Premature births dropped during lockdowns in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. A groundbreaking study, which included a group of mostly high-income countries — including the United States, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Denmark and Switzerland — found there were about 4% fewer preterm births than would have been expected in spring 2020. That’s nearly 50,000…  read on >  read on >

Men suffering from an enlarged prostate can receive long-term relief from a minimally invasive procedure that partially blocks blood flow to the gland, new research reports. The procedure, called prostate artery embolization (PAE), dramatically improved urinary symptoms in patients without having any effect on erectile function, said senior researcher Dr. Shivank Bhatia, chair of interventional…  read on >  read on >

People who have long COVID — lingering symptoms after a COVID-19 infection — may also have lower brain oxygen levels, cognitive problems and psychiatric troubles, such as anxiety and depression. Researchers from the University of Waterloo in Canada and Drexel University in Philadelphia combined two parallel studies to better understand what is happening in long…  read on >  read on >

THURSDAY, March 2, 2023Black women who are exposed to certain forms of racism may be more likely to develop heart disease, researchers say. Specifically, Black women who said they faced discrimination in employment, housing and in their interactions with the police were 26% more likely to develop heart disease than their counterparts who had not…  read on >  read on >

A Mediterranean diet may help multiple sclerosis (MS) patients ward off damage to their thinking skills. New research finds that a diet rich in veggies, fruit, fish and healthy fat reduced their risk of developing memory loss as well as losing the ability to concentrate, learn new things or make decisions. A loss of such…  read on >  read on >