It’s not fun for folks to admit to their doctor that they’re a couch potato. But such a frank talk could help protect against chronic disease, a new study says. People with the highest levels of physical activity have a lower risk of 19 different chronic health problems, researchers reported recently in the journal Preventing… read on > read on >
A Canadian teen’s severe bird flu infection has highlighted growing concerns about the H5N1 virus, commonly known as bird flu, which has seen a steady rise in human cases across the U.S. According to a news release, the 13-year-old, who was hospitalized in November, had asthma and obesity but was otherwise in good health before… read on > read on >
Not sure what’s causing your child’s asthma? A new quick-and-easy nasal swab test for kids can diagnose the specific immune system drivers behind their asthma, potentially opening the door to better treatments, researchers say. The test diagnoses a child’s asthma subtype, also called an endotype. “Because asthma is a highly variable disease with different endotypes,… read on > read on >
Considering a New Year’s resolution to quit smoking? New research might provide all the motivation you need: Each cigarette could shorten your life by up to 22 minutes, researchers say. The findings, published Dec. 29, 2024, in the journal Addiction, were based on mortality data from British smokers and suggest that smoking a pack of… read on > read on >
Tree-lined streets and lush public parks appear to provide city schoolkids a brain boost. Chicago students’ test scores suffered when an invasive insect wiped out half the city’s ash trees, researchers reported in the journal Global Environmental Change. “We found that test scores in areas with ash borer infestations were reduced after the onset of… read on > read on >
Weight loss tops many folks’ list of New Years resolutions, and lots of people are turning to cutting-edge weight-loss drugs like Ozempic to help them drop excess pounds. These drugs, called glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs), work in several different ways to help people lose weight, gain control over their blood sugar levels, and… read on > read on >
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Cases of a bacterial infection called “rabbit fever” have been increasing during the past decade. Cases of tularemia increased by 56% during the 2010s compared to the previous decade, researchers report in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Half of all the nearly 2,500 reported cases between 2011 and 2022 came from four states:… read on > read on >
Eczema can be maddening, causing thick, scaly patches of dry skin that itch like the devil. There’s no cure for the skin condition, but a new study shows that self-guided talk therapy can help a person deal with the itching. Online self-guided cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) that teaches patients how to respond to their itching… read on > read on >
A woman’s binge drinking might be related to her hormones. The female hormone estrogen appears to promote binge drinking in women, a new mouse study published recently in the journal Nature Communications shows. Specifically, estrogen causes women to “pre-game,” or consume large quantities of alcohol within the first half-hour after it’s offered, results show. This… read on > read on >
MONDAY Dec. 30, 2024The number of homeless individuals in the U.S. increased by 18% between January 2023 and January 2024, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The HUD’s 2024 Annual Homelessness Assessment found that some 770,000 people were experiencing homelessness on a single night in January 2024, a significant increase… read on > read on >
