A good night’s sleep is often hampered by caffeine, hunger, alcohol or chronic pain. Now, America has a new cause of poor sleep: the sound of gunfire on city streets. New research shows that gunshots are twice as likely to occur at night, mostly affecting the sleep of people in low-income neighborhoods. In fact, nearly… read on > read on >
Women who enter menopause before their 50s and who also have heart disease risk factors may be at especially high risk for thinking declines and later dementia, new research shows. “While cardiovascular risk factors are known to increase a person’s risk for dementia, what is lesser known is why women have a greater risk for… read on > read on >
A rotten work schedule in young adulthood can affect a person’s middle-aged health, a new study finds. Young adults who worked shifts outside the usual 9-to-5 schedule were more likely to report worse sleep and symptoms of depression in their 50s, researchers discovered. “Work that is supposed to bring resources to help us sustain a… read on > read on >
Two newly discovered genetic variations can have a powerful effect on a person’s risk for obesity, a new report says. Variants in the gene BSN, also known as Bassoon, can increase risk of obesity as much as sixfold, researchers report April 4 in the journal Nature Genetics. These variants affect about 1 in every 6,500… read on > read on >
There’s a glimmer of hope for people afflicted by a rare artery-hardening disease than can lead to amputation. An existing medication called etidronate appears to help slow the buildup of calcium in arteries that’s a hallmark of the illness, which is called arterial calcification due to deficiency of CD73 (ACDC). ACDC is incredibly rare, affecting… read on > read on >
Desks that require folks to stand or move as they work also might help them produce better results on the job, a new study suggests. People’s brains became sharper when working at a desk that made them stand, step or walk rather than sit, results show. Reasoning scores in particular improved when at an active… read on > read on >
A Texas plant full of egg-laying hens has been shut down temporarily after bird flu was detected in the animals. Cal-Maine Foods, the largest egg producer in the country, said in a news release issued Tuesday that it had to subsequently cull about 1.6 million hens and 337,000 pullets (young hens) at the plant. “According to… read on > read on >
Three anti-smoking groups announced Tuesday that they have sued the U.S. government yet again after it missed its latest deadline for enacting a ban on menthol cigarettes. This is the second lawsuit that the plaintiffs — the African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council, Action on Smoking and Health and the National Medical Association — have… read on > read on >
It might be too soon to rely solely on machine learning for health advice, a new study finds. After pitting the latest AI against actual human physicians, the doctors easily won, reports a team led by Dr. Andrei Brateanu, of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. For now anyway, “AI tools should not be seen as substitutes… read on > read on >
Research into germs that travel through the human digestive tract shows that some may promote obesity while others might help prevent it. Not only that, but those microbes may act differently in men versus women, the same study found. “Our findings reveal how an imbalance in distinct bacterial groups are likely to play an important… read on > read on >
