More than two dozen toddlers and at least 128 pregnant women received RSV vaccines they should not have gotten, U.S. health officials say. The mixup, reported by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, follows approval this winter of two vaccines against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). The virus is particularly dangerous to older people… read on > read on >
Doctors are bailing on the profession for a reason that may surprise their patients. It’s not frustration with government rules or cumbersome insurance requirements, but problems securing suitable childcare for long and ever-changing working hours, a new survey published Feb. 15 in the BMJ finds. Erin Dean, who wrote a summary of the survey results,… read on > read on >
Nearly half of health care workers nationwide say they’ve seen discrimination against patients while on the job, a new report reveals. While 47% of health workers said they’ve witnessed discrimination against patients in their facilities, 52% said racism against patients is a major problem, according to the report from the Commonwealth Fund and the African… read on > read on >
The harms of smoking are many, but new research delivers evidence of another troubling type of damage: Lighting up alters your immune system, leaving you more vulnerable to disease and infections even years after quitting. “Stop smoking as soon as possible,” study co-author Dr. Violaine Saint-André, a specialist in computational biology at Institut Pasteur in Paris, told… read on > read on >
Few can forget the haunting images of New York City bathed in a thick orange smog after smoke from Canadian wildfires swept southward last summer. Now, a new report from the First Street Foundation suggests these alarming effects of climate change are becoming far more common, with 1 in 4 Americans — 83 million people… read on > read on >
The red meat diet associated with masculinity could be the worst thing for men dealing with prostate cancer, a new study says. Prostate cancer patients who limit meat and dairy but eat lots of plant-based foods tend to suffer less erectile dysfunction, urinary incontinence and other embarrassing side effects associated with their treatment, researchers say.… read on > read on >
The doctor tapped at his computer, ordering a routine prostate exam for an 80-year-old man, when a dramatic yellow alert popped up on the patient’s electronic health record. “You are ordering a test that no guideline recommends,” it warned. “Screening with PSA can lead to harms from diagnostic and treatment procedures. If you proceed without… read on > read on >
While marriage can be hard work, a new survey suggests it can also be a powerful elixir for happiness. Adults who are married report being more satisfied with their lives than those in any other type of relationship, the Gallup poll showed. “Any way you analyze those data, we see a fairly large and notable advantage to… read on > read on >
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has announced that it is cracking down on air pollution. Specifically, the agency introduced a tougher air quality standard that takes aim at fine particulate matter — the tiny bits of pollution that can penetrate the lungs — by lowering the allowable annual concentration of the deadly pollutant that each… read on > read on >
Is ‘practice makes perfect’ true for the male erection, too? That’s the suggestion from a Swedish study involving amorous male mice. It found that getting erections regularly was important to the rodents’ overall erectile function. The key seemed to lie in connective tissue cells called fibroblasts. These cells have long been known to populate penile… read on > read on >
