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TUESDAY, Aug. 23, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- People who use medical marijuana to treat chronic pain may have a slightly heightened risk of heart arrhythmias, a preliminary study suggests.Researchers found that among 1.6 million people with chronic pain, those prescribed medical marijuana were 64% more likely to suffer a heart rhythm disturbance in the next six months.The absolute risk was small: about 0.9% of patients on medical marijuana developed an arrhythmia, compared to 0.5% of those not taking the drug. Plus, experts said, the findings do not prove that medical marijuana, per se, is to blame.Still, chemicals in marijuana are known to affect the cardiovascular system — including heart rate, blood pressure and the tendency to form blood clots. And the findings add to concerns about...

TUESDAY, Aug. 23, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- If you get infected with COVID-19, the time from infection to possible onset of symptoms -- the incubation period -- is significantly shorter now than it was at the beginning of the pandemic, new research shows.Researchers in China who looked at data from 142 different studies found that people who got infected with the Alpha variant -- the one that emerged in Wuhan in late 2019 -- had an incubation period averaging five days.By the time the Omicron variant arrived, incubation had shortened to less than 3.5 days, on average, the investigators reported.The findings have real-world importance, because "identifying the incubation period of different variants is a key factor in determining the isolation period" for folks testing positive for...

TUESDAY, Aug. 23, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Marijuana and hallucinogen use are at an all-time high among young adults, U.S. health officials reported Monday.Compared to five or 10 years ago, the use of these drugs over the past year has risen significantly among 19- to 30-year-olds, according to the Monitoring the Future panel study. The new data were collected through online surveys between April and October of 2021.The study also showed vaping has begun to increase among young adults after leveling off in 2020 and dipping during the pandemic.While alcohol use has dropped, it remains the most used substance, researchers found. Last year, binge drinking rebounded from a historic low in 2020. High-intensity drinking (having 10 or more drinks in a row in the past two weeks) has been on...

TUESDAY, Aug. 23, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Humans and dogs undoubtedly share a powerful bond, but can dogs cry when overcome with emotion? According to a recent study, possibly the first to try to answer that question, canine's eyes do indeed well up with tears, most often when they are reunited with their beloved owner.“We found that dogs shed tears associated with positive emotions,” said Takefumi Kikusui, of Azabu University in Japan. “We also made the discovery of oxytocin as a possible mechanism underlying it.”Following the birth of one of his two standard poodles six years ago, Kikusui observed that something in his dog's face had changed while the dog was feeding the puppies; there were tears. Although tears don't fall as frequently in dogs as they do in humans, dogs can...