Rural hospitals – and their patients — are particularly vulnerable to the aftershocks caused by ransomware attacks, a new study reports. “Ransomware attacks are bad news for hospitals and patients no matter where they happen, but they’re especially harmful to rural hospitals and patients,” lead researcher Hannah Neprash, an associate professor at the University of…  read on >  read on >

Classroom cellphone bans should help improve learning environments in schools, a child development expert says. Keeping the devices out of classrooms would help focus attention, improve problem-solving and — by allowing kids to occasionally lapse into boredom — spur creativity, says Jon Piacentini, a child and adolescent psychologist at UCLA Health. “There are more harms…  read on >  read on >

The trees and shrubs in your neighborhood could be giving you a big health boost, a new study finds. People have lower levels of inflammation in neighborhoods where the number of trees and shrubs is more than doubled compared to other nearby locales, University of Louisville researchers reported this week at the International Society for…  read on >  read on >