Latest Health News

27Jan
2022

Vitamin D Supplements Might Cut Your Odds for Autoimmune Diseases

Vitamin D Supplements Might Cut Your Odds for Autoimmune DiseasesTHURSDAY, Jan. 27, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Taking vitamin D supplements may help stave off psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and other autoimmune diseases, a new study suggests.Previous research has hinted at this connection, but the new study is the first randomized controlled trial to look at what happens when people are given vitamin D supplements and followed to see if they develop an autoimmune disease, the study authors said. Randomized controlled trials are considered the gold standard in clinical research.In the new study, people who took 2,000 international units per day (IU/day) of vitamin D, with or without one gram of fish oil, for slightly more than five years reduced their risk of developing an autoimmune disease by 22% when compared to their counterparts who took...

Newer Rheumatoid Arthritis Drug Might Raise Heart,...

27 January 2022
Newer Rheumatoid Arthritis Drug Might Raise Heart, Cancer RisksTHURSDAY, Jan. 27, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Finding the right medication for rheumatoid arthritis isn't easy, and a newer pill against the disease carries higher risks of heart attack, stroke and cancer than older RA drugs, a new clinical trial confirms.The study was mandated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration after earlier safety signals about the drug, called tofacitinib (Xeljanz).In response to the findings, published Jan. 26 in the New England Journal of Medicine, the FDA has changed the labeling of the medication, as well as two others in the same drug class, known as JAK inhibitors.The drugs are now required to carry warnings about the increased risks. The FDA is also advising doctors to prescribe JAK inhibitors only after a patient has tried and failed at least one TNF...

Almost 1 in 10 U.S. Lung Transplants Now Due to COVID

27 January 2022
Almost 1 in 10 U.S. Lung Transplants Now Due to COVID THURSDAY, Jan. 27, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- COVID-19 is changing medicine in yet another way: A new study finds that patients with COVID-related lung damage now account for nearly one in 10 lung transplants in the United States. The researchers analyzed data on more than 3,000 lung transplants nationwide between Aug. 1, 2020, and Sept. 30, 2021. They found that 7% of them were performed to treat severe, irreversible lung damage caused by COVID-19. The average age of the 214 COVID lung transplant patients was 52, and the rate of three-month survival was nearly 96%. The findings showed that 140 patients had COVID-19 acute respiratory distress syndrome, and 74 patients had COVID-19 pulmonary fibrosis. "Acute respiratory distress syndrome involves an acute inflammation of the lungs,...

Genes Could Help Drive Febrile Convulsions in Kids

27 January 2022
Genes Could Help Drive Febrile Convulsions in Kids THURSDAY, Jan. 27, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- It's frightening to see your child have a fever-related (febrile) seizure, but researchers are learning more about who's more susceptible. An international study has identified seven new genes associated with febrile seizures, or febrile convulsions, in young children. Febrile seizures are defined as seizures in children younger than age 5 who have a fever above 101.3 F (38.5 C). They affect up to 5% of children, making them the most common form of abnormal brain activity in childhood. While the seizures typically occur only once or a few times, about 7% of children with febrile seizures later develop epilepsy.The study results "are important in our attempt to explain why some children experience febrile convulsions, while others do not....

Scientists Discover How the 'Mono' Virus Might Trigger MS

26 January 2022
Scientists Discover How the `Mono` Virus Might Trigger MSWEDNESDAY, Jan. 26, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- A one-two punch from science has clearly tagged the mononucleosis virus, Epstein-Barr, as a major cause of multiple sclerosis.The Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) appears to trigger multiple sclerosis (MS) by tricking the immune systems of some into attacking their body's own nerve cells, a new study indicates."We demonstrated that a specific protein in EBV mimics a protein in people's brains, and that mimicry is what makes EBV cause multiple sclerosis," explained senior researcher Dr. William Robinson, chief of immunology and rheumatology at Stanford University in California. This new paper explains the results of a study published recently in the journal Science, in which it was found that MS risk skyrockets 32-fold after a person is infected with...

Common Gout Drug Is Safe in Patients With Kidney Issues

26 January 2022
Common Gout Drug Is Safe in Patients With Kidney IssuesWEDNESDAY, Jan. 26, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Allopurinol, a frequently used gout medication, does not appear to drive up the risk for dying among gout patients who also struggle with chronic kidney disease, new research shows.The finding is based on an analysis of two decades worth of British health records. And it may put to rest recent concerns regarding a well-known drug that both gout patients and kidney disease patients have used for decades to rein in harmfully high uric acid levels."Allopurinol is the most widely used urate-lowering medication," said study author Yuqing Zhang. He's a professor of medicine in residence with the division of rheumatology, allergy, and immunology at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, in Boston. The problem, said Zhang, is...

Fat Injections Might Ease Pain of Plantar Fasciitis

26 January 2022
Fat Injections Might Ease Pain of Plantar FasciitisWEDNESDAY, Jan. 26, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Belly fat is usually unwelcome, but new research suggests it may actually be good for something: relief from foot pain.A small pilot study suggests that an injection of a patient's own fat cells can help ease the often-excruciating heel pain brought on by a condition known as plantar fasciitis."We take a small amount of fat from an area of excess — like the belly, inner thigh or love handles — and then inject the fat into the bottom of the foot near where the fascia inserts into the heel bone," explained study co-author Dr. Jeffrey Gusenoff. The arch-supporting fascia is a ligament that runs from the heel to the toes.The minimally invasive outpatient procedure is performed under local anesthesia, said Gusenoff, a professor of plastic...

AHA News: Statistics Report Offers Snapshot of the Nation's Brain Health – And a Guide to Protecting It

26 January 2022
AHA News: Statistics Report Offers Snapshot of the Nation`s Brain Health – And a Guide to Protecting ItWEDNESDAY, Jan. 26, 2022 (American Heart Association News) -- Brain diseases, including Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia, are closely connected to heart health. They are affected by everyday actions and rank among the nation's leading causes of death.That's the portrait of brain health that emerges from the American Heart Association's "Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics – 2022 Update" published Wednesday in the journal Circulation. It's the first time the annual report has dedicated a chapter to brain health."What we're trying to do is summarize not only, 'How common is this, and is it getting more common?' but also, 'Why does it happen? And how is it related to other aspects of our health?'" said epidemiologist Evan Thacker, an associate professor of public health...

Omicron Batters Already Strained U.S. Hospitals

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 26, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- U.S. hospitals continue to reel from the pressure posed by the ongoing pandemic, facing critical workforce shortages and rising labor costs that amount...

Survivors of Severe COVID Face Higher Odds for Another...

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 26, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- People hospitalized for COVID-19 are not necessarily out of the woods once they're discharged: Many land in the hospital again in the months afterward,...
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