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NC House passes bill curbing minors' access to confidential mental health, STD care

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A bill limiting when minors can consent to medical treatment without parental involvement passed the North Carolina House, with every Republican who voted supporting it and all but four Democrats who voted opposing it.

Rep. Jennifer Balkcom, a Hendersonville Republican, said the bill upheld the “essential role of parents ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

NC bill to allow non-prescription use of ivermectin reignites COVID controversy

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

RALEIGH, N.C. — A drug that gained international attention for its controversial off-label use during the COVID-19 pandemic could soon be available in North Carolina without a prescription.

House Bill 618, titled the “Ivermectin Access Act,” would require the state to issue a standing order by Oct. 1 allowing licensed pharmacists to ...Read more

Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images North America/TNS

Alabama can't prosecute groups helping patients get abortions elsewhere, judge rules

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Reproductive rights groups in Alabama wasted no time resuming their work after a federal judge ruled in early April that the state’s attorney general can’t prosecute — or threaten to prosecute — people or organizations who help Alabama residents seek an abortion by traveling to another state.

One of the plaintiffs, the reproductive ...Read more

Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Life after California's death row: What happens when condemned inmates get a second chance

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

SAN FRANCISCO — By age 46, Bob Williams had spent more than half his life in isolation, waiting to die on San Quentin's death row.

Williams was 18 when he raped and murdered 40-year-old Mary Breck at her Kern County home in October 1994. The day before, he had broken into Breck's home and stolen her credit cards. He returned — initially ...Read more

Kevin Painchaud/KFF Health News/TNS

California's primary care shortage persists despite ambitious moves to close gap

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Sumana Reddy, a primary care physician, struggles on thin financial margins to run Acacia Family Medical Group, the small independent practice she founded 27 years ago in Salinas, California, a predominantly Latino city in an agricultural valley often called “the salad bowl of the world.”

Reddy can’t match the salaries offered by larger ...Read more

L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal/TNS

'Landmark study' led by UNLV shows new path to treat, prevent autism

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

LAS VEGAS — A UNLV-led study has discovered a new molecular path that leads to autism, potentially opening the way for more intervention in the future.

The study by Łukasz Sznajder, a UNLV chemistry and biochemistry professor, was published on April 21 in the journal Nature Neuroscience.

It found that a gene that causes myotonic dystrophy �...Read more

The ABCs of ACL tears in females

ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) injuries are more common in women than men -- and you see the toll it takes on female soccer players. Megan Rapinoe suffered three ACL injuries during her career. It's also common when females play basketball, softball, and volleyball -- for fun, in school, or professionally. More than three-quarters of the tears...Read more

Series Of Infections Follows After An Intense Bout Of Influenza A

Health Advice / Keith Roach /

DEAR DR. ROACH: I contracted influenza A nine weeks ago, which was confirmed by a nasal swab. I had my regular flu vaccine in mid-November, but it was no match for this virulent strain. I was sicker than I can remember, and COVID seemed mild in comparison. During the illness, I developed a sinus infection and was prescribed an antibiotic that ...Read more

Rosalie B. Haraszti, MD/U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/TNS/TNS

Hepatitis A outbreak declared in L.A. County. 'We really have to get ahead of this'

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Los Angeles County has declared a communitywide outbreak of hepatitis A, a highly contagious viral disease that can lead to lasting liver damage or even death.

Although cases of hepatitis A are nothing new in the region, health officials are now expressing alarm both at the prevalence of the disease and who is becoming infected.

The total of ...Read more

Liz O. Baylen/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Nearly quarter of people on long-acting opioids develop addiction

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

More than one in five people prescribed extended-release painkillers such as OxyContin developed an addiction within a year, according to a newly released study mandated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The study, repeatedly delayed by more than a decade and released Monday, revealed a far higher percentage of pain patients addicted ...Read more

Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

Trump team's $500 million bet on old vaccine technology puzzles scientists

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

The Trump administration’s unprecedented $500 million grant for a broadly protective flu shot has confounded vaccine and pandemic preparedness experts, who said the project was in early stages, relied on old technology and was just one of more than 200 such efforts.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. shifted the money ...Read more

Jim Vondruska/KFF Health News/TNS

Bill of the Month: The patient expected a free checkup. The bill was $1,430

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Carmen Aiken of Chicago made an appointment for an annual physical exam in July 2023, planning to get checked out and complete some blood work.

The appointment was at a family medicine practice run by University of Illinois Health. Aiken said the doctor recommended they undergo a Pap smear, which they hadn’t had in more than a year, and ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Ask the Pediatrician: Using nature, art as outdoor inspiration to boost your child's development

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Spending time outside, especially in green spaces like parks, is important for children's development and well-being. Connecting with nature can even help manage some physical and mental conditions.

Art also supports a child's development in meaningful ways. Art projects and other forms of play let them explore, interact with and make sense of ...Read more

Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images North America/TNS

Trump restores Title X funding for two anti-abortion states -- while wiping it out elsewhere

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

The Trump administration quietly restored federal family planning money to Tennessee and Oklahoma, despite court rulings that the states weren’t entitled to funds because they refused to provide women information about terminating pregnancies or abortion referrals on request.

The decision by the Department of Health and Human Services to ...Read more

Mikhail Ognev/Dreamstime.com/TNS

Survey: 43% of Americans say money is negatively impacting their mental health

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Paige DeVriendt, a 32-year-old living in Columbus, Ohio, has spent most of her life associating money with shame and anxiety.

Today, DeVriendt and her husband both work, bringing in a combined annual salary of around $225,000. With that, they’ve been able to pay their bills, save and invest, all while chipping away at six figures of combined...Read more

Joe Raedle/Getty Images North America/TNS

Mayo Clinic Q and A: Are energy drinks bad for your health?

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

DEAR MAYO CLINIC: My husband and son are constantly coming home with an energy drink in hand. I tell them that they are bad for you, but I don't know enough to make a strong case. What are the effects of energy drinks on the body?

ANSWER: Energy drinks are a multibillion-dollar industry and are the most consumed supplement not under the control...Read more

Avoiding age-related brain diseases

If you're not controlling your blood pressure, weight, blood sugar and/or cholesterol levels, and don't get enough sleep, exercise, or have time with your posse and a sense of purpose, you've come up with a formula for some serious age-related brain diseases. Other habits that contribute to brain-dimming diseases include excess alcohol and ...Read more

Using Supplements To Lower Heart Risk Isn't Backed By Evidence

Health Advice / Keith Roach /

DEAR DR. ROACH: I recently had a CT scan, and my score was 184. My cardiologist put me on 40 mg of Lipitor, which I reluctantly took for three weeks until I developed severe pain in my feet and hands. I stopped taking it, and the pain went away. I'm a 64-year-old male in excellent shape. I'm currently taking a chelation supplement, vitamin K2 ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Antibody therapy explored by Pitt, other researchers to combat bird flu

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

While the risk of contracting and dying from the H5N1 avian flu remains low for humans, researchers continue to hunt for vaccines and treatments in case the virus mutates to spread more easily between animals and humans — or among humans themselves.

A team that includes researchers from the University of Pittsburgh and the National Institutes...Read more

Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images North America/TNS

N.Y. Sen. Schumer slams Trump, RFK Jr. for 'just lying' about layoffs threatening 9/11 health program

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

The Trump administration’s funding shell game over the health program that treats 9/11 first responders with Ground Zero-related illnesses continued this weekend with a fresh round of layoffs — and New York’s Senate delegation is calling on their Republican colleagues to step up and save the program.

Friday’s mass layoffs at the ...Read more

 

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