One-quarter of U.S. parents report that their child has had to quarantine because of possible COVID-19 exposure since school started, a new poll finds. The nationally representative survey of 1,519 people conducted between Sept. 13 and Sept. 22 included 414 people who identified themselves as parents of children aged 17 and younger. Still, about two-thirds… read on > read on >
Pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. said Friday that it will seek federal approval for emergency use of its new antiviral pill molnupiravir, after a clinical trial showed the drug halved the risk of hospitalization or death when given to high-risk people shortly after infection with COVID-19. The new medication is just one of several antiviral… read on > read on >
It turns out that the pandemic has reaped one unexpected benefit: As teens were kept home more often, their use of electronic cigarettes dropped by nearly 40%, a new report finds. U.S. health officials said these numbers should be taken with a grain of salt, but the decrease in vaping in 2021 is probably real… read on > read on >
Trying to slim down? Diet drinks aren’t likely to help, researchers warn. And those containing the artificial sweetener sucralose may even increase food cravings and appetite in women and people who are obese, according to a University of Southern California study. “There is controversy surrounding the use of artificial sweeteners because a lot of people… read on >
Whether you’re a kid or a college student, you’ll learn more with interactive activities, discussions, movement and even AI-enhanced technologies than you will just sitting still and listening, a new study suggests. Learning methods that work best are hands-on, as well as what the researchers called “minds-on” and “hearts-on,” using emotional and social support, the… read on > read on >
When people suffer a severe head injury, it’s hard to predict how they will fare in the long run. But a new study suggests that something fairly simple — measuring a protein in the blood — could help. The protein, called neurofilament light (NfL), is a component of the nerve fibers brain cells use to… read on > read on >
Americans are of two minds about President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate, with political party affiliation playing a pivotal role in their opinions, a new poll finds. Most Democrats are for it and most Republicans are against it, the survey from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research revealed. Overall, the poll found that 51%… read on > read on >
The country’s leading health agency on Wednesday implored all Americans who are pregnant, breastfeeding or planning to become pregnant to get a coronavirus vaccine. COVID-19 poses a serious risk to women who are expecting, since they are vulnerable because of pregnancy’s dampening effect on their immune system, experts say. But less than one-third of pregnant… read on > read on >
Artificial intelligence (AI) might be able to spot the next virus to jump from animals to humans, Scottish researchers report. Identifying diseases before they become a threat to humans is challenging, because only a few of the nearly 2 million animal viruses can infect humans. By developing machine learning models, researchers can analyze genetic patterns… read on > read on >
In a survey of parents in metro Chicago, nearly half of Black parents (48%) said they were reluctant to have their kids vaccinated against COVID-19, researchers say. That’s significantly higher than the 33% of Hispanic parents and 26% of white parents who expressed vaccine hesitancy, the findings showed. “As vaccines are becoming available to younger… read on > read on >
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