Latest Health News

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 12, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- The new bivalent COVID-19 booster is now approved for children as young as 5 years old, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Wednesday.The bivalent booster shot includes one part that protects against the original strain of the COVID-19 coronavirus, and another part that targets the highly transmissible Omicron strain.Moderna’s bivalent vaccine is authorized for children down to 6 years old, while Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine is approved for children as young as 5.In both cases, the booster shot should be given at least two months after children have either finished the primary series of two shots or have gotten a booster shot.“Vaccination remains the most effective measure to prevent the severe consequences of COVID-19,...

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 12, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Scientists have taught a brain cell culture living in a laboratory dish to play the vintage table-tennis video game Pong.It’s the first demonstration that a collection of lab-grown brain cells can be taught to perform goal-directed tasks, the Australian researchers report.They call the culture of 800,000 brain cells “DishBrain,” and they next plan to see how medicines and alcohol affect its Pong skills.“DishBrain offers a simpler approach to test how the brain works, and gain insights into debilitating conditions such as epilepsy and dementia,” said Dr. Hon Weng Chong, chief executive officer of biotech start-up Cortical Labs.DishBrain is based on mouse cells taken from embryonic brains and human brain cells derived from stem...

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 12, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Human brain tissue has been successfully transplanted into the brains of rats using a cutting-edge experimental procedure, say researchers. They envision the achievement as a promising new frontier in medical research.Groups of living human nerve cells have become integrated into the brains of laboratory rats, creating hybrid brain circuits that can be activated through input from the rats’ senses, the scientists reported Wednesday.Further, experiments have shown that the human tissue forms a two-way connection within the rat brain, also sending out signals that can potentially alter the rat’s behavior, the researchers said.This procedure transforms rat brains into a biological living laboratory that could revolutionize research into...

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 12, 2022 (American Heart Association News) -- Too many times, the realization comes too late."When people have a major medical event like a heart attack or stroke, they retrospectively go back and say, 'Oh, I was really stressed, maybe that's why this happened to me,'" said Dr. Ian Kronish, associate director of the Center for Behavioral Cardiovascular Health at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York. "But they don't think beforehand that they'd better take care of that stress for their health."There are many causes of stress, but experts say one leading factor has increased significantly in recent years: work-related burnout."Burnout is real, and we're seeing a lot of it these days," said Dr. Tené Lewis, associate professor of epidemiology at the...