01/18/2023, 12:55 pm | Fathers were already significantly older than mothers 250,000 years ago
It’s not just these days that men are older than women when children are born. This was also the case 250,000 years ago, according to an Indiana University study. The genetic data of around 1,500 Icelanders was analyzed – with the result that fathers were on average seven years older than mothers over the entire period from 250,000 years ago to the present day.
The authors of the study explain the greater age of men when children are born mainly with the fact that, from a biological point of view, they have more opportunities to father children. There are also social factors, such as the pressure on men in patriarchal societies to acquire a certain status before becoming fathers.
01/18/2023, 11:40 am | International Space Station: Crew Dragon becomes emergency spacecraft
NASA has declared the Crew Dragon docked to the International Space Station as an emergency spacecraft. The authority announced this on Tuesday (local time) after discussions with operator SpaceX. The background is a leak in the Russian spacecraft Soyuz MS-22, which is therefore no longer available for a manned return flight. However, Crew Dragon Endurance is only intended for use in unplanned emergencies. Soyuz MS-22 will be replaced by the successor spacecraft MS-23, which will launch to the ISS in February.
01/18/2023, 10:00 am | Corona infection increases the risk of death for pregnant women
If pregnant women become infected with Sars-CoV-2-, it increases the risk of serious illness and even death – both for the pregnant woman and her baby. This is the result of an international study that evaluated health data from several countries. In contrast to many previous studies, countries from the Global South such as Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda and South Africa were also focused.
In total, information from 13,136 pregnant women during the corona pandemic was analyzed. It was found that women who suffered from Covid-19 during this period had an eight times greater risk of death than those who did not become infected. In addition, those infected were four times more likely to need treatment in an intensive care unit; She was 15 times more likely to need mechanical ventilation and five times more likely to need any type of intensive care. Furthermore, the risk of suffering from pneumonia increased by a factor of 23 for infected women and by a factor of five for blood clots.
The risk of complications also increased for babies born after the mother had Covid 19 disease. She was twice as likely to need treatment in a neonatal intensive care unit. The risk of premature birth (before the 34th week) was almost three times higher and the risk of low birth weight was 19% higher. The study authors emphasize that their findings illustrate the importance of vaccinating pregnant women and that this should also be incorporated into future health policy.