The rate at which young Americans are ending up in hospital ICUs after using fake Oxycontin pills spiked with fentanyl is soaring, especially in the U.S. West, a new report warns. Medical toxicology data from one unnamed hospital in the western U.S. found the number of cases involving overdoses involving fake “M-30” Oxycontin pills rose…  read on >  read on >

Older people who avail themselves of the newest shingles vaccine could reap a hidden benefit: A significant drop in their odds of developing dementia. One expert applauded the new findings. “Dementia isn’t an inevitable part of aging; it’s caused by diseases like Alzheimer’s,” said Dr. Sheona Scales, director of research at Alzheimer’s Research UK. “Finding…  read on >  read on >

Wildfires raging in several states and Canada are triggering air quality alerts and evacuation orders across the western parts of the United States. Smoke and haze have filled the skies in California, Oregon, Arizona, Washington and several other western states: As of Wednesday, there were 79 large, active wildfires that have burned over 1.4 million acres…  read on >  read on >

Finding yourself packing on the pounds around your waist and arms? If so, you might be at heightened risk for neurological illnesses like Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s, new research suggests. There was one other physical characteristic that lowered the odds, however: muscle strength. Stronger folk appeared to have a lower odds for neurological illnesses compared to…  read on >  read on >

Millions of Americans deal with the sleep deficits brought on by sleep apnea, and many turn to one of the few treatments out there, continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machines. But what if new neurochemical targets in the brain could lead to new, less cumbersome therapies for sleep apnea? That’s what a team at the…  read on >  read on >

Synthetic antibiotics that attack bacteria in two directions at once could be the solution for combatting antimicrobial-resistant bugs, a new study claims. These dual-action antibiotics, called macrolones, disrupt bacterial cell function in two different ways. It’s nearly impossible for bacteria to resist macrolones, because the germ would need to defend against both attacks at once,…  read on >  read on >

Misuse of illicit prescription drugs is falling dramatically among U.S. high school students, a new study says. The percentage of seniors who say they’ve misused prescription drugs in the past year has dropped to 2% in 2022, down from 11% back in 2009, researchers reported July 24 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.…  read on >  read on >