Health care facilities remain one of the last places left in the United States with COVID-era mask requirements still in effect. It’s time for that to end, experts say. A prestigious collection of infection disease experts and epidemiologists say universal masking requirements in health care settings should be lifted, according to a commentary they published… read on > read on >
Nearly one-third of Americans live in counties with unhealthy air, according to a new report from the American Lung Association. One in three, or 120 million, people lives with unhealthy levels of ozone or particle pollution, the “State of the Air” report says. While air quality has improved overall, there are major differences between Eastern… read on > read on >
Seniors and people with weakened immune systems can get another booster dose of the bivalent COVID vaccine this spring, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Tuesday. Seniors age 65 and older can get a booster at least four months following their first dose of the bivalent vaccine, which protects against both the original and… read on > read on >
A leading doctors’ group recommends that toddlers get screening for autism at 18 months old. That may not be a moment too soon — and earlier may be even better, researchers say. A new randomized clinical trial, the gold standard for studies, backs up the recommendation from the American Academy of Pediatrics. Intervention at 18… read on > read on >
Poverty is the fourth-greatest cause of death in the United States, according to new research. Researchers at the University of California, Riverside estimate that poverty was associated with 183,000 deaths in 2019 among people 15 years and older. And that’s a conservative estimate, they say, because the year was just prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.… read on > read on >
Striking a better work-life balance might make you a more effective manager on the job, according to a new study. A survey of managers and their employees found that bosses who could shut off after-work emails, calls and job-related stress had greater success guiding underlings to meet work goals. “We found that when leaders psychologically… read on > read on >
The sexually transmitted human papillomavirus (HPV) can cause a range of cancers, but public awareness of this grim fact is slipping in the United States, a new survey finds. While nearly 78% of respondents knew that HPV could cause cervical cancer in 2014, that dropped to about 70% in 2020, the investigators found. The common… read on > read on >
With so many American kids and teens dealing with depression or anxiety, pediatricians are increasingly stepping in as mental health care providers. Now, a new study suggests they are doing a decent job — but too few kids are being referred for talk therapy. Researchers found that in cases where a pediatrician prescribed medication for… read on > read on >
Deciding to go into therapy is a big move, one that people sometimes struggle with for a variety of reasons. But now that you’ve realized therapy would be helpful for you, how to find a therapist? It’s important to know what outcome you’re hoping for and what you feel you need help achieving. It will… read on > read on >
An experimental blood test may be able to catch a dozen different types of cancer with a high degree of accuracy — including some that are particularly tricky to detect, a preliminary study suggests. Researchers found that the blood test was usually on the money in detecting “signals” from 12 cancers. Importantly, the test was… read on > read on >
