Heavy drinking is linked to a range of serious health consequences. These include certain cancers, liver and heart disease, and damage to the nervous system, including the brain. However, as has been exhaustively covered in the popular press, drinking in moderation might have certain health benefits. A number of studies have concluded that drinking alcohol at a ...
According to recent studies, mental health problems have been on the rise in the United States, with particular increases in cases of anxiety and depression. The reasons behind this worrying trend are as numerous as they are complex, ranging from the evermore stressful demands of modern-day life, such as being constantly "on call" through email, phone, and social medi...
In the United States, about 24.5 percent of women ages 65 and over and 5.1 percent of men in this age bracket have osteoporosis of the femur neck or lumbar spine. Osteoporosis is a condition in which bone tissue becomes thinner and thus more likely to break. The medical term for the precursor stage is osteopenia. Past studies have suggested that practicing yoga co...
Phantom limb is the sensation that the missing part remains attached. The vast majority of people with amputation report phantom sensations, often with pain. Now, an imaging study from two research centers in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil has pinpointed certain changes in functional connectivity — or how brain areas communicate — that can follow limb amputation. The cha...
After conducting a series of experiments with human volunteers, researchers from the University of Gävle in Sweden and the University of Central Lancashire and Lancaster University, both in the United Kingdom, have concluded that music can "significantly impair" people's ability to solve tasks that involve verbal creativity. A paper that now features in the journal Ap...
With age, the human body loses muscle mass. Sarcopenia, or the age-related gradual loss of muscle function, can slash muscle strength by around 50 percent. Also, loss of muscle mass and strength can lead to poor overall quality of life and increase the risk of falls and fractures in older age. So, as we age, intake of protein becomes increasingly important. However...
The guidelines, published online Nov. 12, 2018, by JAMA, uphold previous recommendations from 2008 that urged at least 150 minutes per week of moderate-intensity activity, such as brisk walking. But the new guidelines break from the old rule that physical activity had to be accumulated in bouts of at least 10 minutes to count toward your weekly total. Now the evidence sh...
As an adult, perhaps driven by gratitude over his second lease on life, he does everything he can to protect his ticker: He stays slim, runs on the treadmill an hour each day, doesn’t smoke and downs only an occasional drink. Yet, Stanford researchers recently discovered, Harry has twice the chance of developing heart disease as his neighbor, lucky enough to be born w...
The five patients each had hundreds to thousands of sand fleas embedded in their skin, and most of the patients were unable to move as a result of their condition, according to the report, published today (Feb. 7) in the journal PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases. One patient even needed a blood transfusion due to severe anemia — likely the result of the blood-sucking flea...
This week, the FDA announced that it had received a total of 660 reports of this cancer — called breast implant-associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) — over an eight-year period ending in September 2018. That's 246 additional reports since the previous totals were released last year, the FDA said in a statement released yesterday (Feb. 6). The FDA said that...
On Wednesday (Feb. 6), the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) said that it was testing the patient for the deadly virus out of "an abundance of caution," according to local news outlet NBC 10 Philadelphia. Early test results suggest the patient has another condition that is the cause of their illness, but the hospital is taking precautions until the definit...
That’s not atypical, given the circumstances: The woman, an patient with epilepsy, was undergoing awake open-brain surgery at the Emory University School of Medicine. Her head was locked in place, and her brain was exposed. But she needed to stay awake for her own safety — so that doctors could talk to her during the operation and therefore ensure they didn't interfere w...
The study tested the stamina of middle-aged male firefighters. It found that those who could do more than 40 pushups in a row had a 96 percent lower risk of being diagnosed with heart disease or experiencing other heart problems over a 10-year period, as compared with those men who could do fewer than 10 push ups. However, because the study looked at only male firefig...
When the researchers scanned the brains of people who were classified as either night owls or morning larks, they found that night owls had lower "brain connectivity" — a measure of how "in sync" different brain regions are with each other — compared with morning larks. What's more, this lower brain connectivity in night owls was linked with poorer attention, slower r...
SAD strikes 1 to 10 percent of the population every year, according to a 2009 journal review in The Physician and Sportsmedicine. The causes behind SAD are still unknown, but researchers are learning more about its biological clues. Reports of successful treatments using light therapy have led to a theory that dwindling daylight hours during fall and winter months int...
Of course, there are many reasons that a baby might cry on an airplane. Feelings of discomfort, exhaustion, hunger, loneliness, boredom, anger, pain and general unrest are all expressed by wails and tears, if not a total meltdown. However, there is general agreement that the pressure caused by flying at altitude is particularly difficult to bear for babies and toddlers. ...
This, of course, raises an important body odor question: Did all the deodorants you've been rubbing into your pits until this point contain aluminum, and did that impair your health in any way? The answer (unless you're allergic to aluminum) is an emphatic no. All the major research into aluminum antiperspirants since the early 2000s has suggested that they're not a p...
It is caused by the upward movement of the acidic gastric contents into the gullet or esophagus, causing irritation of the mucous lining. In addition to the discomfort, the acid may cause a bitter taste in the mouth if it reaches as far as the pharynx. Some foods that intensify or trigger heartburn may not be the same for all individuals. These foods include spices l...
