Staying #Up2Date 🚨

1: Still Searching — Long COVID Interventions Fall Flat

An RCT tested 3 approaches to tackle long-COVID cognitive symptoms — online cognitive training, a structured cognitive-behavioural rehab program, and transcranial direct current stimulation. After 3 months, none moved the needle on the Everyday Cognition Scale 2. The search for something that meaningfully improves fatigue, weakness, and brain fog continues.

2: Your Snack Aisle Favourites May Be Plotting Against Your Colon

In a cohort study of 29K young women undergoing endoscopy, higher intake of ultraprocessed foods was linked to increased colorectal adenoma risk — the precursor to colorectal cancer (highest vs lowest intake: adjusted OR 1.45; 95% CI, 1.19–1.77; P < .001). It adds to growing evidence that cleaning up dietary quality may help curb early-onset CRC.

3: DASH Delivery Drops BP — But the Benefits Don’t Last

A new RCT looked at whether home-delivered low-sodium DASH groceries could lower blood pressure more effectively than cash assistance. After 3 months, grocery delivery plus dietician counselling led to bigger reductions in SBP (−5.7 mm Hg; 95% CI, −7.4 to −3.9) than a monetary stipend (−2.3 mm Hg; 95% CI, −4.1 to −0.4). The catch: once the program ended, BP drifted back to baseline, highlighting the need for more durable interventions.

The Flu Season’s Triple Punch

What doctors and patients should be doing to protect themselves against influenza’s trifecta

What happened: Experts warn Canadians could be in for a harsh flu season as an H3N2 strain evolves.

Why it matters: Right now, 3 influenza strains are circulating in Canada, according to Health Canada: H1N1, H3N2, and Influenza B. The seasonal flu vaccine — already available nationwide — is formulated to protect against all 3. But, early research suggests that its match to one of the strains (likely H3N2) may be somewhat reduced compared with the others.

That nuance matters because indicators of flu activity are already climbing. Since Nov.7, almost 2% of all Canadian flu tests have come back positive. The number looks low now, but infectious-disease experts say it’s the front edge of what could be a strong season, particularly as schools, daycares, and long-term care homes drive transmission upward.

Despite the common “it’s like a cold” narrative, influenza kills hundreds of thousands of people globally every year, and high-risk Canadians are consistently represented among severe cases. Concerns are also rising around potential drift in the H3N2 strain, which has contributed to early, intense flu surges in parts of Asia and the U.K. this season.

Add to that a shift in public sentiment: a Canadian survey earlier this year found that support for childhood vaccination mandates has slipped from 88% (pre-pandemic) to 72%, suggesting a broader climate of hesitancy at a time when stronger uptake is needed.

But: Nothing is confirmed yet. The Public Health Agency of Canada says it’s monitoring global respiratory virus activity to identify trends that could affect Canadians. Until there’s clear evidence the vaccine underperforms against H3N2, health officials say physicians should continue recommending flu shots before the season ramps up.

Bottom line: Recommending flu shots is an annual ritual — eye rolls and hesitancy included. But with a potentially tougher strain emerging, patients need to understand the risks this season brings for themselves and the people they love.

Hot Off The Press

1: 🧸 Quebec pediatricians are publicly revolting against Bill 2 — a major shake-up of how doctors are paid and monitored that would tie 10% of their income to performance targets and allow fines of up to $20,000 a day for coordinated protest. The bill also labels healthy newborns as “green” (lowest priority), which pediatricians say makes no sense given how vulnerable kids and teens actually are — from developmental delays to mental-health crises and rare diseases. Doctors worry the quota-style system could push aside complex cases and squeeze out research, and some specialists are already considering leaving. The government says it’s about improving access; clinicians say it risks breaking a system already on its knees.

2:🎗️ Canada’s cervical cancer decline just hit a wall. After decades of steady decreases, the new Canadian Cancer Statistics report shows incidence has plateaued — driven by sluggish HPV vaccine uptake and the slow, uneven rollout of HPV-based screening, which outperforms the traditional Pap. Canada now risks missing its 2040 elimination target, a reminder that the gap isn’t in science but in implementation.

3: 📜 A 355-year-old piece of Canadian history almost slipped into private hands.
As HBC sells assets under creditor protection, the 1670 Royal Charter — the document that launched one of the country’s oldest institutions — was poised to vanish into a private collection. The Weston and Thomson families countered with an $18M plan to donate it across four public institutions, keeping a foundational artifact where it belongs: in public view, not a climate-controlled vault.

4: 🧠 Another $200M just went to OpenEvidence, the AI platform reporters have nicknamed “ChatGPT for doctors.” It verifies clinicians and pulls only from curated sources — think NEJM, JAMA, NCCN, PubMed, and regulatory data — in an effort to dodge the hallucination problem baked into general LLMs. The real headline isn’t funding; it’s that clinical decision-making is increasingly mediated by tools that sit between physicians and the primary literature.

Notable Numbers 🔢

$7.4 billion: the size of the newly approved Purdue Pharma bankruptcy settlement, ending the Sackler family’s control of the company and years of litigation, without shielding them from future opioid-related lawsuits. It follows more than $40 trillion in creditor claims, a figure that captures the scale of the opioid crisis more starkly than any court ruling ever could.

$75: the value of an 1858 Canadian penny in average condition. As the US says goodbye to its last one-cent coin, some pennies are suddenly worth far more than their face value.

6 km: the distance from Toronto where a neurosurgeon remotely controlled a robot to perform a brain angiogram — a world-first step toward robotic stroke care for patients far outside major centres.

Postcall Picks ✅

🎓 Learn: about AI and healthcare. Cut Through the AI Noise: A Framework for Canadian Clinicians gives doctors a practical toolkit to evaluate, integrate, and advocate for AI in practice with confidence. Webinar is live Dec. 4 at 7 pm EST.

🏡 Discover: this 2-storey tiny home, complete with multiple bedrooms and a terrace, that’s actually sold on Amazon. It’s the SEQ Expandable Container House and runs around US$45,000… just not in Canada (yet).

👂 Listen: this Dose episode breaks down the surge in e-scooter injuries among kids, featuring new data from SickKids and a stark warning.

🍴 Make: chicken wontons in spicy chili sauce — minimal prep, maximum comfort. Great for busy nights when you want something homemade and satisfying.

🛍️ Shop: these Canadian-made goodies and get ahead on your holiday list — from cozy Roots caps to ethical mini totes, all perfect for festive gifting.

Relax

First clue: Pass on

Need a rematch? We’ve got you covered. Check out our Crossword Archive to find every puzzle we’ve ever made, all in one place.

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