Go ahead: Ask me about my seasonal-affective disorder

The NPC Healthbiz Weekly has launched. It's your weekly briefing on topics pertinent to healthcare marketers and executives published in cooperation with Peak Pharma Solutions. From Chronicle Companies, organizers of the National Pharmaceutical Congress. More info at pharmacongress.info

⇒ Issue #150 (In numerology, 150 is a combination of achievement and learning through experience.)

⇒ Confirmed Covid cases in Canada as of 12/17: 485,576*
⇒ Confirmed Covid fatalities in Canada as of 12/17: 13,815*
⇒ Worldwide Covid cases as of 12/17: 74,356,119*
⇒ Worldwide Covid fatalities as of 12/17: 1,651,891*

December 17, 2020—Hello dere, CurveFlatteners. It's Chronicle Senior Editor John "Hello Dere" Evans writing today not from the Sands in Las Vegas, but from sunlight-deprived Chauncey Avenue in Etobicoke, Canada, where we are less then one week from the winter solstice and the shortest day of the year. I am definitely feeling the effects. The dark of night slamming down essentially at the end of my workday has put an added drag on my motivation to sally forth into the outdoors.

My reduced time under the sky seems to place me squarely in the minority, though. A recent study from the University of Vermont reports increases in a wide range of outdoor activities, particularly among women. Some of the largest increases seen were in watching wildlife (up 64 per cent), gardening (57 per cent), taking photos or doing other art in nature (54 per cent), relaxing alone outside (58 per cent), and just going for walks (70 per cent.)

On the other hand, there is some evidence that environmental ultraviolet light—at its lowest point now, here in the northern hemisphere—can slow the rate of new Covid-19 cases. So maybe I'm better off continuing to bunker up. Does DoorDash dispatch wassailers? 

One bit of bright news lately here in frigid Canada is that our federal government has recognized that a huge number of people have had to very suddenly and unexpectedly made the shift to home office work and that shift involves new costs. I know I have definitely invested in some new software tools to make telecommuting more efficient.

As the National Post reports, 750,000 Canadians deducted work-from-home expenses on their taxes last year. Yet as of October 2020, roughly three times as many—2.5 million—are known to be working from home. The Canada Revenue Agency is instituting several new, less-complicated ways to claim work-from-home expenses for all those doing it for the first time. The easiest of these is a one-time-only, no-receipts, flat $400. That may not cover all your actual out-of-pocket costs, but it is enough to keep some of us in wassail and shortbread for a needed spell.

The NPC Podcast is back for another season. The organizers of the National Pharmaceutical Congress are proud to release our new weekly podcast series, hosted by Peter Brenders. Peter's most recent guest is Mike Cloutier. Listen here now, or download the episode and play it at your convenience. The NPC Podcast is presented in cooperation with Impres Pharma

COVID CHRONICLE 12/17/2020

• In an editorial in JAMA Psychiatry, a group of physicians from Australia are recommending that individuals with severe mental illness should be included among the groups with high priority for receiving Covid-19 vaccination. The paper's authors write that these patients are “at increased risk of being infected by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and have higher subsequent rates of hospitalization, morbidity, and mortality.”
  
• A survey of participants' sleep patterns across North America has found that half of the respondents experienced clinically meaningful sleep disturbances during the Covid-19 pandemic. This is up from 36 per cent before the pandemic. The researchers identified three subgroups with distinct profiles of changes in sleep behaviours: “Reduced Time in Bed”, “Delayed Sleep,” and “Extended Time in Bed.” Of those three categories, the “Reduced Time in Bed” and “Delayed Sleep” subgroups had more adverse sleep outcomes and psychological changes during the outbreak.
  
  
• Researchers from the Translational Genomics Research Institute have identified a genetic target that could explain the variation in how severely Covid-19 impacts different patients. The gene, miR1307, appears to regulate other genes within the virus, altering how it behaves—for example, how quickly the virus replicates. Their findings are published in mSphere.

TODAY CHRONICLE IS WORKING ON

I am working on an article for The Chronicle of Skin & Allergy on some research into the potential for near-infrared heating of the skin to help delineate non-melanoma skin cancer lesions.

TODAY I AM TRYING TO READ...

Swords and Deviltry, the first collection of Fritz Leiber's stories of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. Tracking down a copy of the 1970 anthology proves to be a bit of a challenge, but I've been intrigued since I learned how much of an impact the stories have had on modern sword-and-sorcery fantasy writing. I am told they may be as significant inspiration for the Dungeons and Dragons roleplaying games as the Tolkein novels.

LATER I AM WATCHING...

Whatever this is. The banner on the channel suggests the creator is 'Matatabi Movie Labo'. Whoever is responsible, these little bite-sized (most are 30 seconds long) snippets of absurdity have made me laugh harder than I have in weeks. And I really needed that.

THOR'S DAY LEADS US TO FREYA'S DAY

Please use the comments section at the Daily CurveFlattener to let us know what you're up to today. Or feel free to check in via LinkedIn, email, or your choice of connector. By all means, pass this newsletter along to your colleagues. My colleague, the First Lady of Layout Kylie Rebernik, wraps up our week tomorrow, before the last shopping weekend before Christmas. (Looking to buy locally in Canada and still avoid crowds? Not-amazon.ca might be worth exploring!)