Author: healthadmin

The Federal Trade Commission announced Friday that it is creating a Health Care Task Force to focus more on enforcement and advocacy on competition and consumer protection issues within the industry. The group will combine teams and efforts from multiple FTC groups (Bureau of Competition, Bureau of Consumer Protection, Bureau of Economic Affairs, Office of Policy and Planning, Office of Technology) and, in some cases, other groups in law enforcement and the health department, the agency and its chairman, Andrew Ferguson, said. “The task force will develop a consistent agency-wide strategy for new and nascent investigations, establish a proactive and…

Brain scans show that Republicans and Democrats think about their daily food purchases in starkly different ways, even if they end up buying exactly the same groceries. This insight comes from a neuroimaging study published in the journal politics and life sciencesThis revealed that people with different political affiliations rely on different neural pathways to make the same decisions. Researchers have discovered that they can accurately predict a person’s political affiliation simply by observing their brain activity during everyday shopping tasks. This research sits at the intersection of neuroscience and political behavior. Researchers in this field study how political ideology…

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) – A group of doctors, geologists, and local commissioners believe that just under 9 million Floridians are exposed to PFAS (“permanent chemicals”), and one of the sources is Tallahassee’s sewage spray fields. Dr. Ron Suff of Tallahassee said these “forever chemicals” increase the risk of cancer and thyroid disease.Sahu and other doctors, geologists and conservationists said the problem likely traced back to the capital’s sewage spray fields. “PFAS are causing contamination of Florida’s groundwater resources, and approximately 8.9 million Floridians, approximately 40 percent of Floridians, have PFAS chemicals in their drinking water,” Saf said. “So it was…

Applying artificial intelligence techniques to cardiac ultrasound data may help identify patients with advanced heart failure, a new study has found. The study, led by researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College, Cornell Institute of Technology, Cornell Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Sciences, Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, and NewYork-Presbyterian, offers the possibility of better care for thousands of patients who are overlooked because their symptoms are difficult to diagnose. Advanced heart failure is currently detected by cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET), which requires specialized equipment and trained staff and is typically only available at large…

Emory University’s Lena Ting and colleagues investigated how brain and muscle activity during balance recovery changes with age and Parkinson’s disease. Previously, Ting’s research group found that when they pulled the rug out from under young people to trigger balance recovery, these people experienced immediate involuntary brainstem and muscle responses, followed by a second wave of brain and muscle activity with more difficult balance disorders. In this new study of older adults with and without Parkinson’s disease, e-neuroresearchers found that these populations had larger brain responses and more muscle signals, even when the balance deficit was small. In these populations,…

Gilead is increasing Chief Executive Officer Daniel O’Day’s compensation by 20% to $28.4 million in 2025, making him one of the highest-paid CEOs in the industry. It’s the biggest raise for O’Day, 61, in seven years at the California company, and roughly matches the $29.1 million package he received in his first full year at Gilead, which included a hefty inducement to hand over the golden parachute he left on a table after 30 years at Roche. Gilead paid Mr. O’Day $19 million in 2020, and the company has increased his compensation every year since. His 2025 package (PDF) included…

Nearly three years after the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic was declared over, conservative estimates suggest that between 80 million and 400 million people around the world are still suffering from long-term illness from the novel coronavirus. The chronic illnesses associated with this infection are associated with more than 200 symptoms, including fatigue and shortness of breath, as well as neuropsychiatric problems ranging from cognitive dysfunction and sleep disorders to depression and memory loss. These problems affect quality of life and interfere with daily tasks and work performance. The underlying pathophysiological mechanisms (processes that occur within the body and help explain certain symptoms…

Heart disease is the leading cause of adult mortality worldwide, and the diagnosis and management of cardiovascular disease has become a global health priority. An echocardiogram, or heart ultrasound, is one of the most commonly used imaging tools used by doctors to diagnose a variety of heart diseases and conditions. Most standard echocardiograms provide a two-dimensional visual image (2D) of the three-dimensional (3D) heart anatomy. These echocardiograms often capture hundreds of 2D slices, or views, of the beating heart, allowing doctors to make a clinical assessment of the heart’s function and structure. To improve diagnostic accuracy for heart disease, researchers…

VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers are leading an international study to advance our understanding of the immunomodulatory nature of human tissues, providing breakthrough insights into how fibroblasts function as core regulators of structural immunity in the oral cavity. Cover story for the first issue of Cell Press Blue, Kevin Matthew Byrd, DDS, a member of Massey’s Cancer Biology Research Program and assistant professor of oral and craniofacial molecular biology in the VCU School of Dentistry, and Jinze Liu, PhD, a Massey research member and professor in the VCU School of Public Health’s Department of Biostatistics, show how the findings…

During intensive care after premature birth, babies may experience hypoxia, a lack of oxygen in their tissues and cells. Hypoxia is associated with poor brain health and lifelong memory loss, but the mechanisms are unclear. Researchers led by Art Riddle and Stephen Buck at Oregon Health and Science University discovered the contributing mechanism by creating a mouse model of mild hypoxia after preterm birth. “Historically, the field has focused on how hypoxia damages the brain’s white matter and destroys neurons,” Riddle said. “This study is the first to explore how mild hypoxia changes brain development during this neonatal period, without…