Avoid Injury While Caregiving at Home

Caring for a loved one can be rewarding, but it can also lead to injury.

To keep yourself in good physical shape while caregiving, the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) offers some tips for careful lifting:

--Keep your head and neck in proper alignment with your spine. Your head, neck and back should be as straight...

Many Dentists Face Aggressive Patients at Work

FRIDAY, Oct. 30, 2020 (Healthday News) – Health care workers commonly experience aggression and violence at work, second only to law enforcement.

That fact may bring to mind emergency room scenes in television dramas, but a new study of 98 New York City metro area dentists found that they, too, experience high numbers of both physical an...

Lies Spread on Social Media May Mean Fewer Vaccinations

Foreign disinformation campaigns on social media have caused vaccination rates to fall, a new study reveals.

Every 1 point increase in the effort to discredit vaccines is linked to an average 2% drop in annual vaccine coverage around the world, and a 15% increase in negative tweets about vaccination, researchers found.

Last year, the...

Teen Boys Think Marijuana Makes Sex Better

Teenage boys who see ads for pot are more likely than girls to link marijuana with better sex, a new study suggests.

The reason? Many boys think people who use pot are less inhibited and enjoy sex more, which leads them to want to try marijuana in the future. Girls and young women, however, are less likely to use pot based on messages tha...

Nearly 1 in 5 COVID-19 Patients May Still Carry Virus

A new study by Italian researchers finds that almost 17% of patients who fully recover from COVID-19 may still have the virus in follow-up screening.

Those who have ongoing respiratory symptoms, especially sore throat and stuffy nose or congestion (rhinitis), are more likely to have a positive follow-up test, suggesting that these symptoms...

Tired, Anxious, Overweight: How Lockdowns May Have Harmed Your Health

You might be onto something if you suspect your mental and physical health declined during the COVID-19 lockdown earlier this year.

Stay-at-home orders appear to have had an overall bad effect on people's health around the world, a global survey shows.

People reported that they gained weight during the lockdown, were less active, suf...

Staying Active as You Age Not a Guarantee Against Dementia

Experts in healthy aging often cite the importance of leisure activities -- hanging out with friends, playing games, taking classes -- in maintaining your brain health as you grow older.

But a new study calls into question whether those enjoyable pursuits actually protect you against dementia.

Researchers found no link between middle...

For Some Women, Postpartum Depression Lingers for Years

Many women have depression symptoms after giving birth, but for some postpartum depression hangs on for years, a U.S. government study finds.

Of nearly 4,900 new mothers researchers followed, one-quarter had depression symptoms at some point in their child's first three years. And for about half of them, the symptoms either started early ...

Smog Could Increase COVID-19 Deaths by 15% Worldwide

Long-term exposure to air pollution is tied to an increased risk of dying from COVID-19, a new study finds.

About 15% of deaths from COVID-19 worldwide could be due to long-term exposure to air pollution, the researchers said. In Europe, the proportion was about 19%, in North America about 17% and in East Asia about 27%.

These propor...

Fauci Calls for National Mask Mandate

America's leading infectious diseases expert called for a national mask mandate on Wednesday as coronavirus cases surged across the country.

After expressing regret that face masks haven't been more widely adopted, Dr. Anthony Fauci said for the first time on Wednesday that the United States needs a nationwide mask mandate to combat the ri...

Your Guide to Getting a COVID-19 Test

Which type of COVID-19 test is best?

There are three types of COVID-19 tests. The molecular test, known as the PCR -- short for polymerase chain reaction - is considered the most accurate, particularly when taken deep in the nasal cavity.

"The sensitivity of the test is much better when you get that deeper specimen," said Dr. Cathari...

Asymptomatic Kids With COVID-19 May Also Carry Less Virus

Most kids infected with COVID-19 who don't have symptoms have low levels of the virus, compared with symptomatic children, a new study finds.

Researchers said it's not clear why.

"While these findings provide some reassurance about the safety of asymptomatically infected children attending school, these unanswered questions suggest t...

Death Rates Are Dropping for New Yorkers With COVID-19 -- Why?

Fewer New Yorkers than anticipated are dying from COVID-19, a new study reveals.

Death rates have dropped from the pandemic's early days because of a shift in the population that is getting infected to younger, healthier people who are more resilient, New York University (NYU) researchers reported.

For the study, the researchers coll...

Gun Laws' Effects Can Cross State Lines: Study

It's not only laws within a state that can curb gun violence. The laws in neighboring states also make a difference in the number of people who die by guns.

In a new study, researchers from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health in New York City compared county-level data on firearm homicides from 2000 to 2014 to state gun law...

Vampire Bats Have Social Distancing Nailed Down

People have to be told to keep their distance when they're sick, but vampire bats do it naturally, a new study finds.

As a disease spreads through a population, changes in social behavior can change how the germ spreads. In some social insects, sick ones might voluntarily isolate or be excluded by their colony.

Also, some sick animal...

Newborn Brains Don't Process Emotions Like Adults

Newborns don't have the brain circuitry to process emotions, a new study finds.

Brain scans of newborns found that the area of the brain that experiences emotions isn't connected in a mature way to areas that process visual or auditory stimuli, researchers say.

In adults, these connections enable us to feel fear when we watch a scary...

1 in 3 Americans Prescribed Inappropriate Drugs

THURSDAY, Oct. 29, 2020 (HealthDay News) – More than one-third of older Americans are prescribed drugs they may not need, a new study finds.

In fact, these patients are prescribed twice as many drugs as needed and are nearly twice as likely to be hospitalized or wind up in the emergency department. On average, they pay more than $450 a y...

Eli Lilly Antibody Drug Could Prevent COVID Hospitalizations: Study

An Eli Lilly-developed COVID-19 antibody drug that didn't help hospitalized patients might still prove effective in treating people with mild or moderate infections, new clinical trial data suggests.

The U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases pulled the plug earlier this week on a clinical trial aimed at people hospital...

For Some Black Women, DNA Could Magnify Racism's Toll on Health

Many aspects of daily living can trigger stress. But for Black women, everyday stressors plus racial discrimination and a specific genetic mutation may increase the risk for obesity, diabetes and heart disease, researchers say.

The EBF1 mutation is found in roughly 2% of Black women and 7% of white people. And according to study c...