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WEDNESDAY, March 1, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- In a tight vote, U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisors on Tuesday recommended the approval of an RSV vaccine that could be used in Americans ages 60 and up. The vaccine, known as RENOIR, was developed by pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. The same panel of advisors will weigh the potential approval of another respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine, this one from GlaxoSmithKline, on Wednesday."In older adults, RSV can result in serious illness, hospitalization, or even death, so there is a significant need to protect this at-risk population,” Annaliesa Anderson, senior vice president and chief scientific officer for vaccine research and development at Pfizer, said in a news release announcing the panel decision. “We are encouraged...

WEDNESDAY, March 1, 2023 (American Heart Association News) -- Much is known about the heart-health benefits of adopting a Mediterranean-style diet, with its heavy focus on whole grains, fruits, vegetables, fish and healthy oils. But what about the rest of the Mediterranean lifestyle?Short of lounging on the beaches of southern Italy or an island in Greece, could adopting the focus on relaxed, familial dining, afternoon naps and strong communal bonds also improve health?A group of researchers explored what would happen if middle-aged and older British adults – who live about 1,500 miles northwest of the Mediterranean Sea and its convivial way of life – adopted not just the dietary but also the physical activity and social habits of their southern neighbors. And they found that the...

WEDNESDAY, March 1, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- When expectant or new moms experience depression, known as perinatal depression, loneliness may be a driving factor.“We found that loneliness was central to the experiences of expectant and new mothers with depression. We know that depression and loneliness are often interconnected — each one can lead to the other — and this may be particularly true for perinatal depression [which includes postpartum depression],” said Dr. Katherine Adlington, an academic clinical fellow at UCL Psychiatry and East London NHS Foundation Trust.“Having a baby is a period of huge transition and upheaval that can involve losing touch with people and existing networks, such as work colleagues,” Adlington added in a University College London (UCL) news...

TUESDAY, Feb. 28, 2023 (HealthDay Now) -- A long-established Alzheimer’s drug can help people with a disorder that causes them to compulsively pull at their hair or pick at their skin, a new clinical trial has concluded.Memantine considerably improved symptoms in 3 out of 5 patients with either trichotillomania (hair-pulling disorder) or excoriation (skin-picking) disorder, researchers reported in the American Journal of Psychiatry.“I think it was encouraging that it helped reduce the behavior of picking and pulling, compared to a placebo,” said lead researcher Dr. Jon Grant, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral neuroscience at the University of Chicago. “It gives me the idea that perhaps we're onto the right underlying mechanism that might be happening here.”Hair-pulling...