Could the constancy of a sympathetic ear help guard your brain against the ravages of aging? Yes, claims new research that analyzed data on nearly 2,200 American adults and found those in their 40s and 50s who didn’t have someone to listen to them had a mental (“cognitive”) age that was four years older than… read on > read on >
Dental care should be a required part of Medicaid coverage for adults in every state, the American Dental Association and nearly 130 other organizations urge in a letter to Congress. The groups called on lawmakers to support and advance a bill called the Medicaid Dental Benefit Act. “Poor oral health hurts more than our mouths,”… read on > read on >
The United States’ early rollout of COVID-19 vaccinations may have saved nearly 140,000 lives, a new study suggests. Using data on state vaccination campaigns and COVID-19 deaths, researchers estimate that immunizations prevented 139,393 deaths nationwide between December 2020 and early May 2021. On the state level, vaccinations prevented an average of five deaths for every… read on > read on >
Antibodies generated by COVID-19 vaccines are effective against the Delta variant and other coronavirus variants of concern, new research shows. The findings may help explain why most vaccinated people have avoided the surge of Delta variant cases sweeping across the United States. “In face of vaccination, Delta is relatively a wimpy virus,” said study co-author… read on > read on >
Like it or not, Broward County, Fla., has become a flashpoint for the national debate over reopening public schools in the middle of a COVID-19 surge driven by the highly infectious Delta variant. Coronavirus infections claimed the lives of three Broward educators within 24 hours of each other, just as schools are set to reopen… read on > read on >
All U.S. nursing home staff must be vaccinated against COVID-19 or their employers will risk losing Medicare and Medicaid funding, President Joe Biden announced Wednesday. “If you visit, live or work in a nursing home, you should not be at a high risk for contracting COVID from unvaccinated employees,” Biden said during a speech made… read on > read on >
The Biden Administration said Wednesday that a widely used pesticide will be banned because it’s been linked to neurological damage in children. The new rule to block the use of chlorpyrifos on food will take effect in six months, the Environmental Protection Agency said. “Today [the] EPA is taking an overdue step to protect public… read on > read on >
Almost 90% of U.S. parents plan to send their kids back to the classroom this fall, but fewer than 60% plan to get a COVID-19 vaccine for those who are old enough, a new poll reveals. Anxiety is also high among many parents, who wonder just how safe in-person learning will be as the highly… read on > read on >
Want Fluffy to eat? Don’t make her work for her supper. Given the choice between a readily available meal tray and solving a puzzle to get at their nosh, 17 domestic cats in a new study took the easy way out. “It wasn’t that cats never used the food puzzle, but cats ate more food… read on > read on >
While breathing in secondhand smoke is known to harm kids’ lungs, new research suggests that children whose parents smoked are also more prone to developing rheumatoid arthritis later in life. “Our findings give more depth and gravity to the negative health consequences of smoking in relation to [rheumatoid arthritis], one of the most common autoimmune… read on > read on >
