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MONDAY, Aug. 28, 2023 (American Heart Association News) -- Patti Allbritton was born a little blue.She wasn't particularly sad – it wasn't that kind of blue. She was born with a rare congenital heart defect called tetralogy of Fallot with pulmonary atresia, in which the valve that's supposed to control blood flow from her heart to her lungs never grew. Instead, her heart sent blood out through a set of collateral vessels. It got the job done but made her heart work harder and less effectively. This resulted in such poor oxygen saturation that it gave her fingernails and the skin around her mouth a faint blue tint when she was tired, a condition known as cyanosis.At the time decades ago, Allbritton's parents were told nothing could be done to fix the problem, which was robbing their...

MONDAY, Aug. 28, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Brightly colored "edibles" can be tempting for young kids and are more widely available now that many U.S. states have legalized cannabis for recreational and medical use.Unfortunately, it doesn’t take much of an edible to make a small child very sick, new research finds, which may explain an uptick in hospitalizations of kids poisoned by cannabis.“There are many studies demonstrating a rise in pediatric exposures to cannabis with legalization, and I suspect this trend will continue as legalization spreads,” said study author Dr. Lesley Pepin, an emergency medicine specialist at the Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Safety in Denver. A 3-year-old child who weighs around 31 pounds would need to eat just 2.5 milligrams (mg) of the standard...

MONDAY, Aug. 28, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Valance Sams Sr. believes that he has experienced "a miracle."Sams, now 46, underwent a triple organ transplant in the spring of 2023, making him one of fewer than 50 people in the United States to ever receive three new organs via transplantation.He received a new heart, kidney and liver during a 20-hour operation at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles that involved around 15 surgeons, nurses, doctors, and other health professionals.Ten years ago, Sams was diagnosed with sarcoidosis, a rare inflammatory disease that causes a buildup of scar tissue in the body’s organs. In his case, the disease affected his heart, and he was unable to work, exercise or even walk. His condition worsened and caused gradual damage to his liver, all the...

MONDAY, Aug. 28, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Nineteen scientific studies have failed to answer a big question: Are cannabis-containing products safe or effective for kids with cancer?A new analysis of the studies found the evidence just isn’t there to determine dosing, safety and efficacy of medical marijuana or cannabis-containing products for managing symptoms experienced by these kids.“It was difficult to measure benefit across studies, given a range of different outcomes and study designs; however, in interventional studies with active control groups, cannabinoids performed better in managing nausea and vomiting. Data are lacking on cannabinoids’ effects on pain, mood, sleep, and health-related quality of life,” said lead study author Lauren Kelly. She is associate professor...