Booster doses of COVID vaccines are needed as the highly contagious Omicron variant continues to spread worldwide, a World Health Organization expert group said Tuesday. The group’s statement that it “strongly supports urgent and broad access” to booster doses contradicts the WHO’s previous stance that boosters aren’t necessary and contribute to vaccine inequality. In January,… read on > read on >
Not everyone who becomes forgetful as they age develops dementia, and a new study suggests that those with college degrees and advanced language skills are likely to get better. Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is an early stage of memory loss marked by lapses in memory and thinking problems that don’t interfere with everyday life. While… read on > read on >
Palliative care can be a godsend in the final days of one’s life, but new research shows that Black and Hispanic nursing home residents are far less likely to receive it than their white peers are. Overall, nursing homes in the Northeast provided the most palliative care, while those in the South provided the least… read on > read on >
From drowning to being struck by flying debris, the immediate dangers of hurricanes are well known, but these events also boost your risk of dying from a host of hidden diseases and conditions that occur in the storm’s aftermath. The new research is concerning given the increase in the number and strength of hurricanes due… read on > read on >
If you were born before 1996, there’s a good chance you were exposed to high levels of lead as a kid, and new research suggests this may have harmed your IQ and boosted your chances of lead-related health concerns down the road. “A significant proportion of Americans alive today had very high lead exposure as… read on > read on >
TUESDAY, March 8, 2022 (American Heart Association News) — At the 142-year-old Shiloh Baptist Church in Trenton, New Jersey, the 1,500-member congregation has learned that tending only to spiritual needs is not enough. So, the predominantly Black church works together through its nonprofit Shiloh Community Development Corporation to address spiritual, physical and mental health, said… read on > read on >
There are serious mental harms and high financial costs associated with so-called conversion therapy for LGBTQ people, researchers report. Conversion therapy attempts to make lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people “straight.” Its safety and effectiveness has been discredited in multiple prior studies. In the new analysis, researchers looked at data from 28 published studies… read on > read on >
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Monday gave the green light to the sale of beef from gene-edited cattle. “Today’s decision underscores our commitment to using a risk and science-based, data-driven process that focuses on safety to the animals containing intentional genomic alterations and safety to the people who eat the food produced by… read on > read on >
Here’s more evidence of the toll that COVID-19 takes on the human brain: A new study finds biomarkers of neuron damage and brain inflammation in the blood are associated with brain function changes in both hospitalized COVID-19 patients and people with long COVID. Combined blood biomarker evidence of damage to neurons and activation of cells… read on > read on >
The lost hour of sleep when clocks spring forward for daylight saving time on Sunday, March 13 can pose risks to your heart — but there are ways to protect yourself. A number of studies have found an increase in heart problems and stroke after the spring time change, according to the American Heart Association.… read on > read on >
