Latest Health News

29Dec
2022

Neighbors Make the Difference for Isolated Chinese-American Seniors

Neighbors Make the Difference for Isolated Chinese-American SeniorsTHURSDAY, Dec. 29, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Living in tight-knit communities where neighbors are connected to one another helped improve health outcomes for older Chinese Americans, a new study found.Rutgers University researchers used data from a study of more than 3,100 elderly Chinese people in the Chicago area to investigate whether the perception of trust and connection among neighbors had an impact on their risk of death.The study found folks who lived alone and reported low interaction or connection with neighbors had a 48.5% higher risk of premature death than those who lived with someone else.However, participants who lived alone but had strong neighborhood ties had a similar risk of death compared to those with housemates. The presence of helpful neighbors seemed to make a...

Black Patients More Likely to Get Riskier Heart Surgeries

28 December 2022
Black Patients More Likely to Get Riskier Heart SurgeriesWEDNESDAY, Dec. 28, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Insured Black patients are less likely to undergo minimally invasive heart valve replacement or repairs -- relatively safe procedures -- than their white counterparts, new research shows.Black patients who need a mitral valve replacement are more likely to have operations that involve opening the chest and cutting through the breastbone to reveal the heart, a new study shows. White patients, however, are more likely to have an operation in which two small slits are cut in the chest allowing for insertion of tubes to replace or repair the faulty valve.Because of differences in the procedures, Black patients are more likely to suffer complications and die than white patients, said researcher Dr. Laurent Glance, a professor of anesthesiology...

Babies in Danger From Ingesting Opioids Laced With...

28 December 2022
Babies in Danger From Ingesting Opioids Laced With Animal TranquilizerWEDNESDAY, Dec. 28, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- When a toddler or an infant accidentally ingests a prescription opioid medication, the immediate results can prove deadly, experts warn.But another new worrisome dynamic is afoot in the United States, a just-published study reveals: pediatric poisonings from a particularly lethal combo — a potent synthetic opioid known as fentanyl and a powerful veterinary sedative called xylazine.“Infants or toddlers exposed to fentanyl are at risk of death,” even without the added threat of xylazine, said lead author Dr. Stephanie Deutsch, medical director of the Nemours CARE Program at Nemours Children’s Health in Wilmington, Del.In both children and adults, fentanyl quickly slows both breathing and heart rate while also triggering an altered...

Long Stays Common for Kids Who Visit ERs in Mental...

28 December 2022
Long Stays Common for Kids Who Visit ERs in Mental Health Crisis WEDNESDAY, Dec. 28, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- It's a scenario no parent would ever want to witness: Their child suffers a mental health crisis and is taken to the emergency room, only to have to wait 12 hours or more for the right medical care. Sadly, it is what 1 in 5 of these young patients now face, new research finds."For kids with mental health conditions, long waits in the emergency department have been a compounding problem for decades," said lead researcher Dr. Alexander Janke, a visiting research scientist at Yale University Medical School in New Haven, Conn.The long waits are a symptom of a larger problem: Between numerous bottlenecks in the mental health care system and poor access to counseling services in settings like clinics and schools, "the system we have built to take...

Stem Cell Therapy May Slow MS Better Than Meds: Study

28 December 2022
Stem Cell Therapy May Slow MS Better Than Meds: StudyWEDNESDAY, Dec. 28, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- A new study is adding to evidence that people with multiple sclerosis can benefit from a type of stem cell transplant -- including some patients who are in a more advanced phase of the disease.The research is the latest look at a potential alternative treatment for some patients with MS -- using their own blood stem cells to try to reboot their faulty immune systems.Studies have found that the approach may benefit some patients in the earlier stages of MS. Now, the new findings suggest the same could be true of some patients in the second phase of the disease, known as secondary progressive MS.Researchers found that among more than 2,000 Italian adults with secondary progressive MS, those who received the stem cell therapy fared better over...

Getting COVID Booster Helps Your Antibodies Last Longer

28 December 2022
Getting COVID Booster Helps Your Antibodies Last LongerWEDNESDAY, Dec. 28, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- While getting a COVID-19 vaccine provides antibodies against the coronavirus, getting a booster shot creates a longer-lasting antibody response, according to new research.“These results fit with other recent reports and indicate that booster shots enhance the durability of vaccine-elicited antibodies,” said senior researcher Dr. Jeffrey Wilson of the University of Virginia (UVA) Health division of asthma, allergy and immunology, in Charlottesville."Although only about half of the U.S. population that is eligible for a booster has received one, it is increasingly clear that boosters enhance the protection that is conferred by the primary series mRNA vaccines alone,” Wilson said in a university news release.In the study of almost 350...

Broken Hearts: Loneliness Could Raise Danger From Cardiovascular Disease

28 December 2022
Broken Hearts: Loneliness Could Raise Danger From Cardiovascular DiseaseWEDNESDAY, Dec. 28, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- For people with heart disease, new research suggests loneliness, social isolation and living alone can shave years off your life. This trio puts people with established cardiovascular disease at greater risk of premature death, according to the international study. Cardiovascular disease refers to heart disease and stroke."Social health factors such as loneliness and social isolation have gained a significant amount of attention recently and are really important to think of within the context of cardiovascular health," said lead author Róisín Long, a clinical psychologist and a doctoral candidate at University of Limerick in Ireland."What was unclear is to what degree they impact how long people live when they have been diagnosed with...

Diet Drinks May Not Affect Urinary Function in Women

28 December 2022
Diet Drinks May Not Affect Urinary Function in WomenWEDNESDAY, Dec. 28, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- If you struggle with urinary incontinence and worry that diet drinks may make matters worse, new research suggests they may not have a significant effect."This study is important in that it may guide clinicians counseling women with urinary incontinence to focus more on behavioral modifications, such as total volume intake, rather than on the type of beverage consumed," said Dr. Stephanie Faubion, medical director for the North American Menopause Society (NAMS)."Further, given the multiple potential adverse health effects associated with consuming sugar-containing beverages, counseling should be directed away from avoidance of artificially sweetened beverages," Faubion added in a NAMS news release.Past research on rat models had found that...

In U.S., Minority Communities More Likely to Have Water...

WEDNESDAY, Dec. 28, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- U.S. communities with higher Hispanic, American Indian or Black populations also have the highest concentrations of metal in public water systems, new...

Time Spent in Nature Appears to Slow Parkinson's,...

TUESDAY, Dec. 27, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Living in an area with easy access to parks and rivers appears to slow the progression of devastating neurological diseases, such as Alzheimer's and...
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