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 >
Long COVID can be tough to diagnose in children, but there are a number of things to look for. “Many children don’t have any symptoms when they have a COVID infection,” said Dr. Sindhu Mohandas, a pediatric infectious disease specialist and attending physician at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. “So if the symptoms of long COVID… read on > read on >
They take care of others, but many U.S. home health care workers say they’re not in good shape themselves, a new study finds. Researchers analyzed self-reported data collected from nearly 3,000 home health care workers in 38 states between 2014 and 2018 and found that more than a quarter rated their general health as fair… read on > read on >
This time of year can be hard on the heart. The United States has more heart attack deaths between Christmas and New Year’s Day than at any other time of year, so the American Heart Association (AHA) offers some holiday health tips. “The holidays are a busy, often stressful, time for most of us,” said… read on > read on >
