Email has become an easy and essential form of communication between patients and physicians — so much so that doctors are deluged daily with messages from patients. Now, some hospitals and health systems have started charging for doctors’ responses to those messages, depending on the amount of work needed to respond. Only a handful of…  read on >  read on >

Watching the big game on a big TV? Keep safety in mind if young children are around. Seven of 10 fatal furniture tip-over incidents in children involve a falling television, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) warns. Its latest report on furniture-related tip-over incidents turned up an annual average of 19,400 tip-over injuries treated…  read on >  read on >

Healthy young people who vape or smoke may be putting themselves at greater risk for developing severe COVID, new research finds. Both smoking tobacco and vaping electronic cigarettes may predispose people to increased inflammation, future development of severe COVID-19 and lingering cardiovascular complications, said lead study author Dr. Theodoros Kelesidis. He’s an associate professor of…  read on >  read on >

Using a “neuroprotectant” drug alongside the standard surgical removal of a clot may slash the risk of death and disability following a stroke, a new study finds. The new medication, called ApTOLL, shields brain tissue from continuing damage by cooling down inflammation, the researchers said. A stroke occurs when blood supply to part of the…  read on >  read on >

Many football fans fondly remember Rick Arrington as the Philadelphia Eagles’ quarterback from 1970 to 1973, but his daughter’s memories are tainted by years spent watching her dad suffer from late-stage chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). A degenerative brain disease found in athletes, military veterans and others with a history of repetitive brain trauma, CTE causes…  read on >  read on >

In the United States alone, more than 800,000 heart attacks occur each year. That number will likely continue to rise: The American College of Cardiology predicts significant increases in heart disease and cardiovascular risk factors across the country by 2060. And a recent poll from Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center found heart attacks can…  read on >  read on >