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SATURDAY, July 29, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Summer jobs can give teens valuable life experience that help them transition to adulthood -- not just a paycheck, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.Benefits of summer jobs include:Career exploration: Summer jobs and internships help high school students explore different careers that might interest them. They also provide opportunities to network and find future mentors.Financial independence: Teens learn financial skills such as budgeting and money management.Time management: Teens learn to manage their time, set deadlines and be accountable.Communication skills: Teens learn how to interact with their supervisors, customers and colleagues.Work ethic: Teens learn values such as teamwork, respect and...

FRIDAY, July 28, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Black people tend to be more vulnerable to suffering severe strokes, but scientists have long struggled to figure out why.Until now: New research suggests it may boil down to having a particular version of a gene involved in clotting.“This could potentially change the entire rubric for how we treat strokes. So it really does have some potential, very, very consequential effect on the treatment of stroke in African Americans,” said Dr. Calvin Smith, an assistant professor of internal medicine at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tenn. He was not involved in the research.The study, published July 28 in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, involved mice that had a particular variant of a gene called PAR4 that is found more commonly in...

FRIDAY, July 28, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- The diabetes drug metformin might also benefit older patients after an injury or illness, a small study suggests.Researchers found that metformin -- a drug that has been around for more than a half-century to regulate blood sugar -- may have a different ability: It can target senescent cells that affect muscle function. These "zombie-like" cells release chemicals linked with inflammation that can harden or scar tissues. Metformin works against these senescent properties, and also reduced muscle wasting in the study."Metformin may be able to be repurposed for other muscle-loss-related clinical applications -- for instance in recovery from hip or knee surgeries in elderly individuals where there is much inflammation and muscle atrophy," said lead...

FRIDAY, July 28, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- When it comes to falling down stairs, young women are more prone to take a tumble than their male counterparts.According to a new study, this is because they are more likely to be distracted or to wear impractical footwear.Going down a staircase while talking or texting on the phone or engaging in other distractions is an invitation to take a header, researchers report. Women were more likely to be talking to another person than men while on stairs in the study."When we found that women were talking to a friend more than men, it was like a groan because we’re confirming the stereotype, which you never want to do," researcher Shirley Rietdyk, a professor of kinesiology at Purdue University, told NBC News. "But when we only looked at people who...