When you tackle home and yard projects this summer, be sure to protect your feet and ankles. “Feet may be the last thing people think about while working on home-improvement projects, but we see so many different types of foot and ankle injuries in our office — many of which can be avoided with proper…  read on >  read on >

When schools open their doors this fall, teachers and students who are vaccinated can enter without masks, according to a new guidance issued Friday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The relaxed recommendation comes as a national vaccination campaign in which children as young as 12 can get COVID-19 shots unfolds, accompanied…  read on >  read on >

Although tens of millions of Americans turn to muscle relaxants for lower back pain relief, a new Australian review finds little evidence that such drugs actually work. That’s the conclusion of a deep-dive into 31 prior investigations, which collectively enlisted more than 6,500 lower back pain patients. Enrolled patients had been treating lower back pain…  read on >  read on >

COVID-19 vaccines have prevented at least 279,000 deaths and 1.25 million hospitalizations in the United States, but the Delta variant poses a significant threat to that progress, researchers say. “The vaccines have been strikingly successful in reducing the spread of the virus and saving hundreds of thousands of lives in the United States alone,” said…  read on >  read on >

Why do some people infected with SARS-CoV-2 have either no or negligible symptoms, while others sicken and die? Scientists who’ve pinpointed several genetic markers associated with severe COVID-19 say their findings could provide answers to that important question — and targets for future treatments. The investigators spotted 13 locations in human DNA that are strongly…  read on >  read on >

Groggy? Grumpy? Depressed? Just a few nights of poor sleep can take a big toll on your mental health, a new study confirms “Many of us think that we can pay our sleep debt on weekends and be more productive on weekdays,” said lead author Soomi Lee, an assistant professor in the School of Aging…  read on >  read on >