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FRIDAY, Oct. 29, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- By now, it would seem that there is almost no part of the body that the new coronavirus does not strike, but new research adds one more: COVID-19 may be able to infect the inner ear and affect hearing and balance. There have been reports of COVID-19 patients with symptoms such as hearing loss, ringing in the ears (tinnitus), dizziness and balance problems, so Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Massachusetts Eye and Ear scientists used cellular models of the human inner ear, along with adult human inner ear tissue, and exposed them to the virus. Their results suggest that the SARS-CoV-2 virus can infect the inner ear, specifically hair cells that are crucial for hearing and balance. To a lesser degree, the coronavirus can infect Schwann...

FRIDAY, Oct. 29, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- Some parents may worry about whether playing high school football might put their kids at risk for depression and suicidal thoughts in adulthood, but new research suggests they can relax.It included more than 2,300 U.S. males who enrolled in the study at average age of 15 and were assessed again at an average age of 29. At the start of the study, about 28% of the participants said they played or intended to play football. As young adults, about 10% of participants said they had been diagnosed with depression at some point during their lives, and nearly 6% said they had suicidal thoughts over the past year.But rates of suicidal thoughts and depression were not significantly different for young men who played football as teens. In contrast, the...

FRIDAY, Oct. 29, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- Modern Americans get much less physical activity than their forebearers did 200 years ago, and increasing reliance on technology is a major reason why.That's the finding from researchers who used data on falling body temperature and changing metabolic rates in the United States to measure declining levels of physical activity since the Industrial Revolution.Since 1820, Americans' resting metabolic rate (the total number of calories burned when the body is completely at rest) has dropped about 6%. That translates to about 27 minutes less moderate to vigorous physical activity a day.The findings were published Oct. 25 in the journal Current Biology."Instead of walking to work, we take cars or trains; instead of manual labor in factories, we use...

FRIDAY, Oct. 29, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- There are two ways that HIV patients' bodies can keep the virus under control after they stop antiretroviral therapy, a new study shows.The findings could point to ways to help people with HIV keep the virus in remission without having to keep taking medications that can have long-term side effects, according to researchers at the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of NIAID, and Tae-Wook Chun, chief of its HIV Immunovirology Section, co-led the study. It included two adults with HIV who began antiretroviral therapy (ART) soon after being infected with the virus that causes AIDS. They continued treatment for more than six years and successfully suppressed the virus.They then joined a...