Folks who smoke weed along with cigarettes are doing serious damage to their lungs, a new study warns. People who do both are 12 times more likely to develop emphysema than nonsmokers, due to the damage they’re doing to the lung’s air sacs, researchers report. “There is a common public misconception that marijuana smoking is…  read on >  read on >

Evidence that soccer heading — where players use their heads to strike a ball — is dangerous continues to mount. Research to be presented at the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) annual meeting in Chicago on Tuesday points to a measurable decline in brain structure and function as a result of the practice. “There…  read on >  read on >

Transgender people transitioning to male (transmasculine) identity typically take testosterone therapy as part of the process.   There have been worries that the treatment might spur erythrocytosis, an abnormally high concentration of red blood cells in blood that could prove dangerous. But new research should help allay those fears: The largest study on the subject…  read on >  read on >

Squats and lunges aren’t the most fun exercises, but a new study says they’ll help save your knees. Folks with strong quads building up their thighs appear to be less likely to require a total knee replacement, according to a presentation scheduled for Monday at a meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA)…  read on >  read on >

People with long COVID exhibit brain changes that are different from the brains of fully recovered COVID-19 patients, a new brain scan study reports. COVID-19 induced a specific pattern of microscopic structural changes in various brain regions of people with long COVID, researchers will report at the upcoming annual meeting of the Radiological Society of…  read on >  read on >

New data shows that births rose in the first half of 2023 in states where abortion bans came into effect following the fall of Roe v. Wade in 2022. States with bans had an average 2.3% rise in the fertility rate compared to states where abortion remained legal, according to an analysis of preliminary data…  read on >  read on >