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'Super Platelet Donor' Concerned About High Platelet Count

Health Advice / Keith Roach /

DEAR DR. ROACH: I am a 58-year-old female in reasonably good health. When I was young, I donated blood several times and would have continued to do so, had I not become ineligible due to living in England during the mad cow disease outbreak. I happened upon something recently stating that this particular disqualifier has been lifted -- so much ...Read more

How the mind and body work when you have heart disease

Between 20% and 30% of folks diagnosed with heart disease also contend with anxiety or depression, according to a study in Frontiers in Psychology. And in the first year after having a heart attack or stroke, for example, mental distress affects almost half of those folks. That's not surprising. It's troubling to contend with a potentially life-...Read more

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Cancer cases in younger people are on the rise

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

ATLANTA — In the United States this year alone, there will be an anticipated 2,001,140 new cancer cases — leading to an estimated 611,720 related deaths. That’s 5,480 new cases and 1,680 deaths every day. And, according to a recent CNN report, cancer cases among younger people are rising sharply.

The American Cancer Society reported ...Read more

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How worrying is bird flu's jump to dairy cows? Here's what experts say

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

ATLANTA -- Since 2022, a highly contagious strain of bird flu has spread across the U.S. at an unprecedented rate, resulting in the deaths of more than 90 million birds in commercial and backyard poultry flocks, plus thousands more in the wild.

Then, in late March, the virus made a jump to another species that surprised many scientists: cows.

...Read more

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TikTok to crack down on content that promotes disordered eating and dangerous weight-loss habits

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Saying it does not want to promote negative body comparisons, TikTok is cracking down on posts about disordered eating, dangerous weight-loss habits and potentially harmful weight-management products.

The wildly popular social media app updated its community guidelines last week, introducing a slate of new rules that it hopes will make the ...Read more

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Holdout states consider expanding Medicaid -- with work requirements

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

In Humphreys County, Mississippi — about 70 miles north of the state capital, in the heart of the fertile Delta region — a third of the residents live in poverty. In Belzoni, the county seat, there are just a handful of health care clinics. The town’s only major hospital closed more than a decade ago, around the same time its catfish ...Read more

Beth Weiler/Michigan Public/Michigan Public/TNS

He thinks his wife died in an understaffed hospital. Now he's trying to change the industry

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

For the past year, police Detective Tim Lillard has spent most of his waking hours unofficially investigating his wife’s death.

The question has never been exactly how Ann Picha-Lillard died on Nov. 19, 2022: She succumbed to respiratory failure after an infection put too much strain on her weakened lungs. She was 65.

For Tim Lillard, the ...Read more

Lillian Mongeau Hughes for KFF Health News/KFF Health News/TNS

Rural jails turn to community health workers to help the newly released succeed

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

MANTI, Utah — Garrett Clark estimates he has spent about six years in the Sanpete County Jail, a plain concrete building perched on a dusty hill just outside this small, rural town where he grew up.

He blames his addiction. He started using in middle school, and by the time he was an adult he was addicted to meth and heroin. At various points...Read more

Over-The-Counter Eye Drops Safe To Use With Amd Medication

Health Advice / Keith Roach /

DEAR DR. ROACH: I am a healthy 67-year-old female being treated with Eylea for wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD). I have just had my second round of Eyelea, and with the pollen starting up, my eyes are beginning to itch. Is it safe to use over-the-counter eye drops? I also take Zyrtec nightly for my interstitial cystitis. -- C.H.

...Read more

Two ways to sleep better -- and safer

Do you have trouble sleeping? You are not alone. Inadequate sleep is a major health issue in America. Around a third of folks have trouble falling asleep, staying asleep or sleeping for the recommended seven to nine hours. There are a lot of possible reasons, from anxiety to chronic bladder problems, but two common situations may be the cause: ...Read more

Fort Worth Star-Telegram/Fort Worth Star-Telegram/TNS

Want to lower your dementia risk? Becoming a teacher is a good start

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

From your 30s to well into your 60s, a new study proposes working a mentally challenging job can pay off in more ways than one. It can even help maintain your cognitive health while preventing dementia later in life.

“Our results show the value of having an occupation that requires more complex thinking as a way to maintain memory and ...Read more

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FTC chief says tech advancements risk health care price fixing

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

New technologies are making it easier for companies to fix prices and discriminate against individual consumers, the Biden administration’s top consumer watchdog said Tuesday.

Algorithms make it possible for companies to fix prices without explicitly coordinating with one another, posing a new test for regulators policing the market, said ...Read more

Do implicit bias trainings on race improve health care? Not yet – but incorporating the latest science can help hospitals treat all patients equitably

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

There is increasing evidence that implicit bias – non-conscious attitudes toward specific groups – is a source of racial inequities in certain aspects of health care, and lawmakers are taking note.

Since the tragic murder of George Floyd in May 2020, wherein a Black man was killed by police, several U.S. federal and state ...Read more

Nearsightedness is at epidemic levels – and the problem begins in childhood

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Myopia, or the need for corrected vision to focus or see objects at a distance, has become a lot more common in recent decades. Some even consider myopia, also known as nearsightedness, an epidemic.

Optometry researchers estimate that about half of the global population will need corrective lenses to offset myopia by 2050 if current ...Read more

Environmental Nutrition: Spotlight on supplements: Kava

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Kava is a compound (extracted from a plant member of the pepper family called Piper methysticum) native to islands of the western Pacific.

Overview

The root of the plant is emulsified into a beverage or it can be dried and incorporated into dietary supplement form. Kava may also be called kava-kava, kavain, yaqona, and more.

Historically, ...Read more

What are nitrates and are they bad for your health?

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Nitrates in cured meats, such as bacon, hot dogs and cold cuts, have long had a bad rap, but more recently there’s been a lot of talk about the health benefits of nitrates in beets and other vegetables. Confusing? Yes. But we’ll straighten it all out for you.

What are nitrates?

Nitrates are compounds made up of nitrogen and oxygen. Most ...Read more

Mayo Clinic Q&A: Advances in care for medication-resistant epilepsy

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

DEAR MAYO CLINIC: My son is in his 20s and has had epilepsy for years. He had undergone extensive evaluation over a decade ago. Lately, his medication hasn’t been effectively preventing seizures. What are some of the innovations available to provide him the chance of seizure freedom and improve his quality of life?

ANSWER: An epilepsy ...Read more

An Ill Wind Blowing

Health Advice / Scott LaFee /

Those gusty hand dryers installed in public bathrooms are supposed to reduce exposure to microbial menaces, such as disease-causing bacteria that may be lurking on, well, just about everything else.

But maybe not. In a report published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology a few years ago, researchers collected samples of bacterial ...Read more

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Mayo Clinic Minute: Dermatologist explains light therapy for skin

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Dermatologists advise their patients to avoid harmful ultraviolet light, which can cause skin damage, photoaging and skin cancer. But they also may prescribe light therapy to treat certain skin conditions. Light therapy is a treatment that uses different wavelengths of light to treat various skin conditions.

In this Mayo Clinic Minute, Dr. Dawn...Read more

Jardiance Prescription Comes With Too Many Urinary Issues

Health Advice / Keith Roach /

DEAR DR. ROACH: I am a 64-year-old male, and my A1C level has been averaging around 7.4% for a number of years. I was diagnosed diabetic at age 54. My doctor has been trying several combinations of drugs over the last couple years to get my A1C below 7%.

I currently am maxed out on 25 mg of Jardiance, 2,000 mg of metformin ER and 14 mg of ...Read more