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THURSDAY, July 28, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- There are many obstacles to opioid addiction treatment, but a new study shows one that one outgrowth of the COVID pandemic -- telehealth -- is enabling more U.S. veterans to get help.Researchers examined care given to vets before and after a transition to telehealth visits in early 2020 for treatment of their opioid use disorder. Telehealth for patients receiving the prescription drug buphrenorphine to treat opioid dependence was relatively new in the Veterans Affairs health system before the pandemic, said lead author Dr. Allison Lin."The rapid switch to virtual visits for most patients kept people from dropping out of care, and telephone visits [also] played a key role," said Lin, an addiction psychiatrist at the Ann Arbor VA in Michigan...

THURSDAY, July 28, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Eating a rainbow of fruits and vegetables is common advice, but many Americans eat few of these nutrient powerhouses, according to a new study.This includes adults with chronic kidney disease (CKD) who are less likely to eat fruits and veggies than similar people without the disease, said researchers from the University of Virginia (UVA) School of Medicine, in Charlottesville.“Consuming more fruits and vegetables is strongly linked to health in many different diseases,” said Dr. Julia Scialla, a kidney specialist at UVA Health. “We worry about overall health effects when we see patients with CKD consuming low levels of fruits and vegetables. We have to be careful not to unnecessarily discourage healthy fruit and vegetable intake when...

THURSDAY, July 28, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- While cats often prefer to be alone and closely guard their territory, some seem to thrive on togetherness even at a crowded shelter.Chalk it up to chemistry.That's the takeaway of a new study that investigated the role hormones and gut bacteria play in felines' social behavior.Simply put, the lower their levels of the male hormone testosterone and the stress hormone cortisol, the more willing cats were to live together, the investigators found.But the more oxytocin they had, the more standoffish they were. That surprised the team led by Hikari Koyasu of Azabu University in Kanagawa, Japan, because oxytocin is the so-called "love hormone."“Low testosterone and cortisol concentrations in cats enabled them to share the space and live...

WEDNESDAY, July 27, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- A federal lawsuit out of Texas could end access to free lifesaving preventive health care services for nearly 168 million people in the United States with private insurance, a new report suggests.Kelley v. Becerra seeks to overturn the Affordable Care Act (ACA) requirement that health plans cover preventive health services at no cost.The popular ACA provision has improved screening rates for cancer, high blood pressure and high cholesterol, while also increasing vaccination rates, according to an analysis released by the Urban Institute and funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation."We know that preventive care improves health and saves lives, and we also know that cost-sharing reduces the use of these valuable services," said Katherine...