Month: August 2022

Enlarge (credit: Dennis Fischer Photography)

Standing desks—and even biking desks—are a response to a growing body of studies showing that a sedentary lifestyle creates many health risks. Regular physical activity appears to confer a degree of protection from various problems, both physical and mental, and many results indicate that this doesn't have to be Olympic-level training. Simply walking around the apartment a few times a day appears to help.

Now, a team of researchers has looked at the opposite question: Are all forms of inactivity equal? The answer is probably not. While the details depend on the health issues involved, there's likely to be some good news for people reading this, in that computer use appears to be somewhat protective against dementia.

Get off your chair

The physical risks associated with inactivity are generally associated with lower cardiovascular health, either directly or via obesity. Even a small amount of physical activity appears capable of limiting these impacts, although increased exercise generally seems to be even better (details vary depending on the study and the exact risk being examined).

Enlarge / Doses of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine during a health campaign in Sylhet, Bangladesh on July 19, 2022. (credit: Getty | Future Publishing)

Vaccine-making partners Pfizer and BioNTech announced Monday that they had completed their request to the US Food and Drug Administration for authorization of their bivalent, omicron BA.4/5 booster doses, which the Biden administration is planning to distribute beginning in early September.

The request follows guidance from the FDA in late June directing vaccine makers to ready second-generation COVID-19 booster doses for the fall that target both the original version of SARS-CoV-2 and BA.4/BA.5, two omicron subvariants that share the same spike protein. Currently, BA.5 is the dominant variant in the world and in the US, where it accounts for 89 percent of infections, according to the latest estimates by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

FDA booster guidance

The FDA's guidance was based on the advice of its committee of independent vaccine advisors, who in a June meeting felt that a bivalent, BA.4/5-targeting vaccine offered the best chances for improving efficacy against the currently circulating variants. The current COVID-19 booster doses, which target only the original SARS-CoV-2 strain, are still strongly effective against severe disease and death from COVID-19 but have been losing efficacy against infection amid a rapid succession of variants and omicron subvariants.

Enlarge / Doses of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine during a health campaign in Sylhet, Bangladesh on July 19, 2022. (credit: Getty | Future Publishing)

Vaccine-making partners Pfizer and BioNTech announced Monday that they had completed their request to the US Food and Drug Administration for authorization of their bivalent, omicron BA.4/5 booster doses, which the Biden administration is planning to distribute beginning in early September.

The request follows guidance from the FDA in late June directing vaccine makers to ready second-generation COVID-19 booster doses for the fall that target both the original version of SARS-CoV-2 and BA.4/BA.5, two omicron subvariants that share the same spike protein. Currently, BA.5 is the dominant variant in the world and in the US, where it accounts for 89 percent of infections, according to the latest estimates by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

FDA booster guidance

The FDA's guidance was based on the advice of its committee of independent vaccine advisors, who in a June meeting felt that a bivalent, BA.4/5-targeting vaccine offered the best chances for improving efficacy against the currently circulating variants. The current COVID-19 booster doses, which target only the original SARS-CoV-2 strain, are still strongly effective against severe disease and death from COVID-19 but have been losing efficacy against infection amid a rapid succession of variants and omicron subvariants.

Enlarge / The Apple Home application is seen on an iPhone screen on November 15, 2017. The Home app allows people to control accessories in their home, like living room and kitchen lights, from their phone. (credit: Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images))

I've been buying and tinkering with smart home devices for years. As a result, my home network resembles a kind of Model UN of devices, bridges, protocols, assistants, and apps. I try to broker alliances, resolve disputes, and assure everybody, myself included, that this whole complicated thing is still worth it.

My salvation has been Home Assistant, a little server that gives you local control and lots of automation power. Every device in my home is connected to Home Assistant, which runs on a tiny Raspberry Pi 3B+ underneath my printer. I have a custom dashboard with all my switches, sensors, speakers, and lights. I have complete control, a custom dashboard, and infinite automations.

But sometimes, I just want to change the thermostat from the lock screen on my iPhone or tell Siri, on my phone or watch, to turn on a lamp. Yes, Home Assistant has its own app, plus a mobile-friendly website. But I also want to save my partner from learning how an entirely different, somewhat fiddly app works to access lights and switches.

Enlarge / The Apple Home application is seen on an iPhone screen on November 15, 2017. The Home app allows people to control accessories in their home, like living room and kitchen lights, from their phone. (credit: Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images))

I've been buying and tinkering with smart home devices for years. As a result, my home network resembles a kind of Model UN of devices, bridges, protocols, assistants, and apps. I try to broker alliances, resolve disputes, and assure everybody, myself included, that this whole complicated thing is still worth it.

My salvation has been Home Assistant, a little server that gives you local control and lots of automation power. Every device in my home is connected to Home Assistant, which runs on a tiny Raspberry Pi 3B+ underneath my printer. I have a custom dashboard with all my switches, sensors, speakers, and lights. I have complete control, a custom dashboard, and infinite automations.

But sometimes, I just want to change the thermostat from the lock screen on my iPhone or tell Siri, on my phone or watch, to turn on a lamp. Yes, Home Assistant has its own app, plus a mobile-friendly website. But I also want to save my partner from learning how an entirely different, somewhat fiddly app works to access lights and switches.