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THURSDAY, Jan. 14, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- The bad news? COVID-19 may be around for a long, long time. The good news? Even if it does, new research suggests it could very well end up being just another mild illness, bringing with it inconvenience and discomfort, but rarely hospitalization or death.Why? The theory is rooted in the epidemiology patterns previously followed by four other coronaviruses. All have been in circulation for a very long time. In fact, they're endemic, which means that most people get infected and develop immunity during childhood that protects against serious illness (although not reinfection) as adults.And that trajectory led a team of investigators to model what might ultimately happen in the future if most people were similarly exposed to the new coronavirus...

THURSDAY, Jan. 14, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- When a heart attack begins, the time it takes until the blockage in a coronary artery is cleared is critical in preventing further damage to the heart, a new study warns.The amount of damage is directly related to how long it takes from the start of a heart attack to when patients receive an artery-clearing procedure called percutaneous coronary intervention, or angioplasty. The biggest obstacle to getting prompt treatment is delay before patients call the ambulance, the researchers said."For several decades, cardiologists have been taught 'time is muscle,'" which means that the longer it takes for the blocked artery to be reopened, the greater the extent of heart muscle damage and the higher the risk of death, said study lead author Dr....

THURSDAY, Jan. 14, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- Folks who've gotten through a COVID-19 infection might naturally question whether they need to get a coronavirus vaccination when their turn comes.Experts say they really need the shot anyway, because even after having COVID they might be vulnerable to reinfection."We're encouraging people if they meet the other criteria to get immunized because we don't know how long either natural immunity or vaccine immunity lasts," said Dr. Chris Beyrer, a professor of public health and human rights at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore.All previously known coronaviruses are notorious for promoting short-lived immunity in humans, he said."Unfortunately, with other coronaviruses typically the immunity you have -- like if you get a...

THURSDAY, Jan. 14, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- Mindfulness is all the rage when it comes to boosting mental health, but new research suggests that it may not help everyone equally.Practicing mindfulness meditation -- which involves paying close attention to what you are feeling in the moment -- may be better than doing nothing at all to improve anxiety, depression or lower stress, but it is not a cure-all and may not be any better than other practices aimed at improving mental health and well-being, such as exercise, said study author Julieta Galante. She's a research associate in the department of psychiatry at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom.To arrive at that conclusion, Galante and her colleagues reviewed data from 136 studies on mindfulness training for stress,...