Teaching schoolkids to practice mindfulness can boost their mental health — and, maybe, even their grades. That’s the takeaway from a new review of more than three dozen research studies on school-based mindfulness interventions, such as seated or slow-walking meditation.  In a nutshell, these programs teach kids to pay attention to the present moment and…  read on >  read on >

Rural hospitals – and their patients — are particularly vulnerable to the aftershocks caused by ransomware attacks, a new study reports. “Ransomware attacks are bad news for hospitals and patients no matter where they happen, but they’re especially harmful to rural hospitals and patients,” lead researcher Hannah Neprash, an associate professor at the University of…  read on >  read on >

Your heart health before and after a heart attack might be influenced by how loud your neighborhood is, new research suggests. One study found that people under 50 were more prone to heart attack if they lived in a noisy area, while another study showed the prognosis for heart attack survivors was worse if neighborhood…  read on >  read on >

Human papillomavirus (HPV) has largely been seen as a health problem of women, given that it causes nearly all cases of cervical cancer. But men also have reason to both fear HPV and get vaccinated against it, a new study says. Infection with high-risk HPV strains might interfere with a man’s fertility, researchers reported recently…  read on >  read on >

Updated shots to shield against COVID-19 infection were approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday. This year’s approval for the updated mRNA vaccines comes much sooner than happened in 2023, when fall vaccines were authorized on Sept. 11. The latest shots from Moderna and Pfizer will now target a variant of the…  read on >  read on >

THURSDAY, Aug. 22, 2024 (HeathDay News) — There’s a strong association between a state’s policies and laws around the rights of transgender people and the mental health of transgender residents, a new study shows. “Trans individuals who were worried about having their rights taken away had significantly higher odds of experiencing depression and anxiety symptoms,”…  read on >  read on >