Latest Health News

WEDNESDAY, April 29, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- If you have kids and carpets, it might be time to redecorate. Older carpets are a major source of kids' exposure to harmful chemicals known as PFAS, researchers say. PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are associated with serious health risks in kids and adults, including impaired neurodevelopment, immune system dysfunction, hormone disruption and cancer. The chemicals were once used to make carpets stain- and soil-resistant, but most manufacturers recently stopped using them. That means families, schools and daycares can eliminate kids' exposure to PFAS by replacing older carpets, according to the study authors. "From circle time to nap time, young schoolchildren spend a lot of time on the floor," said study lead author Marta...

WEDNESDAY, April 29, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Electronic cigarettes are touted by some as safer than smoking tobacco. But a new study finds they damage blood vessels just like traditional cigarettes do. Among hundreds of healthy young adults, researchers found that vaping and smoking cigarettes cause the same harm to arteries that leads to heart attacks, strokes and heart disease. "The evidence is growing that e-cigarettes may not be a reduced harm product when it comes to heart disease," said lead researcher Jessica Fetterman, an assistant professor of medicine at Boston University School of Medicine. Abnormalities in artery stiffness persist in e-cigarette users, and no evidence shows that e-cigarette use reduces cardiovascular injury, dysfunction or harm associated with the...

WEDNESDAY, April 29, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Two new reports have produced conflicting results on the potential effectiveness of remdesivir, an experimental antiviral drug considered to be one of the leading hopes in the fight against COVID-19. Disappointing results emerged from the first gold-standard clinical trial for remdesivir, which found that the drug did not help patients in China with severe COVID-19. Those findings were published April 29 in The Lancet medical journal. On the same day, drugmaker Gilead Sciences announced positive early findings from a U.S.-designed clinical trial being conducted at 180 sites around the world. Gilead announced that the U.S. trial will show that COVID-19 patients treated earlier with remdesivir had better outcomes than those who received...

WEDNESDAY, April 29, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- When the President of the United States offers medical advice, many Americans will heed the call. Never mind that the recommendations may be unfounded and potentially dangerous. That's the cautionary finding of an analysis published April 29 in JAMA Internal Medicine. Researchers examined Google search patterns following President Donald Trump's public embrace of the malaria medications hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine as treatments for COVID-19. "We monitored all Google searches indicative of shopping for chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine in the U.S. between February 1 and March 29," explained study lead author Michael Liu, a masters candidate in social policy and intervention at Oxford University in the United Kingdom. The team...