The Daily Populous

Sunday December 27th, 2020 day edition

image for U.K. hit with worst recession in 300 years as country grapples with mutated COVID-19 strain

The world is making adjustments following a new strain of the coronavirus, spreading in the United Kingdom and beyond as the country's government says it has entered its worst recession in 300 years.

Christmas in London was effectively canceled, many residents felt.

Queen Elizabeth delivered her traditional Christmas Day message while socially-distanced inside of Windsor Castle, reassuring Britons that "even on the darkest nights there is hope in the new dawn.".

However, for thousands of truck drivers left stranded on the roadside when France closed its border to the U.K., frustration and anger took the place of celebration.

The country's struggles come as the number of new infections around the world approaches 80 million, resulting in 1.7 million deaths.

At the Vatican, Pope Francis gave his Christmas Day blessing to an empty St. Peter's Square normally filled with thousands of worshippers.

"All of us are in the same boat. »

Psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy produces large, rapid, and sustained antidepressant effects

Authored by psypost.org

Combining the psychedelic drug psilocybin with supportive psychotherapy results in substantial rapid and enduring antidepressant effects among patients with major depressive disorder, according to a new randomized clinical trial.

“Prior studies in cancer patients and in an uncontrolled clinical trial in depressed patients using psilocybin-assisted therapy showed promising results.

This treatment will always have a psychotherapy component and will not be approved by the FDA as a stand-alone medication,” Davis explained. »

More than 1.5 billion masks believed to have entered oceans in 2020

Authored by tmj4.com

“About six weeks after COVID hit Hong Kong, so late February, we began finding masks, and lots of masks," said Bondaroff.

Of the estimated 52 billion masks manufactured globally in 2020, it's believed 1.56 billion will enter our oceans this year, resulting in an additional 4,680 to 6,240 metric tonnes of marine plastic pollution.

“The 1.56 billion face masks that have entered our oceans in 2020 are there for the long run. »

Ketamine may ease depression by restoring the brain’s sensitivity to prediction error, study suggests

Authored by psypost.org

The findings, European Neuropsychopharmacology, indicate that ketamine could reverse insensitivity to prediction error in depression.

In other words, the drug may help to alleviate depression by making it easier for patients to update their model of reality.

Neural plasticity is the brain’s ability to form new connections between neurons and ultimately underlies learning and memory in the brain.”. »