In general, heartburn may be caused by food, exercise, medications, position, and some anatomical variations. Thus, each individual must find out what triggers the sensation in his or her own case. Food Eating large meals is a sure trigger for heartburn in many patients. This is especially so if the meal is fatty and is taken very shortly before going to bed. Afte...
How does pain occur in sciatica? The sciatic nerves are the largest nerves in the body, passing down from their origin in the lumbar spine to the buttocks, down each leg at the back, to the end of the big toes. The pain in sciatica occurs, when the sciatic nerves or any of their several roots are pinched or irritated. The pain may therefore occur anywhere along its path...
Researchers from the University Medical Center of Mainz in Germany and colleagues from other centers in Germany, Austria, and the United States have discovered that the ultra-tiny particles can bind to gut bacteria. In a study paper about their work — which now appears in the journal npj Science of Food — the authors explain how attachment to nanoparticles can alter t...
Our bodies swarm with microscopic visitors. On our skin, in our mouths, deep in our lungs, and, of course, nestled in our digestive systems. The bacteria in the gut have long been known to assist the digestive process, but in recent years, it has become clear that they are involved in much, much more. With bacteria now implicated in conditions as diverse as diabete...
This was the conclusion that researchers at Kobe University in Japan came to after studying the enzyme D-amino acid oxidase (DAO) and its role in cells. DAO metabolizes D-amino acids, which, unlike their mirror-image cousins the L-amino acids, only have a small presence in mammal biology. For this reason, until the recent study, scientists knew little about the imp...
A new Stanford study, published recently in BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, uses California-wide data to try to explain why the rate of severe maternal morbidity — the technical name for life-threatening pregnancy complications — has jumped. The reasons for the rise in severe maternal morbidity have not been well studied. “It’s really shocking that this has been increas...
According to the most recent survey analysis from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 50 million people in the United States — or 20 percent of the U.S. adult population — are living with chronic pain. Individuals with chronic pain experience pain "most days or every day" for 6 months or more. Also, some of these people experience "high-impact"...
Each year, nearly 800,000 people in the United States experience a stroke. The risk factors include weight, smoking status, age, and family history of stroke. However, flu and flu-like illnesses could join this list, according to research due to be presented at the International Stroke Conference in Honolulu, HI, next week. In fact, the theory that flu or flu-li...
The finding may help explain why some people remain slim despite having eating habits that cause others to gain weight. The mechanism works when intraepithelial T cells, which are a type of immune cell that resides in the lining of the small intestine, have an active gene for the protein integrin beta 7. In a study paper on their work that now appears in the journa...
Dementia is becoming increasingly prevalent as the population of the United States ages. Currently, 5.7 million people in the U.S. are living with Alzheimer's, the most common form of dementia. Worldwide, an estimated 47 million individuals are living with dementia. However, to date, there is no cure, and treatments can only relieve certain symptoms for some peo...
We know that some form of exercise is needed to keep several body parts, including the brain, working as intended. People who spend a lot of time sitting are more likely to experience some adverse health conditions, such as obesity. However, a new study has revealed that even a small amount of exercise can have a significant impact on arguably the most important th...
In 2003, just 16 percent of people in the United States had a tattoo. By 2015, that figure had increased to 29 percent. In some demographics, the rates are even higher; for instance, almost half of Millennials now have a tattoo. In the past, some people considered tattoos a rebellion against the norm. People thought they were a signal to risk-taking behavior and in...
Parkinson's disease is a neurodegenerative condition. Primarily affecting the motor regions of the central nervous system, symptoms tend to develop slowly. Over time, even simple movements become difficult; and, as the disease progresses, dementia is common. Historically, Parkinson's was rare. In 1855, for instance, just 22 people living in the United Kingdom di...
New research, the findings of which now appear in the journal Cell, has found a mechanism that allows aggressive forms of skin cancer to become invasive and spread quickly. The study, which nonprofit organization Cancer Research UK funded, was conducted by a team from King's College London and Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), both in the U.K. In their experi...
In the United States, approximately 93.3 million people live with obesity, and over 100 million have diabetes or prediabetes. A key factor in the development of these — and other — metabolic conditions is diet. According to the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion's dietary guidelines for 2015-2020, "the typical eating patterns currently consumed by ma...
A new study, which features in the journal Stem Cell Reports, highlights research from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, MO. The findings could be significant in the future for those with diabetes. In previous studies, scientists successfully transformed stem cells into insulin-producing cells called beta cells. However, they ran into problems dur...
As an obstetrician and avid cyclist, I am very passionate about the numerous benefits of physical activity for my patients before, during, and after pregnancy. In the past, it was common for physicians to tell their pregnant patients to go on bed rest during pregnancy. But for the majority of healthy women with low-risk pregnancies, bed rest is no longer advised — and ca...
Now, in search of a solution to that problem, Purvesh Khatri, PhD, associate professor of medicine and of biomedical data science, and Shirit Einav, MD, associate professor of medicine and of microbiology and immunology, have reanalyzed previously-published dengue patient data, discovering a key set of genes whose expression can predict who will suffer severe dengue. As ...
