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WEDNESDAY, April 19, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- For people with the abnormal heartbeat atrial fibrillation, a procedure called catheter ablation may do more than return the heart to its normal rhythm. It may also ward off mental decline and dementia linked to A-fib, a new study says.Researchers found that people who receive catheter ablation in addition to medical management for A-fib may be almost 40% less likely to develop cognitive impairment than those treated with drugs alone."Atrial fibrillation itself likely leads to changes in cerebral blood flow, which may be detrimental to the overall health of the brain and can lead to adverse outcomes, in this case, cognitive decline," said lead researcher Dr. Bahadar Srichawla, from the neurology department at the University of Massachusetts...

WEDNESDAY, April 19, 2023 (American Heart Association News) -- Growing up in Chicago, Melissa Rodríguez Mendoza initially had designs on working in the fashion industry. Trips to the doctor's office with her parents changed her mind.Immigrants from Mexico, her parents mainly spoke Spanish and had trouble finding Spanish-speaking doctors. Melissa would accompany her mother and father to medical visits to be their interpreter.When it came time to apply for college, Melissa decided to pursue pre-med programs with a goal of becoming a doctor. Now, she is a third-year medical student at Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara in Mexico, doing her clinical rotations back in Chicago.She is committed to eradicating barriers to health care in the Latino community."Watching my parents struggle as...

WEDNESDAY, April 19, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Health care facilities remain one of the last places left in the United States with COVID-era mask requirements still in effect.It’s time for that to end, experts say.A prestigious collection of infection disease experts and epidemiologists say universal masking requirements in health care settings should be lifted, according to a commentary they published April 18 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.COVID has reached the point where it should be managed in a way similar to how other respiratory viruses are handled in hospitals, doctor’s offices and long-term care facilities, the editorial argues.“We're in a very different stage of the pandemic, a more stable phase,” said lead author Dr. Erica Shenoy, medical director for infection...

WEDNESDAY, April 19, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Nearly one-third of Americans live in counties with unhealthy air, according to a new report from the American Lung Association. One in three, or 120 million, people lives with unhealthy levels of ozone or particle pollution, the “State of the Air” report says.While air quality has improved overall, there are major differences between Eastern and Western states and in air pollution exposure for white people and people of color, according to the association. “The good news is that ozone pollution has generally improved across the nation, thanks in large part to the success of the Clean Air Act. In this year’s ‘State of the Air’ report, we found that 19.3 million fewer people are living in areas with unhealthy levels of ozone...