Smokers find it easier to quit if they’re automatically offered support, even if they didn’t ask for it, a new clinical trial finds. Quit rates were higher among health system patients placed in an “opt-out” program, in which tobacco cessation medications and counseling are automatically prescribed upon learning they smoke, researchers found. It’s called an…  read on >  read on >

Walking pneumonia cases are surging among young children in the United States, federal health officials warn. “Bacterial infections caused by Mycoplasma pneumoniae increased in the United States since late spring and have remained high,” a statement issued Friday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention noted. “The proportion of patients discharged from emergency departments with…  read on >  read on >

A handheld pinprick blood test could someday deliver results in as little as an hour, a new study shows. The portable device, which fits in the palm of a hand, uses sound waves to separate a tiny whole blood sample down into microscopic biomarkers, researchers reported Oct. 16 in the journal Science Advances. The entire…  read on >  read on >