The world isn’t ready to prevent or deal with another pandemic because many nations aren’t taking the necessary steps to prepare for what is likely an inevitable future scenario, a new report shows. The Global Health Security (GHS) index — an assessment of preparedness for various health emergencies and problems — is produced by the… read on > read on >
U.S. operating rooms got busy once again soon after the first round of pandemic shutdowns, according to a study that challenges the widely held belief that operations have been curtailed indefinitely during the age of COVID-19. “It’s an untold story,” said senior study author Dr. Sherry Wren, a professor of general surgery at Stanford University… read on > read on >
Children with hard-to-control asthma may get relief from adding an injectable antibody drug to their standard treatment, a clinical trial has found. The drug, called dupilumab (Dupixent), has been available for several years to treat stubborn asthma in adults and teenagers. Based on the new findings, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently gave it… read on > read on >
What do all the microbes living rent-free in your gut have to do with disease risk? Perhaps a lot. A groundbreaking analysis of decades-old stool and blood samples from the early AIDS epidemic suggests that men who had high levels of inflammation-causing bacteria in their intestinal tract may have had a greater risk for contracting… read on > read on >
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday backed the emergency approval of Pfizer’s booster shots for Americans aged 16 and 17. The decision came shortly after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized a third dose for that age group; boosters for those aged 18 and up were approved in November. “Although… read on > read on >
Children at risk for multiple sclerosis (MS) might find some protection from the disease by spending more time in the sun, a small study suggests. Although MS is rare in children and young adults, those with relatives who have the condition have increased odds of developing the disease early. Exposure to sunlight may cut their… read on > read on >
A condition called “diabetic retinopathy” often threatens the vision of adults with diabetes, but new research suggests that kids with type 2 diabetes may be particularly vulnerable to the vision-robbing complication. In fact, these kids were nearly twice as likely to develop the condition as children with type 1 diabetes were, the researchers found. “The… read on > read on >
Shortness of breath in people with “long COVID” might not just be about the lungs — it may indicate heart damage from the disease, new research suggests. “The findings could help to explain why some patients with long COVID still experience breathlessness one year later, and indicate that it might be linked to a decrease… read on > read on >
New research on hysterectomies among women who don’t have cancer determined there is an age at which it is safer to also remove the ovaries and fallopian tubes and an age at which it isn’t. Canadian scientists studied the cases of more than 200,500 women who had a hysterectomy for noncancerous reasons. They found an… read on > read on >
Regular physical activity has all sorts of benefits, and now researchers say it may help ward off serious pneumonia. Until now, it wasn’t clear how exercise affected the risk of pneumonia, an infection of the lung tissue usually caused by bacteria or viruses. To find out, researchers analyzed 10 studies that included a total of… read on > read on >
