Archive for June 2024

A federal court in Philadelphia will soon evaluate claims against the makers of Ozempic, Wegovy and similar products. Dozens of patients who suffered gastrointestinal problems after taking these drugs brought lawsuits alleging that these companies failed to properly warn patients about the risks.

Roughly one in four U.S. households have soil exceeding the new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s lead screening levels of 200 parts per million (ppm), halved from the previous level of 400 ppm, a new study found. For households with exposure from multiple sources, the EPA lowered the guidance to 100 ppm; nearly 40% of households exceed that level, the study also found.

About 1.1 million Ukrainians have found refuge in Germany since Russia’s full-scale invasion of their country in February 2022. They are entitled to a welfare payment, known as Bürgergeld, or citizen’s income, of €563 a month. Couples receive €506 per person and children are eligible for payments of between €357 and €471 a month, depending on their age. The German state also covers costs such as rent, heating and healthcare. Above: A child refugee wearing a hair bow in the colours of the Ukrainian national flag at Berlin’s Hauptbahnhof central station.

The severity of anxiety and depressive symptoms in the planetary science community is greater than in the general U.S. population, according to a study led by a University of Hawai’i at Manoa scientist and published this week in Nature Astronomy.

Business is booming. The International Coaching Federation, the world’s largest nonprofit coaching association, estimated that the industry was worth $4.6 billion in 2022 and that the number of coaches increased 54 percent between 2019 and 2022. Because the industry lacks standardized accreditation, it’s most likely larger — one of the dangers of life coaching is that anyone can claim the title of life coach.

People who receive Medicare can now use RxPass, Amazon Pharmacy’s subscription service that for an extra $5 per month offers Prime members access to generic medications, Amazon said Tuesday. Though RxPass has been up and running for more than a year and it’s available in most US states, people who receive Medicare couldn’t use the service prior to today. People on Medicaid still can’t use RxPass.