Author: healthadmin

Millions of tourists visit each year to enjoy the fresh air, picturesque scenery and pristine bushland of the Blue Mountains, to Sydney’s west. Unfortunately, the Blue Mountains are also the site of controversial research into water contamination with “forever chemicals,” also known as PFAS. Our recent research investigated long-term PFAS contamination from two accidents involving gasoline tanker crashes and fires. Both incidents occurred in drinking water catchments, and our study found that contamination was present but undetected for 24 and 33 years, respectively. I searched overseas literature, but could not find any similar examples. PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are…

Making snap, gut-level judgments about dating apps can leave users feeling worse about themselves than systematically evaluating profiles based on set criteria. A recent study published in Media Psychology found that while seeing a large number of potential partners can increase feelings of overwhelm, it’s the intuitive swiping strategy that actually undermines users’ self-esteem and sense of value as a mate. These results suggest that the fast-paced design of modern dating platforms comes with hidden psychological costs, depending on how individuals choose to utilize the apps. Traditional online dating agencies typically rely on lengthy questionnaires and deliberate algorithms to pair…

U.S. regulators illegally withdrew responsibility for polluted waterways in Iowa after meeting with officials from the state’s powerful agricultural lobby, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday. The lawsuit, brought by the advocacy group Food & Water Watch, the Iowa Environmental Council, and the Center for Environmental Law and Policy, focuses on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) July 2025 decision to remove seven waterways from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources’ list of “impaired” waters. The petition seeks a court order requiring the EPA to re-register the waterway. Being listed as “degraded” is important because it requires state officials to…

Eli Lilly has made a six-year, $50 million commitment to UNICEF USA to support efforts to improve the prevention, detection and management of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). UNICEF is the United Nations agency responsible for providing humanitarian and development assistance to children. The nonprofit UNICEF USA supports the agency through fundraising, advocacy, and education, including partnering with U.S. companies to serve vulnerable children. Lilly donated $14.4 million to UNICEF USA in 2022 and an additional $6.5 million in 2024. The latest initiative has significantly increased Lilly’s contribution. Lilly, which has donated $20.9 million over the past five years, will give $50…

A number of health care providers and technology organizations are backing the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ push to streamline prior authorizations for the health care industry, a move officials say will smooth out the unevenness of widely disliked payer practices. As teased in a blog post last week, CMS and its administrator, Mehmet Oz, M.D., announced Wednesday that 29 health care providers have agreed to address workflow, technical, and operational issues that are preventing them from implementing electronic prior authorizations, the digital exchange of claims for coverage rather than by letter, fax, or phone call. Nine of those…

For more than 100 years, scientists have been trying to understand cosmic rays, incredibly powerful particles that travel through space with extreme energy. Despite decades of research, many questions about where they come from and how they are accelerated remain unanswered. Now, researchers working with the DAMPE (Dark Matter Particle Explorer) space telescope have discovered important new clues. Their findings are: naturea common feature shared by these mysterious particles has been uncovered, which could help scientists better understand their origins. Cosmic rays are the highest energy particles ever observed in nature. They carry far more energy than the particles produced…

Traditional intelligence and literacy tests can be fundamentally flawed because they force test takers to select a single answer rather than allowing them to express their level of confidence over a variety of options. When people are given financial incentives and can distribute their answers based on confidence, women actually score higher than men. The study was published in the Journal of Political Economy. For decades, psychologists and economists have used multiple-choice tests to measure cognitive abilities. These ratings score answers as strictly correct or incorrect. Glenn W. Harrison of Georgia State University, Don Ross of University College Cork, and…

Perioperative medicine is emerging as an innovative, comprehensive, whole-systems approach to patient care before, during, and after surgery, reducing complication rates and length of hospital stay, leading to better health outcomes, and improving health system performance, says a special article in the first online edition. anesthesiologya peer-reviewed medical journal of the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA). Perioperative medicine describes a more organized and coordinated surgical process in which multiple specialties collaborate to increase efficiency and improve patient safety. It envisions surgical care as a collaborative approach between surgeons, anesthesiologists, primary care physicians, nurses, and other professionals, all working together…

In March 2022, thousands of earthquakes occurred on the island of São Jorge in the Azores, Portugal, after giant magma (molten rock) rose from deep underground, according to a new study led by researchers at UCL (University College London). The magma traveled from more than 20 kilometers below the surface and stopped just 1.6 kilometers below the island, narrowly avoiding an eruption. The researchers found that much of the magma’s rise occurred quietly, with relatively little seismic activity during the rise. Most of the earthquakes occurred after the magma stopped rising. This massive incursion spread over just a few days,…

A study led by researchers in pediatrics and child neurology at the University of Louisville School of Medicine reveals how specific signaling mechanisms in the brain’s immune cells, microglia, can modulate anxiety and grooming behaviors. These behaviors are core symptoms of autism and obsessive-compulsive spectrum disorders. The research was conducted by Naveen Nagarajan, an assistant professor in the UofL Department of Pediatrics, in collaboration with University of Utah geneticist Mario Capecchi, winner of the 2007 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. molecular psychiatryNature Publishing Journal, one of the top scientific journals. This study focuses on Hoxb8 microglia, a specialized group…