Latest Health News

FRIDAY, Aug. 18, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- More than 1 out of every 10 patients who land in an ICU with a potentially deadly heart emergency test positive for recreational drug use, a new French study reports.About 11% of nearly 1,500 patients admitted to a French intensive cardiac care unit for a heart crisis tested positive for cannabis, opioids, cocaine, methamphetamine or other illicit drugs, researchers said in the journal Heart.Drugs were even more common in younger heart patients, with 1 out of 3 patients under 40 testing positive, results showed.The study can’t say whether the drug use caused these patients’ heart problems, although drugs are known to have negative heart health effects.But the drug use was tied to significantly poorer outcomes for heart patients in critical...

FRIDAY, Aug. 18, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- The brain is a complex organ, and a new study — believed to be the largest ever on the brain’s genetics — identifies more than 4,000 genetic variants linked to brain structure.The research, involving some 36,000 brain scans, was led by a team at the University of Cambridge in England.Brains are quite varied in terms of overall volume, how the brain is folded and how thick the folds are, according to the researchers.The new work shows that how the brain develops is partly genetic, said study co-author Dr. Varun Warrier, who is with the university's Autism Research Center.“Our findings can be used to understand how changes in the shape and size of the brain can lead to neurological and psychiatric conditions, potentially leading to better...

FRIDAY, Aug. 18, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Teens’ desire to start smoking, and later to keep smoking, may be linked to differences in gray matter in their brains, a new study reveals. Researchers found that reduced gray matter in the left frontal lobe was found in kids who started smoking by age 14. This area is involved in decision-making and rule-breaking.Once they started smoking, they also had reduced gray matter in the right frontal lobe, a region associated with seeking pleasure.“Smoking is perhaps the most common addictive behavior in the world, and a leading cause of adult mortality,” said co-senior author Trevor Robbins, a professor in the Department of Psychology at the U.K.'s Cambridge University. “The initiation of a smoking habit is most likely to occur during...

FRIDAY, Aug. 18, 2023 (HealthDay News) – The 15th century prince who inspired the literary vampire Dracula may have had medical issues that caused him to cry tears of blood, according to researchers unearthing this ancient mystery.The prince, who was also a military leader, was known as Vlad III, Voivode of Wallachia and as Vlad the Impaler. He was also called Vlad Drăculea, translating to “the son of the dragon," and may be the inspiration for the character Count Dracula.The theories about Vlad's medical issues come from scientific examination of his letters by a team that included Vincenzo Cunsolo, an associate professor of organic chemistry at the University of Catania in Italy.Vlad III lived during the 1400s in the south of Romania.He’s blamed for killing more than 80,000...