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TUESDAY, April 19, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Doctors have long thought it dangerous to prescribe erectile dysfunction drugs like Viagra alongside chest pain pills containing nitrates."It's always been a big red line," said Dr. John Osborne, director of State of the Heart Cardiology in Grapevine, Texas. "You do not mix. Don't go there."But sex remains important among men with heart problems -- so much so that co-prescription of ED drugs and nitrate pills increased 20-fold between 2000 and 2018 in Denmark, said Dr. Anders Holt of the cardiology department at the University of Copenhagen.Now, a new study indicates there might be little to no potential risk in co-prescribing the two types of drugs.Men are not more likely to suffer a heart attack, stroke or cardiac arrest if they've been...

TUESDAY, April 19, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Lower levels of sex hormones might be tied to tears of the shoulder's rotator cuff in men and women, a new study suggests.Among women with low levels of estrogen, researchers found the odds of a rotator cuff tear were 48% higher, compared with women with normal estrogen levels. Among men, the odds of a rotator cuff tear were 89% higher among those with low levels of testosterone."It's been known for a long time that when you have low estrogen and testosterone levels, that leads to osteoporosis or weak bones. And as the bones get weaker, it compromises tendon-bone attachments, and that's basically what rotator cuff tears are," said study co-author Dr. Peter Chalmers. He is an orthopedic surgeon and clinical instructor at the University of...

TUESDAY, April 19, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- At least four people in Michigan infected with a version of the coronavirus found mostly in mink are the first known cases of possible animal-to-human transmission of the virus in the United States.The cases occurred in the first year of the pandemic and were confirmed Monday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, The New York Times reported.Two of the infected people worked at a Michigan mink farm where a coronavirus outbreak had occurred, while the other two had no known connection to the farm. The first three cases were reported last year.In early October 2020, Michigan officials announced that the virus had been detected in mink on a local farm and that several of the animals had died. Upon the state's request, the CDC...

TUESDAY, April 19, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Marijuana edibles that mimic the packaging of popular snack foods pose a risk to children, a new study warns.Researchers looked at the packaging of more than 200 types of edible marijuana products and found that nearly one in 10 resembled commercial snack foods, including candies and chips. "At first glance, most of the packages look almost exactly like familiar snacks. If these copycat cannabis products are not stored safely, there is the potential for accidental ingestion by children or adults," said lead author Danielle Ompad. She is an associate professor of epidemiology in the School of Global Public Health at New York University."Policies to prevent cannabis packaging from appealing to children haven't stopped copycat products from...