Boys who weigh less than 2 pounds at birth don’t age as well as their normal-weight peers, a long-term study finds. Canadian researchers have followed a group of extremely low birth weight (ELBW) babies and their normal-weight counterparts since 1977. When participants were in their early 30s, researchers compared the genes of 45 who were…  read on >  read on >

You want to keep Fido or Fluffy safe, so when they need medication, it’s important to ask questions and guard against dosing errors, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration says. “A number of the medication errors that occur in the treatment of people are the same as those we are seeing in the treatment of…  read on >  read on >

If you live in the path of hurricanes , the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is urging you to be prepared. Deaths from carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning, fires and electric shock are common during severe weather events, according to the CPSC. Hurricane season in North America runs from June 1 through Nov. 30. The…  read on >  read on >

Many people drank more to cope with the stress of the coronavirus pandemic and the restrictions it placed on daily life, and now a new study suggests that all of this drinking is causing a serious spike in alcohol-related diseases. “Incidence of hospitalizations for alcohol-related gastrointestinal (GI) and liver disease increased quite dramatically since the…  read on >  read on >

Weight-loss surgery can trim waistlines, and new research suggests it could also protect aging eyes. The study found that after bariatric (weight-loss) surgery, a person’s odds for cataracts can drop significantly, especially among younger patients. Why might that be so? According to Swiss researchers, weight loss in obese patients may lower oxidative stress on cells,…  read on >  read on >

An experimental injectable drug appears more versatile than existing medications in treating people with different forms of severe, hard-to-control asthma, clinical trial results show. There are many different types of asthma brought on by many different triggers, and a number of monoclonal antibody medications — called “biologics” — have been crafted to target distinct asthma…  read on >  read on >

Strokes are on the rise among people younger than 50, and new research suggests that packing on the pounds during the teen years is a big reason why. The more overweight you were from ages 16 to 20, the greater your risk of having a stroke before age 50, the new study shows. “Given ongoing…  read on >  read on >

An estimated 9 million Americans turn to prescription pills when they can’t sleep, but a new study of middle-aged women finds taking the drugs for a year or longer may do little good. Comparing a group of about 200 women who were medicated for sleep problems with over 400 women who had sleeping problems but…  read on >  read on >