Author: healthadmin

During the first heat wave of 2025, 55-year-old Shauna Thomas was found dead in her suburban St. Louis apartment after spending at least three days without air conditioning or running water. Police said she had “several medical issues” that may have played a role. Clinicians, community leaders, and public health workers often advise people with chronic conditions, such as diabetes, to use air conditioning or go to air-conditioned buildings. But that advice assumes that air conditioning is actually affordable and available. Thomas’ tragic death highlights why cooling should be added to major government programs that provide heating. Extreme heat isn’t…

I recently helped a woman in her early 60s reduce the dose of fluoxetine (commonly known by its brand name Prozac) that she had been taking for over 35 years, and subsequently the dose of bupropion (also known as Wellbutrin) that she had been taking for over 10 years. But Kennedy’s effort confuses true clinical need with claims that are unsupported by evidence, some of which are clearly dangerous. When she came to see me in 2024, she had been trying to taper off fluoxetine twice before, many years apart. But each time her depression returned, she had to go…

BATON ROUGE, La. — When it comes to Bill Cassidy, almost everyone in Louisiana politics, supporters and detractors alike, feels bad for the senator. During his 20 years as a politician, he was mostly a doctor in the clothes of a congressman. He sticks to the evidence and carefully calculates the right policy prescription for the problem at hand, according to more than a dozen people who have worked with or for him. These qualities, along with his first-hand knowledge of America’s health care system, have made him a respected leader on this issue on Capitol Hill. He may have…

The United States is not the only country where binge drinking and binge eating are a problem. But Americans face a unique crisis. The country’s obesity and diabetes epidemics, combined with excessive alcohol consumption, are making more people sick with a liver disease that until recently had no name. Metabolic dysfunction and alcohol-related liver disease (MetALD) is now a top concern among physicians in the United States, as more young people and women face serious illness and die from the condition. Doctors worry that more Americans are silently developing MetALD, at least in part because many people don’t realize they’re…

THis little device slides smoothly into the modest space above my washing machine. A pipe snakes down from there, sucking in wastewater from the laundry. At the end of each wash cycle, your washer will make a gentle whistling sound. According to inventor Adam Root, this is the sound of groundbreaking technology in action. That invention is a microplastic filter.“The number one thing I hear[from customers]is, “I can’t believe how much laundry comes out of my washer,” says Root. “Someone sent me (a photo of) a dinner plate.”About three weeks after installation, it will beep to let you know it’s…

The way people speak during everyday conversations may provide valuable insights into brain health, according to new research from Baycrest University, the University of Toronto, and York University. Scientists have discovered that subtle speech characteristics, such as pauses, fillers such as “um” and “um”, and difficulty with word retrieval, are closely related to executive function, the mental abilities involved in memory, planning, attention, and flexible thinking. The findings provide some of the strongest evidence to date linking natural speech patterns and key cognitive abilities. This study also extends previous research showing that older adults who speak faster tend to maintain…

Scientists have identified surprisingly high levels of a little-known silicone pollutant in the atmosphere, raising new questions about its potential risks to human health and the climate. This chemical, known as methylsiloxane, is commonly used in cosmetics, industrial products, transportation goods, and household products. Researchers have found these compounds in a wide range of environments, from large cities to rural villages and forests. The study was led by researchers from Utrecht University and the University of Groningen and was published in the journal. atmospheric chemistry and physics. Hidden silicon pollution discovered around the world Contaminants such as PFAS and microplastics…

Researchers at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) have discovered a key step that enteroviruses use to replicate inside human cells. The survey results are nature communicationsexplains how viruses that cause diseases such as polio, encephalitis, myocarditis, and even the common cold control cellular machinery to copy themselves. Scientists say the discovery could ultimately help researchers develop a new generation of antiviral drugs that can target many enteroviruses at once. The research was led by Deepak Koirala, associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry at UMBC and recent Ph.D. Graduate of Nava Krishna Das. Their research helps answer long-standing questions…

Scientists have identified a new weakness in harmful “zombie-like” cells, which could open the door to better cancer treatments and treatments for age-related diseases. These cells, known as senescent cells, survive in vulnerable conditions by producing large amounts of protective proteins that prevent cell death. Researchers from the MRC Institute of Medical Sciences (LMS) and Imperial College London have discovered that removing this protection can force cells to self-destruct, offering a promising new treatment strategy. The findings suggest that this approach could be used in combination with chemotherapy and other existing cancer treatments to improve patient outcomes. Why aging “zombie…

Monoclonal antibodies can block key immune-related proteins that cause widespread brain cell damage in Parkinson’s disease (PD). The protein, called glycoprotein non-metastatic melanoma B (GPNMB), may be part of a promising strategy to develop treatments that slow disease progression in its early stages, according to a new study published today, December 11, 2018. neuron, By researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Many people with Parkinson’s disease are diagnosed in the early stages, when symptoms are relatively mild, and there is currently no treatment to slow the disease’s progression. These early results are a…