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THURSDAY, Jan. 20, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- If the sound of a dental drill sends shivers up your spine, you're likely in good company: Finnish researchers say that one of every two adults fear the dentist at least a little, while one in 10 are very afraid.But the researchers added that a local dentistry program has found a novel way to turn screams into smiles, by exposing patients as young as 2 to a series of desensitizing exams that pair dental care with a wide variety of anxiety-reducing techniques.The program is based in the small central Finland city of Oulu. Oulu is home to about 200,000 Finns, and now the "Clinic for Fearful Dental Patients."Patients at the clinic are treated by three dentists "who are interested in treating fearful patients and have taken courses on the topic,"...

THURSDAY, Jan. 20, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Having a child with type 1 diabetes can be a challenging health condition for parents to manage, but new research suggests an "artificial pancreas" system may beat standard treatment in controlling the blood sugar disease in young children.Forms of the technology — which automatically monitors and regulates blood sugar — are already available for adults and kids with type 1 diabetes. The systems have been shown to improve blood sugar control and make life easier for people with the disease.Until recently, most research on artificial pancreas systems has focused on adults or older children, though one system is approved in the United States for children aged 2 to 6.The new study, published Jan. 20 in the New England Journal of Medicine,...

THURSDAY, Jan. 20, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- If you need more proof that a third shot of COVID vaccine is needed, new British research confirms that boosters can "neutralize" the virus' Omicron variant.To arrive at that conclusion, they analyzed 620 blood samples from 364 health care workers and staff at the Francis Crick Institute and the National Institute for Health Research UCLH Biomedical Research Centre, in London. People who had received only two doses of either the AstraZeneca vaccine or the Pfizer vaccine were less protected against the Omicron variant than against the Alpha and Delta variants. Antibody levels declined in the first three months after the second dose, but a third (booster) dose increased levels of antibodies that combat the Omicron variant. In people who...

THURSDAY, Jan. 20, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- In another breakthrough for animal-to-human organ transplantation, U.S. researchers say they've transplanted two genetically modified pig kidneys into a living human.The recipient was Jim Parsons, 57, a brain-dead man on life support whose family agreed to allow the surgical team at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) to use his body for this research.The kidneys functioned well and were not rejected by Parson's body during the 77-hour period of the study.The successful transplant comes of the heels of two similar groundbreaking transplant operations that made headlines recently: Last fall, surgeons at NYU Langone Health in New York City twice attached a pig kidney (leaving it outside the body) to a human recipient on life support;...