Latest Health News

FRIDAY, Jan. 17, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Travelers from China will now have to undergo enhanced screening at three major U.S. airports for symptoms of a new coronavirus that has caused an outbreak of pneumonia in China, federal health officials said Friday. The three airports -- San Francisco (SFO), New York (JFK) and Los Angeles (LAX) -- receive the most travelers from central China, officials explained. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is deploying about 100 health workers to supplement existing staff at CDC quarantine stations located at those airports, the agency said. The new coronavirus is genetically similar to MERS and SARS, two other coronaviruses that caused global outbreaks, said Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC's National Center for...

FRIDAY, Jan. 17, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Hearing that your unborn baby has congenital heart disease can be traumatic, but now new research suggests that if you experience stress, anxiety or depression afterward it could affect your baby's brain development. Congenital heart disease (structural problems with the heart) is the one of the most common birth defects. "We were alarmed by the high percentage of pregnant women with a diagnosis of a major fetal heart problem who tested positive for stress, anxiety and depression," said study co-author Catherine Limperopoulos. She is director of the Center for the Developing Brain at Children's National Hospital in Washington, D.C. "We report for the first time that this challenging prenatal environment impairs regions of the fetal brain...

FRIDAY, Jan. 17, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Patients taking the blood thinner warfarin have been told that it should be taken at night, but a new study found the time of day doesn't matter. "Whether warfarin is taken in the morning, or the evening, its therapeutic effect is the same," said lead researcher Dr. Scott Garrison, an associate professor of family medicine at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada. "Health care providers should stop telling patients to use their warfarin in the evening; rather, warfarin should be taken whenever regular compliance would be easiest for patients," he added. The drug is used to prevent blood clots that can cause strokes, heart attacks and blockages. It is also used to treat the abnormal heart rhythm called atrial fibrillation....

FRIDAY, Jan. 17, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Are college students choosing marijuana instead of booze when both are legal? New research suggests they are: In states where pot is legal, college kids use it more, but binge-drink less. In states with legal marijuana, college students were 18% more likely to use it in the past month than in states where it's illegal, Oregon State University researchers report. From 2012 to 2018, the rate of pot users rose from 14% to 17% in states where it was illegal and from 21% to 34% in the states where it was legal. Using the National College Health Assessment survey from 2008 to 2018, researchers examined data on more than 850,000 students from 135 colleges in seven states where marijuana was legalized in 2018 and 454 colleges in 41 states where it...