A gene therapy that could provide a permanent cure for sickle cell disease continues to show success through a third wave of patients, researchers report. The therapy, LentiGlobin, restored normal blood function in 35 sickle cell patients who had the one-time procedure, according to clinical trial findings published Dec. 12 in the New England Journal… read on > read on >
A new study confirms yet another consequence of the pandemic for children and teenagers: Eating disorders, and hospitalizations for them, rose sharply in 2020. The study of six hospitals across Canada found new diagnoses of anorexia nearly doubled during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. And the rate of hospitalization among those patients was… read on > read on >
The COVID-19 death toll in the United States reached 800,000 on Monday, and one expert believes it will likely hit 1 million at some point in 2022. The 800,156 confirmed deaths in the nearly two years since the first known U.S. victims of the coronavirus were confirmed in February 2020 is more than any other… read on > read on >
MONDAY, Dec. 13, 2021 (American Heart Association News) — After four years in a Washington state prison for first-degree burglary, Chelsey Johnson learned she was eligible for a work-release program that would shave the final year off her sentence. She was excited by the prospect, but also scared. Then 31, she had spent half her… read on > read on >
The ability of two-dose COVID-19 vaccines to protect against symptomatic infection by the Omicron variant falls significantly short, but a booster shot provides considerable protection, according to the first real-world study of how effective vaccines are against the rapidly spreading new form of the coronavirus. Four months after their second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine,… read on > read on >
Big “surprise” medical bills may still be a problem for Americans. According to a new study, more than half of U.S. hospitals haven’t complied with recent regulations requiring that they disclose their prices online for all services, to help prevent unexpected bills for patients. About 55% of hospitals have yet to comply with the Hospital… read on > read on >
You can’t always choose who operates on you, especially in an emergency, but the sex of your surgeon shouldn’t matter, should it? It just may, according to a Canadian study of 1.3 million people. It reported that women who underwent common elective or emergency surgeries with male surgeons had a 15% higher chance of dying,… read on > read on >
The sound of mom’s voice can soothe a fussy baby like nothing else, but now new research suggests that an infant is also calmed by the scent of its mother. Prior animal studies had already shown that olfaction — smell — “is very important, that mother’s smell is very critical for attachment,” noted study author… read on > read on >
You may feel silly doing it, but baby talk helps your infant learn the basics of human language, a new study suggests. By mimicking the sound of a smaller vocal tract, baby talk guides babies on how words should sound coming out of their own mouths, the researchers explained. “It seems to stimulate motor production… read on > read on >
Older adults have a higher risk of delirium after hip and knee surgery if they’re taking anxiety, depression or insomnia drugs, researchers say. “Our findings show that different classes of medicine are riskier than others when it comes to causing delirium after surgery, and the older the patients are, the greater the risk,” said lead… read on > read on >
