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MONDAY, March 8, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- Just one dose of the Pfizer or Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines significantly reduces the risk of hospitalization for COVID patients in their 80s with preexisting health conditions, a preliminary study shows.The findings are from AvonCAP, an ongoing surveillance project funded by Pfizer Inc. It gathers detailed information from two National Health Service (NHS) hospitals in Bristol, U.K., on every adult admitted with symptoms and/or X-ray evidence of acute respiratory disease.Researchers identified 434 such patients between Dec. 18 (10 days after launch of the U.K.'s vaccine program) and Feb. 26. They were eligible for vaccination because they would be at least 80 years old by March 31.To gauge the effectiveness of single doses of the vaccines,...

TUESDAY, March 9, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- If you've had major sinus or skull base surgery, you should talk with your ear, nose and throat doctor before getting a COVID-19 nasal swab test, researchers advise.It's also crucial for health workers performing swab testing to ask whether the patient has had extensive sinus or skull base surgery, said Dr. Philip Chen, an associate professor of otolaryngology-head and neck surgery at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. Such a patient is more vulnerable to injury if swab testing is done incorrectly. "If so, other modes of testing such as at the back of the throat should be performed," Chen said in a school news release.He is the senior author of study that found online information about COVID nasal swab testing...

MONDAY, March 8, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- Lockdowns have you stressed? The American Dental Association (ADA) reports that more people are grinding their teeth as they try to cope with the pressures of the pandemic.An ADA Health Policy Institute survey of dentists found that 70% of respondents said they've seen an increase in the number of patients with teeth grinding and clenching, which are often linked to stress. That's up from the fall, when 60% of dentists reported an increase in teeth grinding and clenching among patients."Our polling has served as a barometer for pandemic stress affecting patients and communities seen through the eyes of dentists," said Marko Vujicic, chief economist and vice president of the institute. "The increase over time suggests stress-related conditions...

MONDAY, March 8, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers who recorded the most detailed images ever made of newborns' lungs as they took their first breaths say the breakthrough could improve treatment of breathing problems in babies."Respiratory problems are the most common reason we need to treat babies in intensive care," said researcher David Tingay of Murdoch Children's Research Institute in Melbourne, Australia."This new technology not only allows us to see deep into the lungs but is also the only method we have of continuously imaging the lungs without using radiation or interrupting life-saving care," he added. "This study has shown that babies' lungs are far more complicated than traditional monitoring methods had previously suggested."About 10% of newborns — and nearly all...