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Low to moderate alcohol drinking may preserve brain function in older age

Light to moderate drinking may preserve brain function in older age, according to a new study from the University of Georgia.

30 Jun 2020

Workers filed more than 4,100 complaints about protective gear. Some still died.

COVID-19 cases were climbing at Michigan's McLaren Flint hospital. So Roger Liddell, 64, who procured supplies for the hospital, asked for an N95 respirator for his own protection, since his work brought him into the same room as COVID-positive patients.

30 Jun 2020

Essential worker shoulders $1,840 pandemic debt due to COVID cost loophole

Carmen Quintero works an early shift as a supervisor at a 3M distribution warehouse that ships N95 masks to a nation under siege from the coronavirus. On March 23, she had developed a severe cough, and her voice, usually quick and enthusiastic, was barely a whisper.

30 Jun 2020

COVID-19 study in Italian town reveals the importance of asymptomatic cases

A study of COVID-19 in the quarantined Italian town of Vò, where most of the population was tested, reveals the importance of asymptomatic cases.

30 Jun 2020

‘More than physical health’: Gym helps 91-year-old battle isolation

Most mornings, like clockwork, you could find Art Ballard pumping iron.

30 Jun 2020

SARS-CoV-2 circulating in Italy in December 2019

Researchers at the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (Italian National Institute of Health) have shown that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) had already been circulating in Italy many weeks before the first autochthonous (native) case was documented on February 21st this year.

29 Jun 2020

Researchers suggest an alternative pathway to dying alone due to COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to drastic changes in how hospitals provide end-of-life care to patients and their families. With strict no-visiting limitations in place in an effort to stem contagion, patients have been dying alone.

29 Jun 2020

NUS researchers develop portable COVID-19 micro-PCR diagnostic system

COVID-19 screening can soon be conducted directly at various testing stations, and patients can get their test results in about an hour from the time they get a nasal swab.

29 Jun 2020

New eye drops could prevent vision loss after retinal vein occlusion

Researchers at Columbia University Irving Medical Center have developed eye drops that could prevent vision loss after retinal vein occlusion, a major cause of blindness for millions of adults worldwide.

29 Jun 2020

ACR releases position statement supporting the role of telemedicine in rheumatology

The American College of Rheumatology (ACR) has released an official position statement supporting the role of telemedicine as a tool with the potential to increase access and improve care for patients with rheumatic diseases.

29 Jun 2020

California prisons are COVID hotbeds despite billions spent on inmate health

From Corcoran and Avenal state prisons in the arid Central Valley to historical San Quentin on the San Francisco Bay, California prisons have emerged as raging COVID-19 hot spots, even as the state annually spends more on inmate health care than other big states spend on their entire prison systems.

29 Jun 2020

In Arizona race, McSally makes health care pledge at odds with track record

Trailing Democratic challenger Mark Kelly in one of the country's most hotly contested Senate races, Arizona Sen. Martha McSally is seeking to tie herself to an issue with across-the-aisle appeal: insurance protections for people with preexisting health conditions.

29 Jun 2020

Conflicting COVID messages create cloud of confusion around public health and prevention

Regina Fargis didn't know what to do. Fargis runs Summit Hills — a health and retirement community in Spartanburg, South Carolina, that offers skilled nursing, activities and communal meals for its residents, most of whom are over 60, the highest-risk category for coronavirus complications.

29 Jun 2020

Sugar consumption is linked with larger fat deposits around the heart, abdomen

Sugar consumption is linked with larger fat deposits around the heart and in the abdomen, which are risky for health.

29 Jun 2020

Genomics used to trace origin of SARS-CoV-2 in Canada

A new study published in June 2020 on the preprint server bioRxiv discusses the use of phylogenetic analysis to trace the origin of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), and its spread into and then within Canada. The study findings may help optimize public health policies in the case of future outbreaks.

28 Jun 2020

Study: SNAP benefits are critical to low-income Americans

When work requirements for a federal food safety-net program start again, many low-income Americans will lose benefits - and Black adults will be hardest hit, according to a study published today.

27 Jun 2020

Study highlights a complex and under-recognized form of dementia

The long-running study on aging and brain health at the University of Kentucky's Sanders-Brown Center on Aging Alzheimer's Disease Center has once again resulted in important new findings - highlighting a complex and under-recognized form of dementia.

27 Jun 2020

Live attenuated vaccines may prevent lung inflammation and sepsis associated with COVID-19

A paper published by Paul Fidel, Jr., PhD, Professor and Director of the Center of Excellence in Oral and Craniofacial Biology and Associate Dean for Research at LSU Health New Orleans School of Dentistry, and Mairi Noverr, PhD, Professor of Microbiology & Immunology at Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans, suggests that live attenuated vaccines such as MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) may prevent the severe lung inflammation and sepsis associated with COVID-19 infection.

26 Jun 2020

Study reveals colorectal cancer hotspots in the United States

Over the last three decades, colorectal cancer survival in the United States has improved significantly. But in young people--particularly men diagnosed with colorectal cancer before age 50--incidence and mortality due to colorectal cancer are on the rise.

26 Jun 2020

Study provides more evidence of causal link between air pollution and premature death

Strengthening U.S. air quality standards for fine particulate pollution to be in compliance with current World Health Association (WHO) guidelines could save more than 140,000 lives over the course of a decade, according to a new study from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

26 Jun 2020