Wildfires that spread so fast they outrun the efforts of fire crews trying to contain them: These types of conflagrations are becoming far more common across the Western United States, a new study warns. A fire’s velocity could be even more important than its size when it comes to the threat to people and property,… read on > read on >
Texts deliver rapid-fire messages, but a new study indicates human brains can keep up with the barrage. The brain can detect the basic linguistic structure of a brief sentence in roughly 150 milliseconds — about the speed of a blink of an eye, researchers report. “Our experiments reveal that the brain’s language comprehension system may… read on > read on >
Anaphylaxis involves a sudden, potentially life-threatening reaction to an allergen, including even very small amounts of food allergens such as egg or peanut. Now, two studies find that people with allergies, as well as those charged with their care, are often unsure what to do when anaphylaxis strikes, and how soon. Too often, patients were… read on > read on >
Medication and behavioral therapy are both effective in combatting fatigue caused by multiple sclerosis (MS), either separately or together, a new study finds. MS patients felt significantly less fatigue after they were prescribed modafinil (Provigil), a drug that promotes wakefulness and is used to treat sleepiness, researchers reported recently in The Lancet Neurology journal. Patients… read on > read on >
Cutting certain foods from a child’s diet isn’t likely to improve their eczema symptoms, a new study finds. Eczema, also known as atopic dermatitis, results from an overactive immune response and has been linked to an increased risk of food allergies, researchers said. Because of this, some parents try to manage their kids’ itchy, rashy… read on > read on >
Brain scans can provide early warning of who will develop chronic pain following a whiplash injury, a new study finds. Higher levels of “cross talk” between two specific brain regions within one to three days of the injury increases the risk that pain will last long-term, researchers found. The more the hippocampus (the brain’s memory… read on > read on >
Certain gut microbes might be linked to a person’s risk of developing Parkinson’s disease, a new study suggests. People prescribed multiple courses of penicillin antibiotics have a modestly lower risk of developing Parkinson’s, researchers found. Those antibiotics might be affecting bacterial populations in the gut, which in turn might play into Parkinson’s risk, researchers say.… read on > read on >
Anxiety is driving more children with potentially dangerous food allergies to seek out psychological care, a new study finds. Focusing on one Ohio hospital, the researchers found a more than 50% jump in psychology referrals for kids with food allergies between 2018 and 2023. “Our center has devoted significant resources to address the psychosocial support… read on > read on >
Add Alzheimer’s disease to the list of conditions that might benefit from the revolutionary diabetes drug Ozempic, a new study says. People with type 2 diabetes taking semaglutide appeared to have a significantly lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s compared to patients taking seven other diabetes drugs, researchers reported Oct. 24 in the journal Alzheimer’s &… read on > read on >
A “case of the Mondays” is more perilous than just the return-to-work blues, a new study warns. Suicide risk is highest on Monday in the United States and around the world, an international team of researchers has discovered. “Mondays and New Year’s Day were both associated with increased suicide risk in most countries,” concluded the… read on > read on >
