(HealthDay News) – If you feel like your dog understands you, you’re right. Dogs have the innate ability to grasp what humans are thinking, a skill developed in their 14,000 years of hanging out with people, researchers say. In contrast, wolf puppies do not have that ability. In a Duke University-led study, researchers compared 44…  read on >  read on >

Marriages can remain stable after something as challenging as a brain injury for one of the spouses, new research indicates. Though past reports have suggested that divorce rates were high among those who experienced traumatic brain injury (TBI), that was not true for most people in the current study. “Our data dispel myths about risk…  read on >  read on >

A flu shot might offer some protection against severe effects of COVID-19, a new study suggests. If you are infected with COVID-19, having had a flu shot makes it less likely you will suffer severe body-wide infection, blood clots, have a stroke or be treated in an intensive care unit, according to the study. “Our…  read on >  read on >

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Sandra Banner was an active octogenarian. She enjoyed going to movies, traveling from her Palm Desert, Calif., home to Los Angeles for Dodgers baseball games and having friends over for happy hours. Early on, she avoided isolation by teaching outdoor tai chi classes and staying engaged online, but once she was…  read on >  read on >

Black churches could prove crucial in improving COVID-19 vaccination rates among Black Americans, a new study suggests. The COVID-19 death rate among Black Americans is three times higher than among white Americans, and health officials had hoped that vaccines would narrow that gap. However, Black communities are disproportionately affected by barriers to vaccination, such as…  read on >  read on >

Men with low testosterone levels have a much higher risk of severe illness and death from COVID-19, a new study from Italy finds. The study included nearly 300 symptomatic male COVID-19 patients who arrived at the emergency department and were admitted to San Raffaele University Hospital in Milan during the first wave of the pandemic.…  read on >  read on >

When schools open their doors this fall, teachers and students who are vaccinated can enter without masks, according to a new guidance issued Friday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The relaxed recommendation comes as a national vaccination campaign in which children as young as 12 can get COVID-19 shots unfolds, accompanied…  read on >  read on >