School-age kids who spend hours a day playing video games may outperform their peers on certain tests of mental agility, a new study suggests. Researchers found that compared with children who never played video games, those who regularly spent hours gaming had higher scores on two standard cognitive tests: one measuring short-term memory and another… read on > read on >
MONDAY, Oct. 24, 2022 (HealthDay News) – About 88 nursing homes in the United States are on a watch list for worrisome care that puts residents in danger, but now they will face tougher penalties for any future violation. Those tougher penalties could include the loss of federal funding if they receive more than one… read on > read on >
Some Americans could pay up to $130 to get a COVID-19 vaccine made by Pfizer starting in 2023, but most will still get it for free. A Pfizer executive noted that people who would get its vaccine for free would likely include those on public health insurance programs such as Medicare or Medicaid and those… read on > read on >
Child tax credits had a huge impact in U.S. households that struggle to afford food. And after those credits ended, many low-income American families with children had trouble getting enough to eat. Food insufficiency increased substantially, by about 25%, between January and July after the Child Tax Credit payments stopped on Jan. 15, 2022. Black… read on > read on >
Experts studying kids’ sleep and eating habits have learned more about a potential reason for childhood obesity. Kids who are deprived of sleep tend to eat more calories the next day, researchers found. And some of those extra calories come from less-healthy, sugar-laden snacks or treats. “When children lost sleep, overall they ate an extra… read on > read on >
In what could be an advance against hair loss, researchers say they’ve successfully grown hair follicles in culture in the lab. The Japanese research team created a system that produces fully mature hair follicles — the tube-like structure in which the root and strand of a hair grow — as well as hair as long… read on > read on >
Surgery can be a daunting prospect at any age. Now, researchers say they’ve spotted two key factors upping the odds of a poor surgical outcome in seniors. Older adults who are either frail or suffering from dementia have high rates of death in the year following a major procedure, a new U.S. study finds. Researchers… read on > read on >
New government data shows that the chickenpox vaccine has virtually eliminated deaths and severe cases of the virus in U.S. children and teens. In the analysis, released Thursday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there were 97% fewer chickenpox cases among people under 20, along with 94% fewer hospitalizations and 99% fewer… read on > read on >
FRIDAY, Oct. 21, 2022 (HealthDay News) – In an unanimous vote on Thursday, a panel of U.S. vaccine experts recommended that COVID shots be added to the list of recommended vaccinations for children and adults. Now it’s up to the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention to decide whether to follow the advice of… read on > read on >
The pandemic brought about a lot of changes in people’s lives. For many, that included a new baby. The United States saw a “baby bump” in 2021 described in a new study as “the first major reversal in declining U.S. fertility rates since 2007.” It was the opposite of what early forecasts predicted. “There was… read on > read on >
