FRIDAY, Sept. 23, 2022 (American Heart Association News) — After nearly three years of nearly nonstop talking about viruses and vaccinations, some people might be ready to tune out. That would be a mistake, health experts say. Amid warning signs of a potentially severe flu season ahead, those experts worry “vaccine fatigue” will keep people…  read on >  read on >

People with a rare genetic form of ALS may benefit from extended use of an investigational drug, a new study shows. The medication, tofersen, benefited patients with mutations of the gene SOD1. These mutations create a misfolded version of a protein, which leads to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. In a…  read on >  read on >

An increased risk of blood clots persists for close to a year after a COVID-19 infection, a large study shows. The health records of 48 million unvaccinated adults in the United Kingdom suggest that the pandemic’s first wave in 2020 may have led to an additional 10,500 cases of heart attack, stroke and other blood…  read on >  read on >

Nerve damage is a common side effect of type 2 diabetes and it might start in the eyes long before the condition is ever diagnosed, new research suggests. In this study, scientists used neuropathy, or nerve damage, in the eye’s cornea as a proxy for the damage to nerves throughout the body. The study included…  read on >  read on >

If you want to stay well, make sure you’re getting enough sleep. That’s the conclusion of a new study that found that good sleep helps regulate a key component of the body’s immune system. Specifically, it influences the environment where white blood cells known as monocytes form, develop and get ready to support the immune…  read on >  read on >

Two common diabetes medications seem to outperform two others when it comes to controlling blood sugar levels, a large U.S. trial has found. The trial of more than 5,000 people with type 2 diabetes found that two injection medications — a long-acting insulin and liraglutide (Victoza) — typically worked better than two oral drugs in…  read on >  read on >

When traditional treatments fail to help patients with severe obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), an implant that zaps the brain with electrical pulses just might, a new research review shows. It found that the remedy — known as “deep brain stimulation,” or DBS — can offer significant relief to as many as two-thirds of such patients. On…  read on >  read on >

No one likes nightmares, but having persistently bad dreams may also signal impending dementia, new British research suggests. In the study, people aged 35 to 64 who had bad dreams weekly were four times more likely to have cognitive decline over the following 10 years, and older people were twice as likely to develop dementia,…  read on >  read on >

THURSDAY, Sept. 22, 2022 (American Heart Association News) — Vonnie Gaither hated leaving a reunion of extended family in Baltimore. Still, she had to tear herself away to start the trek back home to Anchorage, Alaska. Her flight from Baltimore to Salt Lake City was uneventful. After boarding the plane bound for Anchorage, she buckled…  read on >  read on >