Brain drain: Arguing with others puts a lot more strain on your brain than agreeing with them, a new study finds. “Our entire brain is a social processing network,” said senior author Joy Hirsch, professor of psychiatry, comparative medicine and neuroscience at Yale University. “However, it just takes a lot more brain real estate to…  read on >  read on >

Improved lung cancer treatment is a major reason for the 31% decline in cancer death rates in the United States between 1991 and 2018, including a record 2.4% decrease from 2017 to 2018, the American Cancer Society says. How the COVID-19 pandemic will affect this downward trend is unknown, the society noted. “The impact of…  read on >  read on >

TUESDAY, Jan. 12, 2021 (American Heart Association News) — Researchers are soon expected to release initial findings from a national cardiac registry of NCAA athletes who have tested positive for COVID-19, giving hope to health care professionals trying to better understand the impact of the disease on the heart. The data could help doctors diagnose…  read on >  read on >

Diabetics who’ve contracted COVID-19 should suspend their use of a class of common diabetes drugs known as sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitors (SGLT2i), new research warns. People using these medications for diabetes are at risk of a potentially fatal complication called diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), and it now appears that risk increases even more if they become…  read on >  read on >

In a finding that highlights another health consequence of the coronavirus pandemic, researchers report that the risk of dying from heart disease increased during the coronavirus lockdowns last spring, likely because people were too scared to go to the hospital. But the dangers of not seeking treatment for a medical emergency far outweigh that of…  read on >  read on >

Unlike regular pneumonia, COVID-19 pneumonia spreads like many “wildfires” throughout the lungs, researchers say. This may explain why COVID-19 pneumonia lasts longer and causes more harm than typical pneumonia, according to the researchers at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago. The research team said that their aim is to make COVID-19 more like a bad cold. For…  read on >  read on >

Gut microbes may play a significant role in the eating disorder anorexia, a new British study says. Researchers from the University of Oxford reviewed available evidence suggesting that in people with anorexia gut microbes could affect affect appetite, weight, and mental health conditions such as anxiety and compulsive behavior. The findings appear online Jan. 12…  read on >  read on >