treat or cure a cold, you can manage the symptoms. "If someone could come up with a cure for the common cold, you'd be a billionaire," said Dr. Ben Bring, a family medicine specialist at OhioHealth Dublin Methodist Hospital. People have been experimenting with homemade cold and flu remedies since the beginning of time. But how effective is grandma's chicken noodle soup, hot tea (or toddy) or herbal supplements at relieving your symptoms? The Dispatch talked with two local health professionals to get their take on some common, at-home cold an...

The pills must be given early in the course of infection, which means access to timely, accurate test results will be crucial. Before the end of the year, Americans who contract the coronavirus may be able to purchase an effective treatment on a trip to their neighborhood pharmacy. Two new antiviral pills — both of which have shown promise in preventing hospitalizations and deaths in people at high risk for severe Covid-19 — are currently being reviewed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. One of the drugs, developed by the pharmaceutical company Merck, could receive emergency authorization as early as this week. Another, made by Pfizer, is likely to be close behind. Although the drugs are not a replacement for vaccination, they could drastically expand access to treatments for a disease that is still killing 1,000 Americans a day. But the pills, which interfere with viral replication, are designed to be taken as soon as possible after symptoms appear. Fully harnessing their benef...

Nasal polyps are soft, usually benign growths inside the nasal or sinus passageways caused by chronic inflammation. People with allergies or frequent rhinosinusitis (inflammation of the nasal cavity and sinuses) commonly suffer from nasal polyps. The increase in sinus pressure from nasal polyps can affect the Eustachian tube, which in turn disrupts balance and equilibrium, causing dizziness, or vertigo. This article discusses dizziness associated with nasal polyps. JGI / Tom Grill / Getty Images Sinus Pressure Sinus pressure is best described as pain and a feeling of fullness in the face. Headaches and toothaches are common with sinus pressure. Inflammation of the mucous membranes in the nasal and sinus passageways can cause sinus pressure, but nasal polyps exacerbate this by taking up space and pressing on important structures in and around the nasal passageways and sinuses. One important structure that may be affected is the auditory tube. ...

COVID-19 patients on an antidepressant were less likely to die from the infection, a retrospective study found. Compared with patients not on an antidepressant, patients with COVID-19 who were taking a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) had a modest but significant 8% reduced risk of death (relative risk 0.92, 95% CI 0.85-0.99, P =0.03), reported Marina Sirota, PhD, of the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), and colleagues. Overall, 14.6% of patients (497 of 3,401) on an SSRI died from COVID-19 versus 16.6% (1,130 of 6,802) of patients who never had a history of taking an SSRI, the researchers wrote in the study online in JAMA Network Open . Interestingly, though, this protective mortality benefit was more pronounced when the team looked specifically at patients on fluoxetine (Prozac). COVID-19 patients treated only with fluoxetine had a 28% reduced risk of death compared with non-treated controls (9.8% vs 13.3%, RR 0.72, 95% CI 0.54-0.97). Similarly, the...

Whether you go on a bingeing spree during the festive season or simply overeat your favourite dish, you definitely don't want to upset your stomach. However, if you face stomach cramps or any other sort of discomfort in your tummy, do not overlook it. While people usually go for over-the-counter medicines for tummy aches, there are home remedies too. Life coach Luke Coutinho shares one such home remedy in a recent social media post. He shows us the benefit of a homemade brew made with easily available Indian spices and condiments. If you want a harmless solution to stomach pain, this recipe is for just you. Also Read:  Add These Two Ingredients In Cumin (Jeera) Water To Keep Bloating At Bay Jeera-Saunf Water For Stomach Pain: Luke suggests a bunch of five simple ingredients for this quick recipe. Here is the list: 1 tsp of jeera or cumin. 1 tsp saunf or fennel seeds 4 peppercorns 3 cloves A pinch of ajwain Water How To Make Jeera-Saunf W...

My rich and complex history with hormones started at age 15, when I turned to various estrogen and progestin combos to control painful periods. I was experiencing acute hepatic porphyria (AHP) symptoms brought on by my monthly cycle, but it took years to get to the real source of the problem. I also had to scrap birth control options, many of which are listed as "unsafe" for people with acute porphyria on the American Porphyria Foundation's Drug Safety Database, but that's another story. I still have painful periods. I can time AHP attacks by my monthly cycle. I experience as many as two flares per month, starting around ovulation and again on the days leading up to my cycle. Hormone fluctuations are a common trigger in women my age with AHP, and some will have multiple attacks each year around their cycle. Frequently prescribed to prevent these flares is Lupron (leuprolide), a medication that will induce a state of menopause in women. Recommended Reading ...

Annals of Medicine Could One Shot Kill the Flu? Illustration by Nicholas Konrad / The New Yorker In 2009, global health officials started tracking a new kind of flu. It appeared first in Mexico, in March, and quickly infected thousands. Influenza tends to kill the very young and the very old, but this flu was different. It seemed to be severely affecting otherwise healthy young adults. American epidemiologists soon learned of cases in California, Texas, and Kansas. By the end of April, the virus had reached a high school in Queens, where a few kids, returning from a trip to Mexico, had infected a third of the student body. The Mexican government closed its schools and banned large gatherings, and the U.S. considered doing the same. "It was a very scary situation," Richard Besser, who was then the acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told me. Early estimates suggested that the "swine flu," as the new strain became known, killed as many a...