"What we found, again and again, was that these patients were not treatment resistant in any meaningful psychiatric sense. Their brains were being starved of blood. The sympathetic system was failing to move blood upward, or the parasympathetic system was dilating vessels at exactly the wrong moment, or both. Once you measure the two branches independently and correct the specific imbalance, the so-called depression lifts, not because we treated depression, but because we treated the physiology that was masquerading as depression"

Nearly half of the study cohort (48.3 percent) had been diagnosed with long- or post-COVID syndrome, a population now recognized as a vast and troubled reservoir of autonomic dysfunction.

https://www.news-medical.net/news/20260331/Treating-autonomic-dysfunction-can-relieve-symptoms-of-treatment-resistant-depression.aspx

If you're asking for feedback, conducting interviews, or otherwise consensually collecting potentially-identifying information from marginalized folk, please use a fully-encrypted and/or self-hosted method of communication

For example, Tuta, Cryptpad, Delta Chat are examples of legitimately free and reputable tools that can replace Google, Microsoft, Zoom, et al

Don't induce someone into taking unnecessary, avoidable risks -- especially when you're asking for their help

Exposure to a chemical commonly used to make plastic more flexible may have contributed to about 1.97 million preterm births in 2018 alone, or more than 8 percent of the world's total, a new analysis of population surveys shows. The chemical was also linked to the deaths of 74,000 newborns, the researchers further estimate.

The toxin, di-2-ethylhexylphthalate (DEHP), is part of a group of chemicals called phthalates, which appear in cosmetics, detergents, bug repellents, and other household products. Experts have found that these substances can break down into microscopic particles and enter the body through food, air, and dust.

https://www.news-medical.net/news/20260331/Plastic-chemicals-linked-to-nearly-two-million-premature-births.aspx

...when mice breathe in [quaternary ammonium compound] doses at levels that harm their lungs, the amount of these chemicals that ends up in their blood is similar to QAC levels found in human blood. This suggests that breathing in these chemicals - such as from spray cleaners - may be one way they enter the human body.
https://www.news-medical.net/news/20260330/Breathing-in-common-disinfectant-chemicals-may-be-more-harmful-than-oral-ingestion.aspx

The average overall [indoors] survival time of Gulf Coast ticks was about 18 days, and for lone star ticks, 11 days. The longest survival time for Gulf Coast ticks was an average of 25 days on vinyl and the shortest, 10 days on long-pile carpet. Average survival time of lone star ticks was the longest, almost 15 days, on long-pile carpet and shortest on tile – about seven days.
https://www.news-medical.net/news/20260327/Ticks-can-survive-for-up-to-three-weeks-inside-homes.aspx

#tick #arachnids

Imagine thinking there's a delineation between someone's search index and LLM training material.

My siblings in the third decade of the third millenium CE, if you end up in the former, there's no way you're not also the latter.

One of the great strengths of the software that powers the fediverse is the ability to curate our feed(s) without algorithmic interference. The more tools we have to do this, the better.

Would you use the ability to add one or more hashtags to a list?

:mastodon:

#hashtags #mastodon #lists

A team at Kumamoto University, led by Associate Professor Shingo Ito, has now developed a promising solution. Their approach uses a cyclic peptide that can pass through the small intestine, known as the DNP peptide. This platform allows insulin to be delivered orally in a way that was not previously possible.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/03/260324024302.htm

Say what you want about this write up, but the study authors they're highlighting said the most important thing out loud..👇

avoiding SARS-CoV-2 infection is the only way to prevent long COVID so far

https://www.news-medical.net/news/20260323/Study-highlights-neurological-and-psychiatric-impacts-of-long-COVID.aspx

A 75-year-old Japanese woman could expect, on average, 10.4 "healthy" years (years without formal care) and 5.1 years with elder care. The corresponding figures for a Swedish woman were 9.9 years without care and 3.8 years with care.

For men, the differences were small, with an average of 9.8 healthy life years in Japan compared to 9.6 in Sweden, and 2.2 years with elder care in Japan compared to 2.1 years in Sweden.

Japan lives longer, but why? Study points to lower death rates in elder care https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-japan-longer-death-elder.html

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-026-04786-z

0s is quite overspec'd for our current workload; I dunno if there's a size of account that'd be problematic to have join us, but I feel like it'd have to be pretty gargantuan and pretty active.

# canada:zeroes.ca -- a group chat room for all things maple-flavoUred, eh

:canada: :matrix: 🗪

#Matrix

It may seem intimidating, but let me assure you that you could absolutely run a fediverse¹ instance for you and a few friends / family members. And although it's gotten a bit more expensive in the past month, getting your hands on a VPS in a Canadian datacentre and a .ca² domain is still very reasonably priced.

If you're interested in such a thing but don't know where to start, I'll gladly act as sherpa, gratis.

--
¹GoToSocial, Mastodon, Glitchsoc, Sharkey, etc

².ca is one of the cheapest, but you can use any top-level domain; eg .com, .cc, .social, etc

Each Stressful Person in Your Life May Age You by Months, Study Finds

https://www.sciencealert.com/each-stressful-person-in-your-life-may-age-you-by-months-study-finds

This society hates the sick and disabled, and it definitely hates mask-wearing people who remind them they could become sick and disabled through the air they breathe at any time.

https://janetgunter.net/willful-ignorance

#LongCovidAwarenessDay

'killer' T cells, immune players that can destroy viral pathogens, are more abundant in MS patients. What's more, some of these killer T cells appear to be specifically tuned to EBV.

"Looking at these understudied CD8+ T cells connects a lot of different dots and gives us a new window on how EBV is likely contributing to this disease," says neurologist Joe Sabatino at UCSF.

https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-discover-new-evidence-a-common-virus-helps-trigger-ms

🔗 New method estimates Epstein-Barr virus in blood using standard genome sequencing data https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-method-epstein-barr-virus-blood.html

🔗 Sleep loss triggers brain fluid pulses that impair attention

The multimodal study leveraged data from 26 healthy adults and found that when sleep-deprived individuals experience lapses in attention, their brains undergo a coordinated shift in physiology involving neural activity, blood flow, and pupil diameter.

Most notably, the study found that these lapses are synchronized with sleep-like large-amplitude low-frequency oscillatory cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) waves typically seen predominantly during sleep.

https://www.news-medical.net/news/20260216/Sleep-loss-triggers-brain-fluid-pulses-that-impair-attention-study-finds.aspx

@maskup
:aura:
👇

Hey all, we don't usually do such a call out but we're now on Open Collective and low on funds! Any and all donations add up and make a difference as we try and finish fulfilling the backlog of winter requests for masks and tests - and they can be one-off or recurring. Thanks in advance!
https://opencollective.com/sheffieldmaskbloc

https://todon.eu/@sheffieldmaskbloc/116057742349108959
via @sheffieldmaskbloc

what the Fediverse is, is a place to have conversations online without algorithms, AI, and ads getting in the way...algorithm-free, ad-free, AI-free conversations

https://gts.sadauskas.id.au/@aj/statuses/01KHCQFQVEXJKWT7X2HEH5WW1H