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THURSDAY, March 31, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Smoking pot through a bong doesn't protect the nonsmokers in the room from the dangers of secondhand smoke, a new study warns.Bongs have been touted as a safe way to protect nonsmokers from secondhand marijuana smoke. But it can expose them to extremely high concentrations of fine particulate matter — five to 10 times greater than levels from wildfires in the San Francisco Bay Area in September 2020, according to senior researcher Katharine Hammond. She is a professor of environmental health sciences at the University of California, Berkeley."Cannabis bong smoking in the home generated several times greater particulate matter than tobacco cigarettes and hookah," Hammond said.Even 12 hours after pot smoking stopped, concentrations of fine...

THURSDAY, March 31, 2022 (American Heart Association News) -- COVID-19 was full of surprises early on, causing mild problems in the short term for some people and serious complications for others.Long term, it may be just as capricious.Studies are spotting potential heart and brain problems up to a year after infection with SARS-CoV-2, even in people who had mild COVID-19.The possible long-term effects include "a myriad of symptoms affecting different organs," said Dr. José Biller, director of the COVID-19 neurology clinic at Loyola Medicine in Maywood, Illinois. "So, it could be the lungs, it could be cardiovascular, it could be the nervous system, it could be mental health or behavioral problems."Estimates vary widely on how many people may be affected. Research suggests about 10%...

THURSDAY, March 31, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- An experimental drug shows promise in reducing tics in young people with Tourette syndrome.Ecopipam, which failed as a weight loss medication, may reduce tics by 30% in kids and teens with Tourette without the unpleasant side effects of current treatments, researchers say."This drug significantly reduced tics, compared to placebo, and did not have side effects associated with other approved medications that cause weight gain and neuropsychiatric side effects like mood changes and unwanted movements," said lead researcher Dr. Donald Gilbert, a pediatric movement disorders and Tourette syndrome specialist at Cincinnati Children's Hospital.Tourette syndrome is a neurological disorder that causes motor and verbal tics. These are repetitive...

THURSDAY, March 31, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- In a close vote, an advisory panel for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration decided not to recommend the approval of an experimental drug for the deadly neurological disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).The panel's decision had been closely watched, with patient advocacy groups lobbying hard for fast-track approval.However, on Wednesday the panel ruled 6-4 that data from a single, mid-stage study sponsored by Amylyx Pharmaceuticals was not enough to prove the company's drug makes a meaningful difference in patients' lives.“I think it would be a disservice to the patients and their families to approve a treatment that is of uncertain benefit,” Dr. Kenneth Fischbeck, of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), said during the...