Over-the-counter nasal sprays could be a potent weapon against a major public health threat — antibiotic resistance, researchers report. Their analysis, which looked at data from nearly 14,000 adults, found that common nasal sprays could help keep upper respiratory tract infections at bay, reducing the need for antibiotics. Antibiotic resistance caused by overuse and misuse… read on > read on >
Some diabetes drugs appear to lower the risk that people with type 2 diabetes will develop dementia or Alzheimer’s disease, a new evidence review says. The risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s is significantly lower in patients treated with metformin or a class of meds called “sodium glucose co-transporter-2 (SGLT-2) inhibitors”, compared with other diabetes drugs,… read on > read on >
Diabetics who sleep too little or too much are more likely to suffer damage to their small blood vessels, a condition that can cause organ damage throughout their bodies. Short sleep duration is tied to a 2.6 times increased risk of small blood vessel damage, also known as microvascular disease, in people with diabetes, a… read on > read on >
Many tweens and teens are filling prescriptions for opioids far in advance of surgeries unlikely to be associated with severe pain afterward, a new study says. Worse, a significant minority continue to fill those opioid prescriptions three to six months after surgery, a sign of possible addiction, researchers found. “Our study found that these patients… read on > read on >
After an anesthesiologist may have exposed thousands of people treated at several hospitals in Oregon to hepatitis and HIV, those patients are being advised to get tested for the diseases. Two health care providers in Portland — Providence and Legacy Health — have been told to offer the tests as a safety precaution. “We recently… read on > read on >
A new report finds research is sorely lacking on how chronic illnesses affect women, and it urged government agencies to do more to investigate how these diseases strike women differently. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine analysis, commissioned by the Office of Research on Women’s Health and released Wednesday, noted that women are… read on > read on >
The Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel has left children and parents with significant psychological scars, a new study shows. But families with a child who has autism have been especially hard hit, according to researchers from the Autism Center at Hebrew University of Jerusalem. “Parenting a child during wartime is a universal challenge, but… read on > read on >
Black patients with Huntington’s disease receive their diagnoses an average of one year later than white people with the incurable genetic disorder, a new study shows. Early diagnosis is essential to help patients get proper care and prepare for the effects of the disease, lead researcher Dr. Adys Mendizabal, a UCLA Health assistant professor of… read on > read on >
Older women are more likely than older men to die following heart bypass surgery, possibly due to the quality of the hospitals where they undergo the procedure, a new study says. Women older than 65 are 26% more likely than men to undergo the surgery at a low-quality hospital, defined as a hospital with a… read on > read on >
Diabetes can make lumbar spinal fusion surgery much more likely to fail, a new study says. People with diabetes are nearly three times more likely to have their vertebrae fail to properly heal and fuse together, what surgeons call a non-union complication, according to results recently published in the journal JBMR Plus. “A lot of… read on > read on >
