ALL ABOUT HEALTH -

25Mar 2023 by Janice Holland

Hotter Summer Nights Tied to More Heart-Related Deaths in Men

Main

Just a slight uptick in summer temperatures may be enough to make a lot more middle-aged men die of heart attacks, a new study suggests.Extreme and prolonged heat waves have long been linked to an increased risk of hospitalizations and deaths from cardiovascular disease events like heart attacks and strokes, particularly in regions of the world where temperatures are typically milder. But much of this research has been inconclusive about how age and sex influence the odds of these heart-related deaths.For the new study, researchers examined 15 years of data on 39,912 heart-related summertime deaths among men and women in England and Wales and 488 similar fatalities among U.S. men in the Seattle metropolitan area. These places are at parallel latitudes, with comparable climates and similarly low usage of residential air-conditioning, the…

24Mar 2023 by Janice Holland

Experimental Gene Therapy May Help Fight Inherited High Cholesterol

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A new gene therapy may one day be used to reduce blood levels of lipoprotein(a) in individuals who have inherited forms of high cholesterol that cause heart disease early in life, judging by the results of a small clinical trial.The injected drug — so new it’s labeled SLN360 and has not yet been named — works by deactivating the gene responsible for lipoprotein(a) production.Patients who received higher doses of this drug saw their lipoprotein(a) levels drop by as much as 98 percent, according to preliminary trial results published April 3 in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). Five months later, these patients still had lipoprotein(a) levels 71 to 81 percent lower than before they received the drug.“You can’t alter lipoprotein(a) with diet or lifestyle changes. Historically, it’s been…

24Mar 2023 by Janice Holland

CDC Report Highlights Worsening Mental Health Crisis Among U.S. Teens

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American teens were struggling with increasing rates of poor mental health even before the coronavirus pandemic hit. Now a report offers fresh evidence of the numerous ways disruptions to home and school routines during the past two years have made things much worse.More than one-third of high school students suffered from poor mental health last year, and 44 percent of them experienced such persistent sadness and hopelessness that they stopped doing their usual activities, according to report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). One in five teens seriously considered suicide, and almost 1 in 10 tried to kill themselves.For many teens, home wasn’t a refuge when the pandemic forced schools to close. More than half of teens reported emotional abuse at home — including parents who…

24Mar 2023 by Janice Holland

‘Dirty Dozen’ List Highlights Produce With Most Pesticides

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Strawberries and spinach remain the two produce items with the highest levels of pesticides, according to the Environmental Working Group’s 2022 Shoppers Guide to Pesticides in Produce.They’re followed on the list by leafy greens — kale, collard, and mustard — nectarines, apples, grapes, bell and hot peppers, cherries, peaches, pears, celery, and tomatoes.“Everyone should eat plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables, no matter how they’re grown,” said Alexis Temkin, PhD, an ecologist at the Environmental Working Group (EWG), in a statement.“But shoppers have the right to know what potentially toxic substances are found on these foods, so they can make the best choices for their families,” Dr. Temkin said.Whole fruits and vegetables are packed with healthy nutrients like vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and fiber. A diet rich in fruits and veggies can…

24Mar 2023 by Janice Holland

Some Early Warning Signs of Alzheimer’s May Show Up in Your Thirties

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If you ignore your blood sugar and cholesterol levels early in adulthood, you may miss out on opportunities to minimize your risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease down the line.A low level of high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol — the “good” kind that reduces the risk of heart disease by clearing blood vessels of fats and debris — has long been linked to an increased risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease in older adults. So has high blood sugar.But much of this earlier research focused on people who had unhealthy blood levels of sugar or cholesterol in middle age. Now a study suggests that cholesterol and blood sugar levels in earlier adulthood also predicts future Alzheimer’s disease risk.The study, published March 23 in Alzheimer’s and Dementia, followed 4,932 adults over several…

24Mar 2023 by Janice Holland

Brain Implant Helps ‘Locked-In’ Man With Paralysis Communicate Again

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People who are completely paralyzed, without any ability to walk, talk, or blink, may one day be able to communicate with the aid of microchips implanted in their brains, preliminary test results suggest.Scientists tested a pair of brain microchips in a man in his thirties who has advanced amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), often referred to as Lou Gehrig’s disease — a progressive neurodegenerative disease in which people lose the ability to move and talk. The man has locked-in syndrome, also known as pseudocoma. He’s conscious and can think and reason but can’t control his muscles to use traditional adaptive communication devices.Learning to Communicate Over 2 YearsThe man had a pair of microchips implanted in his brain to detect communication signals and transmit the data to a computer for processing. Over two…

24Mar 2023 by Janice Holland

Rare Virus Spread by Ticks Kills Maine Resident

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An adult in Maine has died of a rare tick-borne virus, according to public health officials.The resident of Waldo County, in southern Maine, died after being treated in the hospital for neurological symptoms caused by a Powassan virus infection, the Maine Center for Disease Control (Maine CDC) said in a statement. Three types of ticks — groundhog or woodchuck ticks (Ixodes cookei), blackleggged or deer ticks (Ixodes scapularis), and squirrel ticks (Ixodes marxi) — can spread Powassan virus, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).Powassan virus is rare in the United States. Nationwide, a total of 194 cases and 22 deaths were reported between 2011 and 2020, according to the CDC. All the fatalities involved patients who developed neurological symptoms, which can include encephalitis (an infection…

24Mar 2023 by

How Do Crypto Exchanges Work? Centralized, Decentralized, And Hybrid

FinTech

You see, your gold, stocks, land, nearly everything is vulnerable to confiscation by the authorities as a result of they are actually the custodian of these belongings. In trade for using the exchange's companies, users of centralized cryptocurrency exchanges should pay a set sum in transaction charges. Exchanges might have totally different pricing structures, and these are regularly decided by things like a user's buying and selling quantity. Decentralized crypto exchanges have quite restricted forms of orders and don’t supply margin buying and selling (and similar features) to their prospects. Maybe when more superior decentralized platforms enter the market, they might present higher options. Currently, Centralized crypto exchanges are more in style than the decentralized ones as a result of they entered the market first. Unlike traditional exchanges, decentralised exchanges…

24Mar 2023 by Janice Holland

50 Years After Tuskegee: Patrice Harris, MD, on the Lasting Impact of the Syphilis Study

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This July marks the 50th anniversary of the exposure by a social worker of the U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) Syphilis Study at Tuskegee. For 40 years, from 1932 to 1972, the USPHS and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which was established by the USPHS and took over the study in 1957, intentionally withheld treatment for the life-threatening illness in 399 African American men, among the 600 involved in a study that set out to analyze the natural history of untreated syphilis.That purpose was not shared with participants, and those diagnosed with syphilis were not told they had the disease. Researchers told them they were receiving treatment for “bad blood,” which people in the local community thought was caused by several ailments, including syphilis, anemia, and fatigue. Participants…

23Mar 2023 by Janice Holland

We Must Improve Stroke Outcomes in People With Disabilities and Dementia, Scientists Say

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One in four American adults (26 percent) live with some form of disability, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Yet, when these individuals suffer a stroke, the fifth leading cause of death in the country, per the American Heart Association (AHA), they often experience delays in treatment or no treatment at all.Historically, adults with disabilities have been excluded from clinical trials, which explains why there isn’t enough data to show how they would respond to stroke treatment. Doctors also tend to determine that a stroke is more severe in these individuals and deem them beyond hope of treatment.Recognizing this, and the need to improve care and stroke outcomes for this underserved population, the AHA and the American Stroke Association (ASA) issued a statement on March 28 regarding people with…