Latest Health News

20Oct
2022

'Friends' Star Matthew Perry Reveals Harrowing Addiction Journey

`Friends` Star Matthew Perry Reveals Harrowing Addiction JourneyTHURSDAY, Oct. 20, 2022 (HealthDay News) – Just a few years ago, "Friends" actor Matthew Perry almost died from opioid overuse that nearly destroyed his colon and almost killed him.Now, he’s sober and wants to tell his story.Perry has written a memoir, “Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing,” which will be published Nov. 1. "I wanted to share when I was safe from going into the dark side of everything again," Perry told the magazine PEOPLE. "I had to wait until I was pretty safely sober — and away from the active disease of alcoholism and addiction — to write it all down. And the main thing was, I was pretty certain that it would help people."Perry shares that he has gone to rehab 15 times, but he doesn’t say how long he’s been sober. "It's important, but if you...

Even Alligators Might Be Harmed by PFAS 'Forever Chemicals'

20 October 2022
Even Alligators Might Be Harmed by PFAS `Forever Chemicals`THURSDAY, Oct. 20, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Alligators along North Carolina's Cape Fear River have high blood levels of 14 toxic chemicals, along with signs of immune system damage, new research shows. The study of levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyls (PFAS) in the reptiles' blood adds to concerns that the chemicals may cause genetic and immune system harm. Alligators are a sentinel species, providing advance warning about environmental risks to humans."Alligators rarely suffer from infections," said Scott Belcher, associate professor of biology at North Carolina State University. "They do get wounds, but they normally heal quickly," he said in a university news release. "Seeing infected lesions that weren't healing properly was concerning and led us to look more closely at the...

Black Death Reshaped Genes in Ways Affecting People's...

20 October 2022
Black Death Reshaped Genes in Ways Affecting People`s Health TodayTHURSDAY, Oct. 20, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- The Black Death pandemic wiped out as many as half of the people living in some of the Middle Ages’ most densely populated places, sweeping through Europe, Asia and Africa nearly 700 years ago.Now genetic analysis has revealed why some of our ancestors died while others didn’t — and how the plague continues to affect human health to this day.An international team of researchers has identified four genes, all involved in the production of immune system proteins, that either protected or rendered a person susceptible to plague, according to a report published Oct. 19 in the journal Nature.The researchers focused on a 100-year window before, during and after the Black Death reached London in the mid-1300s. The plague is caused by the...

Homicide a Leading Cause of Death for Pregnant U.S. Women

20 October 2022
Homicide a Leading Cause of Death for Pregnant U.S. WomenTHURSDAY, Oct. 20, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- It's not high blood pressure, hemorrhage or sepsis that is more likely to kill pregnant women -- it's their husbands and boyfriends.Homicide is a leading cause of death in pregnant women in the United States, and the risk is growing, researchers warned in a new study published Oct. 19 in the BMJ.It's "a shocking situation linked to a lethal combination of intimate partner violence and firearms," the researchers said in a journal news release. They were led by Rebecca Lawn, a postdoctoral research fellow at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston.Ending male violence in the United States, including gun violence, could save the lives of hundreds of women and their unborn children every year, the investigators said.Intimate partner...

Did Boston University Conduct Dangerous COVID Experiments? NIH Investigating

19 October 2022
Did Boston University Conduct Dangerous COVID Experiments? NIH InvestigatingWEDNESDAY, Oct. 19, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- The U.S. National Institutes of Health is investigating COVID experiments at Boston University that have sparked a media firestorm, with some news outlets alleging that scientists created a "killer" strain of the coronavirus as part of their research.Boston University is refuting those news accounts, calling them a "false and inaccurate" interpretation of its research."They've sensationalized the message, they misrepresent the study and its goals in its entirety," Ronald Corley, chair of microbiology and director of Boston University's National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories, said in a statement.Nevertheless, the news has drawn the attention of federal officials.Dr. Emily Erbelding, director of the Division of Microbiology and...

Black Americans Less Likely to Get Lifesaving Heart Treatments

19 October 2022
Black Americans Less Likely to Get Lifesaving Heart TreatmentsWEDNESDAY, Oct. 19, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- A person with advanced heart failure may often need a heart transplant or a mechanical heart pump to survive.But white patients are twice as likely as Black patients to get this critically important care, a new study finds, and racial bias may be the reason why.The findings come from an observational two-year study supported by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH)."The lives disabled or lost are simply too many," said study author Wendy Taddei-Peters, a clinical trials project official within the Division of Cardiovascular Sciences at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI). "An immediate step could be to require implicit bias training, particularly for transplant and VAD [mechanical heart pump] team members,"...

Marijuana Users More Prone to Infections After Knee, Shoulder Surgeries

19 October 2022
Marijuana Users More Prone to Infections After Knee, Shoulder SurgeriesWEDNESDAY, Oct. 19, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Surgeons have long advised patients to stop smoking cigarettes for several weeks before their operations to lower the risk of complications. But what about weed?New research has found reason for worry: Marijuana users had higher infection rates after minimally invasive knee and shoulder procedures. Patients also had higher rates of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) or potentially dangerous blood clots, though those risks were not statistically significant.“We had a fairly large number of patients who were using it for various reasons, whether it was medical or non-medical,” explained study author Dr. Jason Strelzow, an assistant professor of orthopaedic surgery at the University of Chicago. “There was really nothing out there to guide us in...

Certain Class of Diabetes Meds Could Cut Dementia Risk

19 October 2022
Certain Class of Diabetes Meds Could Cut Dementia RiskWEDNESDAY, Oct. 19, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- An older class of type 2 diabetes drugs known as thiazolidinediones, or TZDs, may protect you from dementia down the road, according to new research.Thiazolidinediones, also known as glitazones, cut dementia risk by 22% among folks at high risk who also had mild or moderate type 2 diabetes when they took these medications for at least one year.Exactly how these diabetes drugs lower risk for dementia is not fully understood, and the study wasn't designed to answer that question.Diabetes is a known risk factor for dementia, and glucose or blood sugar is the brain's main fuel for important functions, including thinking, understanding, and problem-solving, said study author Roberta Diaz Brinton. She directs the Center for Innovation in Brain...

AHA News: California Boy Needed Surgery to Fix Unusual...

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 19, 2022 (American Heart Association News) -- On her first visit to the hospital to check on her newborn patient, the pediatrician detected a heart murmur. A few days later, at Cix...

Good Sleep Could Keep Illness at Bay as You Age

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 19, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- As men and women enter their golden years, those who regularly fail to get a good night's sleep face a higher risk for developing not one but two...
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