Signs of Alzheimer’s were everywhere. Then his brain improved
Blood biomarkers of telltale signs of early Alzheimer’s disease in the brain of his patient, 55-year-old entrepreneur Simon Nicholls, had all but disappeared in a mere 14 months.
The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases attributed to the highly contagious Delta variant jumped 66 per cent in Canada this week.
Canada's chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam said as of Friday there are just over 2,000 confirmed cases of the variant.
Just three days ago, the Public Health Agency told The Canadian Press there were 1,187 confirmed cases.
"The Delta variant is now in all provinces and at least one of our territories," Tam said at the House of Commons health committee.
"Of course, as with all coronavirus cases, we may not know every single case that has occurred in Canada, hence my warning of precaution and the need to get two doses of vaccine into as many people as possible."
The variant was first identified in India but has now become the dominant strain in the United Kingdom where it is spreading rapidly, mostly among unvaccinated people.
It is believed to be at least 1.5 times as contagious as the Alpha variant first identified in the U.K. Alpha is, for now, the dominant variant in Canada, with more than 216,000 cases confirmed.
Public Health England reported Friday the number of confirmed Delta cases in the U.K. had grown 80 per cent in the last week, to almost 76,000. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson had to delay plans to fully lift all public health restrictions next week, with plans to keep the final limitations in place at least another month.
Tam says the variant is a concern because one dose of vaccine isn't as effective against it and it underscores the need for Canada to keep picking up the pace on second doses.
Two doses of the vaccines Canada is using are believed to offer very good protection against Delta, and even one dose has been found to be good at preventing serious illness.
All provinces are warning against the existence of Delta. It is believed to be the driver of a major outbreak at the Kashechewan First Nation in northern Ontario, is involved in an outbreak at a Calgary hospital, and is worrying health officials in Waterloo, Ont., which is suddenly the province's COVID-19 hot spot.
Data on the variant in Canada, however, is limited and it hasn't yet been added to the Health Canada website reporting variant cases. Only Alpha, Beta (the B. 1.351 variant identified in South Africa, and Gamma (the P. 1 variant first identified in Brazil), are listed on Canada's website.
That site also hasn't adjusted the names to use the Greek alphabet now preferred by the World Health Organization. A spokeswoman for Health Canada told The Canadian Press in early June that Delta would be added to it in "the coming weeks."
When asked again this week, the same answer was provided.
Dr. Howard Njoo, the deputy chief public health officer, said data gathering on the variant hasn't been easy and there is a lag in reporting.
"There are obviously some issues we need to work on," he said, noting there "are probably more cases" than we have seen reported.
He said, however, the data provinces and territories do have suggest most of the Delta cases are being found in people who aren't vaccinated.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 18, 2021.
Blood biomarkers of telltale signs of early Alzheimer’s disease in the brain of his patient, 55-year-old entrepreneur Simon Nicholls, had all but disappeared in a mere 14 months.
Testimony in the hush money trial of Donald Trump is set to conclude in the coming days, putting the landmark case on track for jury deliberations that will determine whether it ends in a mistrial, an acquittal — or the first-ever felony conviction of a former American president.
Zephen Xaver walked into a central Florida bank in 2019, fatally shot five women and then called police to tell them what he did. Now 12 jurors will decide whether the 27-year-old former prison guard trainee is sentenced to death or life without parole.
The Virginia State Police investigator seemed puzzled about what the inmate was describing: "unbearable" conditions at a prison so cold that toilet water would freeze over and inmates were repeatedly treated for hypothermia.
A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi suffered a "hard landing" on Sunday, Iranian state television reported, without immediately elaborating.
Lawyers are questioning Canada’s approach to screening visa applications for people in Gaza with extended family in Canada after one applicant, a medical worker, was asked whether he had treated members of Hamas.
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Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency issued recalls for various items this week, including kids' bassinets, chips, and stoves. Here's what to watch out for.
Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne says it's 'untenable' for 'smaller players' like Walmart and Costco to delay signing on to the government- and industry-led grocery code of conduct, now that industry giant Loblaw has agreed to do so.
A B.C. woman says her service dog pulled her from a lake moments before she had a seizure, saving her life.
A Starbucks fan — whose name is Winter — is visiting Canada on a purposeful journey that began with a random idea at one of the coffee chain's stores in Texas.
Members of Piapot First Nation, students from the University of Winnipeg and various other professionals are learning new techniques that will hopefully be used for ground searches of potential unmarked grave sites in the future.
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Two daughters and a mother were reunited online 40 years later thanks to a DNA kit and a Zoom connection despite living on three separate continents and speaking different languages.
Mother's Day can be a difficult occasion for those who have lost or are estranged from their mom.