Latest Health News

13May
2022

Big Rise in Esophageal Cancers Among Middle-Aged Americans

Big Rise in Esophageal Cancers Among Middle-Aged AmericansFRIDAY, May 13, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Esophageal cancer tends to be a "silent killer," and it's on the rise among middle-aged Americans, new evidence suggests.The rate of this cancer nearly doubled among people aged 45 to 64, and the prevalence of Barrett’s esophagus -- a precancerous condition -- rose by about 50% in this age group between 2012 and 2019. The esophagus is a hollow tube tasked with carrying food and liquid from the throat to your stomach.The exact reason for the uptick of esophageal cancer in younger folks is not fully known, but soaring rates of obesity, unhealthy diets, and chronic heartburn or gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) are likely factors, and they all tend to travel together, said study author Dr. Bashar Qumseya. He's an associate professor of...

Gallstones Can Warn of Pancreatic Cancer Risk

13 May 2022
Gallstones Can Warn of Pancreatic Cancer RiskFRIDAY, May 13, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- A diagnosis of pancreatic cancer may feel like a death sentence because this fast-moving disease is often discovered at a later stage, when it's harder to treat. Now, a new study offers hope for earlier diagnosis, finding an association between recent gallstone disease and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). Patients diagnosed with PDAC were six times more likely to have had gallstones sometime within the year before they were diagnosed than patients without cancer, the researchers found. "I think that what I really hope people take away from it is that patients need good follow-up care," said study author Dr. Marianna Papageorge, a research fellow at Boston Medical Center. "And that's all patients, obviously, but especially for patients...

Too Few People Treated for Opioid Use Get Anti-Overdose Med

13 May 2022
Too Few People Treated for Opioid Use Get Anti-Overdose Med FRIDAY, May 13, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- A potentially lifesaving drug that reduces overdose risk is prescribed to less than half of Americans treated for opioid addiction, a new study finds. This underuse of buprenorphine is "equivalent to giving those with advanced cancer a less aggressive treatment," said senior investigator Dr. Laura Bierut. She is a professor of psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. "It seems obvious to many of us that we should be giving the most aggressive and effective treatments to those who are most seriously ill," Bierut added in a university news release.For the study, Bierut and her colleagues analyzed health insurance data on about 180,000 people nationwide treated for opioid use disorder from 2011 to 2016. Only 47% of them...

In Animal Studies, Gene Therapy Shows Promise for Spinal...

13 May 2022
In Animal Studies, Gene Therapy Shows Promise for Spinal Cord Injury Pain FRIDAY, May 13, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- An experimental gene therapy for spinal cord pain shows promise in mice, researchers say. About half of spinal cord injury patients have neuropathy, which is chronic or debilitating pain, tingling, numbness or muscle weakness caused by damaged or malfunctioning nerves. Treatment of neuropathy can be challenging. For example, medications often require complex, continuous delivery and can cause side effects such as sedation and motor weakness. Prescription opioid painkillers can be effective, but may lead to increased tolerance and the risk of misuse or abuse, the researchers explained. It's possible to pinpoint the precise location of a spinal cord injury and origin of neuropathic pain, so scientists are trying to develop treatments that target...

Is Telemedicine Closing the 'Race Gap' in Primary Care?

13 May 2022
Is Telemedicine Closing the `Race Gap` in Primary Care? FRIDAY, May 13, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Here's one way in which the pandemic did not exacerbate health care disparities: A new study shows that telemedicine has closed the gap in access to primary care between Black and non-Black Americans. The use of telemedicine boomed during the pandemic, so University of Pennsylvania researchers decided to examine how that affected Black patients' historically lower access to primary care."We looked through the entire year of 2020, not just the first half of the year when telemedicine was the only option for many people, and the appointment completion gap between Black and non-Black patients closed," said study senior author Dr. Krisda Chaiyachati, an assistant professor of medicine at Penn Medicine."Offering telemedicine, even though it was for...

Heavy Antibiotic Use Tied to Development of Crohn's, Colitis

13 May 2022
Heavy Antibiotic Use Tied to Development of Crohn`s, ColitisFRIDAY, May 13, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- The more antibiotics that seniors take, the greater their risk of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), a new study suggests. The findings could help explain some of the increase in Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis (common types of IBD) among older adults, according to the study authors. "In older adults, we think that environmental factors are more important than genetics," said lead researcher Dr. Adam Faye. He is an assistant professor of medicine and population health at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, in New York City. "When you look at younger patients with new diagnoses of Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, there's generally a strong family history. But that is not the case in older adults, so it's really something in the...

Nurses Key to Spotting Postpartum Depression in New Moms

13 May 2022
Nurses Key to Spotting Postpartum Depression in New MomsFRIDAY, May 13, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Nurses can be trained to detect postpartum depression in new mothers and could be crucial in spotting the condition early, researchers report. Postpartum depression affects about 15% of new moms and can cause persistent sadness, fatigue, feelings of hopelessness and worthlessness, and trouble sleeping or eating. Some women with the condition struggle to care for their baby. Hospitals have been urged to implement postpartum depression screening and referral programs, and a new quality improvement study from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles concluded that nurse training and education is key to successfully screening for postpartum depression."Training that helped nurses get comfortable with the topic of depression and to develop a...

'Human Cell Atlas' Maps 1 Million Cell Types in 33 Organs

12 May 2022
`Human Cell Atlas` Maps 1 Million Cell Types in 33 OrgansTHURSDAY, May 12, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- An international research effort has unveiled the most extensive reference map yet of individual cells within the human body, knowledge that could revolutionize the study of health and disease.The massive Human Cell Atlas contains detailed maps of more than one million individual cells across 33 organs and systems, researchers announced this week."You can think of it as a Google Maps of the human body," said Sarah Teichmann, head of cellular genetics at the Wellcome Sanger Institute in the United Kingdom and co-chair of the Human Cell Atlas Organizing Committee. "It's really that street maps' view of individual cells and where they sit in tissues that we are aiming towards."The most recent addition to the Atlas includes the mapping of nearly...

Nerve Gas Sarin Probably Caused Gulf War Syndrome

THURSDAY, May 12, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- After 30 years, researchers believe they finally have definitive evidence of the primary cause of Gulf War syndrome: exposure to low levels of the nerve...

Underwear That Guards Against STDs During Oral Sex? FDA...

THURSDAY, May 12, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- The first underwear meant to protect against sexually transmitted infections during oral sex was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on...
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