The highly contagious coronavirus variant that drove Britain into lockdown in December is now spreading quickly across the United States, a new study shows. What has been dubbed the B.1.1.7 variant is doubling its prevalence every nine days in this country, according to a report posted on the preprint server MedRxiv on Sunday and not… read on > read on >
Nearly half — 43% — of all fatal car crashes involving teens and their passengers are the result of speeding, a new automobile safety report reveals. The finding stems from an in-depth analysis of all fatal motor vehicle accidents across the United States between 2015 and 2019. During this five-year period, 4,930 teen drivers and… read on > read on >
As face masks have become the norm during the coronavirus pandemic, people have learned to communicate more clearly with their mouth covered, new research finds. For the study, researchers asked participants to record sentences in three speech styles — casual, clear and positive-emotional — while they were masked and unmasked. Background noise was added to… read on > read on >
Wearing masks, frequent hand-washing and avoiding large crowds may not have been part of the American culture before the coronavirus pandemic began, but those habits are likely to stick around for a while, new research suggests. A national survey from Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center of more than 2,000 Americans shows that a majority… read on > read on >
Developing diabetes during pregnancy may increase a woman’s risk for heart disease later in life, according to a new study. It included about 1,100 women without type 1 or type 2 diabetes. Those who developed diabetes during pregnancy (gestational diabetes) were twice as likely by mid-life (average age: 48) to have calcium in their arteries,… read on > read on >
The microbes on your toothbrush mostly come from your mouth — not your toilet — and provide insight into your oral health, researchers say. Their study was inspired by people’s concerns that flushing a toilet might create a cloud of aerosol particles that end up on toothbrushes and other bathroom surfaces. The researchers asked people… read on > read on >
Here’s a new reason to make sure your kids get their seasonal flu shot. A new study showed that it reduces kids’ risk for symptoms and severe illness if they get COVID-19. That conclusion is drawn from medical records of more than 900 children diagnosed with COVID-19 between February and August of last year. Those… read on > read on >
SATURDAY, Feb.6, 2021The COVID-19 pandemic can make mental health struggles even worse for some people with seasonal affective disorder (SAD). SAD is a type of depression triggered by the shorter daylight hours and gray skies of winter. It causes symptoms such as overeating, social withdrawal and decreased energy. Pandemic-related effects such as stress, anxiety and… read on > read on >
Nearly all U.S. adults get some vegetables every day, but the old “apple a day” adage is falling out of favor, a new government survey suggests. Researchers found that a full 95% of U.S. adults said they ate some amount of vegetables on any given day. On the other hand, only about two-thirds said the… read on > read on >
New coronavirus case counts are now steadily dropping across the United States, as the worst of the latest surge in the pandemic seems to be subsiding. Nationally, that daily average peaked on Jan. 8, with nearly 260,000 new cases, The New York Times reported. But by Feb. 3, that figure was 136,442, a 47 percent… read on > read on >
