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TUESDAY, Jan. 5, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- In late December, Dr. Ada Stewart asked her staff to check on a patient who had missed an appointment. She soon learned that the patient had no transportation for the 45-minute drive, so Stewart offered to conduct the appointment by phone instead. "It still accomplished so much. I was able to see how their diabetes was doing, how they were preparing for the holiday season, how they were really feeling mentally," said Stewart, a family physician at Eau Claire Cooperative Health Centers in Columbia, S.C., and president of the American Academy of Family Physicians. That's just one example of how doctors are using telemedicine – having appointments by phone or video call – to check in with their...

TUESDAY, Jan. 5, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- For some people with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), also known as chronic heartburn, a switch to a healthier lifestyle could offer real relief from symptoms,.New research shows that following a five-step plan -- not smoking, eating well, exercising, limiting coffee, tea and soda, and maintaining a healthy body weight -- may relieve reflux in many patients. Others may have less need for medications such as proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), researchers found.Studying more than 9,000 women who said they had heartburn or acid reflux at least weekly, researchers found that adherence to the lifestyle guidelines cut symptoms almost in half."It's possible that observing an anti-reflux lifestyle could eliminate the need for medications in general...

TUESDAY, Jan. 5, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- New toxic algal blooms have appeared on the U.S. west coast due to an ocean heat wave, a new study finds.The researchers said that climate change is increasing the frequency of highly toxic algal blooms in this area.These algae produce a neurotoxin called domoic acid that causes severe and potentially lethal digestive and neurological symptoms, and is a threat to marine wildlife and humans."This study shows that climate change can influence the occurrence and intensity of some harmful algal blooms [HABs] by creating new seed beds for their survival and distribution," said Dr. Vera Trainer, of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, in Seattle. "Coastal communities, including Native Tribes, will suffer from the effects of HABs...

TUESDAY, Jan. 5, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- Frailty may explain why women awaiting a liver transplant are more likely than men to become too sick for a transplant or die before transplantation, a new study suggests.Exercise and a healthier diet may help narrow that gender gap, researchers say.For the study, researchers followed more than 1,400 patients with cirrhosis awaiting a liver transplant from nine U.S. transplant centers. About 40% were women. The men, ages 49 to 63, were more likely to have chronic hepatitis C and alcoholic liver disease.The women, ages 50 to 63, were more likely to have non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and autoimmune cholestatic liver disease. Both groups had similar levels of disease severity.However, the women were significantly frailer than the men, the...