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FRIDAY, June 2, 2023 (American Heart Association News) -- Jennifer Valentine's colleague, longtime friend and neighbor Rebecca McCormack picked her up early at her home in York, South Carolina, for a ride to the airport. The oncology technicians at a cancer center were off to a conference in Salt Lake City.At the airport, they had breakfast at a fast-food restaurant before the 4.5-hour flight. Valentine ordered fried hashed browns and a gravy biscuit.Such a rich breakfast was not Valentine's recent routine. Two months earlier, she'd started exercising and eating more nutritious meals. During much of her 35 years, Valentine's weight had yo-yoed greatly. She had recently shed 12 pounds from a high of 229 (she's 5-foot-6) and wanted to lose much more.On the plane, the friends watched a...

FRIDAY, June 2, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- A potentially deadly germ has made its way to the U.S. Gulf Coast, health officials warned this week.So far, three cases of infection from the bacteria Burkholderia pseudomallei have been reported to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The bacteria causes melioidosis, which can be fatal if left untreated."It is an environmental organism that lives naturally in the soil, and typically freshwater in certain areas around the world. Mostly in subtropical and tropical climates," said Julia Petras, an epidemic intelligence service officer with CDC's National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases. The most recent case was reported in Mississippi in January, following two previous cases in the same county in Mississippi...

FRIDAY, June 2, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- A new liver dialysis device might soon be able to save patients on the edge of death from liver failure, early clinical trial results show.The DIALIVE device safely improved organ function and alleviated symptoms in patients with acute-on-chronic liver failure, compared with others receiving standard care, the researchers reported.If the device proves out in a larger trial, it could provide patients with liver failure a lifeline at a time of immediate danger, said senior researcher Dr. Rajiv Jalan, a professor of hepatology at University College London (UCL), in the United Kingdom.“Liver failure is potentially reversible as the liver has enormous capacity for regeneration,” Jalan said. “Therefore, the aim of a liver dialysis machine is to...

FRIDAY, June 2, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- It may not be necessary for people who have prolapse surgery for pelvic floor disorders to wait to get started exercising again.A new study challenges standard restrictions, finding that those who resume exercising soon after the procedure do just as well as those who wait several weeks.“This study is a paradigm shift for urogynecologists — it is practice changing,” said senior study author Dr. Matthew Barber, chair of obstetrics and gynecology at Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, N.C. “For decades, surgeons have been instructing patients to avoid activity after reconstructive surgery, and we now know that is unnecessary,” Barber said in a Duke news release.“The findings of this study are consistent with trials in other...