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FRIDAY, Dec. 11, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- The spread of a deadly disease that was pushing Tasmanian devils towards extinction appears to be slowing, researchers say. They found that the transmissible cancer called Tasmanian devil facial tumor disease is switching from an emerging disease to an endemic one. That means the spread of the disease is decreasing to the point that each infected devil is infecting just one or fewer other devils, according to the study. "It is cautiously optimistic good news," said research team leader Andrew Storfer, a biologist at Washington State University. "I think we're going to see continued survival of devils at lower numbers and densities than original population sizes, but extinction seems really unlikely even though it was predicted a decade ago,"...

FRIDAY, Dec. 11, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Firearm injury is a major health crisis in the United States and new research sheds more light on how many of those who are injured survive and the circumstances of their shootings.For the study, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University analyzed nationwide data from death certificates and emergency room visits.Between 2009 and 2017, the United States recorded an average of nearly 85,700 ER visits a year for nonfatal firearm injuries and an annual average of more 34,500 deaths. Overall, that added up to an annual average of just over 120,200 firearm injuries -- or 329 per day.The researchers divided injuries and deaths into five categories: unintentional, self-harm, assault, legal intervention, or of undetermined...

FRIDAY, Dec. 11, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- If you can climb four flights of stairs in less than a minute, your heart's likely in good shape, a new study says.Researchers set out to find a simple and inexpensive way to assess hearth health that can help doctors identify who requires more extensive testing, explained Dr. Jesús Peteiro, a cardiologist at University Hospital A Coruña in Spain.Trying to dash up the stairs could reveal how healthy your heart is, they concluded.The study included 165 patients referred for exercise testing because they had known or suspected coronary artery disease. Symptoms included chest pain or shortness of breath during exertion.The patients walked or ran on a treadmill, gradually increasing their pace, and kept going until they were exhausted. Their...

FRIDAY, Dec. 11, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- A self-collected saliva sample is as good at detecting COVID-19 as a nasal swab administered by a health care worker -- without exposing medical staff to the virus while collecting the sample."The current pandemic has placed a significant strain on the supply chain, from swabs to the personal protective equipment [PPE] health care workers need to safely collect samples," explained lead investigator Esther Babady, director of the Clinical Microbiology Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. "The use of self-collected saliva has the potential to minimize health care worker exposure and decrease the need for specialized collection devices, such as swabs and viral transport media."The saliva tests detected the virus'...