From taking a break to communicating with spouse, how women can ease mental burden of unpaid work during COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic forced a large part of the population to stay at and work from home. This, in turn, gave a lot of people a rare glimpse into what actually goes into maintaining a smooth-running household — the mind of the woman. Yes, the average woman — whether she is working from home or not — does a lot more work around the home, and does it both seamlessly and effortlessly. Or so it appears. Invisible labour and women’s role The fact is that while the extra labour a…

Read More

Unhealthy food at work may up risk of lifestyle ailments

Employees who purchase unhealthy food at office may indulge in such diet outside work as well, increasing their risk of lifestyle ailments such as obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease, a study suggests. A recently conducted study demonstrated that employees at a large urban hospital who purchased the least healthy food in its cafeteria were more likely to have an unhealthy diet outside of work, be overweight and obese. They also were more likely to have risk factors for diabetes and cardiovascular disease, compared to employees who made healthier purchases. These…

Read More

Guess who’s working on a health data-slurping digital tool. Bzzt! Nope, it’s the UK Department for Work and Pensions

The UK’s Department for Work and Pensions is drawing up plans for an internal service that allows it to automate slurps of medical data on claimants to dole out health-related benefits. In an ad posted on the UK’s Digital Marketplace, DWP said the work was currently in alpha and it now wanted a supplier to deliver a technical proof of concept to expose NHS data to the department’s systems. The aim, it said, is to cut down the time and cost involved in gathering information the department needs to make a…

Read More

Anti-depressants really do work, according to major new study

It’s hoped the latest research could help end any stigma about taking the medication   Scientists have finally concluded that anti-depressants work following the results of a major new study. According to the results – published in the Lancet – which analysed data from 522 trials involving 116,477 people, it was found 21 common anti-depressants were all more effective at reducing symptoms of acute depression than placebos. The authors of the report said it showed that many more people could benefit from the drugs, although the study also showed big differences in how effective…

Read More

There’s a reason why antidepressants don’t work for everyone

Researchers from University Medical Center Mainz and the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry in Germany developed a mouse model that allowed them to identify blood signatures associated with response to antidepressant treatment and could show the importance of the stress-related glucocorticoid receptor in recovery from depression. Major depression is the leading cause of disability according to the World Health Organization, affecting an estimated 350 million people worldwide, but only one-third of patients benefit from the first antidepressant prescribed. Although the currently available treatments are safe, there is significant variability in…

Read More

Check for Update Button on Pixel, Nexus Devices to Finally Work in 2018

HIGHLIGHTS Internal testing is underway, public release to happen in 2018 Latest version of Google Play Services required to get instant updates Feature not exclusive to Android Oreo The Check for update button on Pixel and Nexus devices has in recent times become a redundant feature, which ends up annoying users who love to press it despite knowing that it doesn’t really work. All that is set to change, for good, in 2018 when Google issues an update that puts the button to good use. Back in September, Googler Elliott Hughes had posted on Google+ that the Check…

Read More