Latest Health News

18Nov
2020

Exoskeleton Helps Paralyzed People Walk Again

Exoskeleton Helps Paralyzed People Walk AgainWEDNESDAY, Nov. 18, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- People paralyzed with spinal cord injuries can safely and effectively use an exoskeleton to assist them in walking, a new study finds."Participants showed improvement regardless of level of injury, completeness or duration of injury," said Gail Forrest, director of the Tim and Caroline Reynolds Center for Spinal Stimulation at Kessler Foundation in East Hanover, N.J.The findings suggest "that exoskeletons can be used to improve mobility across a broad spectrum of individuals with neurological deficits caused by spinal cord injury," she said in a foundation news release.The randomized clinical trial included 50 participants with paralysis either in the lower body or in both the upper and lower body. This included people with no motor...

Antibiotics Before Age 2 May Up Odds for Obesity, Allergies

18 November 2020
Antibiotics Before Age 2 May Up Odds for Obesity, AllergiesWEDNESDAY, Nov. 18, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Kids given antibiotics before their second birthday may have a heightened risk for chronic conditions like allergies and obesity, a new study suggests. The drugs' effect on the "microbiome" -- trillions of helpful microbes living in the human body -- might play a role in a baby's future health, Mayo Clinic researchers said.The study analyzed data from more than 14,500 children. About 70% of these children were given antibiotics before age 2. Those kids were more likely to have multiple illnesses or conditions later in childhood, the study found.Early use of antibiotics increased the risk of asthma, allergic rhinitis, weight issues and obesity, food allergies, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, celiac disease and atopic dermatitis, the...

Audio Messages Can Help Boost Heart Failure Care

18 November 2020
Audio Messages Can Help Boost Heart Failure CareWEDNESDAY, Nov. 18, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- After hospital discharge, audio messages about self-care can reduce heart failure patients' risk of rehospitalization and death, new research suggests.Patients may not absorb instructions provided before they leave the hospital, explained study co-author Nancy Albert, a clinical nurse specialist at the Kaufman Center for Heart Failure at the Cleveland Clinic. So, "we needed a new way to provide this potentially lifesaving information," she said in an American Heart Association (AHA) news release. "Patients may be tired, confused and worried about being able to follow provider orders and/or without family members at the time they are discharged, so they may lack the ability to carefully hear, understand and ask questions about instructions...

Buying Gun During Pandemic Might Raise Suicide Risk

17 November 2020
Buying Gun During Pandemic Might Raise Suicide RiskTUESDAY, Nov. 17, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Those who buy guns as the pandemic rages are more likely to be suicidal than those who already own firearms, a new study finds.In fact, among people who bought guns during the pandemic, about 70% reported having suicidal thoughts, while just 37% of other gun owners had such thoughts, researchers found."People who were motivated to purchase firearms during COVID-19 might have been driven by anxiety that leaves them vulnerable to suicidal ideation," said researcher Michael Anestis, executive director of the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center and an associate professor at the Rutgers School of Public Health in Piscataway, N.J. "While this does not guarantee an increase in suicide rates, it represents an unusually large surge in risk made...

Is Ablation Rx the Best First Choice for A-Fib?

17 November 2020
Is Ablation Rx the Best First Choice for A-Fib?TUESDAY, Nov. 17, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- A procedure that freezes bits of heart tissue may be a better option than medication for people with atrial fibrillation (a-fib, or AF), two clinical trials have found.A-fib is a common heart arrhythmia in which the organ's upper chambers (the atria) beat erratically. Though it is not immediately life-threatening, over time it can lead to complications like heart failure, or blood clots that cause a stroke.Right now, the standard first-line treatment is medication, said Dr. Jason Andrade, lead researcher on one of the new studies.Those drugs help control the heart's rate and rhythm. If they fail to do that, patients may move on to another option called ablation. It's a minimally invasive procedure in which doctors use heat or cold to destroy...

Could Night Shifts Raise Asthma Risk?

17 November 2020
Could Night Shifts Raise Asthma Risk?TUESDAY, Nov. 17, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Night-shift workers are about one-third more likely to develop moderate to severe asthma compared to folks working daylight hours, a new study finds.Researchers in Britain explained that working a night shift can play havoc with the body's internal clock, and has been tied to an increased risk for various metabolic disorders, cardiovascular disease and cancer. So, in the new study, they collected data on nearly 287,000 people listed in the U.K. Biobank between 2007 and 2010.Compared with people who worked regular office hours, shift workers were more likely to be men, smokers, and live in urban areas and poorer neighborhoods. They also drank less alcohol, slept fewer hours and worked longer hours.About 5% of all the participants had asthma...

'No Recollection:' Woman Has Sudden, Unexplained Episodes of Memory Loss

17 November 2020
`No Recollection:` Woman Has Sudden, Unexplained Episodes of Memory LossTUESDAY, Nov. 17, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Imagine standing at your bathroom sink, and then you suddenly find yourself in bed but you don't remember how you got there. Then you discover hours have passed, yet you have no memory of what happened during that time.That frightening scenario happened to Amy Losak, 64, twice, once in October 2016, and then again in September 2020.Losak, a health care public relations professional and children's book author from Bergen County, N.J., had been enjoying a lovely fall day just before the first episode occurred. She and her husband had gone into New York City to see an afternoon play. When they came home, Losak said she sent a work email, and then stepped into her bathroom."I started to feel a crinkling sensation. It was like little pings on my...

'Couch Potato' Time Rises Sharply After Women Retire

17 November 2020
`Couch Potato` Time Rises Sharply After Women RetireTUESDAY, Nov. 17, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Women are at high risk of becoming much less active right after they retire, researchers find.Inactivity was tracked among nearly 700 participants in an ongoing study of retiring municipal workers in Finland that began in 2013. Most (85%) of the participants were women, with an average retirement age of 63.Among women, inactivity levels didn't change much before retirement, but increased steeply at retirement and then leveled off.Women's daily total sedentary time increased by 22 minutes a day immediately after they retired, prolonged sedentary time rose by 34 minutes a day, and highly prolonged sedentary time rose by 15 minutes a day.Prolonged sedentary time is 30 minutes or more of inactivity at a time, while highly prolonged sedentary time...

Coronavirus Immunity Might Last at Least 6 Months

TUESDAY, Nov. 17, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Immunity to the new coronavirus may last six months or longer after people recover from infection, a new study suggests.Researchers collected blood...

How to Be a Living Liver Donor

TUESDAY, Nov. 17, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- About one in five Americans waiting for a liver transplant dies before getting the organ. Their odds might be better if more people knew they could...
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