Latest Health News

4May
2022

Bans on Affirmative Action Led to Fewer Black, Hispanic Doctors

Bans on Affirmative Action Led to Fewer Black, Hispanic DoctorsWEDNESDAY, May 4, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- State bans on affirmative action have prompted a precipitous decline in the number of U.S. medical students from racial/ethnic minority groups, a new study finds."We know that a more diverse physician workforce leads to better care for racial- and ethnic-minority patients," said lead researcher Dr. Dan Ly, an assistant professor of medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine and Health Services Research at the University of California, Los Angeles. "But we have made such poor progress in diversifying our physician workforce."The study shows that bans on affirmative action "have had a devastating impact on the diversity of our medical student body and physician pipeline," Ly said in a UCLA news release.The researchers analyzed...

Obesity Could Raise a Child's Odds for Type 1 Diabetes

4 May 2022
Obesity Could Raise a Child`s Odds for Type 1 Diabetes WEDNESDAY, May 4, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Overweight kids don't have it easy, and a new study warns they may also at increased risk for type 1 diabetes later in life."A critical window exists in childhood to mitigate the influence of adiposity [being severely overweight, or obese] on the escalating numbers of type 1 diabetes diagnoses," said the study's lead author, Tom Richardson, a research fellow at the University of Bristol in England.Being overweight for many years in childhood also boosts the risk of other diseases like asthma, the researchers found. It's well-established that obese children are more likely to develop type 2 diabetes, and that losing weight can reduce that risk. But the link between childhood obesity and type 1 diabetes has been less clear, so Richardson's team...

City Rats May Not Pose Big Pandemic Threat

4 May 2022
City Rats May Not Pose Big Pandemic ThreatWEDNESDAY, May 4, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Despite what you may have heard, rats and other city wildlife aren't likely to trigger future pandemics in people, according to a new study.The COVID-19 pandemic has scientists trying to determine where future outbreaks are most likely to start. It's long been suspected that critters in cities might act as reservoirs for viruses that could cause outbreaks in humans.An international team of scientists decided to find out if that's true.To start, the investigators examined studies on viruses and other pathogens hosted by nearly 3,000 species of mammals. They found that city-dwelling mammals can carry about 10 times more diseases than mammals outside of cities, but don't pose a greater threat to people."There are plenty of reasons to expect urban...

Scientists Get Close to Genetic Cause of Lupus

4 May 2022
Scientists Get Close to Genetic Cause of LupusWEDNESDAY, May 4, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- There is no cure for lupus yet, but new genetic research may at least point to new treatments for the chronic disease.An international team of researchers has identified a gene mutation linked with lupus. An autoimmune disease, lupus causes organ and joint inflammation, fatigue and a number of other problems. In severe cases, symptoms can be debilitating and complications can be fatal.Current treatments focus on suppressing the immune system to ease symptoms."It has been a huge challenge to find effective treatments for lupus, and the immune-suppressors currently being used can have serious side effects and leave patients more susceptible to infection. There has only been a single new treatment approved by the [U.S. Food and Drug...

3 More Children Have Died of Mysterious Liver Disease

3 May 2022
3 More Children Have Died of Mysterious Liver DiseaseTUESDAY, May 3, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- A serious liver disease that's struck hundreds of young children worldwide has caused the deaths of three children in Indonesia, bringing the global death toll to at least four.Nearly 170 children in 11 countries have been diagnosed with acute hepatitis in recent months, and the World Health Organization has expressed concerns about its "unknown origin."Most of the ill children have been under the age of 10 and had no underlying health conditions. Symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain appear before affected children's livers show signs of inflammation.The three children in Indonesia died in hospitals in Jakarta last month after displaying some of these symptoms, along with fever, jaundice, convulsions and loss of...

Black Patients With A-Fib Less Likely to Get Blood Thinners

3 May 2022
Black Patients With A-Fib Less Likely to Get Blood ThinnersTUESDAY, May 3, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Patients with atrial fibrillation usually receive blood thinners to reduce their stroke risk, but these drugs are under-prescribed to Black Americans, a new study reveals.When they leave the hospital, Black patients are 25% less likely than whites to be prescribed blood thinners such as Xarelto, Eliquis or warfarin, researchers found after studying the records of nearly 70,000 patients. The result: higher rates of stroke and death among Black patients in the year after hospital discharge."Unfortunately, we've seen this time and time again," said lead researcher Dr. Utibe Essien, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.Atrial fibrillation is an abnormal heartbeat in which the upper chambers of the...

More Than Annoying: Men's Urinary Issues Tied to Shorter Lives

3 May 2022
More Than Annoying: Men`s Urinary Issues Tied to Shorter LivesTUESDAY, May 3, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Urinary incontinence can plague men as they age, but a new study suggests it may be more than just a bothersome condition and might actually be a harbinger of early death."This indicates the importance of assessing the general health, risk factors and major co-morbidities among men with LUTS [lower urinary tract symptoms]," wrote the researchers, who were led by Jonne Akerla from the department of urology at Tampere University Hospital in Finland. The team analyzed LUTS in more than 3,000 Finnish men who had enrolled in a study in 1994, when they were 50, 60 or 70. The research included a 24-year follow-up in 2018 of 1,167 of the men. About half had died during the intervening years. The team looked at the men's lower urinary tract symptoms as a...

AHA News: 5 Ways to Support, Relieve and Remember Moms on Mother's Day

3 May 2022
AHA News: 5 Ways to Support, Relieve and Remember Moms on Mother`s DayTUESDAY, May 3, 2022 (American Heart Association News) -- Moms deserve a break.It's not news that parenting is stressful, but health experts say the pandemic made things worse."Even in the best of circumstances, it's really hard to be a mother," said Natalie Slopen, an assistant professor in the department of social and behavioral sciences at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston. Parenting comes with joys as well, but over the past two years, "the pandemic has presented a host of challenges that most people hadn't imagined they would experience while parents."In 2019, before the pandemic started in March 2020, women reported they did more when it came to chores and managing children's schedules, according to a Pew Research Center survey. By October 2020, another Pew...

Could a Stressed-Out Pregnancy Hinder a Toddler's...

TUESDAY, May 3, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Babies born to women who are stressed out during pregnancy may be more likely to experience social, emotional and learning problems as they grow up, new...

Your Take-Out Coffee Cup May Shed Trillions of Plastic...

TUESDAY, May 3, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Maybe you ask the barista for cream with your coffee, and possibly sugar as well.But new research shows that paper cup of joe you grab off the coffeehouse...
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