Men with low testosterone levels have a much higher risk of severe illness and death from COVID-19, a new study from Italy finds. The study included nearly 300 symptomatic male COVID-19 patients who arrived at the emergency department and were admitted to San Raffaele University Hospital in Milan during the first wave of the pandemic.…  read on >  read on >

When schools open their doors this fall, teachers and students who are vaccinated can enter without masks, according to a new guidance issued Friday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The relaxed recommendation comes as a national vaccination campaign in which children as young as 12 can get COVID-19 shots unfolds, accompanied…  read on >  read on >

COVID-19 vaccines have prevented at least 279,000 deaths and 1.25 million hospitalizations in the United States, but the Delta variant poses a significant threat to that progress, researchers say. “The vaccines have been strikingly successful in reducing the spread of the virus and saving hundreds of thousands of lives in the United States alone,” said…  read on >  read on >

(Healthday News) — No spectators will be allowed at the Olympic Games in Tokyo when they begin in two weeks, organizers announced Thursday. The decision came after a new state of emergency was declared in the city due to a sudden surge in coronavirus cases, The New York Times reported. Last month, officials said they…  read on >  read on >

Why do some people infected with SARS-CoV-2 have either no or negligible symptoms, while others sicken and die? Scientists who’ve pinpointed several genetic markers associated with severe COVID-19 say their findings could provide answers to that important question — and targets for future treatments. The investigators spotted 13 locations in human DNA that are strongly…  read on >  read on >

Could your children’s eating habits be a reflection of their personalities? A new study finds a link between the two, but researchers say it’s not clear exactly how they influence each other. They found that slow eaters are less likely to be extroverted and impulsive, and that youngsters who are highly responsive to external food…  read on >  read on >

Your job may significantly increase your risk of catching the flu, with potential implications for the spread of other infectious diseases including COVID-19, according to new research. On average, working folks are 35% more likely to get the flu than those without jobs, but an analysis of U.S. federal data found sharp differences between certain…  read on >  read on >