Latest Health News

FRIDAY, Aug. 28, 2020 (American Heart Association News) -- For some parents and schools, education amid a pandemic will mean a focus on reading, writing and arithmetic. But brain experts say don't forget the singing, dancing and painting. Arts education often is seen as a frill. But research shows it boosts educational performance. Exposure to the arts can have direct and indirect benefits to mental and physical health. Far from being a luxury, they fill an essential human need. "Sometimes they say that the arts are like exercise," said Susan Magsamen, executive director of the International Arts & Mind Lab within the Brain Science Institute at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore. "Exercise is something that helps you with your whole body, right? It helps...

FRIDAY, Aug. 28, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Breastfeeding mothers are unlikely to transmit the new coronavirus to their babies via their milk, researchers say. No cases of an infant contracting COVID-19 from breast milk have been documented, but questions about the potential risk remain. Researchers examined 64 samples of breast milk collected from 18 women across the United States who were infected with the new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) that causes COVID-19. One sample tested positive for coronavirus RNA, but follow-up tests showed that the virus couldn't replicate and therefore, couldn't infect the breastfed infant, according to the study recently published online in the Journal of the American Medical Association. "Detection of viral RNA does not equate to infection. It has to grow...

FRIDAY, Aug. 28, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Flu and pneumonia vaccines lead to fewer hospital deaths among heart failure patients, a new study finds. "Our study provides further impetus for annual immunizations in patients with heart failure. Despite advice to do so, uptake remains low," said study author Dr. Karthik Gonuguntla, of the University of Connecticut. In heart failure, your heart can't pump blood as well as it should. This leads to fluid buildup in the lungs that causes shortness of breath, coughing and reduced quality of life. Respiratory infections like pneumonia and the flu make heart failure worse, so annual vaccinations are recommended for patients. However, few studies have compared outcomes among heart failure patients who have and haven't received these...

FRIDAY, Aug. 28, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- On the final night of the 2020 Democratic National Convention, the world heard from an improbable source -- a 13-year-old named Brayden Harrington. Brayden was invited to speak because he has a frustrating and misunderstood condition that millions of Americans share, including Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden. "We stutter," he explained in a video recorded for the virtual convention. Biden has been open about his struggle with stuttering, calling it "the single most defining thing in [his] life," according to the Los Angeles Times. In February, Brayden met the former vice president at a New Hampshire campaign event where they bonded over their shared condition. "He told me about a book of poems by [William] Yeats he would read...