Daily Aspirin Can Lower Colon Cancer Risk, But Age Matters

MONDAY, Jan. 25, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- Low-dose aspirin may help some people curb their risk of developing colon cancer -- but not if they wait until age 70 to start, a large, new study suggests.

Researchers found that when people began using aspirin in their 50s or 60s, their risk of developing colon cancer after age...

Therapeutic Vaccine Is Keeping Melanoma in Remission 4 Years On

Giving melanoma patients a "personalized" vaccine can prompt an anti-tumor immune response that lasts for years, an early study finds.

The study involved just eight patients with advanced melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer.

But it builds on earlier work showing it is possible to spur the immune system to respond to an indivi...

Strong Blood Thinners May Help COVID Patients, But Degree of Illness Is Key

Full doses of blood thinners can benefit patients hospitalized with COVID-19, but the severity of their illness matters, researchers say.

The new global analysis found that hospitalized patients with moderate COVID-19 may benefit from the drugs' clot-preventing powers, but patients with illness so severe it requires admission to an inte...

AHA News: Hospice Candidate at 2, She's Now 13 and Thriving

Rosemary "Rosie" Veltz was "medically maxed out." That was the term the doctors used six months after a third surgery to correct a heart defect that left her struggling to breathe while her lungs continued to fill with fluid.

A doctor suggested hospice. Rosie was 2.

Her parents sought second, third and fourth opinions, reaching out t...

AHA News: The Head Is Connected to the Heart – and Can Influence Health

MONDAY, Jan. 25, 2021 (American Heart Association News) --A growing body of research shows good mental health can improve heart health and reduce cardiovascular risks, while poor mental health can increase the risk of heart disease, according to a new scientific report.

Because of the clear link emerging between psychological health and he...

Biden Will Ban Travelers From South Africa as New COVID Variants Spread

As more infectious coronavirus variants first detected in Britain and South Africa circulate globally, President Joe Biden plans to bar travel by non-citizens into the United States from South Africa.

A White House official said Sunday that the South Africa travel ban would go into effect on Jan. 30 and that an existing ban would be e...

Frustrations Mount for U.S. Seniors Seeking Access to COVID Vaccines

Irene Greenhalgh, 83, considers herself a pretty computer-savvy senior, but even she got lost in a maze of websites and e-mails trying to get an appointment for her COVID-19 vaccine.

One health provider's e-mail provided links to sites that were giving vaccinations, but the dates listed were a week old. A board of health's website proved g...

Hand Sanitizer Is Harming Kids' Eyes, Often Seriously

FRIDAY, Jan. 22, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- The explosive rise in use of alcohol-based hand sanitizers during the COVID-19 pandemic has had a dangerous, unintended consequence: eye injuries among children.

Using data from French poison control and a children's hospital in Paris, researchers reported that accidental ey...

Study Casts Doubt on 'Early Warning' System for Kidney Patients

Electronic 'early warning systems' for kidney damage in hospital patients don't improve outcomes, researchers say.

These systems are meant to alert for acute kidney injury (AKI). AKI, a sudden decrease in the kidney's filtration function, occurs in 15% of hospital patients and increases the risk of death 10-fold.

The systems give an ...

Daydreaming? Study Shows Where Your Brain Goes When You Do

Researchers have found a way to track what your mind is doing when thoughts begin to wander.

Using electroencephalograms (EEG) to measure brain activity while more than two dozen study participants did mundane attention tasks, the researchers identified brain signals associated with a daydreaming mind.

They found that the participant...

Anxiety, Depression and Drinking: An Unhealthy Combo During the Pandemic

People with anxiety and depression are more likely to step up their drinking during the COVID-19 pandemic than those without these mental health issues, an online survey revealed.

Alcohol use grew the most among young people, but older adults with anxiety and depression were about twice as likely to report increased drinking as older adult...

Women More Prone to Nighttime Cardiac Arrest Than Men

Going into cardiac arrest at night can be particularly deadly, and now new research suggests that it might strike women more than men.

Sudden cardiac arrest is an electrical malfunction that causes the heart to stop beating. The survival rate for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest is only 10%, the researchers said.

"Dying suddenly d...

How Smoking Could Help Spur Breast Cancer's Spread

Here's one reason why past or current smoking may handicap you if you are battling breast cancer: New research suggests that nicotine promotes the spread of the disease to your lungs.

Smoking is known to increase the risk that breast cancer will spread, which lowers the survival rate by one-third at diagnosis. But the role of nicotine in t...

Men, Make Health Your Goal This Year

The new year is the ideal time to focus on your health and one expert has some tips, especially for men, for doing that.

According to Dr. Kevin McVary, director of Loyola Medicine Men's Health Center, in Maywood, Ill., "Men don't always focus on their health and, in fact, men are less likely to see a doctor or utilize health resources, and...

Child Car Seat Safety Tip: Skip Puffy Winter Coats

Puffy coats have their place, but it's not inside a car seat.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) offers a variety of tips for keeping your little ones safe and warm while traveling by car.

The first is to avoid dressing children in puffy coats or snowsuits before buckling them in, because car seat straps won't tighten enough. T...

UK Prime Minister Says British COVID Variant May Be More Deadly

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned on Friday that a new, more infectious coronavirus variant first spotted in the United Kingdom late last year could also be more lethal.

The new variant, which has since been found in numerous countries including the United States, was already known to be far more infectious than the original...

FDA Approves First Once-a-Month HIV Therapy

The first monthly shots to treat adults with HIV were approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday.

"Currently, the standard of care for patients with HIV includes patients taking daily pills to adequately manage their condition. This approval will allow some patients the option of receiving once-monthly injections in lieu...

For Maximum Effectiveness, De-Stress and Get Healthy Before Your COVID Shot

Not many people have had the opportunity to get the COVID-19 vaccine yet.

But while you wait your turn, there are some steps you can take to give the vaccine — whichever brand you get — a boost when it's available to you.

An Ohio State University review of 49 vaccine studies dating back 30 years exa...

Half of Americans Still Not Wearing Masks When Out in Public: Poll

Though masks are effective in stopping the spread of COVID-19, half of Americans don't wear them when mixing with the public.

That's a key takeaway from the ongoing study of more than 6,000 U.S. adults by researchers at the University of Southern California Dornsife Center for Economic and Social Research.

Even though 83% of American...

AHA News: Anxiety Is Linked With Smoking – But How Is Still Hazy

In these stressful pandemic times, health experts have more reason to circle back to the link between anxiety and smoking: Does anxiety cause people to smoke? Or does smoking cause anxiety?

Like many other aspects of mental health and addiction, there are no cut-and-dried conclusions.

"I think we've generated more questions on the su...