A first-of-its-kind surgery has gone through a young woman’s eye socket to remove a cancerous tumor wrapped around her spine. Surgeons threaded a thin lighted tube called an endoscope down through the 19-year-old woman’s eye socket to remove a rare, slow-growing bone tumor known as a chordoma, doctors said after the successful procedure. “The tumor…  read on >  read on >

Children have an increased risk of high blood pressure if their moms suffered from health problems during pregnancy, a new study says. Children had higher blood pressure if their moms had obesity, gestational diabetes or high blood pressure while pregnant, researchers reported May 8 in JAMA Network Open. The presence of just one of these…  read on >  read on >

Children and young adults formerly covered by Medicaid are losing access to medications needed to control conditions like depression, schizophrenia, ADHD, asthma and epilepsy, a new study says. Young people need to take these meds regularly to get the best results, as interruptions can cause flare-ups of their chronic health problems, researchers said. Interruptions in…  read on >  read on >

Any parent who has been jolted awake by the squeals of a toddler with an ear infection knows that relief won’t be swift — or sure. Kids often build resistance to the usual days-long antibiotic treatment regimen so the painful infections can come roaring back. But Cornell University researchers report encouraging results from animal tests…  read on >  read on >

More talk and fewer pills are being employed to help Americans maintain their mental health, a new study says. Psychotherapy is assuming a larger role in mental health care, while medications prescribed without accompanying therapy are becoming less common, according to results published in early May in the American Journal of Psychiatry. “After years of…  read on >  read on >

Women with common autoimmune inflammatory diseases are more likely than men to die from heart disease, a new study says. Women with rheumatoid arthritis, lupus or systemic sclerosis have a 50% higher heart disease-related death rate than men, researchers reported May 5 in the journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes. “Our study highlights the significant…  read on >  read on >

A new vaccine that combines flu and COVID-19 protection in one shot shows promising results, but the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says it wants more data before it can be approved. Moderna researchers reported that the combo shot produced a stronger immune response against COVID-19 and most flu strains than the individual vaccines…  read on >  read on >