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WEDNESDAY, Sept. 9, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- It's probably a good idea to skip that second glass of wine if you have diabetes, because new research suggests that having more than one drink daily raises your risk of high blood pressure. People with type 2 diabetes who had eight or more drinks a week (moderate drinkers) had more than 60% higher odds of having high blood pressure, according to the study. They also tended to have more severe high blood pressure when they drank that amount. "While prior literature has demonstrated that heavy alcohol consumption is associated with [high blood pressure], even moderate alcohol consumption may be associated with increased odds of [high blood pressure] in patients with diabetes and heightened cardiovascular risk," said the study's senior...

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 9, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- More than 500,000 U.S. children had been diagnosed with COVID-19 as of early September, with a sizable uptick seen in recent weeks, a new report reveals. There were 70,630 new child cases reported between Aug. 20 and Sept. 3, 2020. That brings the total to 513,415 cases -- a 16% increase over two weeks, according to state-by-state data compiled by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Children's Hospital Association. "These numbers are a chilling reminder of why we need to take this virus seriously," said AAP president Dr. Sara Goza. As of Sept. 3, children accounted for nearly 10% of all reported COVID-19 cases in the United States since the start of the pandemic, according to the latest weekly report from the two...

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 9, 2020 (American Heart Association News) -- There's no resilience gene to help us deal with adversity. Experts say it's a skill to foster, a muscle to pump up. Six months into the twin calamities of a pandemic and a tough economy, this may be a good time for a resilience workout. Resilience is the ability to withstand, bounce back and grow in the face of stressors and changing demands. "For a long time, people believed resilience was kind of a trait, something you have or you don't," said Vanessa Downing, a psychologist in Wilmington, Delaware. "Now we know it really is much more a set of skills that can be taught and learned." Downing, who worked for many years to help heart patients and caregivers become more resilient, now directs the ChristianaCare Center for...

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 9, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- The world is still waiting for a safe, effective coronavirus vaccine. But new research now suggests that billions of people may already be using a crude vaccine of sorts: face masks. The theory -- and it remains largely a theory -- is that by filtering out airborne coronavirus droplets and thereby lowering the dose of SARS-CoV-2 a person inhales, infections have much less chance of producing symptoms. Much in the way vaccination works, an immune response would be triggered in the mask-wearer upon contact with a small amount of virus, but at a level that's not likely to cause serious illness. "If this theory bears out, population-wide masking, with any type of mask that increases acceptability and adherence, might contribute to increasing...