Fully vaccinated Americans can now go without masks when walking, jogging or biking outdoors, or when dining with small groups at outdoor restaurants, U.S. health officials announced Tuesday. The latest guidance, from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, followed growing calls from infectious disease experts to drop mask mandates outside because breezes rapidly…  read on >  read on >

That college degree may be useful in many ways, but new research suggests it probably won’t keep your brain from shrinking with age. Over the years, a number of studies have suggested that education might buffer people against age-related declines in memory and thinking. But those findings did not prove a cause-and-effect relationship. In the…  read on >  read on >

Alzheimer’s disease and traumatic brain injury appear to affect the brain in similar ways, according to a study that may point to new ways to identify people at high risk for Alzheimer’s. “These findings are the first to suggest that cognitive impairment following a traumatic brain injury is useful for predicting the magnitude of Alzheimer’s-like…  read on >  read on >

TUESDAY, April 27, 2021 (American Heart Association News) — Consistent cigarette smoking has a small but significant effect on pulse pressure, according to research that suggests a possible new link between smoking and cardiovascular disease, especially among Black and white women. Pulse pressure is the difference between systolic blood pressure, the top number in a…  read on >  read on >

In rare cases, people hospitalized for COVID-19 can develop heart failure, even if their hearts were previously healthy, new research shows. The researchers found that of over 6,400 COVID-19 patients at their hospital, 0.6% newly developed heart failure. That included eight patients — mostly relatively young men — with no history of heart disease or…  read on >  read on >