More than 171 million people are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 in the United States, but the highly infectious Delta variant has left some with “breakthrough” cases nonetheless. These cases were anticipated, because the COVID vaccines weren’t designed to eliminate all virus infections, but rather to lower a person’s risk of severe illness and hospitalization. Even…  read on >  read on >

Even before COVID-19, college could be a challenging experience, but a new study suggests those stresses are much higher for female students. Still, in the face of a continuing pandemic, all students may need interventions to develop healthy coping strategies, the study authors said. “They’re balancing work, classes, relationships and family — and then now…  read on >  read on >

Women smokers puff fewer cigarettes than men but have more trouble quitting, French researchers report. “Our findings highlight the need to provide smoking cessation interventions tailored to the needs of women,” said Ingrid Allagbe, a doctoral student at the University of Burgundy, who led the research. The study included nearly 38,000 smokers (about 43% women)…  read on >  read on >

Unvaccinated U.S. troops must immediately start getting COVID-19 vaccines, says a memo issued Tuesday by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. The Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, which recently received full approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, will be added to the list of required shots for U.S. troops. They’ll be able to get their shots at…  read on >  read on >

When COVID-19 patients are discharged from the hospital, most are far from being well — even if their hospital stay was fairly short. That’s among the initial findings of a study that followed Americans hospitalized for COVID-19 during the pandemic’s “third wave” — the fall of 2020 through early 2021. Researchers found that of 253…  read on >  read on >

Football and other contact sports get a lot of attention for their injury hazards. But for most adults, bike riding is the biggest back-breaker, a new study suggests. Of more than 12,000 sports-related spinal injuries among U.S. adults, researchers found that a full 81% were due to bicycling mishaps. The injuries mostly included vertebral fractures,…  read on >  read on >