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FRIDAY, Dec. 4, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Two COVID-19 vaccines are on the verge of approval in the United States, with pharmaceutical companies promising that millions of doses will be available to the first wave of recipients within a matter of weeks.Creating two vaccines in less than a year is an astonishing achievement, experts say, but the next task could prove even more difficult — convincing Americans that it's safe to take vaccines developed at such a breakneck pace.Average folks can take comfort from the safety data that's already been gathered in clinical trials, and additional data expected to pour in from millions more people participating in the earliest waves of COVID-19 vaccine distribution, said Dr. Paul Offit. He's director of the Vaccine Education Center at the...

FRIDAY, Dec. 4, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Couples going through a divorce may see their mental well-being deteriorate -- especially if they are having angry exchanges and other conflicts, a new study shows.The findings are no surprise, experts said. But the study appears to be the first to capture how married people fare in the midst of a split, rather than after a period of separation.And overall, both men and women reported poorer physical and mental health than the norm for the general population. That was particularly true if their divorce was messy -- involving fights over kids, hostile communication or other conflicts.That's not to say that divorce, alone, took the toll on people's well-being."Divorce is often understood as a process, where the judicial divorce is one part," said...

FRIDAY, Dec. 4, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Could a genuine smile be the key to getting a less-painful vaccination? Researchers from University of California, Irvine, say yes.That genuine smile, which brings up the corners of the mouth and creates crow's feet around the eyes, can reduce the pain of a needle injection by up to 40%, and also blunt a stressful needle-related physiological response by lowering the heart rate, the researchers said. Surprisingly, a grimace also created those same responses. A poker face did not."When facing distress or pleasure, humans make remarkably similar facial expressions that involve activation of the eye muscles, lifting of the cheeks and baring of the teeth," said researcher Sarah Pressman, a professor of psychological science. "We found that these...

FRIDAY, Dec.4, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- COVID-19 patients with abnormally high blood sugar are at increased risk for serious illness and death, even if they don't have diabetes, new research shows.The study included more than 11,300 non-critically ill adults with COVID-19 who were hospitalized in Spain between March and the end of May 2020. Of those, 19% were previously diagnosed with diabetes.In all, one in five patients died in the hospital, the researchers reported.Compared to those with normal blood sugar levels, patients with abnormally high levels were more than twice as likely to die from COVID-19 (about 41% versus 16%), more likely to be admitted to intensive care and more likely to need a ventilator, the findings showed.There were no differences in death rates between patients...